Naumann said that when he finds deer feeding in a cultivated field, he typically likes to set up a stand anywhere from 20 to 100 yards back off the field. He also likes to have multiple stand sites on each major trail so he can take advantage of any changes from the prevailing wind direction.

"The guys who really do it right will have stands set up to hunt all the wind directions; they'll always hunt downwind of where the deer are traveling," he said. "Basing the stand placement on the wind direction is probably the most critical element of what you do before the season."

The second technique that Smith and Lyndon like to take advantage of is natural funnels that deer will use for much of their travel patterns -- even the bed to food routes. They are worth locating in almost every instance, Smith said.

"I know that deer are going to travel through funnels," he said. "A perfect example is a creek bottom with about 70 yards of woods on either side that divides two pastures or fields. It's a natural thoroughfare that deer will use to travel without being seen."

Lyndon said that old logging yards that wind through timber -- and especially the thick cover of a cutover -- can be deer magnets, simply because whitetails will often choose the path of least resistance when moving through an area.

"My favorite natural funnel is where a stand of hardwoods juts out into a field. It's like a little bottleneck that all the deer will use to go in and out of the field," he said. "If you're hunting in the mountains, the contours can be natural funnels."

Other examples of funnels are edges of different kinds of habitat, even within the deep woods, such as the boundary line between a stand of hardwoods and a pine thicket, a grown-up fence line deep in the woods, even a creek bottom or a firebreak.

Finding buck sign is likely to be a futile endeavor late in the summer or early in bow season because many bucks are in velvet and aren't interested in putting down much territorial sign until autumn starts knocking on the door.

"When I scout, I'm just looking for (deer) sign," Lyndon said. "I never look for scrapes or rubs; that doesn't mean anything until late October. If you've found does, the bucks will be around. They'll use the same food sources but not necessarily at the same times. And most bucks are still in their bachelor groups in August and in early September."

Naumann said that he looks for bucks in the same areas where does are feeding. Typically, he said, bucks will stage back in the woods, waiting for the last few minutes of daylight before heading into a field or pasture to feed -- even if the does have been out for an hour.