Let me give you a few tips and tricks for scouting for deer success

As an amateur hunter and a bit of a city slicker (I live in Westchester County NY) my scouting for deer tips and tricks may not be taken seriously by my country cousins, and indeed they probably have ten scouting for deer tips and tricks to my one. However, I was taught by a wise old tracker who spent his life in the wilderness – sadly no longer with us – but in between chewing tobacco and spitting, his words and wisdom concerning scouting for deer have stayed with me all my life.

Sadly, the trips to the foothills of the Rockies are few and far between now, but the small house he lived in all those years ago is still there, although now it is a lot different than it was then. A small and secluded retreat which was way off the beaten track, it was the ideal base for scouting for deer and my dad and I stumbled across this and him purely by chance, and this is the best part of forty five years ago, but the best tips and tricks never change, and are as reliable now as they always have been.

One of the first things he taught me as a callow young boy of about ten years old that when it comes to scouting for deer is to find the acorns; acorns to a deer are like beans and sausages to a cowboy or ice cream and onions to a pregnant woman. They will traverse any field any day to get near to acorns, and in the early part of the season when acorns are falling to the ground, it is like a smorgasbord treat for them, an all you can eat carvery as my English friend would say.

Another scouting for deer tip he imparted was to always look for evidence of their tracks; deer tend to take the line of least resistance when out foraging for food, and will always take the same path back to their home patch and if you can find several tracks which confluence and come together, the single track may well lead back to where your prize gathers.

Another tip is to look for a scraping on the ground where a deer (or maybe a wild turkey) has been rooting; if there are any overhanging twigs or branches which have been damaged or broken be assured it is a buck which has caused the damage. Along with marking the scraping on the ground, he can’t resist fighting the branches above, because that is what comes naturally to a little boy deer.

I have one or two (well, more actually) tips and tricks which hopefully will enable you to get more out of your hunting trip, and after all like I have learned over the years, you’re never too old to learn something new. Take a look today and see if any of my scouting for deer tips and tricks is of any help in getting that first (or next) trophy buck.