Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How do you guys scout a new area?

Well this year I drew a coveted Black hills buck rifle tag. For those who don't know the black hills is an area of thick pine trees on "hills" some out east would call mountains. I have never hunted national forest land before and am not quite sure what to look for in an area to hunt this whole place is criss-crossed with 4x4 roads and 4wheeler trails i want to find a place away from the other guys but in my scouting trips i have seen very little deer sign and dont really know where to start looking. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have hunted the Black Hills in both South Dakota and eastern Wyoming, mainly for whitetails. Look on topographic maps and google earth for areas of grassy clearings interspersed with deciduous woodlands and mixed confers. These areas will typically have small ponds and, occasionally, perennial streams.

The pine woodlands will often have elk, especially during the open hunting seasons, but the deer will be in areas where you have a mix of water, grasslands, and open woodlands with both deciduous trees and mixed conifers. Unfortunately, you mostly find this mosaic at lower elevations which are more accessible to motorized hunters.

It's hard hunting, but worth it if you can get away from areas where the four-wheelers roam.

Find the food, water, and cover (usually within 600 yards of each other). Find the bedding areas and set up between these to food or water. Distinguish if they are day or night bedding areas which will help with success. Sometimes other hunters can push deer to you, so use it to your advantage.

I like to still hunt new areas as a scouting method.

I've spent several afternoons hiking through the areas within about 5 miles of my house. I live just at the east edge of the hills in between I90 and the National Forest so its pretty easy for me to get into the woods often. It seems like more mule deer are in my area than whitetails and I only have a tag for whitetails. I guess I'll have to go deeper into the hills. I've been trying to find areas that have been logged in the last couple decades that are pretty grown up thinking they will be good for cover. I've found a couple secluded meadows surrounded by thick cover that look great BUT... there is a stinking 4wheeler trail that circles the whole dang meadow! I'm sure a deer won't go near it once the first road-hunter hits the woods.

Tim, the areas that I hunted for whitetails were higher in the mountains where the terrain was highly dissected. There were beaver ponds in the best valleys and bowls, and seasonal or perennial streams just about everywhere. I suspect that you are looking too low.

However, one thing that I have found, working with and hunting both whitetails and mule deer, is that they really can make a living just about anywhere if there is food, cover and water.

Google Earth is your friend. Turn on the "stuff" to show roads. Tip so you're looking at an angle. It makes seeing topography much easier than trying to visualize on a flat map. It'll also show you cover, open areas, etc.

Beyond that ... each sort of deer is different. I hunt blacktails in Oregon so what I do probably doesn't apply.

I hunt public land only, not private, so hunting crops is not a factor. I've given up to a large degree on hunting oak patches 'cause while they hold a concentration of deer, they seem to hold even greater concentrations of hunters. I've moved to deep conifer woods looking for deer feeding on mushrooms, lichens, and browse. That being the case I look for blocks of steep timber without roads cutting through them but having some water. The rest takes care of itself. I still hunt which stirs things up even more.

Tom

I've never hunted your particular area, but I have hunted all sorts of public land for many years.
In a new area, I like to slowly drive the roads and look for tracks on the edges of the roads. Sometimes an area can look really good, but has very few deer in it.
Keep in mind that you'll see alot more sign on foot than from a vehicle. If an area has promise, or simply instills confidence, get out and scout on foot.
When doing preseason scouting, I like to start late in the morning, when the light is good. If i'm a vehicle, I drive very slowly. If I'm on foot, I move along at a good clip.
About now, in my area, the bucks are rubbing their antlers. So I'll be looking for rubbed areas.
Deer do change their habits when the hunting seasons start. One thing they don't do is run out of their home range and live somewhere else. What they do is hold still, often in thick cover. When under hunting pressure, quality cover with tested escape routes are No. 1. Food and water are way back in 2nd place.
So, find the deer and then find the bucks. They may not be in the same area. Then find where they like to hide. After that, you need to figure out how to get to them. E

Satellite photos are your best friend

Spend hours looking at them and making notes

Then I start looking things over with spotting scope and binocular

I look for natural funnels, available feed bedding areas and in the early season I concentrate on finding hidden water sources


I'll generally have a good idea of where I want to put a stand well before I even set foot on the property

Boots on the ground...learn where the trails are, the deer trails are, where they seem to be feeding, where they seem to be bedding or watering...

its mountainous here, so what draws they are going to head down.. I try to hunt on the down hill side ( depending on how steep it might be).. if someone spooks them uphill, down hill is where they are going to go...

same as when I lived and hunted MN and Wisconsin...spook'em and the nearest swamp was exactly where they would be headed...

Here where I hunt. I carry a 22 in Sept or early October and squirrel hunt the woods and take note of the sign I see and the lay of the land. One or 2 squirrel hunts and I know where to sit.

where you from? is it close to the hills so you can og out onfoot?

if not then use google earth and be dang sure that it is public land, or you have permission. there's lots of areas where the forest service land is just behind some private, so be careful. I took a nice buck in the hills last year.

In Missouri topo maps will tell you a lot about deer travel routes

Satellite photos give the best up to date views for access roads and

County plat books are 100% necessary to prevent tresspass or help in obtaining permission

This.

On the public land where I hunt hese days, I see many more bucks during squirrel season than any other time. Bowhunting, on foot, is another good way, and for me anyway puts me on my toes a bit more than chasing nutcrackers. In the East, grouse hunting is a classic way to combine scouting with another worthwhile activity, but I have no idea if that's worthwhile in the Black Hills.

The rut changes everything, so if your hunt will be around that time concentrate on places that will attact does, which will attract bucks.

Congrats on drawing and have a great hunt.

Topo maps.

I live in Piedmont half way between Sturgis and rapid city. So naturally I am spending as much Tim as I can in the hills. To me on google earth all of the hills looks the same. It's hard to find a place to start. I've started across the street from my house and am branching out as I go. I spend a bout 4 hours at a time in the hills and in that time I'm able to cover a bout 6 miles of terrain. Not a straight line 6 miles of course.

I was about 5 miles from my house the other day and busted two nice whitetail bucks out of some thick cover. And immediately began looking around for sign. I found lots of beds and a few scrapes but only one rub. And not 5 feet from that run was someone's game camera tied to a tree. These are the only bucks I've seen and the only buck sign and right there not 50 yards away is a game cam!

Other hunters are a fact if life on public land. One way to deal with it is to plan your hunt on days when other hunters are less likely to be around; weekdays after the opening etc. while I wouldn't deliberately interfere with another hunter, it IS public land, and first come, first serve. I've had decent luck by finding little chunks of heavy cover where deer are likely to head when the goobers hit the woods. Got to get there early, in the dark and be very still and quiet. If legal, setting up a small treestand ahead of time is a great idea, just be sure to lock it down.

As for the sat maps, focus on South-facing slopes where it's warmer and food should be more plentiful. Take some time to determine prevailing wind direction when planning your stand, but have a backup in case of atypical conditions. Learn about thermals and apply that as well for times when there's no steady wind. If you don't have a GPS there are a couple of good smartphone apps that you can use to waypoint your chosen spots. I use iHike and MotionX.

Look at the "problem" of other hunters as just an additional challenge and don't get discouraged. During the rut, bucks will be anywhere and everywhere.

I'm all about rubs.

Get away from the four wheelers.

Google earth,then walk property find food sources,bedding, funnels and then set up game cameras in spots I'm thinking of hanging a stand

This is what I found today...

Well that settles that one dan!