How early do you start scouting for whitetail?

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Most guys around here don't scout at all. They will simply show up at their old haunts and hope for the best. Those of us that take it seriously know better. Personally I usually start scouting around February or March to see what has survived and this year I'm using shed hunting as a scouting tool as well. I try to get some cameras up as early as April and leave them out a couple months before checking them some of them, this is mostly to Guage fawn success but also to see doe to buck ratio.

What's your strategies?

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Skyhigh

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I basically follow what you do, accept I try to get cameras out of the woods right now. I have had issues with cameras/ cards being stolen by shed hunters sadly. I will put them back out late april/ may for the summer though. Another thing I try to do is add a new property every year, public or private, as a new option. I love learning a new place and how the deer use it.
 

Lheise88

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To me right now is the best time to explore and scout new places. I've been out the past 3 weekends. Always a bonus finding sheds as well. Right now I look for rub lines that show more of a bucks core area. I hunt a lot of public so now is the time I can scout wherever and not worry about disturbing anyone. Terrain features also stick out more now with no leaves etc. Let's me get a better view of where the deer are traveling. What part of Missouri do you hunt? I'm in the southeast.
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I basically follow what you do, accept I try to get cameras out of the woods right now. I have had issues with cameras/ cards being stolen by shed hunters sadly. I will put them back out late april/ may for the summer though. Another thing I try to do is add a new property every year, public or private, as a new option. I love learning a new place and how the deer use it.
Ya I had a camera stolen last year that I didn't expect anyone would have been right there. I didn't care so much about the camera but it had two months worth of information on it that I wanted I was pretty pissed.
To me right now is the best time to explore and scout new places. I've been out the past 3 weekends. Always a bonus finding sheds as well. Right now I look for rub lines that show more of a bucks core area. I hunt a lot of public so now is the time I can scout wherever and not worry about disturbing anyone. Terrain features also stick out more now with no leaves etc. Let's me get a better view of where the deer are traveling. What part of Missouri do you hunt? I'm in the southeast.
I'm in Rolla.

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Skyhigh

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Ya I had a camera stolen last year that I didn't expect anyone would have been right there. I didn't care so much about the camera but it had two months worth of information on it that I wanted I was pretty pissed.

I'm in Rolla.

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It is super frustrating. I had a card stolen last week, and they person broke the camera by hitting it with something. I always use cable locks to trees, so they cant get stolen, but apparently that isnt enough anymore.
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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It is super frustrating. I had a card stolen last week, and they person broke the camera by hitting it with something. I always use cable locks to trees, so they cant get stolen, but apparently that isnt enough anymore.
Yep extremely frustrating. I try to get back as far as I can and way away from the beaten path partially because that's where the deer are less pressured because a huge portion of hunters or just lazy and because a lot of Hunters are lazy so I don't think my stuff will get messed with as much.

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Skyhigh

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Yep extremely frustrating. I try to get back as far as I can and way away from the beaten path partially because that's where the deer are less pressured because a huge portion of hunters or just lazy and because a lot of Hunters are lazy so I don't think my stuff will get messed with as much.

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I wish I could make that work here. Eastern sd has nowhere to get away from people sadly. The positive is there is a ton of public so some spots dont get used as much at least.
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I wish I could make that work here. Eastern sd has nowhere to get away from people sadly. The positive is there is a ton of public so some spots dont get used as much at least.
Well it's certainly not like out west but one spot I hunt I can get about 4 miles from the trailhead. Most Whitetail Hunters around here are not going to go more than a half mile or so and even the hardcore ones probably aren't going to go more than two miles, dragging a deer is just too hard after that lol.

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Skyhigh

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Well it's certainly not like out west but one spot I hunt I can get about 4 miles from the trailhead. Most Whitetail Hunters around here are not going to go more than a half mile or so and even the hardcore ones probably aren't going to go more than two miles, dragging a deer is just too hard after that lol.

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Are you allowed to quarter deer up and pack them out? Thats what I usually do if its over a mile. I drug a mule deer couple years ago 3/4 a mile and that was enough for me haha
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Are you allowed to quarter deer up and pack them out? Thats what I usually do if its over a mile. I drug a mule deer couple years ago 3/4 a mile and that was enough for me haha
Oh ya I bone them out where they lay anything over half mile now, but that's pretty foreign to most Whitetail Hunters. Our conservation department actually prefers it as a way to control the spread of CWD.

