Live From The Field 2014 Scouting Reports

[mibowhunter]

I went out for a few hours this morning on southern michigan public land.... i had found a place that piqued my interest a bit while doing some aerial scouting. It was a lowland area, completely surrounded by a lake and a bunch of tributaries. I guess in my fantasty world, I was hoping to find a tough-to-get-to spot that wouldn't be pounded by pressure..... unfortunately as is often the case, I found a LOT of hunter sign... but i never look at a scout as "failure", i just learned that there were a lot of hunters in that area! So some good did come of it...

[Dewey]

Finally got a day off work to do some scouting! Felt like I had to cram 3 weeks worth into one day to get caught up again. I saved a lot of time today by going directly to spots I cyber scouted and didn't waste much time just wandering around. Always a good feeling finding a bed exactly where you think it should be and even better when you kick a buck out of that same bed.

Here is that bed. I bumped the buck out as I approached. Notice the rub right in the bed.



It wasn't hard to find this bed since there was a very good rubline leading right to it. Usually it's not this easy.













Nice to see water levels in the marsh are back to normal. Hope we can maintain this until fall as higher water makes bedding so much more predictable. The last few years have been tough because dry conditions caused deer to bed just about anywhere they wanted.

This ditch was bone dry the last two seasons.



I should have worn my hip boots today since I spent much of the day in over knee deep water. Knee boots just didn't cut it today Actually it felt pretty good and nothing more refreshing than boots filled with cold marsh water!

I found other beds and bumped deer out of almost every one. After the first hour or so I stopped taking pics and just stayed focussed on scouting. Today showed me the value of slowing down and really picking spots apart instead of just cruising thru trying to cover as much ground as possible.

Hoping to get a few more good scouts in before green up covers all of the old sign.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[bigwoodsmn]

... spots with buck beds, staging, tall rubs... one spot is cool the deer are following a ditch from the marsh to the oaks on a point... then up to a field. That point will be good for a hunt...








[ Post made via Android ]

[Jackson Marsh]

Nice finds guys!

[ Post made via Android ]

[Rutnstrut]

Wanted to scout a few places this morning, but they had turkey hunters parked in the lot. Although the spots I am interested in to scout aren't spots I would turkey hunt, I don't want to ruin someones hunt. Does anyone else treat a spot scouting wise like they do for hunting? If someone is there, move on to the next spot? Even if they weren't hunting, I don't like others knowing where I am scouting anyway.

[BigHunt]

Wanted to scout a few places this morning, but they had turkey hunters parked in the lot. Although the spots I am interested in to scout aren't spots I would turkey hunt, I don't want to ruin someones hunt. Does anyone else treat a spot scouting wise like they do for hunting? If someone is there, move on to the next spot? Even if they weren't hunting, I don't like others knowing where I am scouting anyway.

ill move on and come back later to see if that car or truck is gone ...

[headgear]

Scouted some familiar ground today, checked out 3-4 of those overlooked spots. Found some beds and buck sign but pretty much younger bucks and does calling these beds home.

[mheichelbech]

Went to 2 spots y'day. 1 was a new one on public ground that is basically locked in by private ground..long story about the permission to travel through for access! I found my first buck bed on a point I had picked out prior to! Rubs all around it but not big ones. I trimmed up a set around a white oak flat. Should be a good spot as this is where they Henryville tornados went through, you can see where they sat down in the woods...total devastation with it looking like loggers went through but didn't take the trees. It is not penetrable in some areas but this is actually an aid as it looks to be helping to funnel the deer. Saw 6 running through the creek bottom below the point. Tempting to make a set there but know the wind would kill me.

My second spot, I set up my stand for my target buck. I spotted 6 deer from a distance entering the field about 100 yards from my stand.

I found about 15 ticks on me....hate turkey ticks! So small, hard to know they are on you.

[bigwoodsmn]

Yesterday I scouted marsh near my home. Today I drove 400 miles and scouted some big timber up north.

We found fresh beds on a small ridge I'd never seen before (doesn't show on a topo). Saw lots of rubs from last fall, a few sets of decent buck tracks from this week, wolf tracks, a few new cuts.

Even better, I saw a lot of deer today.

Mainly I just had a good time covering some ground with [glow=red]the buck killer[/glow] in the family -- that's pops.

[Jackson Marsh]

Looks like a fun trip bigwoods!

[ Post made via Android ]

[Trailcamaddict]

Bigwoodsmn - looks like your dad found a good bedding area. That huge pile of wood to his back should keep him safe from those wolves that are leaving the big tracks. Visual protection to the front. Looks like a fun scout!

[bigwoodsmn]

That wood pile looks like a good spot to crawl up and shoot from too... but it'll be long gone by fall. ..


Found a tall wide rub tonight in an area where I found a couple buck beds. Putting pieces together in that area.



Lots of thigh deep water out there...

[ Post made via Android ]

[Singing Bridge]

I've got lots of water in my areas too, bigwoods. GJ on the scouting.

I've had a productive couple of days myself. Yesterday I kicked two different bucks out of their beds, I saw them jump off the back of their bedding area just before they vanished in the thick cover. Lots of hair in the beds, I believe one is a 3 year old and the other a 4 year old.

Today I went back to a buck bedding area I found a few weeks back but didn't have time to look around. I spent lots of time in buck beds here, and picked my best option for a stand, determined my entry and exit...

no complaints for a couple of days of scouting.

[cbigbear]

Scouted the marsh for a few hours Fri. I jumped two deer & found one decent buck bed. All sign was 100 yds off the pine marsh transition. The hogs seem to have called the transition line home so looks like the deer moved out some. The deer are shedding pretty good right now I found hair on trails & by old rubs.




[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Jackson Marsh]

It felt good to get back out into the marsh today, it has been a LONG time since I scouted, which might make for a long hunting season too Ended up being a great day, I found some new beds and am quite excited to give them a hunt.


This bed was on the edge of the transition line, cattails to the back and redbrush and willows all around. Rub in the bed, not real impressive, but I will take it.






Little bit of hair in the bed.






View from the bed. This might be a tricky hunt, the kill tree is kinda close, I think it is doable.........maybe If I use this tree I can cover two exit trails. The other option is a ground hunt which is farther back and only covers one trail, but easier to access without getting busted. The cattails and leaves will have to cover my approach. I will have to hunt about four feet or so off the ground.






This well worn bed was under a large tree in the transition line. The exit trail is through a very thick brushy area with no huntable trees. This will be a ground hunt.





I found other beds and setups, but quit taking pictures because they all look the same

I have other areas I plan on checking out over the next couple of month or so, usually my scouting is done by now so it should be interesting to see if I find anything useful.