The Importance Of Scouting

Pre-season scouting is that time of year you need to be out studying and learning the area you intend to hunt. It's a time to get out and enjoy the scenery and the beauty of the great outdoors. How important is pre-season scouting? Very important my friend. Anyone who chooses to hunt an area that he's unfamiliar with, is highly unlikely to have success at harvesting an animal with a bow. If unable to pre-season scout an area you plan on hunting, that you're unfamiliar with, such as an out-of-state hunt, you may want to consider hiring an outfitter or a guide, as it is their job to know where the animals are located. You have to be familiar with the area you intend to hunt, and during hunting season is not the time to be out scouting.

By pre-season scouting there are a number of things you'll learn. One very important thing you'll gain by pre-season scouting, is a knowledge of what the animal population looks like. You need to find out if they've had a hard or mild winter. A few way's I'm able to learn of how the animals wintered are by talking to local ranchers and land owners. Be curtious and polite when talking to them and watch what you say. Nine times out of ten if they're comfortable with you, they'll share all kinds of important information with you. Who knows, they may just have some animals they can't seem to keep out of their alfalfa field out back. Loggers spend a great deal of time in the woods. These are hard working guy's doing a hard job. I've had the pleasure of carrying on quite a few conversations with them on many different occasions, often ending up with an explicit set of directions on just where to find the animals. When approached correctly, yes, even game wardens can provide helpful information when it comes to game population.

After you have an idea of how the animals wintered and what the population looks like, you need to get out there with them. Study their habits, paying close attention to specific patterns in their activities such as: feeding, watering and bedding. By pre-season scouting you'll learn where the animals are, but you'll also gain an idea of how they'll change these activities come hunting season, by examining their travel routes and locating alternate routes that the animals will take when they've been pushed! When the hunting pressure's on, the animals have been pushed and you're just not seeing anything, don't get frustrated, head to those promising area's you've located for an alternate hunting spot during your pre-season scouting. It is then that your knowledge of their activities really pays off, because you're able to stay one step ahead of them.

One mistake a bowhunter can make, is trying to hunt too big of an area, or trying to cover too much ground. Don't spread yourself so thin traveling all over the countryside looking for game. You're better off to focus on a smaller area you know well! Even if you're not seeing the game, you know for a fact that their in there! Pre-season scouting doesn't necessarily have to be during any one particular time of year. Scouting during the summer months can be enjoyable, but you can also scout after hunting season, during the winter months.

I simply can't stress enough just how important pre-season scouting really is. What it boils down to is this: the more time you spend out there scouting and studying the animals, their habits and their activities, the better your chances of consistantly bringing one back with your bow! I have found that one day of pre-season scouting is worth three day's in the field hunting!