Keys to Scouting for Successful Deer Hunting
 Scout When You Sleep, and Lay Your Hunt Plan Out by the Stars
Editor’s Note: No ma tter how expert the hunter, how much he knows about deer, or what type of terrain he hunts, fate always can deal him a hand that will make him unsuccessful. But a consistently-successful hunter sets up in a place when and where deer most often will show up. To pinpoint such a place, you need to learn the keys to scouting success.
When you scout for deer pre-season, you can learn everything about the deer except when and where they travel. But pre-season scou ting doesn’t account for hunting pressure, although you can learn the information during the first week of the season when bucks will change their travel patterns. Two hunting aids will help you scout befor e the season begins and afterwards—motion-sensor cameras and a hand-held GPS (global positioning system) receiver. During the pre-season, by using a motion-sensor camera like Moultrie Feeder’s Game Cam II, you can photograph the deer moving down trails and determine the times the deer use the trails.
Once you’ve photographed the buck you want to take, use your hand-held GPS to follow the deer’s trail, mark possible tree stand sites, and stow them as waypoints. When the season arrives, move your motion-sensor camera away from the green field where you’re spotted the bucks in the pre-season and closer to the buck’s bedding area. The photographic record the trail camera gives you enables you to learn at what time the buck moves down the trail and goes to its food source.
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