Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 516: Foundations - Big Picture Winter Scouting

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Ep. 516: Foundations - Big Picture Winter Scouting · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tony Peterson. In today's episode is all
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: about winter scouting. Winter scouting is a phrase that I
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: don't know we deer hunters, we tossed us around all
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the time, but there's a reason we qualify it with
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the word winter because this time of year provides a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: unique scouting opportunity. This episode is all about winter scouting
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and why you should consider this the most important seasonal
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: window in which to learn about deer. Yeah. I don't
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: know about you, guys and gals, but I think March
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: is the worst month of the year. Turkey season mostly
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: isn't open yet, and in the states that it does open,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the hunting is often not all that great compared to April,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: unless you're way down south. Fishing opportunities In much of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the country they're not all that great yet either. In
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the small game seasons they're mostly closed. This is the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: time of year where I start to go a little
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: stir crazy and I forced myself to get into the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: gym more to run a few more miles outside and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: just plan more scouting trips. The latter is the most
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: relevant to this show, obviously, winner scouting is important. In fact,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I think it's the most valuable scouting a hunter can do,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: besides some in season scouting. That type of in the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: moment scouting often leads directly to putting yourself in a
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: addition to kill a buck. Winter scouting and how a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: lot of summer scouting kind of doesn't, but both are
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: valuable in their own way. With winter scouting offering us
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: what I think is some of the most actionable intel.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Allow me to explain for starters, the woods will never
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: be more open than they are right now. That's a
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: huge benefit that we're all aware of. This lets you
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: see more than you would at any other time of
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the season, which seems like a pretty simple advantage. No
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: leaves mean you can stand at the bottom of a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: bluff and see all the way to the top in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of places, or all the way up to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a bench that is three quarters of the way up there.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: You can stand there and look through the woods and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: see folds in the terrain, you can see the narrowest
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: spot on a washout that funnels deer through. You can
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: see how the woods are all laid out, and that's
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a gift. This goes for hunters in bluff country and
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: for hunters on flat as a pool table ground. This
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: goes for big woods hunters and open country hunters. This
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: reading ter ain advantage. It's amazing, But there are other
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: things the general openness of the woods allows you to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: see as well. Let's say, if you're a big woods
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: hunter or hell, I don't know, even if you're not,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you'll never have an easier time seeing edges. Soft edges
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: are dear magnets, those places where two types of different
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: cover come together. They're most evident now, and being aware
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: of their locations is important for all hunters, but a
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: real benefit to anyone who hunts public land or pressured
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: private ground being able to recognize those soft edges and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and use them correctly. I think that's a sign of woodsmanship,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and I firmly believe woodsmanship kills bucks. You know, of course,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: hard edges are visible too, and I know they are
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: easier to see throughout the year than soft edges. But
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the intricacies of a hard edge matter. I liken this
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: to some type of underwater structure you might fish for
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: walleyes or bass like imagine a sunken island or a
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: rocky reef down at the bottom of your favorite wally
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: or bass lake. That line of rocks, it's probably gonna
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: be a good place to troll lindy rigs for walleyes.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: But there might be you'll find if you really dig
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: in and learn that spot like one boulder that's bigger
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: than the others, and that will probably be the spot
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: on the spot. Or another way to look at it
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: would be you might fish milfoil or cabbage weed lines
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: for large mouth may especially in the summer. You may
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: find them a little deeper, and you might notice that
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: where the vegetation makes a forty five degree bend along
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the contour of the bottom, you just catch more bass there.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: They're schooled up there, or that's the spot where you
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: always hook into the biggest fish. In both of these scenarios,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: it's no accident that a little something extra in an
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: already good location concentrates the fish. And white tails are
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: no different, my friends. And while you might not notice
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the way there's a subtle rise in elevation on a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: hard edge while you're out there swatting mosquitoes in the summer.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: When you hike through there in the winter, it'll be
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: plain as day. And you might also notice in that
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: spot that one of my fishing partners would refer to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: as the juicy juice, there are more rubs, possibly a
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: great big loan bed tucked up against some windfall. Two. Again,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: this is no accident. The opportunity to find those types
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of terrain features and really be able to read them
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it's out there right now. Just about any type of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: terrain feature you can imagine that should theoretically funnel dear
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: movement or concentrate deer activity will be easiest to read
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: right now. Just think about that for a second. Think
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: about it from the perspective of someone who wants to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: take a week off during the rut this year. Now,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: while November is still half a year away, you know
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that your future self is sure as how gonna want
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to sit over the best funnels possible. The way to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: ensure that, at least to a large extent, is to
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: get out there now and start snooping around. Now, this
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: might not be as big of a deal to someone
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: who has a lot of good ground to work with,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: maybe with some really good food plots some other manmade
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: deer magnets. But even then, those people are still gonna
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: want to get out there and really learn their dear ground.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: And if you're a pressure ground hunter, this advantage can't
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: be overstated. And better yet, let's say you walk into
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a spot and you find a location that just looks
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: like it should be a deer highway during the rut.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Don't you want to know how to get into that spot?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And don't you want to know how to get out
