Scouting Tactics to Keep Pressure Off Hunting Areas

Scouting Tactics to Keep Pressure Off Hunting Areas

By Noel Gandy

We are now in what us whitetail enthusiasts consider the doldrums of summer. Long gone are the days of cool mornings and sunset rides that end by 8:00 pm. Now we are in a battle with mosquitos and the urge to vacation. For the whitetail nut though, our minds are on developing antlers and stand locations.

There has been a lot of ink spilled that suggests July 4th is an unspoken “kickoff” to trail camera season for whitetail scouting. That used to be the same for me, that is, until I couldn’t help myself any longer and began deploying a few reconnaissance devices in the month of June. I find it interesting to catch a photo of the first fawn of the year and watch the bucks grow their antlers from the very beginning stages all the way to completion. However, I digress.

July is a great time of the year to do some scouting for the upcoming whitetail season. My preferred time to do this scouting is during the late winter or early spring. However, you can still get a lot of work done now in order to be successful this Fall. The tricky part, is keeping pressure off of your hunting area while you do such scouting.
While we will never be able to be in the woods and completely keep pressure off of the resident wildlife, there are some suggestions to keep it low impact.

Determine Your Goals
Ask yourself a few simple questions before starting any summer time scouting that includes infiltrating your hunting area. These might include questions like “What am I trying to accomplish” or “Is what I am going to do completely necessary?” A lot of times we find ourselves having a little “deer fever” and we feel like the only prescription is to get out and do something deer related. I get it. I’m all about Big Buck Work! We have to resist the urge to do more harm than good.

So, what are some good mid-summer goals when it comes to hunting whitetails? For me, it’s getting an inventory of which deer are using particular farms and trying to identify bucks from previous years. Very rarely do I try to develop hunting strategy during the summer. I more or less decide which bucks are on particular parcels and start narrowing down where I believe I’ll be spending most of my time come archery season.

If your goal is to establish food plots or hang treestands then be sure to keep these intrusions to a minimum. Deer will tolerate a little bit of impact but we sure don’t want to give them a reason to leave our farm.

Go Early
If I’m going to scout, hang stands, and distribute cameras the summer time is my only time to get out then I want to go as early in the season as possible in order to allow my ground to “cool off.” A lot of times planting, spraying, and other farming activities coincide with this time of year. Make use of the deer being a touch acclimated to a little intrusion due to farming. It’s not to say that this is the only time to scout but rather is to say that it is a very optimal time.

When making these entrances onto your hunting property I suggest you always keep the wind in mind. Just as if you were hunting, monitor the wind so you are not alerting deer any more than necessary. If you can do these things during a bit of a rain shower, even better. Allow mother nature to wash your scent away.

We’re Living in a Digital World
Cellular cameras have become all the rage in the last several years. They are a bit controversial for some, but I am a huge fan. I take great joy in monitoring my farms daily. I still run regular trail cameras but there’s just something about instant feedback from those cellular cameras that keep me motivated just a touch more.

Allow me to share one of my most favorite perks of cellular cameras: MINIMUM INTRUSION! A cellular camera can be deployed with a hefty memory card and a solar charging panel and become a one and done scouting tool. Therefore, if you decide to take a deep dive into the timber to try to locate a big buck, then you only have to do it once!

This tool alone is probably my most effective scouting trick. I am able to monitor multiple farms without stepping a foot onto them regularly. I have saved more than enough money in fuel traveling back and forth to check and replace camera cards to justify a monthly fee for the service. How much more “low impact” can you get?

While we’re on the subject of technology: I believe the second most useful tools for low impact scouting are online mapping systems. Software is available that is anywhere from very general in nature all the way to VERY specific to whitetail scouting. I say this is my second most useful tool, but in reality it is likely a 1A and 1B situation. Take time to locate openings in the timber, creeks, pinch points, and other features that stick out to you via the map.

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to reminisce. I’ll pull up my mapping system to a particular location where I hunted. I’ll remember back to where I saw deer activity and make mental notes of things I saw that were either interesting or curious. Say a buck crossed at a particular spot in the timber. I like to zoom in and notice which terrain features were there that might have driven him that way. I’ll then map out entry and exit routes according to those features. These are great things to do now so they won’t even have to be a thought later.

Stay out
Once you have taken your plunge into the promised land that is your hunting area during the summer months, I will encourage you to resist going back in. Do what you have to do and then stay out as much as possible. Sure, take time to scout these properties but do it from a distance at this point. A good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope can bring you a lot of satisfaction. There will be time to dig in and begin making that game plan for October 1. However, don’t blow October 1 on July 15 because you are too excited. Enjoy monitoring cameras, checking maps, and scouting beanfields from afar.

Before you know it we will all be trading swimming trunks and BBQ tongs for hunting boots and camouflage. This year could be your best season ever if you play your cards right.