Any of you ladies been out putting in the miles looking for deer?

I went Tuesday after work then all day Saturday. Put prolly 10,11 miles down total. Found some good bedding areas and saw a whole lot of deer, in two trips I saw 50 or so. Only 10 of those on Tuesday. Put out a couple cameras gonna let them soak for a month or so. Looking forward to getting those SIM cards out.

Am I the only one?

I dont scout. I just go. Too damn hot to go walking in that thick canopy.

agree with Bigfoot, call me a snowflake, do my scouting during the cool weather, hog only hunts. All the sign is thar.
Been doing some scouting here, we dont have the heat & humidity as ya'll do. Got cams out, bucks are in velvet, fawns up & moving.
60+ can use crossbow, looking at few options, or muzzleloader. Use gun rest. Best wishes.

I've been meaning to get out and scout, but just haven't carved out the time yet. Place I got my USFS antlerless permit on last year is nearly 4 hours away, so it's not a short trip. I was going to put in for it again this year but think I might look someplace closer.

That is a haul. Makes it rougher to scout.

If you like to watch any YouTube hunters check out the hunting public. They have some great scouting content.

My scouting started the day after I shot my deer last year.

Its a 2 hour haul for me also that is another reason I dont scout much. I need to go shoot a hog one afternoon and I guess you could consider that a little bit of scouting by looking for signs along the way but if I was really going to scout I would be walking in the woods 30 minutes before sunup to get in some desired area to sit and watch. That just sounds like a little too much effort right now in this heat when I already dont get much sleep as it is.LOL

you aint no snowflake Colt!! Your a legend around here!

Not a snowflake. Maybe a dingle berry

Cant really put in time to scout, since its nearly 2 hours to the forest.

What I've done in the past is mark GPS locations based on tracks & scrapes found and the forage that is exists around.

I used to. Back in my 30s. I scouted a month or so before season. Same areas produced deer every year. I killed 5 bucks in a 6 year span. No feeders either. Public land was all I hunted.

Not bragging, just stating facts. Of course I was younger then. I could spend all day in the woods. Hunters would go back to camp by 10:00 and push deer past me. Killed only one in the evening. Most deer are killed in the morning on public land. The woods have quieted down overnight. Spent a couple of days camping out with my Son. He shot his first buck on public land too.

Good stuff erathkid. I'm similar to you. I can spend all day in the woods. When I start getting cranky my wife will look at me and tell me to go to the woods. It's the way I've always been.

I agree with you there. I have given up hunting deer in the afternoons in the SHNF and I strictly target pigs only in the evenings. I see tons of deer in the morning and I have never seen a deer in the evening while hunting. However while driving home on the main road I will sometimes see a few deer on the edges of the forest. Guess I am hunting the wrong place

I have done a light amount of scouting but the heat has honestly kept me at bay... I will kick it up around September when I go out dove hunting anyway lol

I enjoy this thread. There's a great satisfaction in shooting a buck in a public setting. Don't need to know specifics, such as where. But when and a hunt recap is always fun to read.

Fun reading.

New to this site, my apologies. But I am getting back into hunting deer and public land is my only option. Is the land open for scouting year round? Am I correct to believe that you can check it out any time? And is it mandatory to have your annual hunters permit? Sorry for so many questions, I am still learning to navigate this place.

Thank you.

go-outside22
ta HF & Public Hunting. Each WMA has its own rules, & state when open ta public. Usualy draw hunts tis when they closed. Be sure ta have the $48.00 permit, it goes from Sept 1 - end of August. And sometimes see None hunters, no hunters permit needed, its open ta the public.
Thar B some good hunten. Stay Safe, best wishes.

Went and checked cameras today. One had 280 pics. Mostly does and fawns but a few young bachelor groups. Nothing to write home about.
Other camera had 926 pics of a branch blowing in 3 days 2 pics had a doe standing in the back ground. That was a 2 gig card. I replaced it with a 16 gig and did not know the branch was doing it till I got home! I'll let you guys know what batteries are in it.

