Steve Bartylla will bring you along as he hunts Missouri, Wisconsin and on a late season doe hunt at the end of the year.

BUCKS & BEARDS DEERHUNT 2000
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Late August - Scouting Bucks & Beards
Brent Forsman, Chris Jerome and I arrived in late August for a two day scouting trip. Our goals were simple: learn the boundaries of the area that Donnie had set side for us, gleam whatever knowledge we could gain about the habitat and get a feel for the quality of bucks in the area.

After Donnie and his partner Ron Richards gave us a tour of the property, we quickly reviewed the photos and targeted specific areas to be certain to scout. We had every intention of covering the majority of the land by foot. However, studying the photos ensured that we didn't miss the most promising areas that jumped out at us and gave us specific theories on travel to try to validate with sign.

Late summer is a deceiving time of the year to scout. Food sources are plentiful, cover is at its seasonal high and the does are still defending their fawning areas from invading deer. All this results in deer being more widely distributed throughout the habitat than at any other time of the year. Even with this being the case we saw an encouraging amount of deer sign and an incredible number of turkeys and pheasants. 

Returning for the feast they had prepared for us, we spent the evening picking their brains and again analyzing the aerial photos the property. I am constantly amazed that no matter how many times I to look at a photo new things seem to jump out at me each time. The key thing we look for when studying photos are funnels. Inside corners, pinch points in the woods, over grown fence lines connecting wood lots and overall travel patterns, all can jump right from the photo at you. This does not eliminate the need for foot scouting, but often results in finding locations that would go overlooked otherwise. 

When scouting we strive to see the big picture. Where are the deer bedding, why are they bedding there, what food sources are they utilizing the heaviest, what are the travel ways that link these items? Personally, I find answering these questions so much easier when you can plot these pieces on a photo or map. It goes a long way towards filling in the missing pieces and solving the puzzle.

The second day was again spent combing the underbrush. As late afternoon approached, we took up observation posts. Long range surveillance is one of the most useful scouting tools available. Not only does it enable a person to see the caliber of deer in an area, but it also provides the best information available on which trails specific animals are utilizing. This is the single most beneficial tool available for patterning specific bucks. After a productive 2 days we headed for home already looking forward to our scouting trip in early October.

Tomorrow I will cover the events of our second and last scouting trip to Bucks & Beards Outfitters. After that we begin our 7 day hunt in November. 

For those looking for every advantage in understanding whitetail deer, Steve Bartylla's column Becoming A Student Of Whitetail Deer is a must read.