2021 scouting reports

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


User avatar
Wihunter95
Posts: 492
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:04 am
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Wihunter95 » Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:28 pm

Got back to an island in the middle of a nasty bog today. I was really excited about this spot, found some decent sign heading back in but also found two gun blinds which was disappointing. Then another spot I checked had a camera with a set stand 30 yards away. Now I know not to hunt that point.
Snapchat-223046039.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


MichiganMike
500 Club
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:47 am
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby MichiganMike » Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:43 pm

Found a great overlooked spot right next to the highway. Pretty thick marsh with a lot of small humps about 30x40 yds or so. The humps are cedar with mix of maple and other conifers. Mounds of droppings all over. Came across a primary scrape area on one of the humps. If you look at the maple branches above, has historical licking branches
331B227E-8F36-4A40-8DB4-A797A7C6A807.jpeg
. Always a good sign.
AC46370B-0264-4B7C-8221-FCA321D32C8B.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:00 pm

It’s not much of a rub, but it’s gotta be one... right?! :think: This is a 6x6 leg of a box stand... I watched the drop tine walk by it twice so pretty strong chance it’s his.
Image
I set a couple ground pound traps for him. One for a SE wind, one for NW. i scouted the peninsula and his beds were right where they were suppose to be. He lays down wind of the opening in the most advantageous spot possible for both winds. One cluster of beds was way out near the tip like you’d expect. The opposite wind put him near the mouth at the beginning of the peninsula. I see stuff like that a lot. I saw doe beds all along the transition. But his beds were nice and big and were the most worn beds I found in 4.5 miles of scouting. I know they’re his.
Image
I re-hashed a bunch of known bedding and also found a new bedding area that I didn’t realize was there. Stupid parking lot type spot. Its not in a classic terrain feature... just a thick spot next to cattails. Found a few beds with some historical rubs including a big one from last fall that was chest high.

It was a good day. Always fun to hit the woods and cross a thing or two off the to do list!
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby greenhorndave » Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:30 pm

Had a good few days. Broke down parts of three places. First was not great. May or may not delve further.

Another was an area that I found huge rubs last season. Still haven't unlocked it, but was able to eliminate some and found a potentially decent bedding area, but I dropped a cam back off the edge to get an idea of what is there. Looked promising, but I still don't think I have the place nailed. I have some things I still need to check out.

Third place was another spot I saw some decent buck sign in tracks and turds last season. Never was able to pin him down, but to be fair I focused elsewhere. Wanted better intel and got it. Hit all the places I wanted to on the maps, still wasn't excited but the sign kept pushing me deeper than I thought. Came to a barrier and stopped. Then I heard a lone animal splashing away so I went that way. Buck bed, finally. You can see some hair in the pic right by the tree and two rubs immediately behind the tree. The rubs may not look like much, but I'm not putting too much stock into it because there were literally no larger trees to rub in the area.

1388 (4).jpg


It was obviously occupied, and based on where it was and that it was occupied at this time of year, I think it's primary bedding. The tough thing is going to be how to hunt him. No way on earth he's going to hit woods by dark and there are next to no huntable trees near the bed except two, one only being 40 yards away. Even then, there is a maze of trails, little from a ground setup perspective because it's almost all dogwood and elders and no way to know which path he'll take. I might only get one crack at it before freaking him out because it's so remote. I need to think about it, but it's nice to finally have some solid intel on a buck bed this spring.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
User avatar
Jackson Marsh
Moderator
Posts: 19544
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:11 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:39 pm

Nice work fellas
Hookslinger
500 Club
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:51 am
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Hookslinger » Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:45 am

Scouted a new piece of public today. Walked a transition line of where a swamp met the woods and spotted an old scrape with a nice licking branch. Seen a couple faint trails coming out of the swamp so I dove in, luckily the water is real low right now for us. About 30 or 40 yards into the swamp found a nice big bed on some high ground up against a tree.
Picked out a kill tree overlooking the exit trails which I think will be good, but I am a tad concerned about what the thermals will do We'll see! Glad to be out learning the ways of the Beast.
20210325_103547.jpg

20210325_103558.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:36 am

Raced out after work yesterday and prepped a tree quick. 12’ up, no climbing sticks required. :D awesome doe spot. Should be good during rut if I get the chance for a quick hunt.
Image



I’m a few hours ahead this week so I’m hoping to be able to bug out early and finish scouting a new parcel that I started a few weeks ago.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Mar 27, 2021 11:10 am

Didn’t get all of it scouted but I made a pretty good dent!

I’m pretty sure this place gets absolutely pounded by pheasant hunters, and it likely gets duck hunted too. The first bedding I came to had a doe in it. They’re bedding on the edge where they can see out... beds near the river didn’t look that great. Most beds looked set up for a NW wind. Couple of them had a canopy of vines overhead.
Image


This one had a real nice bed just out of frame and a couple old rubs next to it.
Image

When I went up on the side hill, there were a bunch of beds in the brush. Makes perfect sense for SE wind. They’re very hard to access due to property lines. Most people that head in that way with a SE wind will wind bump those deer and likely not even realize it.


I found some legit bedding on a different side hill that is also set up for a SE wind. There was 8-10 beds in there and every one of them had hair. I bumped a couple out of there without knowing. You can see the dry ground. It was drizzling when I left my car.