Same here. Put out cam, thought had clear opening, just before headed ta checked it. Small little branch kept setting it off. Few pics mostly doe & fawn. Did get pic of a fawn hanging around with an antler deer. Could it be a doe with antlers ? Might post thread in open discussion. posted some pics of couple bucks in photo
Also put cam out, two weeks later pulled card. BLANK. The card was high resolution, cam said it takes it, yet NO pics. Put in different card works okay. It been out few days.
Always enjoy the cam pic's of d wildlife.
tis d mosketoes, nats, chiggers, tics & such that drives me , & i've had a head start .
keep your head held high & your powder dry..

Put in about 8 miles today at Richland Creek, found some stuff but for the most part was mostly dissapointed in what I found, oh well gonna give it a go anyways.

I put on a few miles myself over at beacon lakes golf club. There are some deer on the course. Does that count??

A mile is a mile and a deer is a deer.

One way I scouted the Angelina Ntl Forrest above Sam Rayburn was to drive the roads checking the bar ditchs for fresh tracks after a good rain.When I found plenty of tracks going into a section of woods and none leaving the area I would hunt that section of woods.Seemed to work pretty good for me.Now that I am in the Beaumont area I am going to hunt the Lance Rosier Unit this year that method is pretty much out the window.Not many roads going into it but I did see three does on the road while driving in and doing a little scouting last weekend.It was awful hot but the deer looked healthy.Good sign of whats to come I hope.

Yes you can go scout public land anytime of year. Some areas like SHNF you can hunt hogs all year but you need to have your APH (Annual Public Hunting) permit $48.

If you want to scout without buying the permit just dont carry a gun. just hike.

I would at least have a pistol on me. You are in the jungle so you never know what 4 legged or 2 legged creature might be around.

After some camera trouble I finally got 2 weeks worth of pics. Camera had been up for a month and a half. Only 1 buck, the camera has since moved.

Put some miles on yesterday. Found a new area I really liked. Saw several fresh scrapes and a fresh rub. Getting closer

You can put cameras up on public land??

Anything left on public property becomes public property. If you put in obvious place and it's found. It is likely going to be stolen. I saw one on heavy trail last year locked to a tree. Someone decided to just beat the crap out of it since they could not take it.

Youngun but has potential

Well yesterday I got camp set up and ran out for a quick hunt. Did not want to go into anything big had scouted so I went to a place I'd wanted to scout. Got close to a point where I felt like bedding was below it. Wind was right. Just in my Ghillie on the ground. Sitting nfoe about 20 minutes and a buck and a doe walked right up on me. Old fat mature buck. They stood in same place for about a minute before the doe spotted me. So I waved the buck said oh sorry man your in a good spot we will keep going. So he did, up wind towards bedding. So I split and went to a place I'd checked for ducks a few years back. No sooner than I got sat down I hear one stomping at me. Of course 3 does came in wrong. She stomped and stomped then went to blowing. Had acorns hitting me in the head no wonder they were there. Too bad I boogered them up. This morning I'm in an area I know a bit more. Hopefully no more company.

Saturday morning was pretty slow. Saw 2 doe, one was at 20 yards but was behind me and never presented a shot.

Saturday afternoon the rain came in right about the time it should nhave been getting good. Did not see a deer.

Sunday morning was slow did not see anything till 9. I had texted my buddy to see what time he was heading back to break down camp looked up and there she was big ole mature doe at 11 yards. Of course my bow is hanging. In this particular spot I'm only about 9 foot of the ground. She grazed towards me to about 7 yards and got my ground scent. Got real nervous stared at me for a while then split.

Dang cell phones.

He’ll be real good in a few years, just need that inside spread to get a little wider

As for me, got a 3 month old at home, so no bow season and will have a limited fun season. I’ve been doing some e-scouting though. I’ve got an anterless permit for SHNF and Bannister, unfortunately both are 3+ hours.

