When to scout a new place to deer hunt?

[maros91]

When's the best time to scout a new place to deer hunt? Spring, summer, fall or winter? What's your reasons why.

[walleyehunter80]

ASAP, the best time to scout a new spot is as soon as you have a new spot to scout. I would waste no time getting after them. Get a trail cam or 2 or 3 out. Look for trails and then start looking for sheds!!

[Gordie]

I would say right now find out what they do this time of year as its not that far behind the hunting season we just had.

then follow thru the rest of the year but I dont make it a habit of entering the new area to much or I try to make it very short times in the area.

[TruthWalleyes]

When's the best time to scout a new place to deer hunt? Spring, summer, fall or winter? What's your reasons why.

Right Now!!

Deer are going to be moving primarily into their wintering grounds. Find some of those areas to hunt next year and you will see deer continuously throughout the hunting season next year.

A month from now the deer will be herded up big time. Find a spot in the wintering grounds, or very near by. Start paying attention to deer movements etc in the spring/summer. But NOW is the time to find their HOME habitat....where they seek safety during both winter and hunting season.

I should add. Don't make too much of a ruckus and push deer out of the wintering grounds. Can be bad for their health with big storms around the corner.

[Bear55]

The best time to scout is in the spring just after the snow is gone. You see the land just as it was last fall - rubs, scrapes, beds... The leaves are down so you can see a long way and get a better feel for stand placement. No bugs and ticks to deal with. Also if you time it right the snow will be gone but the swamps will still be frozen so you can walk on the ice and access some of those hard to reach areas and check them out.

Now would also be a great time to scout for all of the reasons above but once the snow is thick you can't see the ground scrapes and those are nice pieces of the puzzle to have.

I also like to say any time you can hit the woods is a good time to be out there.

[Musky Buck]

How many acres is this new place and how pressured is the area ? Don't be fooled by October deer sign if you are in a medium heavy pressure area and hope to primarily rifle hunt it, that Oct. stuff may look today like it just happened, I had 30-40 scrapes in my area at the end of October and 0 of them got hit again once rifle opened up. Look for the thickest nastiest cover even if the water is 3 feet deep, they'll find root structures/clumps to bed on, they want to avoid us at all costs.

[maros91]

It's public land way up north and I don't think the pressure is high. Maybe the first weekend. I've bought Topo maps and looked at aerial photos and have some places picked out just wondering when to go look at it.

[bigbucks]

I'd definitely say now if there isn't snow there yet & you can get up there. I walked all over the swamp we normally can't get in checking out deer sign on Sunday. Great time to get a new perspective on areas you've hunted for years too.

[Musky Buck]

Go now or you'll regret it in January, understanding where you'll be now. Definitely now is the time, if you truly are in the Fat Jacks area I'm sure you've tried the Rum or Kanabec forests, I know every approach is covered with people but most of them don't look like they'd hike in too far off the road. Take your GPS and a compass for backup and get in there deep. But yes scout now, it will pay off later even if you just get familiar with some of the area etc and don't get a lot of deer intel.

[maros91]

I am 2 miles from Fat Jack's. Hunted the Mille Lacs WMA a handful of times. My stand site was 1.77 miles in and I still seen a couple hunters. I am looking for solitude. That's why I am looking way north. I will see if I can get up there after this weekend as I am busy. Thanks for the info.

[lungdeflator]

Like others have said. Right now is probably the best time to scout northern MN. We have little to no snow up here, but the swamps are frozen and easily accessible. If this was a normal year and we had snow right now I would say spring time when almost all the snow is gone. Summer and mid-winter are probably the 2 worst times to scout as the summer up here is almost immposible to see 15 ft in front of you with all the foliage and winter they are moved into the cedars and wintering areas. I shot a 10pt early october with my bow this year and was able to spend the rest of the fall scouting and checking areas during the rut, which should pay off for next year as I saw when and were rubs/scrapes showed up.

[pikeguy2003]

Best time to scout is right now and combine it with another form of hunting. Pheasant season and grouse season are still open depending on what part of the state you are in. There are so many great points mentioned in the previous posts. I just checked out a new spot last weekend. There was still snow on the ground and you could see the primary trails really well. I have a really good feeling that where I am seeing deer and deer sign right now will be a good indicator of where they will be next year when the pressure is on.

[skee0025]

+1 I also take out a gps and walk every trail i can find. It gives a good picture of where all the trails are in relation to each other, where and how many cross. Then its on to satilite photos to look for good bedding and feeding areas.