In the past I have hunted with some guys that were all about scouting and would spend countless hours walking around looking for sign and driving back and forth on 4-wheelers. But ironically never had much luck actually hunting.

I call myself doing my "woods" scouting during turkey season. I try to have all of my stands in place as early as possible and stay out of the woods (unless actually hunting) as much as I can from September - February 10th.

But half of the property I hunt I have hunted all my life so I pretty much already know where all of the scrapes and rubs are going to be. The additional land I lease I have been hunting for about 4 seasons and I know what areas are too thick to hunt or walk through without spooking deer so I find its best to leave those areas alone.

Oddly enough the good bucks always seem to travel the same routes year after year (for the most part), once I get a good bead on that I just try to leave them alone until the weather and wind corporate.