How To Scout For Deer (Like A Soccer Dad)

Weekend warriors make up most hunters. But you can use that time wisely when you scout for deer.

Aside from a slight uptick in 2020 when most of us spent at least a few extra weeks at home cowering in fear of Covid, hunting license sales have been on a slow but steady decline for the past 20 years. When asked why they no longer hunt, the number one reason cited by former hunters is lack of access to land. Not far behind, as evidenced by the 2020 anomaly, is a lack of time.

Despite all of our technological advancements, people have less free time now than at any point in modern history. And it’s not just the adults. Anyone with kids in sports, band or dance knows practices can be every day plus Saturdays. Who has time to scout between work, chores and keeping up with your kids’ activities? And if you don’t scout, there’s a good chance you won’t deer hunt, either. But, I’m here to tell you that you can do both.

How To Scout For Deer With Limited Time

Think Small

The first time-saver when it comes to scouting on a busy schedule is to think small: Small properties, small windows of time, and quite often smaller bucks.

When time is short, a smaller hunting property is easier to figure out. If you’re a public-land hunter, look for tracts other hunters consider to be too small for their trouble.

Next, don’t wait until you have a whole day or even a half day to scout. The last hour and a half or so of daylight after your child’s practice is the perfect time to head to the deer woods for some long-distance scouting. This is especially effective along crop fields and clearings on private land.

When we’re talking about bucks, small also applies to the caliber of deer to target. Be realistic considering the time you’re putting in. Odds are against you getting the biggest buck in the woods, so don’t try.

Scout for Deer from Afar

Scouting after work or your kids’ practices means you’ll be arriving at the woods just as deer activity is starting to heat up, so avoid tromping into the timber.

Stay in your vehicle or find a high spot close to the road. Use a spotting scope or quality binoculars and watch for deer. Try to determine where they enter and exit the fields. It won’t be the same every night, but you will be able to identify their favored trails.

Once you have a good idea which trails deer are using, you’ll need at least one reasonable block of time to go in and explore. Follow the trail back into the woods and look for a good ambush point. Use a hunting app to study topos and aerial photos to identify land features that might be influencing deer movement. Technology might not have given us more free time, but it can help you make the most out of the time you have. HuntStand and OnX Hunt are just two of the quality hunting apps available for your phone that will save you days of on-the-ground scouting time.

All that long-distance glassing might tempt you to set up a stand along the field edge, but your odds of seeing a buck are much higher just 100 yards or so into the trees. Field activity starts later the closer you get to fall, and bucks get really shy once hunting season kicks in.

Trail Cameras Are Key

Okay, so trail cameras aren’t a new thing, but if you haven’t taken the plunge into cellular cameras, then you’re missing out.

Camera and data plan prices have dropped significantly in the past two years, so even a casual hunter can justify the cost.

Trail cameras scout when you can’t be there, and cellular trail cameras don’t require you to go check them and pull memory cards. That’s important when you’re hunting smaller properties where it’s difficult to avoid disturbing deer when you check cameras.

If one camera is good, multiple cameras are great. Nothing makes up for a lack of scouting time like using multiple trail cameras.

Figure Out The Deer’s Habits

Whitetail senses are so good it’s a miracle we ever get to eat venison. Fortunately, they’re creatures of habit, and you can use that.

I used to hunt public land in Pennsylvania where my buddy and I had to hike an hour and a half to get to a spot just over the top of Tussey Mountain on State Game Land #118. There were deer trails worn into the large rocks on that mountain. Think about how many thousands of years and how many deer it would take to wear a trail into rock. That’s how habitual whitetails can be.

If you had previous success on a property but haven’t had time to scout it for the current year, set up where you had success before. Chances are good deer will be active in the same places they were in previous years.

When you’re scouting, keep in mind that what you see in August might not apply during hunting season.

Your current scouting might not show much deer activity around a stand of white oaks in August and September, but you can bet money they’ll be there in October, especially if you saw them there in previous years.

Stay Grounded To Save Time

In addition to keeping your expectations grounded, that’s a good philosophy for your stand setups, too.

When time is short, a ground blind can be your best option. Ground blinds set up quickly, and you can get in and be settled faster during your actual hunts. And they’re exponentially more kid-friendly than any type of elevated stand.

Set up your ground blind well before hunting season, and brush it in to blend with the surroundings. It takes deer some time to get used to a ground blind, set get it ready a month or so before you expect to hunt there.

For that matter, don’t be afraid to hunker down in a blowdown or even create a blind from natural vegetation.

Finally, Stick With it

While it doesn’t feel like it while you’re living it, your kids will be gone and on their own in the blink of an eye. As busy as things are, giving up hunting is a mistake. In addition, chances are that if you give up hunting now, you won’t pick it up again when the kids go off to college.

Instead, scout less, but scout better – or don’t scout at all. Just get out there, and take the kids, too!