I’ve always looked for food and bedding and then found their paths in between. However, where I am in the UP, there are no significant mast crops or ag. The deer primarily feed on browse in the cedar swamps and maple stands that exist in this area. Therefore, everything around them is a potential food source and they don’t have to travel to get a meal.

My question is, with the absence of a destination food source, what is the best way to pattern deer?

Answer: Deciphering movement in the big woods is a different game from farm country. I think it’s the hardest deer hunting out there, but it’s also some of the most rewarding. I spend more time each season working on this problem than anything else, so I have some ideas for you. But first, I’m going to address something that holds a lot of hunters back.

You might think that the deer have food everywhere in the big woods and that they don’t need to travel, but that thought isn’t going to set you up for success. Even in the absence of ag and mast, there are food sources that come and go at certain points of the season. The deer feeding in those maple stands will key on that food source when the leaves are really dropping. Cold mornings with stiff wind will bring those deer to that food source.

The lack of mast crops can actually be an advantage, too. In northern Wisconsin, where I spend much of my fall, I’m always looking for oak trees. A single tree can be a difference maker, and you can bet that the bucks know when that tree is dropping.

They generally won’t bed right in those food sources, either. Which means they have to go from one spot to another. The main problem I tend to encounter in the big woods isn’t that they don’t travel, it’s that the low deer density makes pinning down travel really difficult.

Winter scouting to find rublines has been a huge advantage for me when hunting deer in vast swaths of timber. Where bucks walk consistently, they leave sign. That sign is there for me to see in March and shows up throughout the season. Even if I can’t pin deer down on a soft edge, or a swamp edge, or some maple stand, I can use rubs to see where bucks are likely to travel. Those rublines tell me how they get around low areas, how they leave their ridgetop beds, and generally, how they navigate that mono-habitat.

Now, owning land up there in the north country gives you a unique opportunity to learn how they use terrain. I leave trail cameras out year round on my property in Wisconsin, which teaches me a lot. Camera intel shows me that the best funnels might have a couple of deer pass through them during any given week. That ramps up some during the rut, but it’s never like it is in higher deer density regions.

That does give me confidence to wait them out, and I think that’s maybe the hardest part of this whole thing. All whitetail hunting requires patience to be successful, but it’s a different thing entirely in the big woods. We are conditioned to want to make something happen when the deer activity is slow, but you can blind call all season long in some of those areas and never get a positive response.

The game is won by doing your best to predict some deer movement, and then putting in a lot of time to prove whether you’re right or not. That’s the biggest test I face each season in all of my hunting. You have to scout enough, run cameras if you can, and then observe as much as possible while you’re hunting. It takes a big buy-in with effort, but it’s also just the best way to encounter bucks where there just aren’t very many of them, and they have a lot of habitat with which to work.

Over enough seasons, you will start to flatten that learning curve and begin to figure out that they actually do give you a chance to pattern them (somewhat) and that they do have preferred food sources at certain points of the season.

It’s a lot of work, but when it all comes together, it’s as rewarding as anything you can do with a bow in your hands.

Good luck this fall!

Have a whitetail related question? Send it to wiredtohunt@themeateater.com and check back weekly to see if we cover it.

Hot weather hunting isn’t easy, and it definitely isn’t always fun. It has a way of perpetuating common deer hunting myths that makes many hunters feel better about sitting out the early season. If you’re not careful, you might fall prey to those same misconceptions.

Deer Only Move Early or Late

While this myth could probably apply to the entire season, it’s a common one a lot of hunters believe to avoid sitting in hot conditions. It’s true that deer are crepuscular animals and that they move mostly near dawn and dusk, but that doesn’t mean they don’t move throughout the rest of the day.

On one of the hottest opening weeks I can remember, I killed a doe while still hunting just before 11 am as she slipped down to a creek bottom to get a drink. It hadn’t rained in weeks, and the temps that week hung out in the mid-90s. I also saw multiple deer that week doing the same thing, including a mature buck, at different times of the day—not just the golden hour.

