Summer / Preseason Whitetail Scouting: Part 1
By T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors

I know it may seem early, but summer is a great time to start getting ready for the deer hunting season. It's a great time to begin looking for bucks in velvet from the roads, and, if it is a cool day, it a good time to look for deer trails, tracks, droppings, beds, and old rubs and scrapes that my help you figure out wher the deer were last year during the hunting season, and where they hopefully will be this year.
When you are getting ready for the deer season you should begin watching for deer at likely food sources in late summer. In the upper Midwest I usually begin looking for deer during late July and early August when I often see does and fawns feeding. I get pretty serious about locating bucks during the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September, when I often see bucks traveling together and sparring in preparation for the rut. Does, fawns and bucks will be loading up on succulent grasses, clovers, ripening grains, berries and sedges in late summer. But don't expect to regularly see the bucks using the same food sources as the does, because the bucks often stay closer to their bedding areas than the does. If the bucks do use the same food sources as the does they usually show up later than the does.

Glassing

By cruising roads with a good set of binoculars near agricultural crops and meadows during the morning and evening you can find out which fields the bucks are using. If you are there early enough in the evening you may see the bucks arrive and be able to determine where they came from. If you stay late enough you may be able to see them go to either another food source or back toward the bedding area. Because buck's don't travel very far at this time of year their bedding area should be within about a half mile, probably closer to a quarter of a mile. When you see bucks at early morning food sources stay you should stay there long enough to see which way they leave. In the morning the deer usually work their way slowly from open areas, to high grass or brushy areas, and finally into heavy brush or woods, where they feed and bed intermittently throughout the day. Once you know the route the deer take back to their core areas you can setup along it during the hunting season.

Rub Routes

A buck's rub route leaving its core in the evening usually winds through several doe use areas before ending up at a night time food source. Then it leads through other doe use areas as the buck moves back toward its core area in the early morning, before daylight. You should be able to find several rubs along the evening rub route; and scrapes in the transition zones near food sources, along field edges, and near doe core areas. Following the buck's rub route back to its core area in the morning can be difficult, because buck often travel under the cover of darkness in the early morning, which makes them feel secure enough to travel in the open. Since the bucks are traveling in more areas during the night, there are very few trees, which means you may not find any rubs or scrapes along the route the buck's uses on the way back to its core in the morning, until the route goes back into a wooded area. I think part of the reason that bucks don't make rubs and scrapes along the trail back into their core areas is because they are in a hurry to get back, and they don't take much time to mark their trail until the peak of the rut. But, you can usually find their trails by their tracks, and the rubs left from previous years.

Buck Trails

Although the lesser used buck trails may not be as visible in the late summer as they are later on, last year's rubs and scrapes, and any new rubs and scrapes are clearly evident. Even if the buck that initially made the old rubs and scrapes may not still be around, other bucks will often use the same trails. The trails used by bucks are chosen because they offer security. They are usually the safest means of travel from the buck's core area, through adjacent doe use areas, to nighttime food sources. Remember that in the fall the buck isn't just going from his core area to nighttime food sources, it usually travels through all the adjacent doe use areas that it can get to in a night.
When you are looking for buck trails remember that they often parallel the more heavily used doe trails, intersecting the doe trails only at bottlenecks or near scraping, feeding and core areas. Buck trails, especially rub routes, may be traveled by only one buck, once a day, in one direction, therefore they show very little evidence of being used. If the trail you are following shows very little use, it may be a buck trail. Bucks also prefer to use their own trails, that are generally in more protected areas than the trails does use. If you find vague trails lower or higher on ridges than the doe trails; or trails that run through heavy cover, or follow creek bottoms, sloughs and forested lake shores, they may be buck trails. When you find a lightly used trail in a protected area, look for buck sign: large tracks, drag marks, rubs or large clumped droppings.

Locating Buck and Doe Core Areas

While you are doing your summer scouting you may also find doe use areas with old rubs and scrapes; take note of where you find them. Once you find the doe use areas, or a food source, and the rub route, it is a matter of back-tracking the rub route of the buck to find its core area. If you want to be sure of finding the buck's core area now is a good time to go into it, even though you may spook the buck. By the time hunting season rolls around the buck will have forgotten about your intrusion and it will begin using its preferred bedding areas on a regular basis again. If you don't see a deer in the area check for beds, and large droppings or piles of clumped droppings over and inch and a half in diameter. Although does may leave these large clumps I usually find them in buck bedding areas and in, or near, scrapes. If there are a lot of droppings in one area with, old or new rubs on adjacent trees, it's a good bet you have found the buck's core area.

If you are interested in more whitetail hunting tips, or more whitetail biology and behavior, click on Trinity Mountain Outdoor News and T.R.'s Hunting Tips at www.TRMichels.com. If you have questions about whitetails log on to the T.R.'s Tips message board. To find out when the whitetail rut begins, peaks and ends in your area click on Whitetail Rut Dates Chart.

This article is an excerpt from the Deer Addict's Manual: Volume 2, Hunting Techniques ($9.95 + $5.00 S&H), by T.R. Michels.

T.R. Michels is a nationally recognized game researcher/wildlife behaviorist, outdoor writer and speaker. He is the author of the Whitetail, Elk, Duck & Goose, and Turkey Addict's Manuals. His latest products are the 2003 Revised Edition of the Whitetail Addict's Manual, the 2003 Revised Edition of the Elk Addict's Manual; and the 2003 Revised Edition of the Duck & Goose Addict's Manual. For a catalog of books and other hunting products contact: T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors, PO Box 284, Wanamingo, MN 55983, USA. Phone: 507-824-3296, E-mail: TRMichels@yahoo.com,
Web Site: www.TRMichels.com

T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors
PO Box 284, Wanamingo, MN 55983
507-824-3296 trmichels@yahoo.com