Scouting Frustration

[BAS4109]

This thread is like a therapy session.

Stay after them.

That is what makes the beast so great, we all kind of motivate each other without having to really try. You might swear off hunting in the heat of the moment but hop on the beast and read a few threads, see others with some kills or encounters and you get all the more motivated to get out after them no matter what it takes.

This is the best hunting website beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[thepennsylvanian]

Going in totally blind I like to skirt the edges of the brutally thick crap. Theres no point in busting through it, you spook everything out anyway. Save the brush busting for post season scouting.

Scouting with stand on back in a new area is a uniquely different kind of scouting. Have to balance covering ground versus sounding like a drunk elephant.

Fresh sign doesn't need to be too crazy. You don't need to find rubs at all really. Think subtle...a big track here, a big turd there, a whiff of deer stink and you know you are in the wheelhouse.

Ok, so you've found some subtle, but fresh sign, say a big track! Now what is it telling you and how do you react to it? This is where I am at because I've missed my opportunity to take an absolutely giant public land deer .....

[Country]

This thread is like a therapy session.

Stay after them.

That is what makes the beast so great, we all kind of motivate each other without having to really try. You might swear off hunting in the heat of the moment but hop on the beast and read a few threads, see others with some kills or encounters and you get all the more motivated to get out after them no matter what it takes.

This is the best hunting website beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Totally agree with you all on this. I'm pumped to get back out there! I've been at this style of hunting for a while now. I'm nowhere near many of you guys. Definitely need to up my scouting and look at all of these situations as a positive. Im getting there. Thanks for the feedback and words of encouragement.

[Kraftd]

Going in totally blind I like to skirt the edges of the brutally thick crap. Theres no point in busting through it, you spook everything out anyway. Save the brush busting for post season scouting.

Scouting with stand on back in a new area is a uniquely different kind of scouting. Have to balance covering ground versus sounding like a drunk elephant.

Fresh sign doesn't need to be too crazy. You don't need to find rubs at all really. Think subtle...a big track here, a big turd there, a whiff of deer stink and you know you are in the wheelhouse.

Ok, so you've found some subtle, but fresh sign, say a big track! Now what is it telling you and how do you react to it? This is where I am at because I've missed my opportunity to take an absolutely giant public land deer .....

For me, I need to have cyber scouted at a minimum or preferably be able to sop and pull up an aerial. My number on goal on a blind hunt is to find a big track heading towards suspected bedding that I believe is from that morning or the previous day, bonus points of that day had the same wind as today. From there I assess where I'm at, where likely bedding is, and how best to set-up on it for the current conditions. Big sign in night time spots lets me know there is at least on around. Big tracks by bedding gets me very excited to hunt.

I just don't find rubs on my local public like I do other places. A lot of the thick stuff is buckthorn, and my experience is they must not really like rubbing it. For that reason rubs are great but I've learned not to get discouraged if I'm not finding them. If we get to about now and I don't find any scraping, I get a litle concerned if there are bucks in the area, but big tracks are what I'm looking for.

[elk yinzer]

Going in totally blind I like to skirt the edges of the brutally thick crap. Theres no point in busting through it, you spook everything out anyway. Save the brush busting for post season scouting.

Scouting with stand on back in a new area is a uniquely different kind of scouting. Have to balance covering ground versus sounding like a drunk elephant.

Fresh sign doesn't need to be too crazy. You don't need to find rubs at all really. Think subtle...a big track here, a big turd there, a whiff of deer stink and you know you are in the wheelhouse.

Ok, so you've found some subtle, but fresh sign, say a big track! Now what is it telling you and how do you react to it? This is where I am at because I've missed my opportunity to take an absolutely giant public land deer .....

Pretty much try to figure out why that track is there and if it is daytime sign. At that point I am going to key in on trying to figure out where he is bedding and how I can get as close as possible. I guess in this case it is important to note I am not hunting anywhere totally blind, I will have at least cyber scouted it first.

[ajandrs]

Went out this morning with stand on my back. I am getting really frustrated with this. It seems like the same thing always happens. I end up in a tangled mess that I can't possibly walk through quietly. Try to get to the less thick area. Don't see any sign worth hunting. Everything is under water. I get soaked. Saw 2 tiny rubs. Walk around for 2 hours and don't even hang a stand. Come home with a wasted hunt considering getting out of the house ain't easy. I'm always hoping for that ah hah moment like I found where they're at. Don't see anything worth sitting.

Does this happen to anyone? Getting tired of it.

This was me last night, I had been waiting for a North wind (not too common here) to check out a point that looked promising from aerial scouting and last night was my chance. As I was nearing where I knew I needed to enter the woods to work my way towards the back of the point I found a fresh rub next to a bed along the transition line and followed a small trail off the rub about 100 yards into the timber. It was a slow, loud, pain in the but. A ton of low brush that I had to bend over as far as possible to get under, any further I would have been crawling. Saw plenty of tracks along the trail but no more buck sign, the trail ended up coming into a nice opening where about 5-6 different trails intersected and wasn't too far off where I was hoping to setup for the point I was after anyway. It was getting late in the afternoon so I decided to setup and see what would come through, even though I hadn't come on any more buck sign since leaving the transition. Still though with all the tracks and obvious trails intersecting in this area I felt really good about at least putting some doe meat in the freezer ... then, nothing, all night. Talk about discouraging. I went out a different way and as I was leaving my headlamp shined on 2 different reflective thumb tacks so someone had already been back there so who knows if they busted the area with scent or noise or whatever, was kicking myself the entire hike out for not finding those tacks when I was looking for my tree. I learned a lot from the experience though so I don't consider it wasted effort / time, gotta keep on keeping on!

[kfili]

At this point in the thread this may just be redundant but I'm going to "vent" anyway. This past weekend I had fri, and sat to hunt, I planned on going to an area I sat the week before but move deeper in, I had a plan B, C and D and a spot for the next day if none of it worked out. I walked over 6 miles on friday and found no sign! this was after a fresh rain too and we had a cold front I was so discouraged. Saturday went to a new spot on the same piece of land after pouring over maps and tried to scout/hunt. Got caught up in some crazy thick crap with almost no way to move around and no trees to set up in anyway. Man I was frustrated. The whole time I was finding zero sign thinking about how the deer could bed wherever they want in this area! its good food, cover, water, it feels so deflating at times, Im glad this is a common feeling though, almost feels like a 'rite of passage'. Im gonna keep at it, might have to try out some ground hunts...

[Natenlsn2]

I can totally relate...today I set out on a blind hunt with the intention of setting up on hot sign. Walked 1.5 miles through nasty thick crap with stand/sticks/camera gear and bag...finally found 1 rub. Set up, saw nothing. Haha!

Before the hunt I was getting a little discouraged because all the areas I have found good sign I have burned out so far and now just trying to figure out what to do now. I had to give myself the pep talk that who knows, maybe today on this blind hunt I might shoot the biggest buck of my life, I will learn something, I will experience God’s creation...sure helped me so much to preach at myself. I think that without that positive mindset I would have given up a mile sooner and not found the fresh sign. I also would not have enjoyed the hunt as much with that poor mindset. So...I am essentially in the same boat as you haha!

[Beastintraining]

Wooo, I am not alone! I will be doing this on Thursday so maybe Friday I will be able to add to the therapy session.