Spring Scouting | Things You Should Be Doing Right Now

Spring Scouting Activities You Need To Do

Though deer season is long over, there’s always work that can be done in the whitetail woods. Spring scouting is a great way to kill many birds (or bucks) with one stone, so to speak. There are several strategies you can use to make the most of your spring scouting trip.

First, get out and just walk your property. It’s always changing, and you’ll learn something new every time. Locate deer bedding areas, track old scrape or rub lines, follow new trails to possible pinch-points, and see where the deer have been feeding. This information will help you make better hunting decisions next season.

If you hunt on private property and locate a new area you think would be dynamite next year, bring a stand and place your new set now. The deer may get bumped due to the noise, but they’ll have forgotten it by next fall. When autumn arrives, just trim up any shooting lanes and check your stand for safety concerns. They won’t even know you were there.

As you walk your property, keep an eye out for shed antlers. Depending on where you live, late winter or early spring scouting is a great time to be looking for them. Feel free to bring along your shed dog to help you locate them before the squirrels do!

Late winter to early spring is also the perfect time to be doing some key management activities. Bring along a chainsaw (or even a handsaw) and hinge-cut a couple trees to open up the canopy. This TSI technique will provide bedding cover and browse now and for the next several years, and is easily done on a small-scale.

Similarly, you can frost-seed your food plots or access trails as you survey them. Generally, smaller seeds (e.g., clover) work best for frost-seeding into existing vegetation because the seeds have the best chance at settling into small cracks in the soil, and ultimately germinating.
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One other idea while you’re out there is to replenish any mineral sites you have on your property. Spring and summer are critical mineral times for fawning does and bucks trying to grow their antlers. Either dump a bag of minerals on the ground or place a Trophy Rock on a stump.

The moral of the story is that there’s actually a lot to be done this time of year for whitetail hunters. Doing these activities on your spring scouting trip will pay dividends next fall, so go get busy!