New land to hunt, how to begin scouting?

[martinhunter12]

So I am VERY pumped, I am 17 and I went out last Saturday determined to find good hunting land because I am sick of hunting poor land. It was the 4th place I asked and I ended up getting permission to hunt land the farmer always apparently tells people "no". I have a couple hundred acres I believe that i can hunt, with some good corn fields.  How should I begin scouting this as I have zero history with this place and don't know much about the land. With the corn, it is practically impossible to glass from the road. Also when should I begin scouting, should I begin walking through the woods now? or is it too early? Too early for trail cams? Thanks. 

[phade]

Congrats on the new land to hunt. Be sure to take good care of the farmer to establish a long-term relationship that will help you hunt that ground for years to come.

 

Now is a tough time to scout, but you should start now rather than later. I would walk the field edges and start to identify trails leading into and out of the corn. Take an aerial map with you and look for points or hedge rows jutting out into the corn. These places can often be great early season spots and also if they happen to be left up longer into the hunting season.

 

Pick out the funnels and check them for hunting sign. Sounds like you don't have hunting competition on that same ground, so that is nice. But, don't let that fool you as trespassing happens.

 

If you find rock solid sign, buy a few cheap stands and get them hung now.

[martinhunter12]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah i think soon i will throw a camera up to just get some inventory. And i will walk the property a day when the temperature isnt 90 + ! I cant  wait for the season to begin.

[Early]

Might be a good idea to spend some time working with the farmer doing whatever seasonal chores he has. Working alongside him can serve to "pay" for your hunting privilege, and you will get to learn through casual conversation, as you work, what he knows about deer movement on his property. He is the "resident expert" and can be much more valuable than any of your planned hi-tech surveillance.

Good Luck

[BizCT]

Good luck man. I'm in the same boat as you right now. Definitely walk the land, set up cams, and ask the landowner where he/she sees deer, etc.

[martinhunter12]

Yeah definitely , wish I could glass the fields but they have corn up not beans.

[josephmrtn]

Might be a good idea to spend some time working with the farmer doing whatever seasonal chores he has. Working alongside him can serve to "pay" for your hunting privilege, and you will get to learn through casual conversation, as you work, what he knows about deer movement on his property. He is the "resident expert" and can be much more valuable than any of your planned hi-tech surveillance.

Good Luck

Think hay! with this spurt of dry weather most ppl are going crazy getting hay in...

[Early]

Yep...And, farmers can always use help getting their hay in.

[d-bone20917]

Learning the land is key.  Get boots on the ground and study the aerial photos and topo maps.  Hunting new places is always fun.    

[G-Man]

first ask the farmer, he lives there and knows it better than anyone else, he can point out where and what time deer enter fields, if hes working when u get there lend a hand. dont put up stands or cut lanes unless you asked if you could, boots walking around the field edges will give you lots of sign, as will old rubs on trees on edge of fields. i'd be as low impact as possible when you find a good trail follow it back in a way 50 yards max and look for old rubs, set your camera up there.staging areas are a great place to start. your first time hunting it will be more of observing than hunting, if you feel skilled enought to use arial maps and topos, you may be able to find good funnels. my experiance is most have no idea of what they are lookng at or for. you maybe can find someone who is skilled to help you find those more secluded areas.

[growalot]

Congrats...if he says no to everyone else than make sure you keep the place a well kept secret....the last thing you want his a friend of a friend getting caught on the land and saying well I'm with so and so or that you gave permission...that happens a lot..

 

scout now and preferably when the temps are warm and more mid day...for the deer aren't likely to be up and moving around...also during a rain or just before a rain...washes your scent away.....

Keep a note book and jot down notes like wind directions...any source of water...and if we're talking decent woods with the crop fields........ mast trees and good native browse.... if corn if chopped for silage...they usually cut early and leave very little residue...which means the deer will be hitting things like mast trees ...Elderberries...bramble patches...ect...ect

 

match wind directions to where you think you can enter your hunting spot so the winds in your face...note the direction of deer prints you find...some trails are used mainly to enter a field while others to exit it...set up on the wrong one and you may be doing a lot of watching of deer feeding in the late afternoon out of range.

Have fun and safe and be careful not to mar any good timber trees...that's $$$ to the farmer

 

(sp)

Edited July 16, 2013 by growalot

[Witty]

I just picked up a few connecting farms this year. We had 225 acres to cover. In the past we have only had a few small places to hunt 50 acres max. The more land the harder it is to scout.

We walked all the edges of fields as well as finding a few spots we thought were funnels from the overhead maps. Our scouting came down to a few things. Find the food, find where they sleep and then find a funnel between the two. Hang a stand on the downwind side of the funnel and hunt when the wind is right.

