Written By - Art Wedge - 05/26/2007
Link to Original Article here

I have often thought of scouting for Whitetail Deer as the hunt before the hunt. The task of hunting for sign that will eventually and hopefully tell me where to hunt. Unfortunately for many people new to the world of hunting and some (hunters that should know better), scouting is something usually thought of as taking place before the actual hunting season.

If we think of scouting as something separate from hunting, then we tend to put some limits on our ability to accomplish the task at hand, harvesting game.
In my opinion, scouting and hunting are one in the same. Without one there cannot be the other or at least not to the extent of accomplishing our goals as we intended from the start.

Not only should scouting take place before the season but also extend into it. The sign will change and there are many factors that cause it to change. Weather, food sources, the rut, and hunting pressure are just a few things that will cause deer to deviate from a pattern. When this happens, all the old sign you found before season does you no good. We have all found some great deer sign, set up to hunt over it and see nothing. Chances are something altered the pattern. To figure out where they went you need to do more scouting.

One example was an early Wisconsin Bow hunt. I started scouting the farm we intended to hunt in July and August. I started looking around the crop field edges for trails leading into the fields. One secluded 40 acre soy bean field at the back of the property had everything I was looking for. Consecutive scouting trips turned up several sightings of at least four shooter bucks using the field. In fear of spooking any deer off I gave the scouting a rest for the last two weeks before opening day. First light opening day found me sitting in a funnel leading from the river bottom to the field. That weekend I put a total 16 hours in that stand and never seen a single deer. Before heading for home that Sunday evening, I decided to get out of my stand early and see what I could find. What happened in two weeks that moved the deer from the field? The sign I was now seeing was the same sign I saw two weeks ago, nothing new. This little afternoon scouting trip turned up some valuable information. What I found and learned was the beans had begun to turn and dry out in that two week period. As I continued to scout the field edge for sign, I found an area where the bean field met a corn field. There is what IÂ\'m looking for, Corn knocked to the ground in large areas, tracks everywhere and a few new scrapes along the edge. It seems that the beans were no longer what the deer were feeding on, in that two week time slot they moved to the corn. I found a nice little bottle neck in the corner of the corn field and relocated my stand there. The first evening in that stand yielded a nice Wisconsin 12 point. I know some guys that will hunt the same sign till the season is over and tell you they have no Idea what went wrong, all the sign was there.

DonÂ\'t get caught sticking with one game plan and do not be afraid to come out of that stand during season to get in a little more scouting. It just might be the best move you will ever make.