How Summer Scouting Gives Remarkable Hunting Success in the Fall

I got excited when a buddy in Wyoming sent a trail camera photo of a mule deer in late June. Not only was the buck shaping up to be a solid four-point, but a drop-tine was starting to grow on each side of its rack. A few images captured in July showed the drop-tines were developing nicely. An early-season pronghorn hunt found me in the same area as the muley. It took a couple days but we found the drop-tine buck less than a mile from where the last trail cam images were captured.

On opening day of the general mule deer season, I was back in Wyoming. By mid-morning we’d located the buck. A stalk through tall Ponderosa pine trees found me looking at the buck through a riflescope for the first time. The 175-yard shot was simple. This was one of many successful deer and elk hunts I’ve enjoyed over the decades that came together thanks to summer scouting.

WHY NOW?

Thirty years ago, I didn’t begin scouting for bucks and bulls until early August. After a while, the search commenced in mid-July. Soon, Fourth of July weekend was what I considered the kickoff to scouting season. Today, I’ll begin as early as mid-May in some places, with June being optimal throughout the West.

If you hold an early-season rifle or archery tag, scouting for high-country, migratory game is time well spent, as you’ll be hunting them before they move to lower elevations. Scouting migratory game for a hunt late in the season can be a waste of time. Who knows where they’ll be by the time the hunt rolls around? The same is true for hunts on wintering ground; the animals aren’t there to scout in summer. But if you’ll be hunting non-migratory deer and elk, start the search now.

Velvet-covered antlers are some of the fastest growing tissue on the planet, especially on elk. Bucks and bulls spend a great deal of time in the open during antler growth because protecting their sensitive headgear is a priority. They don’t want to risk damaging this status symbol, as they rely on their racks to impress females, intimidate males and fight off predators. Since they spend much time in the open, start your search there.

MULEY QUEST

Ideal times to scout for mule deer in the summer are at first light, during the hottest part of the day and 2 hours before dark. During hot summer months, bachelor bucks move to bedding areas very early in the morning. I’ve caught them on trail cameras at 3:00 a.m. as they leave feeding areas to bed in the hills for the day.

Start your search ahead of the bucks, avoiding the urge to follow them. Trying to catch up to a mule deer as it moves to a bedding area can be futile, for they cover ground fast, and much of it is done in the dark. Many will be gone before there’s enough daylight to locate them. Learn which draws bucks are moving through, get ahead of them and find them before they bed down. Many of the trails bachelor bucks are using now are the same ones they’ll travel during archery and early rifle seasons.

If the country is broken and finding bucks early in the morning is tough, wait until the heat of the day and search for bedded bucks. They’ll be in the shade on hot, sunny days, and because the sun is high overhead this time of year, the amount of shade they have to bed in is minimized, which aids your search.

Muley bucks love digging beds in cool dirt to lie in at the bases of knolls, under cut banks, along rimrock and in dry creek beds. They can hide in very small areas. As the sun shifts, bucks often get up to re-bed in new shade. They’ll use multiple beds during the day. Search for bucks as they nap and change beds.

Beds can change based on the direction and intensity of thermals, what bucks are present and human or predator intrusion. It’s common for bucks to kick one another out of beds; young bucks will often nudge mature bucks from summer beds. Locating beds in your hunt area and figuring out the number of bucks using them is a good way to get a handle on buck numbers and their sizes.

Keep track of does when scouting for mule deer in the summer. Does typically travel less than bucks, but during pre- and peak-rut times, bucks will visit these does, often traveling miles to reach them to check their estrus levels. Muley bucks in summer can be habitual in their daily routines. Note what they’re feeding on, where they’re getting water and when and where they’re moving based on wind direction and heat intensity. On cloudy, cooler days, bucks often get up early and start moving to feed. If thermals start dropping in the afternoon, get out and look for active bucks.

ELUSIVE BLACKTAILS

Summer scouting for Columbia blacktails is both the most rewarding and the most frustrating part of hunting these evasive deer. It’s common to see more than a dozen mature bucks in one morning of scouting, only to maybe lay eyes on one of them during hunting season. Maybe. Nevertheless, scouting for these bucks provides a starting point for hunting season.