For the sake of not relying on anecdata too heavily, a study out of Mississippi State University’s Deer Lab shows that deer movement isn’t non-existent outside of prime shooting hours. You might not expect to see deer moving freely in the middle of a bean field around noon, but that doesn’t mean they won’t use edge cover to browse, eat acorns, or, in the case of that doe, find a cool drink of water.

You Have to Hunt Water

You should certainly consider hunting water in the early season, especially if the conditions say as much. Hot, arid, or drought-like conditions mean that deer probably factor water into their daily rhythms, and you should too. But that doesn't necessarily apply to every situation. If you hunt a place that gets plenty of rainfall or typically holds water, like a lot of southern states, you probably should look for another limited resource.

If you aren’t hunting dry or drought conditions (good for you), you can probably focus on natural browse or hard mast in cool, shaded areas. These can be good target areas any time of the day, especially if you’re hunting close to bedding or natural edges that get a lot of traffic. At this point of the year deer have more cover options, so while they might not move a ton, they do have plenty of bedding and browsing options.

You might not have to sit over a water hole or a specific section of creek to find deer, but riparian areas can offer a lot more than just water. If you don’t have access to lush bean or alfalfa fields, fear not. There’s a lot of natural browse that hunters tend to overlook. Creeks, river bottoms, and other areas that tend to hold moisture in the soil will have green shoots this time of year that deer will browse. You can also find early dropping acorns, persimmons, or even apples, depending on your location.

Bucks Don’t Move During the Day

A lot of hunters believe that bucks, especially mature ones, don’t move during the day when it’s hot. This is factually untrue. If that were the case, they’d die of starvation down in my home state of Mississippi. You can also watch them mill around in open country if you’ve spent time behind a spotter in the Plains states. Again, they might not cross a country mile, but they will move, despite long-perpetuated myths.

For the past few years, I’ve gotten a bachelor group of bucks on camera in the same spot in September. Not only do they move at various times throughout the day, but they also bed in a cutover that gets sun all day. They get up from their beds, mosey into the timber to munch on acorns, make a few rubs, and bed back down. The deer might not cover an entire creek system in a day, but you don’t need them to if you can gather such intel.

On the flipside, if your trail camera isn’t in the right location, you might assume that the deer aren’t moving. This errant way of thinking has kept a lot of deer alive. Sure, it’s hard to persuade yourself to hunt when you have to replenish your electrolytes and bug spray, but consistent pictures of big velvet bucks might just convince you otherwise.

Answer: Learning to hunt on your own can seem intimidating. From figuring out your effective archery range to picking a spot on opening day, there are a lot of moving pieces in between. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated—even if you’re starting solo. Luckily, there are plenty of options to get new hunters started.

The National Deer Association (NDA) offers a Field to Fork Program that allows adults to learn about deer hunting basics through a hands-on approach. These multi-day events teach hunters how to do everything from the start to finish of a hunt, including the butchering process. This event isn’t meant to teach you everything, but it’s a solid foundation that provides a launchpad for new hunters.

Alternatively, if you prefer to work with a hunting mentor, there are a few different ways you can find one. A lot of states offer hunting introductory courses through their wildlife and fish departments. You typically expect to find at least one of these per year, while some states may offer multiple opportunities annually. These are great places to meet hunting mentors that might be able to work with you personally or connect you with others who can.

You can also do the legwork of finding your own mentor the old-fashioned way. Ask friends, relatives, coworkers, and church members if they or anyone they know might be a willing mentor. Growing up, I had friends who came from non-hunting families, but some of them tagged along with us or learned from others in our community. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking for help. Remember, you don’t need a hunting mentor forever. Learn the basics from them to get started, and then get out there and figure it out.

If you decide to go it alone, there’s never been a better time. This internet is a massive resource right at your fingertips. Plenty of podcasts like Wired to Hunt offer thousands of hours of expert hunting advice, how-to articles, and video series like Whitetail EDU can help you learn the basics to get started deer hunting.

