scouting help

J

Jake_Sorensen

Guest
I need some pointers for scouting, myself, dad and brother have Central Utah deer tags and have been scouting all summer long several different places mainly in the Heber/Midway area (my dad grew up hunting there and wants to continue hunting up there)anyway we scouted several spots through out summer and fall and have seen alot of smaller bucks and a few decent bucks through all of our trips, through out all of our scouting we have rarely seen anyone else up there and were excited because we thought that chances were big that we would all tag out on some decent bucks (me and my brother, my dad really doesn't care to shoot anymore deer in his life unless its a monster). So we get up there in the dark Saturday morning to see one other truck parked at the "trail head" and start hiking the 2.5 mile hike well the sun comes up and bam orange everywere and a few 2 points, spikes, does and fawns none of the deer we scouted through out the year, so we sat for a bit then decided that with all the pumpkins up there we would go to one of our other spots we get over there (shooting a coyote on the way)and hike to see a couple foot prints in the snow but no deer, this once again was a spot we had scouted through out the summer. We went back up yesterday (monday) to the same 2 spots saw a couple does, a 2 point and a spike (nothing close to what we saw in the late summer), that we prefered all live to get a bit bigger, and a couple gut piles. So my question to all you veteran scouters/hunters, what are your scouting methods and what would you recommend we do now?(for the remainder of the season
 
Welcome to the Utah general deer hunt. There is nothing you can do. Use the time to have a good time with your family. There are too many hunters and not enough deer, for general hunts. This still allows the ave guy to go hunting for not very much money, which is important. If you want less people and more quality, don't do a Utah rifle general season hunt. Lesson learned. Good luck in the future.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-07 AT 02:05PM (MST)[p]scouting during the summer when the antlers are soft you will see a lot of bucks because they are afraid of bumping there new antlers so they stay out in the open... once they turn hard-horned they head for the deepest darkest nastiest holes to hide out in till after the general season until the rut in Nov.

Hunt high...like the top 1/3 of the mountain and then find the steepest, darkest area and be there before first light and maybe you will catch one that is running late to bed..

Once the general season starts and the first shot is fired all summer scouting bets are off.
once they turn hard-horned they disappear from normal areas that you see them in.

Take up bowhunting..it is quieter and they stay on the same pattern from summer scouting.
 
I agree with nochawk.. as soon as they go hard horned they hole up in the timber especially in areas that are more easily accessible to hunters. If you go out hunting again try remote timber areas, still hunt through them, or high mountain basins that require 3-4 hours of hiking away from the roads.
 

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