Postseason Scouting

It's a really lame feeling to walk into an area you've never been, climb a tree and hope to randomly hit the jackpot of stand set-ups. Yeah, I've done it once or twice in my early days of hunting Florida's WMA's; but if I am given any sort of opportunity, I'm going to do a lot of scouting before I decide on a stand set-up. When I think of scouting Florida Public Land, memories of wading through miles of swamps in 95 degree August heat come to mind. Cotton mouths, alligators, copper heads and lots of mosquitoes. A few years ago I encountered all of these in one horrible trek trying to scout Richloam Baird Unit in August. Preseason scouting can be really tough in Florida. Many times, areas that are banging come fall are covered in water during the summer. By the time you find a good spot, you've thoroughly drenched it in your sweat. I still do some preseason scouting, but the past couple years I have found a way to scout the areas I hunt in a way that is much more enjoyable and productive.  I'm talking about postseason scouting.

Deer season has ended and I'm never ready for it. The weather is cool, the brush is thin and the woods are littered with rubs and scrapes. This is the perfect time to tromp through the deer woods and find new areas to set-up for next season. Don't worry about leaving your scent, it will be long gone come next fall. This is also a good time to set up trail cams on public land and see what bucks survived the season. There aren't a lot of other hunters scouting around so the threat of having your cameras stolen is minimal. At my request, my brother brought my two trail cameras back from my lease in GA and I set them up at a WMA I've been hunting this year. I left them for a week and when I checked them this morning I was presently surprised to find 12 pictures on the first and 87 pictures on the second. The very first picture I checked was a tall eight point buck! I'm ready for next fall!

Another added plus of postseason scouting is that many WMA's have a small game season this time of year. While scouting I get to carry around my Pardner Pump 12 gauge with a pocket full of assorted shells and blast squirrels, rabbit, snipe, hog and a whole list of other critters that are legal to harvest at most WMA's this time of year. This morning I found a stand of small pine trees that were rubbed nearly waist high by some big boar; there's nothing small about some of the game you can chase during small game season.

If you have little guys who are interested in hunting, this is a great time to take them out into the woods. They don't have to sit in a stand or a blind and get the dreaded whisper yell for not having patience. They can release their wiggles and giggles, learn gun safety and practice their marksmanship on those furry tailed critters that jump from branch to branch. My boys love eatin' those rodent-tasting things too! Sometimes during small game season I'll take my whole family, wife and baby included, for a hike/squirrel hunt. Whatever your excuse for getting into the huntin' woods, it will only increase your knowledge of the land and the game you are most excited about chasing.

Yeah, deer season is over in most parts of the state, but there are still a lot of opportunities to get into the woods, chase other game and increase your scouting knowledge before the long, hot days of summer. Get out there, enjoy the best weather Florida has to offer and be safe.