I don't scout deer all year like some do but winter is a good time to get out there. We know mature bucks are extremly sensitive to pressure and scent, probably the two most important things that determin your seasons outcome. I usualy hit the woods three weeks before the deer opener, which happens to be dureing prime time bass. Its impossible to do both correctly without thinning yourself out and thats even if you have the time. Putting your time in now pays later.
Personely I don't care for scouting in the snow, yeah you can find big prints and how many deer are in the area but often when theres snow fall deer are not in their fall routine's. They'll often bed closer to houses in the winter for feeding reasons. Scrapes and rubs can tell you alot more about the buck your after, you can't find that with snow on the ground. One thing I've learned this past season is... I beleive doe's teach bucks where to live when the pressure is on. As the season progress's so does the pressure, after opening day the kill #'s drop drasticly, hunters are all over the woods lookin for deer, they have pushed them into their safe zones. That zone maybe houses, heavycover, swamps, even highway meida's ect. ect....deer adapt. From what I observed bucks have made these areas their homes and core areas all year while does only use these areas after the gun opener. Its almost impossible getting close to these areas such as thickets(heavy cover) pre-arcery without pushing deer. Its also a good time to get your Deer Cam in place, although you won't see a rack you'll still pickout big bucks by body weight. Its also an excellent time to fine tune stands and stand placement.
It'll be while before fins arrive, I hope we can get a good juicey winter deer thread going. Hopefully there will be some nice shed pics too
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