2019 Scouting Reports

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Wannabelikedan
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2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Wannabelikedan » Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:43 am

Surprised it’s nearly February and one of these hasn’t been started yet. Be on my way out the door shortly. Good luck to all on their preparation for the 2019 season.


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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 27, 2019 3:54 am

Good luck with the scout, if you have time post your results.

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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:14 am

ive been out the last three days back tracking 2 big bucks in the snow and planing setups along there travel areas. i found 3 beds from those bucks so far im skipping over all the normal scouting i do and really focusing on learning the big bucks. so far i located two beds on small bugs in a frozen over swamp and one tucked under heavy brush over watching a main hiking trail only 40 yards too the side. one thing im really noticing is how different these two bucks travel and bed from the other deer. where and how these bucks are moving are amazing they navigate so close too hunter access and can do it completely undetected from human eyes. every move is done for a reason crossing other deer wind checking stands its really amazing. whats also amazing is the consistency of there travel. another thing about there travel is there is no real sign on there daytime travel the only sign i see is in areas i consider night travel. the one buck exited his bed and instead of going straight for the fields like the other deer he makes a big back cut loop too where the other deer are bedded then cuts the same deer trails too food using the cover of dark. then exiting food he straight lines twords his bedding only too walk right past it for several hundred yards then eventually drops down into a thick swamp and enters his bedding from the back door leaving no trace of him going into that area from his exits. another thing i see is every bed has a sight advantage the buck has full control of his surroundings. i have 10 trees picked out on his travel for different winds. one thing im seeing is the bucks are moving alot more in daylight than most realize they are just doing it out of sight on there own paths.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:07 am

Will be a while before I make it out... tons of snow this year. Supposedly 7 more inches coming tomorrow :?
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:30 am

Lockdown wrote:Will be a while before I make it out... tons of snow this year. Supposedly 7 more inches coming tomorrow :?

Break out the snowshoes. When the snow gets really deep I love getting out and exploring deep snow. Great time to get out and quickly learn the lay of the land on new properties.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Grizzlyadam » Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:55 am

I went out this afternoon to a big piece of public that is very hilly terrain. Actually a mountain. Picked a nice looking southerly facing point as my destination way far from any trailhead that looked perfect on a topographic map. Got there and sure enough textbook buck bed! I think I even kicked a buck out of it because the snow had big fresh tracks and brownish tarsal juice in the bed that smelled of buck. So I headed down to pick out an ambush tree and when I found what I thought would be the best tree to set up in wouldn't you know it there was already a stand there. Didn't look like it had been used in years so I'm still undecided if I'm ever going back to hunt there or not. Either way it was cool to find exactly what I was hoping to find through cyber scouting that piece. That was a first for me, thanks hunting beast. I normally would have spent weeks scouting to find a spot like that.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby upstateNYhunter518 » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:21 am

I have been out scouting mostly every weekend since my season in Upstate New York has been done. I'm new to the Beast and have a lot of catching up to do to scout out the private property I hunt on.

I am on the road a lot during the day for work, and in Upstate New York there's quite the abundance of state land for the Adirondack Mountains close by. When I am in an area that holds some state land I drive by and scope it out for deer, sign, access points, etc.

Well this past week I happen to be driving past a marsh and see a small cedar patch about 15 yards long only 50 yards or so from the road. it looked like a perfect spot for a bed so I investigated. Haha. I trudged through the foot-and-a-half snow down to the cedar Thicket and found Fresh Tracks going in and a bed on the Eastern side facing the road with the marsh to his back. It was one of my first Beast haha moments. I felt just confident enough in the knowledge I've been gathering in the last few months, to take the wild chance and check out the ticket. Glad that I did. So hooked on The Hunting Beast and chasing whitetails in general. Sleep is overrated. I have a 6 month old and when she gets up at night and i feed her, I watch some more Beast Tv to keep learning haha. Certainly makes getting up in the night more enjoyable.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby NYBackcountry » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:41 am

Scouted a new mountain today. Three good beds that are huntable. Two of which were on the windward side. Predominant wind is South. I'm fairly certain one of them is be used on a S/SE or an E, all the way at the top of the mountain, he basically has a cliff to his left based on how he was laying. One exit trail down the mountain one up, knee high rubs in the bed. It was a very subtle bed, very slight depression in the pine needles. I'll get a picture when I return in March.

The second bed was really interesting, it was a unique mountain terrain bed. Large Rock outcropping and just below it a massive boulder, multiple knee to thigh high rubs from this past season and a monster historical rub. This one is tricky, I believe he is bedding on a point on the south side of the mountain, on windward days, but he's using the boulder to keep the wind off of him.

And the last one was on the leeward side overlooking the truck trail, it had a downed pine in front of him with rubs coming in both directions. This one was right on a Pine to hardwoods transition on a little knob that didn't show on the topo.

All of the doe sign was on the top of the mountain, leeward side. Lot''s of bedding.

I hit enough sign to return in March and get some trees selected. All but the one bed overlooking the truck trail wont get pressured, way to far. Tomorrow i'm going to pick up some cameras let soak all last season in two different locations.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby upstateNYhunter518 » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:14 pm

NYBackcountry wrote:Scouted a new mountain today. Three good beds that are huntable. Two of which were on the windward side. Predominant wind is South. I'm fairly certain one of them is be used on a S/SE or an E, all the way at the top of the mountain, he basically has a cliff to his left based on how he was laying. One exit trail down the mountain one up, knee high rubs in the bed. It was a very subtle bed, very slight depression in the pine needles. I'll get a picture when I return in March.

