Doing your off season scouting
Your Early Season Scouting
Off season scouting is one of the best ways to boost your success, and find out what animals made it through the winter. Your scouting technique will vary depending on where you're located. If you're in the deserts of Utah you may want to focus on water due to the hot weather, while in the mid west in Iowa you may be focusing on the feed your animal is visiting.
Antler Hunting
Antler hunting is a great way to find out what animal made it through the winter. Finding antlers is a great way to keep tabs on the deer in that particular area. Finding antlers can give a great idea of what kind of deer are in the area and the caliber of animal you're looking at. This can also be very helpful in finding the animal in the following months leading up to the opening day of hunting season. Mature animals are very tough to pattern, but finding an antler can be very helpful when trying to put together the puzzle of a big mature deer or Elk. At the very least you can make a little sum of cash off the antlers you do find. Antler hunting is an affective way to find out where they're at during the late season, but not necessarily their whereabouts in the early season.
Trail Cameras
As its nearing the middle of June, hunters all over are beginning to set out their trail cameras in game hotspots in hopes of snagging that picture of your next hit list critter. Trail Cameras have always been an extremely effective tool while scouting. Having the ability to have eyes on a certain location at all times of the day and night have really affected not only my success but the way I am able to use my time effective and not only hunt harder, but smarter as well.
Where To Effectively Place Your Trail Camera
Placement of your trail camera is critical! With the view of your camera, just hanging it on any tree in the woods may prove to be ineffective when you show back up in a couple weeks to find nothing but a squirrel and his nuts on your camera! Instead focus on high density animal sign, such as tracks, game trails, and a water or food sources the animals frequent. In the case of setting your camera up on a game trail always make sure your camera is pointed quartering down the trail. The setup I have found most effective is setting up 10-15 feet off the trail and have it point far enough down the trail that you can catch the animal coming and get the best possible picture. If you were to set up shooting strait at the trail, unless you have a quick trigger on your camera, subjects may be blurred. Especially at night this is common. Setting up on a water or food source can be very effective. It is all about finding where the animals frequent. So if you find a water hole or food source, check for adequate sign that would make it a worth while place to put your camera.
Good Old Fashion Hiking And Glassing
And of course getting them boots on the ground and glassing is great way to scout. The oldest of the scouting techniques, this is one of the more risky tactics. You risk alerting animals of your presents, and chasing them out of the area. But don't get me wrong, this is a very important part of the process. not only are you seeing tons of area. But in the process you're learning the area better. The best way to go about this is glassing, and staying far enough away from where you suspect the animals to be so you don't run the risk of spooking them out of an area. Find a good enough vantage point where you can scan lots of area at a time. At this point focus on ridges or fields that are a good source of food for your target animal. And get comfortable behind your glass because you will probably be spending a lot of time behind them!
Off season scouting is one of the best ways to boost your success, and find out what animals made it through the winter. Your scouting technique will vary depending on where you're located. If you're in the deserts of Utah you may want to focus on water due to the hot weather, while in the mid west in Iowa you may be focusing on the feed your animal is visiting.
Antler Hunting
Antler hunting is a great way to find out what animal made it through the winter. Finding antlers is a great way to keep tabs on the deer in that particular area. Finding antlers can give a great idea of what kind of deer are in the area and the caliber of animal you're looking at. This can also be very helpful in finding the animal in the following months leading up to the opening day of hunting season. Mature animals are very tough to pattern, but finding an antler can be very helpful when trying to put together the puzzle of a big mature deer or Elk. At the very least you can make a little sum of cash off the antlers you do find. Antler hunting is an affective way to find out where they're at during the late season, but not necessarily their whereabouts in the early season.
Trail Cameras
As its nearing the middle of June, hunters all over are beginning to set out their trail cameras in game hotspots in hopes of snagging that picture of your next hit list critter. Trail Cameras have always been an extremely effective tool while scouting. Having the ability to have eyes on a certain location at all times of the day and night have really affected not only my success but the way I am able to use my time effective and not only hunt harder, but smarter as well.
Where To Effectively Place Your Trail Camera
Good Old Fashion Hiking And Glassing
And of course getting them boots on the ground and glassing is great way to scout. The oldest of the scouting techniques, this is one of the more risky tactics. You risk alerting animals of your presents, and chasing them out of the area. But don't get me wrong, this is a very important part of the process. not only are you seeing tons of area. But in the process you're learning the area better. The best way to go about this is glassing, and staying far enough away from where you suspect the animals to be so you don't run the risk of spooking them out of an area. Find a good enough vantage point where you can scan lots of area at a time. At this point focus on ridges or fields that are a good source of food for your target animal. And get comfortable behind your glass because you will probably be spending a lot of time behind them!
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