Deer season is still months away, yet summer is an important time to learn what is going on in your hunting area. Are you seeing bucks beginning their antler growth, black bears assuming your range, or one particular buck developing a pattern? Some hunters believe that early deer activities are unrelated to fall hunting strategies, yet Josh Honeycutt disagrees in this post from the Realtree.com website.
Food is Food
In early summer, before the corn grows tall and the beans flourish, deer depend on some of the same foods they will eat in late fall. Eventually, they may move into ag fields, yet once the grain has been harvested and the alfalfa cut, they will return.
What’s out There
Many hunters like to target specific bucks and you can’t have too much information about them. If a buck has a distinctive rack, the first pictures of the year may show it. Also, once spring fades is an ideal time to use images from cameras that text. Honeycutt suggests that it’s is not a good time for “boots on the ground” and these texting cameras can keep you informed from the convenience of your desktop or cell phone.
Hang and Cut
Early to mid-summer are ideal times to hang tree stands or build a new one for fall. Such new activity will be long forgotten by the time deer season arrives and initial changes in the deer’s environment accommodated. Pop-up blinds can be posted well ahead of the season to assure acceptance by deer and that human scent has dissipated. Check out these seven tips to summer scouting:
I’ve heard a lot of people say that that summer scouting for deer is useless. I say that’s hogwash. We opened this dialogue a couple of weeks ago by asking the question of whether or not summer scouting is beneficial. We believe that it is. And here we build on that conclusion by offering seven reasons why summer scouting for deer is necessary.
https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/galleries/7-reasons-summer-scouting-for-deer-is-necessary