Of course, there’s no better teacher than time in the woods. So get out there, and get started. You’ll fail, a lot, but that’s what makes hunting so rewarding.

Hunting Access

When it comes to finding land that you can hunt, you might have plenty of options right in your backyard. Most states offer public hunting opportunities in the form of national forests, wildlife management areas, nature reserves, or refuges. These state- and federally-operated public areas can be found with a quick Google search or by using OnX Hunt to find them.

If you go the public route, just know you’ll have to compete with other hunters. This shouldn’t dissuade you from hunting public lands. In fact, some of the best hunts I’ve experienced occurred on highly pressured public land.

Your other option, if you don’t already own land, is to try and score some private permissions. This takes some time, but if you’re willing to do a little door knocking, you might just stumble on a honey hole. Again, use OnX to locate potential properties that interest you. Big properties that look like good hunting spots usually mean someone’s hunting them, though this isn’t always the case. On the other hand, make sure you don’t overlook small properties that might hold deer. In fact, you’ll probably have better luck asking to hunt 10 acres as opposed to 1000.

Some states even offer public walk-in hunting on private lands. You’ll have to research and see if your state offers similar opportunities. If it does, these can be dynamite spots that get overlooked. Just make sure you adhere to local rules and regulations.

Whether you go the private or public route, just know that both options can suck, and both can give you some of the best hunting experiences available.

Have a whitetail related question? Send it to wiredtohunt@themeateater.com and check back weekly to see if we cover it.

Answer: If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked this question, I could probably start manufacturing my own broadheads. Back when I was more of a fixture on the seminar circuit, I fielded this inquiry during every single show. My answer used to be pretty simple and straightforward: Shoot a sharp, durable, fixed-blade head.

I started hunting before mechanicals became a thing, and was slow to adopt any broadhead with moving parts. When I got the job as Equipment Editor for what was at the time the largest bowhunting magazine out there, I no longer had a choice. I had to shoot everything and was lucky enough to get to test a pile of broadheads at the range and in the field.

Over the years, I noticed that my affinity for fixed-blade heads became more and more situationally specific. Animals like turkeys, antelope, mule deer and whitetails all started to fall into the either-or category, with mechanicals eventually winning out. I held true to my roots in Africa or when I found myself targeting bigger quarry like elk.

Now, I feel like it’s more of a matter of choosing a well-built head that you have confidence in. This is true for all critters but something I truly believe when it comes to whitetails.

The broadheads I’ve seen that have failed in the field almost all shared a similar trait–they were cheap. I had fixed-blade heads break at the ferrule on deer, and mechanicals nearly disintegrate on run-of-the-mill shots. I also had both styles blow through shoulders and stay intact, which tells me all I need to know.

More expensive heads generally utilize better materials and offer better designs. This translates to sharper blades, bullet-proof ferrules, better arrow flight, and better survivability on all hits. I know even writing this, that some readers will say it doesn’t matter and you’re just paying up for better marketing and a brand name. That just hasn’t proven true in my experience, as fun as it is to complain about.

So what broadhead is best for you? Well, what do you have confidence in, and how well do you shoot on animals? The tradeoff with fixed versus mechanical is often framed upon whether you would rather have great performance with a shoulder hit (fixed) or a gut shot (mechanical).

I don’t think it’s that simple, because anyone can shank a shot. Instead, ask yourself what you value the most. If getting through bones is it, then you’ll probably want to lean into compact, extra sharp, durable fixed-blade heads. There are plenty on the market, and my personal preference if I can find them is a four-blade options with replaceable blades (because they are always crazy sharp).

If you like great big wound channels, a mechanical is probably better for you. In this category, I don’t shoot jackknife style heads that open from the front anymore. I want them to have rear-deployable blades. I also like two-blade mechanicals that don’t offer anything more than a two-inch cutting diameter.

These are just my rules, yours may differ. Just remember this cliched but true reality–the best ones are the ones that hit where you’re aiming. Shot selection and execution do wonders for broadhead performance. Take full-confidence shots, and then pay close attention to how your broadheads performed with every one. This will shape your future broadhead choice selection much more than any advice I can give you.

