The dog days of summer are here and it’s an important time for deer hunters to scout aggressively if they want to pattern a mature velvet buck for opening day of bow season.
Bump scouting can be an effective way to scout for big bucks. Bump scouting is an invasive, high risk, high reward tactic where you want to learn as much as you can in a single trip to an area. Your scouting trip will focus on potential bedding and staging areas, escape routes, and trails that lead from the bedding areas to food and water. You are going on the scouting trip with the intention of disturbing the area and you’re going to have to be willing to accept the possibility that you might jump the biggest buck you’ve ever seen.
It will be important to have a plan before entering the area you plan to scout. Have an idea where you want to look. What time of day are you going into the area? What direction is the wind blowing and how warm is it going to get? Deer chooses bedding areas based off some of these factors. Gain an understanding of where they might be when you’re headed out.
Understanding Bedding and Bedding Behavior
Bedding patterns by white-tailed deer vary from place to place as well as individual deer. Deer often bed in their core area at one end of their home range during the day and at night use beds near feeding areas on the other end of that range.
Deer in hillier terrain bed at higher elevations during the day and move into lower areas for feeding and bedding at night. When temperatures are moderate, beds might be found in the open with little or no shelter. Deer will avoid areas where temperatures are high and where insects are abundant. Keep this in mind when you’re scouting for potential bedding areas.
Whitetails normally bed for less than two hours at a time, according to studies. They spend much of that time grooming. A deer will occasionally rest its head flat on the ground or curl up by tucking its nose into its flanks with its eyes closed. This sleep-like state only lasts a few minutes, and the deer can still be easily alerted if danger is near.
When to Bump Scout
The best time of year to use the bump scout tactic is right after deer season ends. It is easier to find tracks, trails, scrapes and rubs during late winter months. Bumping deer is not as big of a concern because the season is over. When you bump into a deer you can look around to figure out why that deer was there. Mark the spot on your On-X app as a potential stand location for the next deer season.
You can bump scout during spring through the end of summer. If you use this tactic toward the end of summer, you might approach locations with caution. Look in areas where you expect deer to be, go into that area when the wind is in your favor. Move slow, don’t be clunky and make a bunch of noise. Your archery season might be a month or a few weeks from opening, you don’t want to badly scare a buck out of the area.
Bump scouting during the deer season is very risky. It can be done, if necessary, but you will need to make sure you are always downwind of areas you expect to bump deer. Spend as little time in the area as possible. You don’t want to leave scent in the area, get in and get back out.
You Spooked Deer, Now What?
If you’ve been in the field long enough, you’ve probably jumped a buck from his bed and watched his rack breech the top of the weeds as he bounds away. His white tail waived at you as he escaped into a thicket. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling. This type of encounter gives you information, but is the information worth spooking deer?
You can normally tell how bad a deer is spooked. A deer that is spooked bad will tear out of the area and will run low to the ground. A deer that is mildly spooked will bound away until it feels it is far enough away from the danger.
The most common ways hunters mildly spook deer are the routes they take to and from stands or blinds. Hunters leave scent behind whether it be on the ground or on objects in the woods. Deer picks up on that and they will bound away from the spot where the scent was picked up.
According to the National Deer Association (NDA), we can no longer claim that older bucks have larger home ranges. Studies show that home ranges can shrink with a buck’s age. Bucks are loyal to their core areas, especially their primary bedding areas. This data might suggest that spooking a deer one time will not spook it out of the area for good.
If you are scouting in a thicket or potential bedding area, when you jump a deer, observe its behavior. A deer that bounds away might have just gone far enough to get out of sight. You don’t want to push any further, mark the location and back out to check out another area. You have the information you need.
As mentioned above, lightly spooking a deer just one time might not mean they are gone for good. You can use these encounters to your advantage. Note the direction the deer went, use an app like On-X to review the area. You might identify significant details of the terrain that will help your decision with stand or saddle placement.
If done successfully, bump scouting can give you a ton of information and the use of an app can help prevent you from further disturbing the area.
Why You Shouldn’t Bump Scout
When a buck is spooked badly from an area, if he got a good look at you or if he got a good whiff of your scent, you may as well stop hunting in that area for a few weeks. It is hard to say how long it will take for that buck to return. He may never return. Bump scouting is a huge risk.
Bump scouting is going to require you to get passed a psychological hurdle. In the end you are intentionally spooking deer. Everything about that thought feels wrong. Seeing deer run off might make you whisper expletives, or it might give you a sick feeling in your gut. You are going to have to cope with the consequences of spooking deer too hard. There is a fine line, cross it and the spot will be ruined.
The bump scout tactic might not be the best tactic for new hunters to use just yet. New hunters must learn what they can get away with and what they can’t get away with. A new hunter might be a little louder walking in than an experienced hunter. They might not be aware of how important wind direction and approach can be. New hunters might find the bump scout tactic doing more harm than good until that experience is gained. If a new hunter wants to implement this scouting technique, it is recommended that they do so right after deer season ends.
Bump scouting on small private land is not recommended. You do not want to risk bumping bucks off your property. The risk is too great. Bump bucks too hard and they will just avoid crossing the small tract of land. Especially if just use the farm to get from one place to the other.
Bump scouting trips can be very beneficial to hunters when planned and executed carefully. You will gain the most recent information (MRI) on deer in your area. That intel will help you put some meat in the freezer this fall.
