Spring scouting thread.
Wisconsin
This place needs some actual hunting threads. So place all of your scouting tips,results, mishaps etc... Today 3/17 I scouted/walked 2 new properties. Both were VPA properties, one was not real impressive. The other was pretty impressive with deer and turkey sign. In fact I heard birds gobbling all afternoon. I also found 5 Illegal stands and a ton of garbage. I took out what garbage I could carry. But notified the area warden about the stands and garbage. This was the 7th new to me property I have scouted this spring in my area. My plan for this fall is to hunt 85% public land and save our land for my soon to be 14yr old daughter to get her first archery buck. As far as mishaps. I found out after I had already picked up an armful of garbage today. That some of it was used catheters (YUCK). I'm glad I had my heavy deerskin gloves on, too bad I have to burn them now;)
Used catheters?! That's just disgusting! Way to go on picking up the garbage though Rutnut, much respect for that.
I've done a few shed hunting trips this spring. Over 15 hours walking and only 1 small 4pt to show, but I was super happy finding that little guy. A squirrel had pulled it next to his tree and another week and he woulda chewed through 2 of the tines. Last week actually saw 2 bucks holding horns still, nothing big but no wonder I'm not finding much. Waiting for my 1000 spruce to be ready so I can get em in the ground this spring.
I'm glad someone else sees this too.. It would be nice to see more hunting related threads.
I've put well over 120 miles on boot since the first week of February till now. Mainly searching for buck bedding. But also looking at last years rut sign too.
On scout missions 3 times this week . A great find Tuesday , huge rub on a 5 inch tree in a small piece of a hard to get to island of dry ground just 50 yards from a Freeway . Fresh tracks tell me he's still alive . Got a great pic on Facebook .
When the Next batch of bad weather comes , I'll sneak in & setup an ambush for this fall .
Interesting year , NO dead Deer found . On an average year I find 2 to 8 Dead Deer . Hit by vehicles , wounded & died , predater kills, old age , and so forth . Not a single one & I cover some serious ground .
I've been scouting while shed hunting lately. Found a heavy trail on top of a ridge. Ill be putting a stand there for the rut. Also moved a 2 man ladderstand.
Scouted more public today, put on just under 5 miles according to the GPS. Found some great stand sites in transition areas. Found some great buck beds. Also found quite a bit of water that was higher than my knee high boots. I also found a spot to NOT cross the swamp. I start crossing thinking this don't look too bad. Get half way of the 80 yards across and start thinking, this wasn't too smart. But I'm committed at that point. One more step and I'm belly button deep in ice cold water. Glad I put my phone in a dry bag when I left the truck. This was on the walk back to the parking spot so I was only out another 45 minutes. Other than the unplanned swim, it was a great day of scouting. I have to get as much scouting in as possible because soon work will be nuts.
Took the dogs out today, and my boy Loki found a doe and two fawns. He was gone! He came back after a few minutes, but he found them....ticks that is! He and Max were covered in them. Tiny little wood ticks. No deer ticks, but I'm afraid the ticks will be thick this year.
I found a real nice rub line on some big trees that was not there during gun season. It looks like a buck was marking his territory. I suspected this is where that nice ten i saw a few times last year likely bedded. I don't hunt this area, because of the prevailing wind is bad for this spot, but I'm going to be looking at setting a ladder stand here for the right wind. I have to make an entry trail this year, because this approach will have to be silent to stand a chance not bumping him. Amazing how thin the woods looks this time of year.
I've been out on a huge track of public land scouting 5 times since gun season. I've found serious trails and two nice rub lines. I've never seen this land in fall, so it could get interesting. It's also in the middle of nowhere, so it will be quite a drag if I'm successful. Plan on making some mock scrapes and rolling the dice.
I have been out on 3 new pieces of property getting ready for bear season. 3 more areas for the kids to hopefully get bears.
I have found small seed ticks on me the last few days. I also had a close encounter with a bear today.
Put on 10 miles today looking for buck beds on public land. It was a long day considering most of it was through knee high water. But a good day at that.
Noc, I'm assuming those pics are bedding areas? So is the basic though process look for brush that's beaten down that shouldn't be? And then hunt trails leading to those areas? Of do you try to get in super close, undetected?
Reggie: I am looking for wind specific buck beds. That are related to early season food sources. When I find a good bed related in this fashion, I will pick out a kill tree as close as possible to his bed. That way he doesn't have to travel to far until he's in shooting range.
Not all points are created equal but they're pretty much wind specific most of the time in my opinion. It the ones that are pushed out in the middle (island) that are for security. By me, these island type beds are used a lot. But by the time they get to me it's dark.
Oops I sent the wrong picture. This isn't wind specific. This is sight and sound bed. One of my favorite beds I've hunted. Almost always a buck in those two beds. The oldest bucks always seem to be on that island
This is what I was referring to in the photo.
Got an entire morning done before the " storm of 2016 " . Set up a natural ground blind with wind falls to cover a faint trail coming out of the swamp . For West & south west winds .