That's nothing,there's some guy on the bowhunting forum who drives all the way from Houston to hunt public spots in north Texas.Really? Hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in southeast Texas...National Forest,WMAs,and tons of other public hunting opportunities but the deer on those areas are not worth hunting? Don't know what he's thinking on that deal.

Hunted several WMA's one Robertson Co. roughly 3or more hours. & would been fun ta hook-up with Bigfoot.
People hunt out of state, high-price leasing. Twas a WMA just down d road, OSBWMA. Deer twas archery only, have fun draw hunts though.
Pheasant season started here, sitten in parking lot at work.
Rather be hunten. Any reporrs bout OSBWMA? Miss me hunts.

OSB is probably underwater right now,been raining hard in DFW. Haha,I remember being on a rifle draw hunt at OSB about 20 years ago when it rained the whole hunt. Early one morning I passed a dilapidated old elevated deer blind and laughed and thought to myself what a death trap that would be hunting out of. It was probably left over from when the area was private land.I continued on,still-hunting through the woods. Well about 3 pm I passed that old deer blind again and being miserable from being rained on all day,and it was a cold rain,that old deer blind started looking reeeel good! I cautiously climbed up in it,chased off the black widow spiders and spent the rest of the day hunting out of it. At least I was out of the rain.Actually seen a couple of does just before dark as I recall.

cool story. Have used few of dem ol stands & sat several times. Remember one steps were bad, climbed up anyways, twas a buzzard swarmen around above. Heard commotion in stand, opened up door. baby buzzard greeted me. Almost became buzzard lunch when feel out.
Just got back from hunt. Got skunked,had at least been seeing deer, turkey, nothen in range though. Pheasant & duck season opened taday. Bro had 4 point 15 yards from stand, climbed down 3 others, to dark ta tell.
tis good ta be in d woods.

Put 13 hours in the stand today. Saw a doe on the trail via headlamp walking in and a year and a half old spike buck at 10 yards. Really thought they would have been moving better today.

Do U take naps ? Thats usualy when the big ones show...

You kidding? Some of the best naps I've ever had was in a deer stand!

I did not nap. Little on hanging set ain't much for sleeping. I did get down walk to truck grab a snack stretch the legs and use the john. I'm sure a biggin slipped through then.

never been much on safety harness, vut have been known ta tie meself ta d tree.
BIL eased by me stand once, no sign of me, got closer, twas at base of tree, he asked what twas doing, told him got sleepy, climbed down ta take nap, safety. Tis spent several sun up-sun down, getting inta stand before sunup & leaving after sundown hunting trips, usualy archery hunts.
Fixen head out soon, windy today, so got a chill, already seen d white stuff.

Went in this morning to a quick little hunt 200 yards from the truck 50 yards from the Rd. Had a great sit with deer all morning. Spike buck at 17 yards doe all around all morning. 2 doe bedded down for about 2 hours 35 yards away through the thick stuff. Never had a chance on the doe. They seemed to avoid my lanes. Clean miss on the spike.

This afternoon I'm in an area that I've not hunted this year. 1st time into what I consider a big buck area. Two draws come together the wind is doing what wind does in these locations gonna have to be lucky, already had one big ole doe bust me 75 yards away in a direction she shouldn't have had me in. Heavy feeding sign with acorns dropping constantly. Hope he comes in right. Not sure which is way that is though.

Just had 2 young bucks in. Came from different directions in a dang good spot. Come on big boy

The evening finished up quietly. Last deer I saw from the stand was at 2:30. I did get out well before dark though.

times spent in d woods, always enjoyed watchen wildlife. Carried me cannon camera in me fanny-pack, yes, fanny-pack, along with pen small not book for writen down info. Snow gonna be flying here soon, got cams out, ice-fishen.
Been seeing deer, does & fawns, nothen in range. Ya, peace & quiet, wondering about the woods.