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: of that spot? How about what tree is positioned perfectly
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: for a specific kind of wind? All of that will
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: be visible now this time of the year. And here's
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: a pro tip for you. If you go into winter
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: scout and you find something that really blows the wind
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: up your camera skirt, use your mapping app and drop
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a pin on it. Now, write some notes on the
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: wind direction you'd probably want to hunt it. Give yourself
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: a chance to come back and hunt it with a
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: really good plan by taking notes now. And I know
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: you think you'll remember everything about your new hot spot,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: But if you're like me and you pickled your brain
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: for like two decades with wild turkey, you'll probably forget
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: a few lines of notes on wind direction and approach
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: direction and how you're gonna access it and get out.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: That can really prompt your memory and save you from
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: having to relearn a spot you already kind of figured out.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: In addition to winter scouting, in order to dive into
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: terrain features and soft and hard edges, you should also
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: take a look at every acre you have to hunt.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I know that probably sounds like overkill, but let me
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: give you two examples out of my own recent life.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Both happened while winter scouting a farm in southeastern Minnesota
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: that I've hunted since I was fifteen. A couple of
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: years ago, I found a subtle crossing while I was
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: out there scouting in February that just took the deer
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: from one side of this long roo mean to another,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and it was right in the middle of the ravine.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I've hunted the top and the bottom of that spot
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: dozens and dozens and dozens of times. Because those washouts
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: on hillsides they pushed deer up and they pushed dear down.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: But I didn't realize because I couldn't see it from
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the top of the bottom, because there was also a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: place right in the middle where that washout narrowed way
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: down and it had a bang and deer trail on it.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It also had a hell of a lot of rubs
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: on both sides of it, which is a topic I'll
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: get into next week and way more detail, but suffice
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: it to say, it was kind of a shot to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the old ego to realize that on the one dear
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: property I've spent more time hunting and scouting than any
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: other property in my life, there were still things to learn.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I ended up hunting that spot a few times two
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: seasons ago. Well, I didn't arrow a buck on that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: specific crossing. I did have a few go through when
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I sat there, and I did arrow a buck very
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: close to their Much of that success can be attributed
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to the one time I winter scouted through there and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I found that spot. Now. The other example on the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: same farm is one that I found in while taking
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: my daughter's shed hunting. We were just messing around and
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: dipped into a valley that is split by a trout stream,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and I looked around, and while we didn't have any
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: luck finding sheds there, I was standing on the bank
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: of that trout stream, thinking about fishing more than anything,
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  Speaker 1: and I realized that the hillside along it had a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: very subtle dip to it in one spot. Now, I've
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: walked up and down that hill so many times, and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I've killed deer on the top of that ridge and
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: in that creek bottom. But this train feature caught my eye.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: It made me think about a lot of the deer
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: movement I've seen over the years, and also some of
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: the deer movement my buddy sees on a neighboring farm. Well,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: he and I put two and two together and started
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: a factor in how the deer moved from one property
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the next. That, in a small way, led us to
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: hang a stand for the rut this past season. And
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: if you want to see how that worked out for
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: me the first time I sat there, head on over
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: to the meat Eat YouTube channel and watch the very
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: first episode of one Week in November. This example leads
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: right back to what I said earlier about how winner
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: scouting obviously won't put you on a buck right away,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: but it will help you to more clearly see the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: bigger picture of deer usage on your hunting ground, those
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: subtleties to the terrain that you'll see more clearly now
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: than ever. They also give you a chance to engage
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in some high level white tail thinking. Last summer, Mark
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and I interviewed big buck killer Adam Hayes for Wire
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to Hunt, and he talked about how there are just
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: certain spots in a buck's travel route where he has
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a slight wind disadvantage. This is a weakness in an
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: otherwise solid survival game that you can exploit if you
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: know how. The best way to understand this is to
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: win or scout and really really look at travel routes.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Whether you're on top of a ridge, in a flattish
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: section of big woods, or wherever. Right now, you can
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: dissect those routes. You can often see a hundred yards
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: down the trail, or stand at the top of the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: hill and see hundreds of yards down exactly the different
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: directions that deer are likely to walk in those routes.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: At some point there might be a spot where the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: deer have to dip around a low part, or avoid
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: some dead falls, or maybe jump across an old barbedware fence.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Seeing and visualizing exactly where a buck might walk for
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: two hundred yards gives you the chance to find in
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: that distance the one spot where, for whatever reason, he
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: might abandoned his reliance on the wind for just a second,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: simply because it makes it easier to go from point
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: A to B, or because he just has to duke
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a little one way or the other to get around something.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: This is what makes river crossing so potentially awesome right,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and can play out in a variety of ways that
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: have nothing to do with them choosing to wait across
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the waterway in an easy spot. I honestly think finding
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: spots like this is exactly like realizing that your favorite
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: walleye reef has one huge boulder where most of the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: fish will stage up and aggressively chomp a crawler or
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a leach troll past. Do you see what I did there?