Next week I'll put in a blind for North winds covering the same trail . I'll spot check in July & stay out until fall .
took a pot shot at a Yote on the run with a 1911 in 38 Super . Kinda of hard to hit . Saw a large track in the muck that looked like a cat track . Looked over my shoulder the next 3 hours . Gave me the Willies .
I have had a busy week and haven't been able to set foot in the woods. But I have cyber scouted 7 new properties and prioritized the spots on them I will check next week. I will also be working on our land in Pierce county on Saturday. I am going to set up a few blinds for turkey season, trim trails, move some stands and cut shooting lanes. I really enjoy this time of year.
Came across thses boys and girs yesterday. Not sure how common this is, but it was amazing I got to experience this with my 6 yr old boy.
Awesome reggie. Since my last post in this thread I have scouted 8 new properties and walked a total of 61.7 miles. I have found a lot of great spots and marked a lot of set ups. I still have a lot of land to try and scout before green up. Plus try and get more familiar with some of the better properties I have already wlaked once.
Very cool reggiezpop! Nice pics too Nocturnal.
I have checked out 5 more public spots in SE part of state. Super small ( under 29 acres each) but a boat load of sign. Nice to have options!
18 miles in yesterday and today with the 13 year old. He tagged a Tom this morning. 13 of the 18 miles on 1 new chunk of public. Lots of sign, some promising stuff. Picked up 6 sheds. Will post as the lay tomorrow.
This is my idea of spring scouting!!!!! Found some orange golf balls in the garage and walked 24 holes on Friday in a light snow storm. I had the entire course to myself. Also happened to see six deer over the course of the day.
Waiting for snow to leave!!!
"18 miles in yesterday and today"
Show off;) I feel good when I get 6 miles in one day.
I've put about 128 miles on foot scouting this year. I am happy with this years spring scouting. I'll trim out some trees on the spots I really felt good about.
"I'll trim out some trees on the spots I really felt good about."
That must be on private land you are doing that?
792 miles for me. J/k. I did put up 2 stands the other day that should be very good during the rut. Lost my lease but have a few farms I've overlooked the past few yrs.
Good question rutnstrut. The answer to that is no. I'll trim branches, not limbs. I understand the law. So you can save it. :)
Nocturnal. I wasn't lecturing just curious as I was under the impression we couldn't cut anything that wasn't dead on public. If we can trim small branches legally it opens up a lot of trees for me that I was skipping.
The law states, you are not suppose to cut branches larger than 1 inch in diameter.
I can officially say my spring scouting is finished. Between that and turkey hunting, I'm very much satisfied for how this spring has turned out. I'll fine tune a few spots And check to see what oaks will produce this fall during the summer months. Anyone still out scouting? Or are you finished too?
On public land I lightly trim no larger than my little finger . Then I walk by a spot that was trimed 4 feet wide by a chainsaw . But I do move lots of blowdowns .
I'm pretty much done as well. I do have some work to do this summer on our land. But my public land spring scouting is done.
I still want to get out Friday or Sat one last time with the cooler weather. Got one nice stand lightly pruned out last week, one more to go.
Are the main reasons for scouting in the spring because it's easier to spot sign and it's better not to disturb deer later in the year? I still have a list of places I want to check out, but not likely to hit them all in spring. I'm good with my choice spots, but lots still to explore. Happy Spring!
Yes Reggie, early spring the trails are layed out and easy to see. Beds, rubs, and even scrapes stand out.
This is an amazing spring,,,, snow and rain for the UP this weekend...... Tuesday I floated by canoe with a friend, a river, we spent 7 hours on....... the brook trout did cooperate, but it was tough, and they were picky on spinners and spoons.......
Anyway, along the way, the woods was hardly greened up, and once I found a huge rub, I had to look around, for at least an hour,,,,,,,,,,
mild winters, bring cold springs and summers, at least that is what I think, going back into that area on Sunday, to really look it over,,,,,,,,,,
Amazing to run into the albino and get some nice pics.
Hey Jeff, can you post the pics for us to see?
I was referring to the albino pictures above.
If you meant my bear bait wolf pictures, I can't get them posted. The only ones I have are videos and they are too big to upload on my little quarter of a meg upload capacity that Centurylink gives us. Plus I don't know how to create a picture from a single frame.
well that spot off the Pine River paid off.... cold, windy, snow and some hail,,,,,, prepared two tree stands today, plus finished a natural ground blind....
May 15, and no bugs or ticks so far...... weather this week, looks ideal, and the north will stay cold, but went south to hunt turkeys the last week
Razor you were lucky on the ticks. Every time I have been out in the woods the last month I come out with at least 1 tick on me.
been cold up here,,,,, I am sure they are out, but not to the point, they are on you much.....
mid april I was in Iowa for an exotic hunt, the ticks there were getting bad,,,,,,,
Got my last scout trip in yesterday. Using my new "fat bike" to traverse the logging road was cool, love that bike! The 5-6 mile hike was rewarding with a good looking new stand, perfect ground blind location. However, the clouds of mosquitoes were so bad I had to use a flashlight to see my compass. Lol!!!
