Old-school tactics and timing can prevent you from a chance at a monster buck. (Photo courtesy of Alps Outdoorz)
August 15, 2024
By Tony Hansen
With bowhunting season just a month or so away for many whitetail hunters, preseason scouting efforts are in full swing. Because of this, I’m far more likely to fill a few whitetail tags this fall.
There’s an important distinction to make here ... my bowhunting success will not come because of my preseason scouting efforts. It’ll come as a result of yours.
I have no preseason plans aside from continuing to spend the last few weeks of summer chasing smallmouth bass around. My preseason whitetail scouting efforts will be minimal. And that’s by design.
STAY OUT OF THE WOODS After spending a couple of decades preaching the merits of the importance of preseason scouting, I’ve finally wised up and looked objectively at the results of those efforts.
Advertisement
In those seasons when I spent the most time working on food plots, managing trail cams and doing all of the preseason work I used to deem necessary, I had the least amount of success. In those seasons when life, kids and work obligations stacked up in a way that put me behind and forced me to delay my serious scouting efforts until well after opening day, I had to admit that I’d had more run-ins with big deer.
I should preface all of this by saying that I live in southern Michigan where hunting pressure is serious. It’s this sustained pressure that impacts my approach to preseason scouting. This method (or lack of it) can be beneficial in areas with moderate to minimal hunting pressure as well, but it’s not nearly as necessary.
When hunting public land, the days of hunting ground with minor or even moderate pressure are gone. Thank your local social media influencers for that. Thus, this is the approach I take when traveling away from home to hunt public ground as well. Obviously, those trips are in-season, but the same principles apply.
Advertisement
DON’T TIP YOUR HAND I love to see big, velvet-clad antlers as much as anyone. The big difference is, I put almost zero stock into those sightings because my experiences have shown that the odds of seeing that buck once October rolls around are relatively low. Why? Those bucks are veterans of the game. They know when the preseason kicks in, and when it does, the game has actually begun before the season even opens.
The preseason process is quite predictable. In July, human presence in the woods will begin to increase as hunters hang trail cameras near mineral sites. Food plot work also begins to pick up, again increasing the amount of human activity in the neighborhood. Cell cameras have helped reduce the number of trips needed to monitor the activity of the local deer herd, but there’s still a noticeable increase in human scent and disturbance.
In August, hanging treestands and prepping blinds adds another dose of human activity. And, of course, the neighbors are doing all of the same things. Deer season has begun—well before it has actually begun.
From a buck’s perspective, this preseason activity is a gift. The deer are able to react negatively to human pressure without the chance of being shot. It’s game over before it’s game on.
Scout a week after the season starts to narrow down places that experience low hunting pressure. (Photo courtesy of Alps Outdoorz) GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT I have virtually eliminated all of my preseason scouting and instead focus my scouting efforts during the season. In particular, I wait a week or so after the season begins to start taking a serious look at what’s happening in the areas that I can hunt.
I’m looking mostly for hunting pressure first. Knowing which areas are getting pounded on a daily basis helps me to narrow down the places where I’d like to spend the majority of my time. Once I’ve found an area or two that’s seeing less hunter activity than others, the scouting efforts begin.
When I’ve settled on those areas to scout, I’m keying on two things: active food sources and active scrapes. Living in farm country, I have an embarrassment of food sources available at just about any time of the year. Corn, soybeans, wheat, browse, acorns ... you name it, and the deer have it available to them here and throughout much of the Midwest.
One of the most significant changes that takes place each fall is the shift in food source preference that happens in October. It is this transition that, in my opinion, has caused so many hunters to believe in the so-called October lull.
In fact, there is no lull at all. Deer movement increases steadily throughout the month of October. This is not my opinion. This is a fact backed up by numerous telemetry studies of wild deer
Do your due diligence and maybe a monster buck is in your future. (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock) What does happen, however, is a dramatic change in preferred food sources around mid-October. If you fail to move with those food sources, your deer sightings will certainly wane. Add to that the fact that preseason pressure reached a peak and ramped up even more the first week of the hunting season, and you’re left with a recipe for a serious lack of deer action.
By ignoring the preseason scouting period, I put myself in a position to find the most active sign in the most active areas at the best time. When the season is open, I can take immediate advantage of the information.
I realize there will be those who will scoff at this no-preseason-scouting plan. That’s OK. In fact, in a lot of ways, I invite that doubt because it means the preseason pressure will continue. And that’s exactly what I’m counting on to fill my tag.
Hunting apps can save hunters time and effort during preseason scouting. (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock) SCOUT REMOTELY You don’t need to stink up the deer woods with these great mobile apps. I can remember the days when finding public areas meant downloading and printing paper maps or relying on books printed by state game agencies that held the keys to the accessible nuggets of hunting gold. Those days were, admittedly, a bit frustrating at times when it came to determining exactly where public land boundaries lay. At the same time, they were the good ol’ days before YouTubers garnered views by revealing secrets and influencers started posting selfies in front of landmarks.
The frustration of searching unmarked dirt roads for a hint of where the public ground starts or ends are in the past (just are the days of “secret” public areas) thanks to the proliferation of smartphone apps designed specifically for the purpose of staying found. Here are three I’ve used and have found to be the best.
OnX Hunt
OnxHunt is my personal app of choice. It’s easy to use and shows private and public boundaries. The array of waypoints, mapping, measuring and related features such as layers that show timber management is solid. In short, the app does everything I need it to do and it does it without being buggy or glitchy. Cost: $99.99/year with unlimited ownership maps for all states; onxmaps.com
HuntStand
I’ve used HuntStand on several occasions, primarily attending a deer camp in Oklahoma put on each year by the folks at Idea Ranch. The camp is one of the coolest you’ll find. Situated in north-central Oklahoma, it features about 50 hunters of varying experience levels along with a dozen or so guides whose job it is to get everyone to and from their stands. That’s no easy feat if you’re unfamiliar with the property as I was during a season I played the role of guide. HuntStand made it simple for everyone to share locations, stand sites and trails. Cost: $69.99/year with all available land ownership maps; huntstand.com
Spartan Forge
I’ve been tempted to make the switch over to Spartan Forge as a my standard mapping app. The maps featured in the app are second-to-none in terms of resolution and accuracy. Their 3-D renderings are impressive, and the new LiDAR layer brings technology no other app offers. A function allows you to share pins with multiple hunting buddies at once. Spartan Forge is also into the AI game offering AI-influenced deer-movement predictions, if you’re into such things. Cost: $59.99/year with all available land ownership maps; spartanforge.ai
This article was featured in the August 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