Image

There was some buck sign in there too. I’m thinking it gets used by both bucks and does. It was a thick patch of briars and was the “something different” on the property. There’s briars elsewhere too but not like this.

Heading toward private I found a nice big rub and some scrapes just beyond that. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this bedding
Image
mipubbucks24
500 Club
Posts: 1417
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:56 am
Location: South West Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby mipubbucks24 » Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:42 pm

Got out for a couple scouts on Monday, found a few Tom’s to pursue and found a good deer bedding area but I doubt I’ll hunt it as there was no destination area. Also got out in the afternoon to find some turkeys with my middle daughter! It was great, no turkeys found but she got to see a pile of deer.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Trout
500 Club
Posts: 1493
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 1:59 pm
Location: Big Woods MI
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Trout » Sun Mar 28, 2021 2:34 pm

Still working my way through my main hunting area, the core I'm focusing in on is about 600 acres, hillcountry. Covered about 15 miles so far over three trips trying to walk every transition and ridgeline, then mapping everything on onx. Thinking it will take another 3 or 4 trios to get the rest. I move slow when I'm scouting, about 3/4 miles per hour average according to the onx tracker. :lol:

Today was a breakthrough day, 5 buck beds, but really what I think are two bedding areas for two deer and maybe a satellite buck or two. All beds were extremely well used, but two were just crazy. Best part, waist high rubs leading out of one and mid thigh high rubs leading out of the other. Found a lot of other stuff, too, and really excited for October 1 to get here :dance:

20210327_180934.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 pm

Sounds like a great day Trout! 8-)



I just got home and I’m BEAT. 6.8 miles with hip boots on and stand on my back. I had a very good scout though. I pinned down and made a game plan for some overlooked bedding that I’ve been wondering about... beds looked pretty worn in there.

I got a sweet kill tree ready that I’ve been wanting to prep for a couple years, prepped another great spot, found a dead head with the rack cut off in the bedding next to one of those sets, discovered that some bedding that I thought was just decent had a BEAST in it last year... pretty sure it was the mature ten I saw from the truck last summer. He’s leaving head high rubs... really hope he made it! He could be a Booner this year.
Image
Look how high that rub goes. I saw a ton of them like that.

Then I found some pretty cool humps out in the marsh. One didn’t have beds on it which was surprising, but the other did. It was an old muskrat house which had been flattened out. Trail lead me right to it. Cattails looked wide open with a patch of shatter cane and I figured I was wasting my time but low and behold...
Image
Image
Image

So when a trail appears to be heading out into nothing, chances are there’s something there ;) follow it. The trail hit that muskrat hut and stopped. It didn’t appear to be used a whole lot, but it’s still a pretty cool find. If I see big tracks on that trail then it’s game on.
User avatar
Trout
500 Club
Posts: 1493
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 1:59 pm
Location: Big Woods MI
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Trout » Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:13 am

Head high rubs is crazy :shock: I see them all the time where our elk herd is, but it always blows me away to see them where there are no elk. Only seen two over the years and I am not sure the one was actually a rub. Hope you get eyes in whoever is making them 8-)
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:02 am

Trout wrote:Head high rubs is crazy :shock: I see them all the time where our elk herd is, but it always blows me away to see them where there are no elk. Only seen two over the years and I am not sure the one was actually a rub. Hope you get eyes in whoever is making them 8-)


They were consistently upper chest on me. I’m 5’ 9”

There was 3-4 of them that were legit eye level. Tallest rubs I’ve ever come across. The buck that I THINK made them was a 150ish ten. Huge buck. Only saw him in velvet once. I hunted near that bedding area twice last fall, but wrong wind for that bedding. He was using the area different than I thought. I do think he’ll bed in there with a NW but if he did he likely saw me access. :shifty: the adjacent bedding to all his big rubs is a 300-400 yard stretch of beds and rubs often enough. They can bed anywhere in there. There’s no structure to key on at all.

They lay downwind of an opening with excellent escape. I figured bedding would concentrate the further in I went, but it was the opposite. Bedding was better closer to where I accessed. I knew I was winding some of it when I accessed, but I now realize I winded way too much. :shifty:

I’m going to go in a 2nd time so I know every leaf and twig. I think I have a good game plan for that spot, but it’s not impossible he will still see me access. Gotta figure that out. It’s a very tough spot to access without bumping deer. I bumped deer both times I hunted it last fall.
User avatar
BRoth82
500 Club
Posts: 906
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 9:00 am
Location: Southern MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby BRoth82 » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:36 am

Man Lockdown we're getting into some awesome looking spots. Just curious, how many prepped treestand sets and ground sets do like to head into the season with? I'm talking about total so new and old ones?
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2021 scouting reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:37 am

BRoth82 wrote:Man Lockdown we're getting into some awesome looking spots. Just curious, how many prepped treestand sets and ground sets do like to head into the season with? I'm talking about total so new and old ones?


The more the better. There’s no such thing as too many options. I think the most ground blinds and stands I’ve had hunt ready once green up hit was 27. Most of those were new. I maybe hunted half of them that season :think:

The funny part is I often end up in impromptu spots. I’ve found that bedding areas constantly change year to year and through out the season. It’s impossible to be prepared for everything.

Not sure how many I’ve set up this year. Would have to go through my scouting journal.


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 72 guests