Hiked into a remote Trout stream & pond Sat. . No Deer sign , but the fishing was very good . The Skeeters were terrible .
If it rains Tuesday , I'll slip into a spot & setup a ground stand covering a trail from a swamp .
What Stream ? Gosh I don't remember .
worth a try ha ha.... really though, the UP is so under fish, when it comes to trout streams, I am spoiled,,,,,,,
One weekend of scouting in late April with my son was all I could muster this year, so we tried to make every minute count. Northern Bayfield Co. really looks good and is bouncing back nicely from two consecutive brutal winters in 2013 and 2014.
Lots of sign (and big buck sign) and we bumped deer several times while scouting and constantly saw deer crossing roads while driving around in the county and national forest land. The turkeys seemed to fare well and I'm sure last fall's bumper crop of acorns really helped them out. Very little sign of predators for once given this is an area with an aggressive wolf pack that has taken out a fair share of bear dogs in the past five year.
Logging is key. The three areas I focused on all had plenty of recent logging and were loaded with rut sign from last fall. I'm sure hunting pressure will start to increase again. There were a lot of cabins that were no shows the past several years for the bow and gun season. And the cabins that had hunters had very little to show for on the buck poles.
I knew of three mature bucks in the area I hunted last fall and had them on trail cameras several times. All three were still around after gun season.
The mature deer we're seeing in the northwoods are real survivors with two terrible winters and predators to contend with. This buck showed himself right before Christmas. If he managed to keep the wolves at a distance, he should be real dandy this fall.
What's interesting about him is that all four pics that I have of him are at night and even his appearances during the rut were before 6:00 a.m.
I found a lot of big sign this spring which makes me kick myself for not being able to spend much time in a tree last fall. We found a really nice rub line with rubs from soda can to thigh size. It's probably from the buck in previous post. But very impressive and it really was exciting to be able to show my son the type of sign bucks make and how this is from a big buck. Lots of scrapes as well.
A nice rub from our scouting trip found about a mile away from the previous rub line. This was on an unlogged finger or point on the back side of a 6 year old clearcut. These spots are often prime. I'd like to think that this is a different buck making this sign. :) My son did some major damage to any stumps in his BB gun's range. lol
Here's some nice scenery of the type of country I like to hunt. Not quite as nice as the scenary in the elk hunting thread though! This was a new area and it looks real promising. Back side of a big oak ridge that is clearcut and drops down into hardwood/conifer mix loaded with ravines on the edge of a river bottom. Lots of scrapes in the hardwood and conifer edge area and very remote.
Also retrieved a Moultrie Camera that had been out since October on scouting trip. Lots of cool pics-over 1,400- and plenty of bear all winter, bobcats, raccoons, porcupines, coyotes (no wolves), turkeys, snowshoe hares, and lots of deer.
I was very impressed that it was still taking pics in April and had plenty of battery life left-Duracells I think. There were no pics taken in January I assume because of the cold, but then it resumed taking pics later in February.
This pic from April 20 shows this big boy off to a pretty good start already with his antlers. I hope to get up to Bayfield County in two weeks and get the camera back out at this spot and see if I can get this buck on camera a few times this summer to watch how big he gets. This is in his core area, but he goes nocturnal in the fall. I would bet that this is the buck from the December trail cam pic.
How well does your spring scouts translate into fall success?
I'm hoping it translates into the harvesting of a mature buck and that is no easy matter in the northwoods-especially the past 5 years or so. For me, spring scouting is a time to look for new spots, check areas I did not get to in the fall, and put on a lot of miles without too much worry of pressuring the deer. I really enjoy getting out after a long winter and finding sign and new areas to motivate me through the summer. I know there are a few guys here who mentioned they almost like spring scouting better than hunting. It can be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, especially with a good hunting partner.
Public land hunting is very unpredictable where I hunt and I always feel like I need a plan B, C, and even D. Some years it feels like I have the entire section to myself and then there are years like this past fall where my best spot had a hunter parking his ATV less than 100 yards from my stand. The spring scouting had given me some confidence to try other areas when plan A or B backfired.
Using cameras is relatively new to me so I'm hoping that putting cameras out in some of the good areas found in the spring will also translate into fall success.
I found some really good big buck sign this spring which doesn't always happen for me due to no time to scout or lack of sign because of low deer density. I wish I could say that I'll just go in there late October and set up where the sign was. Problem is this spot is almost impossible to hunt. My plan will be to hunt the fringes of this area with 200 yards of area and wait for him to move. Spring scouting has given me enough confidence that I'm almost certain I know where he beds and how he likes to move. Adding to the challenge, I could only get him on camera at night- even during rut. He's big enough that I will take my chances again and see if he will make a mistake.