We got this property late and it's hard to get into the thick stuff after early May. We will scout hard this winter, snow can show you a lot more then all this green we have right now. We will also scout while we are on stand this fall. Keep track of what you see out there in a notebook or an online journal. It might sound stupid but it will pay off in a few years.

[martinhunter12]

Thanks for the suggestions, this weekend I am going to go and do some scouting, walk the land and set up a camera

[skully]

Getting a good spotting scope and glass those fields.  Where they are now is probably where they will be in the 1st week in october..................

[chiefbkt]

Congrats on acquiring some permission to hunt private land. Never to early for cameras. I would get in the woods now and find some decent deer trails to set up on. Granted their patterns will change, but at least you can possibly get a couple sets hung. Plus now is a great time for trimming shooting lanes on the stands you do put in place. Good luck and let's see some pictures after you get your cam(s) up!

[ncountry]

Congrats on the new land..Remember the corn maybe gone..come hunting season.. In recent years I have grown a lot more confident in using aerial photos..and topo maps..deer love edges and corners, give or take 50 yds...edges of swamps,fields ,woods, hills ,hollows,etc..... If you see a spot on a map where more than one of these features intersect .Put a stand there..Playing the wind of coarse.

[NFA-ADK]

Congrats and good luck, hope you get a monster!!!

[OldNewbie]

Resurrecting this old thread because I just got permission to hunt a few dozen acres recently and am trying to figure out where to put a blind or two. It is half pine and half hardwoods with a mix of maple, red oak, and ash. The hardwoods were thinned about 10 years ago and there is heavy canopy now and not much understory.. you can see pretty far. The pines are similar in most spots, dense and hard to walk because of the dead limbs between the trees. There is good deer sign but no well defined trails. It looks like the deer just wander through wherever. Some rubs here and there but again no well defined trails. One little trickle of a water course with a few wet spots. A few open areas with weeds, and one patch of multiflora rose that has what looks like a well trampled clear area behind it. No scrapes anywhere that I can see. What are the higher percentage areas to check more closely?  Hardwoods, pines, ditch, open areas, old rubs?  How would you approach scouting an area like this, at this time of year (six weeks from the season opener).

[HuntOrBeHunted]

Start with the basics. Look for the piles of poo and tracks in the mud/dirt. I wouldn't worry about rubs yet. Find were their food sources are. There has to be a transition point from bedding to were they eat. If you have a trail camera that's a good place to put it. In the hardwoods look to see is there's any Oak trees as they produce acorns and they are a hot spot for early hunting. Good luck check it out always a ton to learn on a new piece of hunting land. 

[chiefbkt]

If the pines are as thick as you say, they might be using it for a bedding area. I would avoid walking through there and put a few cameras up in the periphery. If you know the area around you, try to determine where you think the closest food source would be and I'd get a cam up in the transition area. If you don't know the area, aerial maps are a huge help. Use them to identify neighboring food sources the deer might be using if there aren't any on your property. Also, if possible, an evening drive around the area you can hunt might help. Scouting open fields or lots that are nearby can help determine deer numbers and type. Blind location is going to be determined by the type of hunting you plan on doing (bow, gun, muzzleloader) and how close you need to be. Hope this helps, good luck.

[wfmiller]

Best scouting you can do is to just get out there and hunt. Do your best at first to find a spot, but the real scouting will begin when you start hunting and start seeing where the deer are moving. Now days we have the aids of cameras so things can be a little easier,  but even that is not gonna tell you everything you need to know. Spending time in the woods will help you the most. 

[gfdeputy2]

Best way to scout is boots on the ground. you need to walk it you can't hang cameras without knowing where to put them. need to find the bedding areas (try not to get to close), travel routes & food sources  mid day is best when deer are not moving as much & scout like you would be hunting. Camo, cover scent ect...

I would hang cameras around the food sources first unless you find a defined travel route

[nybuckboy]

Benches... look for benches. A flat area between bedding and feeding. Particularly, parallel along a sharp drop is the one place to look for sign of deer travel. If you find it hang a stand right away.

[nybuckboy]

Another thing... hopefully you have this property to hunt for many years. As others have stated, help the farmer.

Re: stand placement. I have owned my almost 100 acres going into my third season. You will probably move every stand you hang, even if it's only 20 yards, at least once if not more over the next few years as you see how the deer travel. You will see bucks travel a certain pathway (might be a bench) a few times and you would have no idea as there is no real sign but that is a buck travel route and you may never see a doe take this path and the bucks may only travel it during the pre-rut and rut.

 

[Big John]

I have a climbing stand, I will look an area over if I like it I will use the stand to place a trail cam in that tree high enough so some azzhole can't reach it to steal it (I built a platform that angles it down) and wait a full week to check it. I do this pretty much every where I hunt.