WHY SCOUT FOR DEER AFTER THE SEASON
Learning About the Deer and Their Habitat and Trying
New Hunting Tactics
Editor’s Note: Sportsmen across Alabama know
Don Taylor of Birmingham, Alabama, as an avid deer and
turkey hunter, and Dr. Bob Sheppard of Carrollton, Alabama,
as a bowhunting instructor. Bob Zaiglin, a wildlife
biologist from Texas, has done extensive research in
managing and huntin g
trophy white-tailed deer and is a nationally-recognized
expert for his rattling and calling techniques. These
three longtime outdoorsmen know the importance of Scouting
for deer after the season.
As Don Taylor recalls, “One year, all season,
I'd hunted a trophy 10-point that fooled me three times
the previous year. I was confident at the beginning
of the season that I had a trophy buck to hunt, something
few hunters would know about the property where they’re
hunting. I was able to deliberately lay out strategies
for taking the trophy deer, but each time I saw the
deer, it darted into thick cover before I could get
off a shot. However, at least I had had the experience
of hunting a trophy. Once the season and the intense
hunting pressure ended, I went back into the woods to
see if I could find where the trophy deer had been hiding.
As I walked along a route I thought the buck had traveled,
I suddenly discovered him—or at least what was
left of him—about 50 yards into the thicket. The
deer had either been shot or had fought with another
deer and lost, because his massive antlers lay in a
heap on the edge of his decaying  carcass.
Perhaps someone on the adjoining property line had shot
the deer and didn't know he had hit the animal or had
failed to follow up his shot. No matter what the reason,
I knew my trophy buck was gone. I also realized I'd
have to search diligently the next year to try and locate
an animal in his class to hunt.
“One of the biggest advantages to post-season
scouting is it gives you an idea of the deer you'll
be able to hunt in the upcoming season. If you know
where a trophy buck is, post-season scouting often will
tell you whether the deer has made it through another
season. Even if you don't spot the deer, you may find
his shed antlers. Also you may see a trophy on your
property after deer season is over. Because deer learn
to retreat from hunting pressure, often two to three
weeks after the season is over, deer will come out of
their hideouts. They realize the danger from hunters
is gone. By scouting after the season, you'll be more
likely to see where the deer have been hiding throughout
hunting season and whether the animals are still on
the land you hunt.
“Scouting after the season also informs you of
the amount of browse damage, which helps dictate whether
or not you need to provide  more
food for the deer for the coming season. If the honeysuckle
patches and greenbriar patches are eaten down, then
you know the deer have just about exhausted all available
food. You may need to plant more greenfields and/or
fertilize the existing briar patches and honeysuckle
patches. Adding fertilizer to natural wild plants will
increase their ability to produce foliage and grow bigger,
which also increases the amount of available food for
deer. If the greenfields are eaten down almost to the
ground, the deer must have more food to get through
the winter. However, if the greenfields are still lush
in February and March, then you can assume enough food
has been present to carry the deer through the winter.
Because most of the foliage is gone from the trees and
bushes in the late winter after deer season, the hunter
has an ideal opportunity to scout thick cover and out-of-the-way
places that may have been difficult or almost impossible
to get to in the early part of deer season. Moving into
once-heavy cover to cut shooting lanes for the next
season is easier before the spring green-up, and while
the  weather
is still cool.
“One of the most-difficult tasks a sportsman
has to perform is to test different techniques of hunting
during the season. Most of us prefer to go with proven
tactics when our chances are good for bagging a buck.
However, during the off-season, an outdoorsman can scout
and locate deer. Then he can enter the woods with rattling
horns, deer calls, scents and lures and test the effectiveness
of these hunting methods while the rut is still happening.
Also, he can study rutting behavior and learn how both
bucks and does interact during the rut. He can use his
camera to hunt instead of his gun.”
TOMORROW: UNDERSTANDING WHERE
OTHERS ARE HUNTING
|