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Winner scouting does something else for us too, you know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: way back last summer and then later this past fall,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: when I talked about rifle hunting, I mentioned how addicted
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: we are to hunting spots that allow for nice views.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Much of that stems from us just really wanting to see, Dear.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Our confidence is highest will encounter some kind of deer
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: if we set up on the edge of a bean
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: field or set up over a recent clear cut wherever
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: we can get a good view. But what if you
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: could develop an extreme level of confidence in a spot,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: or better yet, several spots without worrying about defaulting to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the areas with the most visibility. That's one of the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: things that winter scouting does for you. Seeing the woods
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: laid bare now and realizing that buck's absolutely walk down
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: a certain trail or around a wash out in a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: certain way gives you a heck of a lot of confidence.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: When you go back to those spots to hang a
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: stand or maybe just set up and hunt after the
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: season is open, you won't feel that deep draw to
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the default spots where you can really use your new binos.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: That's important, and it's a key differentiator between hunters who
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: set up to see deer and hunters who's set up
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to shoot deer. I hope I've made a good case
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to get out and winter scout, and I promise you
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I'll dive into sign next week. Before that, I want
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: to just explain a few more things about winter scouting.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: The first is you should probably have some kind of
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: loose plan, just like with shed hunting. If you're just
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: going into the woods for a winter walk, then by
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: all means totally freelance it. But if you're going into
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: winter scout and try I had to become a better
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: deer hunter, then you should have a rough plan. This
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: will keep you on task and keep you away from
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: walking familiar, easy routes. This is important for new ground,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: like if you're scouting a random chunk of public land,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: but it's crucial if you're scouting a property you're already
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: familiar with. We are awesome at walking the same routes
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and taking the same paths as we have in the past,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: but those will take us to spots we already understand.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Altering a route by a little bit changes everything, and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: a fresh look is what helps you find the spots
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you really want to find. It's also important to acknowledge
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: that this might take a few sessions, even on a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: small property. How it might take you the entire month
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: to find one good new spot that will be worth
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: sitting come September. This is the reality of winter scouting.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: But I'm not done yet. I don't know how many
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: miles I put on too winter scouting a given year,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: but it's quite a few. This is due to a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: few reasons, the first of which I already mentioned, which
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: is that I really really value my winter scouting time.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I firmly believe it helps me kill more deer than
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: trail cameras and summer scouting does. And like I said
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: at the beginning, I also don't have a hell of
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: a lot else to do, and I'm usually burning up
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: with cabin fever by this time of the year, so
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: putting out a bunch of miles to look at the
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: woods isn't any kind of sacrifice. I like it. I
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: also think it's necessary to keep developing as a deer hunter.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: The more you can understand terrain and dear usage of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: that terrain on a given property, or better yet, a
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: bunch of properties, the better your white tailed resume will
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: look as the years progress. Plus more miles just increases
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: the chance of finding the jackpot, so to speak. This
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: is something worth explaining a little bit more. I think
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: while you might go out and have a bang in
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: winter scouting session right off the bat, you're also more
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: likely to find not much of anything, or not much
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of anything that really gets your gears turning. Sometimes it
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: takes a few days and a couple dozen miles to
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: stumble across something really special. This is often the case
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: when I winter scout the big woods. But those findings
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: are always worth the effort. So don't look at this
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: like it's a one and done proposition, but instead a
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: bigger part of the process. Even a couple hours session
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: once a week is going to reveal something to you
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: eventually that you didn't know existed before. And adding one
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: rut spot option per year, or finding one really great
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: fence crossing every march can be a game changer to
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: your overall hunting success. And those findings might take an
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: hour or a month, or they might take you a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: few years if you're in a hunting situation that is
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: just plain difficult. But all of those miles, all those
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: hours walking around and looking at the bare woods, they're
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: making you a better hunter. They're putting you in a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: different category from most of your hunting competition. They are
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: also showing you every rub in the woods, maybe every scrape,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: depending on whether you're dealing with snow or not. They
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: show you tracks, trails, and deer poop, all of of
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: stuff you're going to hear about next week in an
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: episode where I'm going to explore the topic of winter
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: scouting at a more granular level. That's it for this week,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: my friends. I'm Tony Peterson and this has been the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought to you
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: by First Light. As I always, thank you so much
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: for listening, and if you want to get more of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: a white tail fix, head on over to our YouTube
• 17:21
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• 17:23
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• 17:26
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• 17:30
  Speaker 1: by some of the best hunters in the business.