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around here we have fairly heavy pressure on public land. my cameras are only out on the public pieces end of august through beginning of October. I put them out in a grid pattern and when I get a shooter on camera that time of the year I can bet it will be his core area headed into the prerut. once I have a good buck on camera I pull all cameras. this serves two purposes...prevents the stealing of cameras and it also doesn't leave sign that I am hunting the area. the cameras then get moved to the private pieces and are only checked as I hunt stands close to them during season.
I look for other peoples cameras to get a feel for areas that will have stands or pressure during the season. on public pieces once I have the hunters scouted I will move stand locations to thick escape routes or funnels with lots of cover. once the prerut rolls around I walk from the opposite direction into those all day sits early...sometimes it is over a mile from the backside when my spot is only a half mile from access. but I count on the other hunters to move mature bucks to me at that point.
this time of year is great for scouting and getting the lay of the land with no leaves etc plus the added bonus of picking up sheds. also keep your eyes peeled for trees that people have been using climber stands. you can see the scrapes up the side of the tree. pin those spots on GPS because you can count on a guy sitting their again the next year. once you figure out where other people are hunting you can adjust to take advantage. if there are more than 1 or two hunters per 100 acres time to find another spot
 
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I hunt public land and I scout all year round.
Once the season ends I will get out and look for sign.
This is where I can find scraps, rubs, etc that I was not able to find in this season.
This helps me build a plan for the next year.

I also run cameras year round.
After the season is over I'm using them to see what bucks made it through the season and to figure out when they are dropping their racks.
That's when the shed hunting begins.
I already have my core areas, but I like to expand out to see if I can find new spots or to better put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Once June-July comes around I am accessing potential bucks and really trying to stay on top of them for the next few months.
I'm either trying to put together a way to put them down early season or finding heavily saturated doe areas near them.
So once the cursing starts, it's game on!
 
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I never stop. I like to hike and bike as much as I like to hunt, and I'm always looking when I'm out. As for the Private stuff near home, I'll go once a month before the season and that's it. It's worth mentioning I've been hunting the private stuff for so long I already know where to start.
 

ChrisS

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Put those cameras up in the trees. I started packing one section of climbing sticks and mounting them about 10 ft off the ground with this (which I think I saw on here). People don't look up usually. And if they do, they'll have a heckuva time getting to the camera.

Where I hunt in the Adirondacks, I'll set cameras out as early as I can get into the woods (April/early May) and check them again in August. At which point I'll relocate them to other areas if there's not much to look at. Then check again in early October.
 

Skyhigh

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Put those cameras up in the trees. I started packing one section of climbing sticks and mounting them about 10 ft off the ground with this (which I think I saw on here). People don't look up usually. And if they do, they'll have a heckuva time getting to the camera.

Where I hunt in the Adirondacks, I'll set cameras out as early as I can get into the woods (April/early May) and check them again in August. At which point I'll relocate them to other areas if there's not much to look at. Then check again in early October.
I usually do this, but some locations aren't good for doing it sadly. I try to as much as possible though and it works really well.
 

Sodbuster

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I leave my cameras out till Feb (private ground) to get pictures of what lived through the season.Shed hunters,Turkey hunters and then Mushroom hunters are going to be roaming from Feb till May.By June ,the grain crops are planted(hopefully) and above ground.As they are mostly rotated every year I start putting cameras out again in the travel areas around the corn fields.Next I move to the soybean areas and then a couple cameras in the thickest Willow patches I know of along creeks and rivers.

The Willows are usually where I get the biggest buck pics first.They are usually solitary and like the cool,damp earth close to water.They seem to really protect their velvet.As summer progresses,the mature bucks travel into the corn and soybean areas to mingle with the other deer but the stream banks are backup habitat.Most of the time bachelor groups will form over time but I have gotten pictures of single bucks all year that were always alone.By August, I have picked an area for a certain deer and have several different types of stands in place.

Sept 15 is our Archery opener and the early feeding pattern(corn and soybean fields) gives up some great bucks every year.Pre rut-chase phase is at the end of October and can be amazing.Rifle season is during the rut in November.I go back to a hunting a feeding pattern with my bow after Firearms season.Deer are herding up but the does are still getting harassed and any day a new stud could come walking by.I do try to stay as scent free as possible.I always play the wind and will absolutely walk an extra mile to keep scent down.
 

gumbl3

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Texas
I'll use this time to look for game trails, travel routes, etc.

Not necessarily looking of certain deer, but where to setup for next year
 
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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Put those cameras up in the trees. I started packing one section of climbing sticks and mounting them about 10 ft off the ground with this (which I think I saw on here). People don't look up usually. And if they do, they'll have a heckuva time getting to the camera.

Where I hunt in the Adirondacks, I'll set cameras out as early as I can get into the woods (April/early May) and check them again in August. At which point I'll relocate them to other areas if there's not much to look at. Then check again in early October.
That's solid advice and something I've considered but never employed.

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