Public Land Deer Scouting

gruntz03 · Jul 29, 2018

Questions for anyone willing to share a little knowledge. My sons and I are going to try some public land hunts this season. I have been doing a lot of research on scouting lately but everything I read or hear is kinda vague on details. We went and scouted a 900 acre forest filled with trails today. I found lots of spots that were about 1.5 miles away from the parking lot that look good but are right on the trails or dirt roads. Everything else was thick brush. Could you set up on a trail and expect any success?
I did see some tracks but nothing I could see off of the trails. Looked for water also but with all the rain lately it is all over the place. I saw a couple of small 100' x 100' fields, but they are right on the roads.
This is my first year trying any real scouting and the info can be overwhelming and I am finding it hard to make sense of anything. This will be the first time hunting for my 9 y/o so I am trying to find some good spots. Any info would be helpful,
TIA

gruntz03 · Jul 29, 2018

And by trails I mean hiking trails.

AACo · Jul 29, 2018

Trails on public land, in my experience, can be a blessing in disguise. Not sure how heavily used they are, but I wouldnt set up right on the trail. The occasional biker/hiker/horse can get things moving in the woods that would otherwise be bedded down for the day.

Thick brush will start to die when hunting season starts heating up, but keep an eye out for deadfall. It will be a PITA to haul stuff out with downed branches and trees.

Road noise, for animals that are used to it, won’t be a big deal. Just like the deer that watch the trap shooters at AGC. Haha.

Good luck! There are some big deer on public land. Just have to keep at it.

TargetGrade · Jul 29, 2018

Since you're in Lusby right there at Calvert Cliffs is some of the best state hunting I ever did. Years ago I lived on Camp Canoy Rd, straight out back door and easy pickins.

Pale Ryder · Jul 29, 2018

What deer are doing today and what/where they are in Nov. may vary quite a bit. However they will always need a place to rest and a food source. Find those two places and your chances for success just went way up. Look for acorns. White oak acorns are preferable but they will eat reds too. Red oaks have pointy leaves, whites are rounded. What is growing in the fields? Weeds, crops?

In my experience, deer will get used to people/horse traffic on trails. Bedding area now will be a bit harder to find unless you luck upon them, easier when some of the brush dies out. While you're checking the ground for acorns and tracks, look for deer poop too. Lots of fresh shiny poop will tell you at least they are around.

Deer can move around quite a bit and their water needs aren't as large as you may think. They will travel through the thick vegetation that tends to grow near the creek bottoms though, plenty of browse and cover for them. Get some maps of the area and start making notes.

jtb81100 · Jul 29, 2018

In addition to maps, look into sattellite photos of the area. Google sat view can work, but if a company has a late fall/early winter shot available you may get a good view of possible spots you can't see from the ground right now.

outrider58 · Jul 30, 2018

Find primary food sourses(they will change as the season progresse), then go find their bedding areas. Set up between them.

Next, find bordering lands(private) that hopefully don't allow ANY hunting and find the deer escape routes leading to them. They shouldn't be hard to find.

Get as far away from.the parking lot as possible.

Melnic · Jul 30, 2018

My limited experiance in public hunting taught me that deer won't walk along the trails that humans hike during the day. that is to say that they will walk along during the night but not the day.
They will cross the human trails, but not walk along it during the morning/dusk. That being said, I have often found deer trails parallel to human walking trails.
Finding intersections and setting up there can be good. Since you can't bait on public land, finding the intersections are good. If you can find where they feed and get them coming or going, all the better.

lazarus · Jul 30, 2018

Also being a mile plus from a road/parking lot is good. Your average hunter won’t go more than 200yds from where they park their truck unless they can drive an ATV to get there. Obvious a lot of exceptions to that. Patuxent is where I do most of my hunting and I encounter 85% of the hunters within 400yds of the parking areas. Not many will go a lot further back in and when they do, it is almost always on the main trail that parallels the river.

If you do setup on a trail and someone walks by you, don’t be a douche. I’ve had it where guys setup their stand 15yds from a fairly major trail maybe 600yds from probably the busiest parking lot in Patuxent and he literally cursed up a storm when I walked by his stand at 3:30 during early muzzleloader.

If you are well off the beaten trail and someone walks up on your stand or decides to walk right past it because they don’t want to make a loop, okay, feel free to get a bit righteous about it. Otherwise, realize you are the idiot on public land trying to hunt a major people trail.

Also for bikers and hikers, during hunting season, you’ll probably see few of those. It depends greatly on the park. Frederick city water shed the trails are all pretty heavily used. Especially near the main parking area. But that is the only park I’ve seen a ton of hikers and bikers and dog walkers during hunting season. Most other parks are fairly empty during hunting season. Except sometimes horse people. My neighbor owns horses and she is an exception, but most horse people are self righteous A-holes who think they both own the woods and also LOVE to screw over hunters. I’ve had them spot me while out hunting and suddenly they start yelling to their dog (which is always off a leash, which is generally against most park ordinances that I am in), or carrying on a shouting conversation with their buddy, etc.

IMHO, I prefer to get a bit off trails if I possibly can, even if it is only 40-50yds. That said a couple of the better spots I’ve had success I was either on the trail or I was setup 15-20yds off trail.

gruntz03 · Jul 30, 2018

TargetGrade said:
Since you're in Lusby right there at Calvert Cliffs is some of the best state hunting I ever did. Years ago I lived on Camp Canoy Rd, straight out back door and easy pickins.

Was your house near the fields by the parking area? Calvert Cliffs is on the schedule to scout this weekend.

gruntz03 · Jul 30, 2018

Thanks for all the advice! I am using onX Hunts to do aerial scouting. Most ag fields are too far from the lot for the boys. The biggest one is heavily hunted by the farmer. Also found some oak trees, but again, right on the road. All other field are right off of a trail or road and not very big Mostly weeds.
Another issue is we are going to be hunting from the ground. I'm debating on whether to try a pop up blind, some camo netting, or just staking to tops of small trees to make a natural blind. Shooting lanes become the issue in the thick stuff. My head is swimming trying to consider all factors.

gruntz03 · Jul 30, 2018

I need about 20 more years of experience. Got a later start.

Doco Overboard · Jul 30, 2018

Just use the trails/paths to get in quietly and quickly. Look for edge or transitions along cut-overs or even between different types of timber. Stay in long enough to let others do the work for you and be on the opposite side of the activity.
What I mean by that is be on the other side near a funnel with good vis when they come in, button hook around to in between another parking spot for when they come out at mid-day with good wind in your face in case you need to pivot to one or another pre-scouted locations for wind direction.
Get back in there and hunt the edge of the thickest mess you can find from a stand that you already pre- scouted for the evening.
On a big piece, remember to hunt big. Remember the big picture. General wind direction, terrain, pressure, edge and food source.
Most guys focus on getting way back in and then hunt small. Go early stay late. Try to have an opening in the canopy above your head for the night. Consider locating darker areas in the morning. Depending where your at, if there's private land nearby like a big field, find the stands on the edge and exploit the bait sites back in on the public.
Never ever assume all the deer have been driven to the back or they have been run off. If you see sign they're there. Alot of times right up to the road or near houses where they do not get messed with.
On a cold morning with heavy frost, go in a little later 10-2 they raided everybody bait piles at 4am and are belly down chewing their cud unless someone jumps them. If its cloudy and wet or fair weather go early/stay late.
If you can see the moon during daylight, or there is an exceptionally high tide, be in the woods near bay country.
If its windy don't worry about it. If its bitter cold and windy, don't beat yourself up by sitting still, stalk around some and see whats happening.

BDWMS · Jul 30, 2018

There's a group of young guys producing content in YouTube called The Hunting Public. Check them out. They're doing a series about scouting public land now, with a new video released every few days or so.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJt23cZw3yJelCXZBOa7KYFHHlYMREHXR

lazarus · Jul 30, 2018

gruntz03 said:
I need about 20 more years of experience. Got a later start.

Never too late. I am 35 and this will be my 4th season. I am no expert, but I’ve managed 5 deer in 3 seasons so far and feel like I’ve learned a hell of a lot. With a kid that age, you need some kind of a blind. They will NOT sit sufficiently still otherwise. Also I’d plan on just taking them out once and plan to only be out for a couple of hours. Until they are a fair amount older, most younger kids will get bored and frustrated if you try to push for an all day hunt. Don’t want them souring on it. Consider small game hunting also to give them some active hunting.

This past season my son was almost 10 and I took him out for the first time granted it was cold (late January), but he managed about 2 1/2hrs before he was getting bored and fidgety. I have a pop-up that will just fit the two of us. I am going to try to take him to Greenridge for squirrel hunting this fall and I’ll likely try to take him out to sit for deer hunting again once this fall before it gets too cold.

lazarus · Jul 30, 2018

Also check Merlin. I forget the exact search string, but try “Maryland Merlin Land Search” or something like that. It is a GIS website by the state where you can toggle different options and has high resolution maps. You can see property boundary lines, water, I think it has trails for some parks and more. Really useful stuff. Free.

gruntz03 · Jul 30, 2018

BDWMS said:
There's a group of young guys producing content in YouTube called The Hunting Public. Check them out. They're doing a series about scouting public land now, with a new video released every few days or so.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJt23cZw3yJelCXZBOa7KYFHHlYMREHXR

I’ve been watching that.

OLSKOL59 · Aug 5, 2018

Scout the big trails, and work in to what i call goat trails . Find 2 or 3 that connect ,check access & egress w/wind. Find 2 or more for diff winds & be ready& patient

TargetGrade · Aug 5, 2018

gruntz03 said:
Was your house near the fields by the parking area? Calvert Cliffs is on the schedule to scout this weekend.

I was about 1 mile down on the right, string of about 4 ranchers there........ I was a block buster.

Out back door and I was in the SP, no need for me to register. Across was CC BGE land, no hunting allowed BUT I figured if I trusted them with nukes they should trust me hunting. :innocent0

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