I’ve been chasing a monster blacktail for 3 years. I’ve seen it four times. Once during the late-November rut, once in hunting season and twice when summer scouting. I’ve never caught it on trail camera. It lives at 2,500 feet in thick timber and brushy reprod. I’m confident it spends every day of its life in less than a square mile. I hunted it 21 days last rifle season and saw it once, but heavy fog moved in before I could hike within shooting range.

Most of the big blacktail bucks I see in the summer are with one to three smaller bucks. Once the velvet is stripped, big bucks often turn to a life of solitude. When it comes to scouting for blacktails, I tediously search for does—more so than any other species of deer. Locate as many groups of does as possible. Wherever mature does are, big bucks will start visiting as early as mid-October as they make their pre-rut rounds.

When a big buck is spotted, note the precise terrain and habitat in which it’s living. A mature blacktail is never anywhere by mistake, and what attracts one mature buck will draw others. If a big buck is killed in prime habitat, another will almost certainly take its place the following fall. Many big bucks I’ve killed and seen killed have come in succession in a specific area over the years.

Due to the brushy habitat blacktails prefer, the best scouting times are from early morning until around 10 a.m., then again during the hottest part of the day, followed by the evening when shade blankets hillsides and thermals shift downhill. Blacktails bed and re-bed a lot in the summer. It’s common for big bucks to use six or more beds a day, relocating as sun hits them or thermals grow stagnant. When they move to another bed, it’s often uphill, where rising thermals and shade offer relief from the growing heat.

Once a big blacktail is located, mark the location and keep moving. That buck will likely remain there all summer and into the fall. The more mature blacktail bucks you can find when scouting, the greater the odds of filing a tag.

UNEARTIHNG ELK

A bull elk requires a lot of food each day, meaning they’re up and moving more often than deer. Most of their feeding is done at night. Take advantage of this by searching for them in the first and last hours of daylight, when they’re moving from and to feeding areas, respectively. Once feeding and bedding areas are located, along with the routes elk routinely use to access each, run as many trail cameras as possible to learn more.

As summer weeks pass, bachelor herds grow. Bulls often seek safety in numbers, and they know what it takes to survive. You’ll also capture solitary bulls in the summer. The number of truly big Roosevelt bulls I’ve caught only one time when scouting in summer, mostly on trail cameras at night, never ceases to amaze me.

Another surprise has been how far both Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt elk will travel at night to feed, and how early in the morning they’ll head back to bedding areas. Covering 7 to 9 miles each night is common, with moves to reach the bedding grounds—usually at higher elevations in protected timber—starting as early as 2 or 3 a.m.

Deer typically get enough moisture from the food they eat, but elk require more water, usually drinking twice a day in the summer. Setting trail cameras on creeks and secluded springs will reveal a lot. Spend time searching for elk on the shaded sides of mountains and protected draws, being careful not to get too close to bedding areas.

One fall I posted a picture of an opening-day buck I shot. Someone commented, “That didn’t take long.” While the actual hunt ended quickly, I had invested countless hours of scouting, travel, hiking and running trail cameras. Come hunting season, you want to spend time hunting, not scouting.

SCOUTING GEAR

• Essential items for summertime forays into big game country.

OPTICS: The goal of scouting is locating animals without them knowing you’re there. For this reason, quality optics are a must. Invest in the best glass you can afford. A 10x42 binocular and powerful spotting scope are invaluable. My go-to brand for summer scouting missions is Swarovski.

TRAIL CAMS: When scouting areas where there’s cellular coverage, I like running Moultrie Edge and Edge Pro series trail cameras. In non-cell areas, the quality of Stealth Cam DS4K trail cameras is excellent. Set all cameras on video mode in order to hear and see what animals are doing. Check cards once a week until animals are patterned, then visit them less frequently.

WEARABLES: I’ve logged countless hours in Meindl’s Comfort Fit Hikers, both when scouting and on early-season hunts. They’re durable, supportive and all-day comfortable. Breathable, moisture-wicking clothes are important when temps are high. I like Sitka’s Core Lightweight top, along with their Equinox Guard top and bottom. A lightweight day pack with a hydration system is essential. Last summer and hunting season I used Kuiu’s Pro Pack 3600 and will be using it again this year.

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• This article was featured in the June/July 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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