Hunting Etiquette While Scouting

Now that deer season is over it doesn’t mean that you have to hang up your boots and wait until next fall to get back out in the woods.  Now is the best time to get out and do some scouting and shed hunting.  Unfortunately very few hunters take advantage of this freezing cold weather opportunity and tend to wait until they start to get the itch again. 

While scouting throughout the entire year is always the best option you can still effectively and respectfully scout at the last minute.  By practicing a little hunting etiquette while doing your late scouting you can slip in and out of the woods without bumping and alerting the deer or winding up with your glamour shot all over everyone else’s trail cams.

Here are some suggestion that were given to us from the Southern Ohio Sportsmen Land Manager for how to do your last minute and early season scouting without ruining the hunting for yourself and the others that may be hunting the same area.

“If you have to start from scratch, plan your strategy carefully. Don't bust into the woods in August thinking you'll get set up without alerting the deer. It takes finesse.

If the terrain allows, do your initial scouting with optics. Spend time glassing good habitat at either end of the day. You may discover a pattern on an early-season "shooter" buck from long range, which is covert hunting at its finest.

If you can't see much from the road or from vantage points, you'll have to do your scouting on foot. This is where you'll have to pretend you're hunting, whether the season is open or not. Even if you go to hang stands in July, you need to pay attention to how you enter the woods, to the wind direction, to the scent you leave behind and to how you alter the woods.”    ~Craig Hatlapatka~

In closing, if you can get out right after season and then plan a few strategic scouting sessions throughout the year then you will reap the benefits of your hard work.  If you can’t, as is the case with most of us, all is not lost, you can still implement these strategies and save your season all the while respecting those around you.