Whitetail Bowhunter - Scouting and Finding Whitetail Deer

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Spring Whitetail Deer Scouting - There Is No Better Time

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard other hunters say that they are going to go out and do some preseason whitetail deer scouting when the calendar says it is the middle of August. I too find August an exciting time to go out, and usually just before dark, I am able to find deer that include groups of bucks hanging out together. You are able to get either some nice still photographs or video of them. The problem is that in August your scouting activities are limited. You are able to find and see deer but it is too late to really scout them.

If you try in August to do a full scale scouting effort, you will go a long ways towards driving the big bucks in the area either to another area or force them into seclusion and nocturnal movement only. In addition, this is the time of year that Mother Nature has completely vegetated the surroundings. I am fully reminded of this every year simply by looking out my kitchen window. I have several large lilac trees that grow along my fence that borders my neighbor’s property. In August I can barely see their house and in the winter I can barely see the lilac trees that produce this incredible amount of foliage. In my hunting areas this phenomenon is magnified ten times over.

If you want to see real live deer with their racks on their heads, then go out in August, but if you really want to SCOUT the large bucks in your area then go out in spring right after the snow melts.

You will find that right after the snow melts that the woods are almost identical to how they were left in the fall after the rut. Vegetation both on the ground and on the trees is either missing or very short making searching for rubs much easier. The earth is moist exposing tracks and scrapes. Most of this sign disappears once the ground dries. The ground becomes light colored and easily disturbed. Offshoot trails have not been covered up by new grass or fallen leaves. Big whitetail bucks rarely follow the “beaten path” come hunting season and knowing the location of offshoot trails is critical to stand placement. This is also the best time of the year to find shed antlers, especially on the east coast. Very few antler sheds are around in the fall on the east coast due to rodents eating them for the minerals.

Two other advantages to spring whitetail deer scouting is first it is great exercise and second you will be totally focused on studying the area and looking for all available sign. Thoughts of scaring deer or disturbing the area are not as large of a concern.

I encourage you to get off the couch this spring and spend some quality time scouting and patterning the whitetail deer that live in your hunting area. Done properly, adjustments for relocated or changing food sources will be the only scouting necessary come hunting season.