When should you start scouting for whitetails? Is it too early to start in the spring? Is the fall too late to get ahead of other hunters?
In the midwestern region, waiting weeks or even days before deer season opens is common practice to start scouting and preparing. While nothing is wrong with this, waiting late in the year isn't setting you up for success.
The easiest way to become skilled at something is to do it often. The best way to ensure you fill a tag every season is to learn the animal and the land you plan to hunt as thoroughly as you can. This means learning their patterns, behavior, eating habits, and where they hang out.
Experts will tell you that the best way to do this is to scout year-round. So, the best time to start scouting for whitetail is now. Keep reading to learn why and how!
Scout Whitetail Year-Round
Scouting for whitetail can take place in spring, summer, fall, and even winter. This technique will teach you whitetail bedding areas, feeding grounds, routes and travel corridors, and behavior throughout the year.
Whitetail deer are very habitual animals; the better you can understand those patterns, the more success you'll have in the fall. Each season has its own set of tactics when it comes to scouting. Using tools like Google Earth or an even more detailed and updated, hunter-friendly app like HuntWise, you'll see a bird's eye view of your hunting property and public lands.
After using HuntWise to e-scout hunting land, gather your gear for scouting the land in person. Having efficient tools for scouting will improve your success in learning where whitetail will be when the season opens.
Remember: HuntWise users get exclusive gear discounts on optics, trail cams, clothing, and more!
Chapter 1: Spring Scouting
Spring is shed season, and you can use this time to your advantage.
Shed season directly represents where the deer hang out and winter. Pay extra attention to rubs and scrapes, old deer signs, and where you find these sheds. You'll learn a lot about how deer move through the land by mapping out their trails and movement and pinpointing rub and scrape spots.
When you're out in the field scouting, be sure to ask yourself plenty of questions, including:
- Why do the deer like this area?
- Where is their food source?
- Where is their cover?
- What was the wind direction?
Questions like these (and more), as you shed hunt or scout whitetail in the spring, will sharpen your environmental awareness and get your mind thinking like a deer does. That skill alone will make you a better hunter in the long run.
What makes a whitetail hunter successful is the ability to understand the woods. Know the dynamic of change, follow the food, and learn what they eat during each season.
Chapter 2 : Summer Scouting
If you're new to deer hunting this year or you've acquired access to new hunting lands, summer is the most important time to scout. It's a perfect opportunity to put those new optics to use as well.
Summertime is when does will run around with new fawns, bucks are growing velvet, and herds of deer can be found in the bean fields.
Scouting during this season is an excellent way to learn about your area's deer population, where they hang out, and what they eat. However, don't get too set on their summertime locations because, in the fall, these deer could be in different areas. Still, summer is a crucial time to scout.
Map and Take Inventory
Use your time during the summer to inventory your stands, trail cameras, and hunt areas. You can use the HuntWise app to map out your current or new hunting area, modify and adjust your stand and trail camera locations, and input the new information you've gathered over winter and spring.
Update your waypoints with new rubs, scrapes, feeding grounds, and travel lanes. Set up trail cameras on travel routes, food sources, and water sources. Place tree stands around your hunting area based on where you think they will be, where the wind will be in the best direction, and where there is food.
By the end of summer, you'll have enough information compiled to make changes to your stand locations before the season starts. Then, have a plan for hunting the rut, and have backup stands in case the wind and weather are bad or your "Plan A" fails. The HuntCast™ feature within the HuntWise app will help you choose the best stand all season long.
Chapter 3: Fall and Winter Scouting
A great time to scout after the season closes is when the snow is on the ground.
Whitetail behavior is much easier to learn when the snow tells a bigger story than bare ground. Deer will still be in their winter patterns, showing you what food sources and cover areas they use. Because deer are habitual animals, they will probably use those same areas next season.
Late-season bedding areas are easier to find and determine who is using them: either does or bucks based on the size of the beds. If you find a small bedding area or one bed, it's usually a buck. Multiple beds or larger bedding areas typically represent a family or doe bedding area.
When scouting, remember that just because an area looks good to you doesn't mean the deer will be there. Bucks can live in a small wooded area, the yard off a country road, or deep within a swamp.
Let them tell you where they will be based on the information you compile while scouting.
Use HuntWise to Scout Land Year-Round
HuntWise is the best hunting app for whitetail scouting and hunting. No matter when you scout, make sure you have the app handy to mark spots where you see animal activity, locate your stands, and plan for the start of hunting season.
Use different map layers to understand the terrain, check land boundaries to learn your hunt area, and contact private land owners with contact information in the app. With HuntWise, you gain a competitive advantage over other hunters to help you tag out each season!
Download and try HuntWise for free.
Content updated May 1, 2023.