Keep scouting as you hunt. ((dave richey, Michigan, outdoors, check trail cameras, be alert to travel pattern changes, move))

Deer hunting is fascinating when you start with a plan, and the first time you hunt a new spot, you see deer.

I didn't hunt this morning and hunted up until the end of legal shooting tonight. Preseason scouting put me into the deer, and they did what they've done all summer. About 7 p.m., they crossed a road where my wife and I were hunting, and I saw five deer.

Four were big does and two fawns, but the fifth deer came right at the end of legal shooting time. Buck or doe? I really can't say for dead certain.

I'll be check my trail cameras tomorrow to see what moved.

It was 20 yards away, its head was down but it looked like and acted like a buck. This spot, several miles from home, is a place where we have permission to hunt. I scouted it often during the summer, and didn't see lots of deer but did see a few really nice bucks. This deer tonight may have been one I'd seen in a bean field two or three weeks ago.

Perhaps it's wishful thinking to try to pin a buck label on that deer. It was back in some deep and very thick cover, and my glimpse of the animal standing 20 yards away with its head down, made it impossible to see antlers in that thicket.

However, that spot during the summer months when the bucks were traveling in bachelor groups, as they still are, makes me think it could be a shooter buck.

Trail camera make good sense and here's a nice young buck.

Legal shooting time had ended when this showed up just before a heavy rain, and the arrow was off my bow, and the woods just got darker and darker with every passing moment. The downpour began and the animal drifted off without giving me a look at it's head.

What tickled me more than anything was setting up in the right spot tonight. I rarely shoot a deer early in the season, and tomorrow I'll be in another spot where we have permission to hunt. All of these spots have bucks but making the right connection with them often takes more than one day. I've hunted the same buck all season in the past and didn't get a shot within my acceptable range.

My scouting continues as I move from area to area, from ground blind to tree stand to pit blind, and hunting different locations helps me keep my focus on what's important to me: the hunt. It means far more to me than shooting another buck or doe. in many cases, I'll fill a doe tag simply because by doing so I am doing my part to keep doe numbers down and give nice antlered bucks more time to grow.

So, no deer today but I had an outdoor shower. Now I think I'll head for one inside with some warm water. I'll be hard after 'em again tomorrow.

Take care and hunt safely.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors