When to Start Scouting For Whitetail Deer
To become a better, more successful hunter, you must learn the animal inside and out.
Whitetail Deer in Velvet
The common question we get is, “When should I start scouting for whitetails?”
In the midwestern region, it’s common practice to wait weeks or even days before deer season opens, to start scouting and preparing. Whereas there is nothing wrong with this, this method isn’t setting you up for success. The easiest way to become skilled at something is to do it often, do it well, and practice. The best way to ensure you fill a tag every season is to learn the animal the best you can. Learn their patterns, learn their behavior, learn their eating habits, and where they hang out. The best way to do this is to scout year-round.
The best time to start scouting for whitetail is now. Spring, summer, fall, and even winter. This technique will teach you a whitetails bedding areas, feeding grounds, routes and travel corridors, and behavior throughout the year. Whitetail deer are very habitual animals, the better you can understand those patterns, the more success you'll have in the fall. Each season has its own set of tactics when it comes to scouting.
Using tools like Google Earth, or an even more detailed & updated, hunter-friendly app like HuntWise, you’ll be able to see a birds-eye view of your hunting property and public lands. Having efficient tools for scouting will be key. Optics, maps, digital mapping apps, and even local friends.
Chapter 1: Spring Scouting
Setting up trail cameras to track deer movement
This is shed season, you can use this time to your advantage. Shed season is a direct representation of where the deer hang out and winter. Pay extra attention to rubs and scrapes, old deer sign, and where you're finding these sheds. You’ll learn a lot about HOW deer are moving by mapping out their trails and movement, and pinpointing rub and scrape spots.
When you’re out in the field scouting, be sure to ask yourself a lot of questions. Why do the deer like this area? Where is their food source? Where is their cover? What was the wind direction? This will sharpen your environmental awareness, and get your mind thinking like a deer does. That skill alone will make you a better hunter in the long run.
What makes a whitetail hunter so good, is the ability to understand the woods. Knowing the dynamic of change. Follow the food. What are they eating during each season?
Chapter 2 : Summer Scouting
If you’re new to deer hunting this year or you've acquired access to new hunting lands, now is the most important time to scout. A perfect opportunity to put those new optics to use as well. Summertime is when does will be running around with new fawns, bucks will be growing velvet, and herds of deer will be found in the bean fields. A good way to get a good idea of your area's deer population, where they hang out, and what they are eating. Don’t get dead set on their location because come fall, these deer could be in a whole new area. That doesn't mean that summer isn't the most crucial time to scout.
Take an inventory of all of your stands, trail cameras, and hunt areas. You can use the HuntWise app to map out your current or new hunting area, modify and adjust your stand locations, and trail camera locations and input the new information you've gathered over winter and spring. Update your waypoints with new rubs, scrapes, feeding grounds, and travel lanes. This is where you’re putting all of your scouting work to use.
Set up trail cameras on travel routes, food sources, and water sources. Place tree stands around your hunting area based on where you think they will be, where the wind will be in the best direction, and where there is food. By the end of summer, you’ll have enough information compiled to make changes to your stand locations before the season starts. Have a plan for hunting the rut, and have backup stands in case the wind and weather are bad or your plan A fails. The HuntCast feature within the HuntWise App will help you choose the right stand all season long.
Chapter 3: Fall/Winter Scouting
A great time to scout after the season closes is when the snow is on the ground. Whitetail behavior is much easier to learn when the snow tells a bigger story than bare ground. Deer will still be in their winter patterns, showing you what food sources and area of cover they are using. Because deer are habitual animals, they will probably use those same areas next season.
Late Season bedding areas are easier to find and determine who is using them; does or bucks based on the size of the beds. If you find a small bedding area or one bed, it’s usually a buck. Multiple beds or larger bedding areas typically represent a family or doe bedding area.
When you're scouting, remember just because an area looks good to you, doesn't mean the deer will be there. Bucks can live in a small wooded area, the yard off a country road, or deep within a swamp. Let them tell you where they will be based on the information you compile while scouting.
