Preseason Archery Scouting for
Whitetails
It's not too early to begin
by Kevin Lee McIver
This year's whitetail deer season hasn't
been over very long, but it's not too early to begin scouting for next
archery season.
Scouting for the proper hunting area is a
must to ensure success. Many hunters spend unaccountable hours in a stand,
only to return home empty-handed. Yet, if those hunters had done some good
scouting ahead of time, they could have put some meat in the freezer.
The first step in preseason archery
scouting is to acquire a topographical map of the intended hunting area.
By looking at a topographical map, you can virtually pick an exact location where
the deer will be. You want to look at the map and identify key whitetail
necessities like water, cover and food.
In looking for water sources, these can
consist of creeks, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes which will provide an
ample supply of year-round water.
For cover, you must look for transition
areas which provide two or three types of vegetation and/or terrain which
converge. A good example is a thicket, bordering a creek bed along a field
or wood line.
As for food, it depends on the geographical
area you intend to hung. Nevertheless, tops of a whitetail's dinner list
are acorns, which are produced by oak trees. These can normally be located
along draws and creek bottoms.
Once you locate an area which includes
water, cover and an ample food supply, you're ready to head to the woods
and look for sign.
Many deer are taken each season by hunters
whom locate only one trail or set of tracks; however, this decreases your
odds of bagging a deer considerably. A good method is to find several
trails intersecting in the intended hunting area. These are easily found
as young bucks and does will stick to the same paths year-after-year.
You most likely won't find a big buck
prancing down any of these same trails, but if there is a high
concentration of does in the area, the bucks will not be far away.
Once you narrow the search, select several
stand sites which can be used based on wind and sun direction. If on
private land, go ahead and mark the selected locations with marking tape
so you can find them easily when bow season begins.
If you must hunt public lands, don't mark
your hunting locations until you check with the local game management
officials to ensure this is legal. Many public hunting areas have specific
dates for accomplishing this.
Once you have finished all of this, stay
out of the area and only return a few times over the summer to check the
area for deer sign and to ensure nothing has changed due to timber cutting
or commercial development. This is very important on public lands where
timber will be marketed. There's nothing like heading out to hunt on
public lands, only to find the all the trees in the area have been remove
-- especially the tree you marked for your stand.
A lot goes into hunting whitetail deer, but
some good scouting will increase your chances of baggin' a deer and
putting some meet in the freezer. If you don't wait till the week before
opening day, you will increase your chances significantly.
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