I never scout anymore. Now to me I think it is a waste of time. Unless I am hunting north for mallards, there aint no need.
my hunt today on public land.
Nice shoot, no kicker?
WAL if you go to the same spot all the time, and you are willing to roll the dice if there are ducks are not, then yeah no need to scout. Especially if you do not enjoy scouting. I personally like scouting, and must admit the pursuit of green heads drives me. I have never scouted for teal.
There are 2 types of scouting:
1) Scouting to find new spots, checking out water conditions, what the footing is like, etc... You do not want to be doing this at dark 30 in the morning. You will never find new spots w/o scouting. And with changing water levels, this changes the playing field. I keep a log of my hunts, and water level, if you hunt on the coast don't have to worry as much about changing water levels.
2) Scouting knows spots for ducks, to have a good hunt the next day, and to know what type ducks you expect to see in the morning.... I hear a lot "there are no secrete spot on that lake", that is just dumb, yeah the lake is not a secrete, and spots are not a secrete, but ducks move all the time, and go from one area to another, "where the dux are" is a secrete, until the word gets out.