Late-Spring, Early-Summer Scouting for Success

By: Matt Hiatt

With turkey seasons coming to an end, it is now time to concentrate on whitetails again. I like to start scouting as early as possible every year to increase my chances of bagging that monster buck. If you made it out and found some shed antlers, you should have a good idea which bucks survived the season. It is important to remember the area where you found these antlers. There is a great chance the bucks that shed the antlers you found should be there the coming late hunting season .

Current food sources also play a key to locating deer for next season. Once all the crops are down next fall there will be nearly the same food available as there is now, so pay attention to what the deer are feeding on now. If you have the property, time, and ability you should be planting food plots this time of year.

I like to start putting out my “Leaf River” trail cameras this time of year. Most bucks should already be growing new antlers. By putting your cameras out early you will be able to track to progress of your deer. With their antlers growing they will need to take in a lot of minerals and nutrients, so we set our cameras over a “Trophy Rock”.

Observing at a distance is one of the more time consuming forms of scouting but also the most beneficial. By glassing a field from your truck, the ground, or actually setting up a stand you will be able to see for yourself where the deer are coming from, going to, and when they do it. I cannot stress the importance of doing this without spooking the deer. If possible I prefer scouting from a truck overlooking a field. When you have to set up an observation stand or blind it is important to treat each scouting trip as if you were actually hunting. Pay attention to the wind, scent control, and always set up as far away as you can while still being able to glass the grounds thoroughly.

Hunters who kill big deer every year, scout hard every year. By getting out early and scouting you will increase your knowledge on the deer your hunting and be able to set up stands and hunt a particular buck rather than just pick a tree and hope to get lucky.