How to Scout for Deer - Inside MDT

Let's talk about how I scout for Deer in the pre-season. Times have changed over the years, and with all the modern technology like mapping apps, GPS, and trail cameras, scouting has become easy; when I was young, scouting involved purchasing topo maps and actually being out in the field. Nowadays, you still have to be out in the field, but it is easier to find a good area to find the animal you are in pursuit of by doing a little homework with online mapping like OnX or Base maps, etc. There are many apps to choose from, and you can use Google Earth.

This is a picture I just retrieved from one of my trail cams. The SD card contained numerous Deer and one moose, but no big deer.

Start by finding a location or two and using one of the mapping Apps to help you. Look at the terrain, how easy it is to access, whether it's private property, whether there is any water nearby and possible feeding and bedding areas. You can even plot your route into these areas, as most of the apps work as GPS as well. I just started using trail cams, and they really let you know if you're in the right area and the quality of the animals.

After you have selected all the areas to scout, it's time to head into the hills. I recommend starting scouting for Deer in late July. Find vantage points where you can view a lot of real estate. Now, of course, this all depends on what animal you are scouting for. Scouting for Whitetails will be different from scouting for Mule deer.

SCOUTING FOR WHITETAIL DEER

Scouting for Whitetails, you will be mainly looking for feeding and bedding areas. Looking for the trails in between those areas and setting up a tree stand or a ground blind has proven to be very productive; in the rut, making a mock scrape and adding buck in rut scent will also attract a buck. Where it is legal to do so, planting a food plot in the summer to help attract Deer has also been proven to be beneficial and productive. Now, the best way to monitor these areas you have found is with trail cams. Setting them up on the trails to and from bedding areas and around your food plots will let you know what Deer you have around your area. In the summer, bucks will hang out in bachelor groups; this holds true for both Whitetails and Mule Deer.

A couple of bucks in mid-July hanging out in bachelor groups.

SCOUTING FOR MULE DEER

Scouting for mule deer is a little different than scouting for whitetails, and depending on where you live and the terrain around you, it can be more physical when you are looking for that buck of a lifetime. Again, start by mapping out potential hunting areas on a mapping App. I like to find high alpine areas where I can set up a good vantage point and glass large areas like bases, mountains sides, and slides. Try to get to these areas at first light or in the evenings and stay until you can no longer see. Use the middle of the day for traveling, hiking, or setting up trail cams. Once you have glassed up a group of bucks, watch them and see if you can pattern them. See what they are feeding on, watch what trails they take to head into the timber, see where they come out in the evening, and take notes so you remember. It would also be beneficial to get closer and set up a trail cam or two; like I said, do it in the mid-day when the Deer should be bedded. If you don't see any deer, go over to the area midday and look for signs, tracks, trails, droppings, old rubs, etc. There might not be any deer in that area, and it might be time to move on and scout another area. It can take time and patience. I don't worry too much about my scent when scouting; if I jump a deer, it will have long forgotten about you before the season starts.

Setting up a trail cam in strategic areas will allow you to monitor the quality of animals in your area.

LOW-TECH SCOUTING

Years before cell phones and the internet, I worked for a beer company as a swamper. We used to travel weekly over this high mountain pass, and I would always look up at this mountain with a high alpine ridge. I was only 19 then, and it looked like it would hold some good mule deer. It was mid-August, and as we were driving up the mountain pass, I found myself gazing up at that mountain. I looked at the driver and said I'm going up there this weekend to look for Deer. He looked at me, laughed, and said good luck as it was a long way away. I told a friend that night, and he was game for the hike, so it was planned. I had a Topo map of the area and found a creek that came off a drainage from the mountain, and that would be a good place to start the hike. I found an old trail that took us right up to where I wanted to go. By midday, we were glassing the alpine, and immediately, I spotted the biggest mule deer to date I have ever seen. We were about 500m from him. It was about a 40-degree incline, very steep, and he spotted us first and was heading up over the mountain very quickly. We traveled no further that day and found and saw what we wanted to see that day. I went back on opening day and didn't see that big buck, but we saw bucks everywhere and good ones, too, but we never pulled the trigger on that trip.

This is the mountain I looked at every week and finally decided it looked good enough to hike up and scout it out.

As I described above, scouting does pay off, even the old-fashioned way, without modern devices like phones, GPS, and trail cams. Remember, if you find a buck you're interested in harvesting, don't harvest it in the early season. As the rut approaches, the buck will often return to the area you were watching him in the summer. The tactics above will also work for other game, like Elk and Black Bear. When I am hunting Black Bear in the spring, I am also scouting for Deer for the fall, and I have found good deer areas while hunting for bears in the spring. The knowledge gained by pre-season scouting could be the difference between not cutting a tag and eating tenderloin. I hope this short blog helps you search for the buck of a lifetime. Good luck out there, and be safe.

Check out Alan's YouTube Channel -BC ExtremeOutdoorsman!

ARTICLES FROM ALAN HOMER

• Hunting in Grizzly Country
• Fitness For Backcountry Hunting
• Staying Mentally Strong in the Backcountry
• How To Hunt Stone Sheep In British Columbia
• How to Hunt Moose in British Columbia
• Necessities For A Backcountry Hunt

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Homer lives in British Columbia. He is an accomplished competitive shooter and hunter and owns the BCExtremeOutdoorsman YouTube Channel. He can be reached via Instagram @bcextremeoutdoorsman.