The second bed was really interesting, it was a unique mountain terrain bed. Large Rock outcropping and just below it a massive boulder, multiple knee to thigh high rubs from this past season and a monster historical rub. This one is tricky, I believe he is bedding on a point on the south side of the mountain, on windward days, but he's using the boulder to keep the wind off of him.

And the last one was on the leeward side overlooking the truck trail, it had a downed pine in front of him with rubs coming in both directions. This one was right on a Pine to hardwoods transition on a little knob that didn't show on the topo.

All of the doe sign was on the top of the mountain, leeward side. Lot''s of bedding.

I hit enough sign to return in March and get some trees selected. All but the one bed overlooking the truck trail wont get pressured, way to far. Tomorrow i'm going to pick up some cameras let soak all last season in two different locations.

Good luck on your camera finds! Hope you see a bunch of nice bucks! I have 4 cameras spaced out over about 450 acres. Put them out since the season ended. Will be checking them in the early summer. I have had a few good treks in the woods this winter and came on a few nice deer. I have got a good head start on the season so far, just got to keep up the pace till October
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Doublejake » Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:13 pm

Wannabelikedan wrote:Surprised it’s nearly February and one of these hasn’t been started yet. Be on my way out the door shortly. Good luck to all on their preparation for the 2019 season.


Went out myself and checked out a new area. Big buck tracks. Back tracked him to primary Bedding and found two tree stands left up on the public land. ( which is not supposed to be left up) They are really close to the Bucks bed. Found a couple other spots that are possible setups. One on the very small marsh Cattails that has high ground that comes out to a point and has a bed and rubs on it pretty close to the roadside. About 80 yards away is a ground blind that is a tarp that was sprayed with spray foam to keep the shape of a Tee pee. Odd never seen anything like that for a blind. One down fall is that it might be Duck Hunters and the Cattails marsh area is small and any intrusion will blow anything out. Marked everything on HuntStand for future reference.
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Wannabelikedan
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Wannabelikedan » Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:33 pm

Made about an hour drive to check some newly acquired state land. Not a big piece (3,000+) but it’s bow only aside from youth gun hunting (one weekend a season) allowed. This area has some terrain but looked fairly open from a map view. Not a bad thing if there is a lot of vegetation in the 4’-12’ range that will look open from an aireal. Turns out it is a pretty rocky and short grass mix. Lots of cedar and other poor soil type trees. Saw about as many deer and deer sign as I thought I would see. Just no sign of the caliber of bucks I’m after. I snuck within bow range of 3 does feeding on a brushy hilltop. They spooked 30 yards and stopped to watch me walk away. Not the kind of does you want supplying the herd. Best sign I found was a bedding area 50 yards off the main road watching the parking lot and access road. Pretty fresh scrape in that area but I couldn’t really pinpoint a bed. To bed there, ideally there would be a NW/W wind but those aren’t the most common winds either. Regardless, the sign still didn’t look like it belonged to the size of deer I’m after. Good enough reason not to waste a trip back to that place. Be back at it mid week.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Doublejake » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:47 pm

Lockdown wrote:Will be a while before I make it out... tons of snow this year. Supposedly 7 more inches coming tomorrow :?


Yah I didn’t think I was going too get out because of the Deep snow. Luckily we got a full day of rain and 1/2 of it melted. I went out yesterday to a new area. Wasn’t to bad.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby creepingdeth » Mon Jan 28, 2019 8:59 am

Got out for a walk last weekend. Explored farther into a piece of the largest public I hunt at this time. Typically a ghost town this time of year. Busted out a couple of does and not much for tracks. Who would have thought that in Jan. in MN, no snow!!We'll get it eventually, we always do :lol: .
This year my goal is not only finding a"good" area, but reading the sign better and knowing THE tree I want to be in, and when to be in that tree. Starting to think more about the value in this piece because the lack of buck sign. This may be the year I start to drop places from my list and venture farther away to better opportunities. To stay hunting in the general area I'm in, MN has the APR in effect down here so, to kill a buck, it has to have some size because of the 4 pts on a side. Its going to take some time and work to do this....aint giving up, its just starting to get fun :mrgreen: .
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:11 am

Dewey wrote:
Lockdown wrote:Will be a while before I make it out... tons of snow this year. Supposedly 7 more inches coming tomorrow :?

Break out the snowshoes. When the snow gets really deep I love getting out and exploring deep snow. Great time to get out and quickly learn the lay of the land on new properties.


In the past I would do just that, but with the limited amount of time I’ve got I need to make each scout count. I decided I need to know EVERYTHING about my best properties. Not being able to see trails and beds (and possibly even rubs) isn’t going to work. So I’m going to wait for prime time right after snow melt.

Not only that, I dropped quite a bit of change on an Ice Castle this spring and am thoroughly enjoying time on the lake with my family ;) my 3 year old is all about fishing and I’m loving it.
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Re: 2019 Scouting Reports

Unread postby mangoman62 » Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:33 pm

A week before bow season ended I came on a set of good tracks after a sit near a bed behind a swampy pond. I went back a week later and found his tracks in a well used rub line. Yesterday (with the season over), there were more tracks, but none of them his -- all too small. Lots of good cover, plenty of white oaks, and a long rub line out. The bed is about 100 yards away, but I'm not convinced it's his. It seems like a good idea to scout around and find more about what's going on farther away from the rub line. Would like to get to know this fella, really well. Here's a link to a shot of a typical track in the set. Not sure how to upload photos on this site.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZdreE ... sp=sharing


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