–Tony Peterson

Have a whitetail related question? Send it to wiredtohunt@themeateater.com and check back weekly to see if we cover it.

Studies have repeatedly shown that a high prevalence of chronic wasting disease can tip population growth rates into the negatives, since CWD is categorically fatal for any deer unlucky enough to contract it. Progression in infected individuals is wildly different from other high-profile diseases like EHD, which makes it particularly challenging to understand the long-term effects of CWD on whitetail populations.

While an EHD-positive deer is likely to be on death’s door within days, a CWD-positive deer might go years without experiencing any symptoms at all and take months to die after going clinical. The long incubation period makes it easy to point the finger at adult mortality as the sole driver of populations declines from CWD. But just because you’re unlikely to come across a fawn in the dazed and drooling state of an end-stage prion takeover, doesn’t mean fawns aren’t falling victim to the epidemic.

Doomed in the Womb

CWD does not seem to affect reproductive success of infected whitetails during the pre-clinical phase. A 2025 study in northern Illinois found that positive does were no less likely to get pregnant than negative does, which mirrored a 2012 study out of Wisconsin showing that both positive and negative bucks were equally likely to sire fawns. On the surface, those results seem to offer some hope for continued recruitment of youngsters into high-CWD populations despite the inevitable loss of infected adults.

Yet, the harder scientists look at the offspring of CWD does, the worse the implications get.
Until this year, the only correlation observed between maternal CWD infection and fetal development was a one-percent negative difference in fetal weight for CWD-positive does, which was not enough to suggest any impact on fawn survival. But the same Illinois researchers who found positive does just as likely to breed, recently discovered why their fawns might not be as likely to thrive.

It’s not some glaring deformity or systemic failure, but a subtle difference in fetal head development that could be dooming fawns of CWD moms well before they hit the ground. In the 2026 study, fetal skull length and circumference measurements were found to be significantly shorter in CWD-positive does. Although brains of those fetuses were not measured directly, a smaller skull generally indicates a smaller brain. And, according to the study, a smaller brain could mean a decline in cognitive development in fawns birthed by CWD positive does. Those cognitive skills, along with a healthy mother, are imperative for fawn success rates and make it even more challenging for those fawns to avoid predation. For deer in CWD-positive areas, those consequences could pose dire implications for local herds.

Even if the fawn of a positive doe were to overcome its potential cognitive disabilities, the odds that it avoids contracting its mom’s disease appear incredibly slim. Science still hasn’t produced an estimate on CWD transmission rates from doe to fawn, but it has shown that the prions can readily spread both in utero and through direct contact after birth.

Research also suggests that whitetail survival rates tank the hardest from CWD in the 1.5- and 2.5-year-old age classes. This research implies a lot about when and how many deer are contracting CWD, considering the typical incubation period of 18 to 24 months, and flies in the face of the long-held belief that CWD only affects older animals.

Bad Mom Theory

Seasoned hunters know that it’s often not the biggest bucks that prove to be the most cagey, but the old does, tasked with rearing the next generation. It’s a hard job, and might be made more difficult by the symptoms of CWD. More research out of Wisconsin in 2012 found that buck fawns with infected does were harvested about a month earlier on average and significantly farther away from their moms.

This is where these waters get murky. A buck fawn that disperses early due to inadequate maternal care and gets shot by a bowhunter or taken down by coyotes is unlikely to be counted as a CWD loss in anyone’s book, similar to a doe producing fewer viable offspring due to infection. Yet, both scenarios are very real ways in which CWD could have population-level impacts outside of direct death from infection. The latter is light on research in the whitetail world, but a 2013 study on Reeve’s muntjac deer in the UK suggests that stillbirth, as well as failure-to-thrive instances where mortality occurs within a few days after birth, could be higher for fawns of CWD-positive mothers.

The Big Picture

It’s still hard to say exactly what CWD means for deer and deer hunters as it continues to spread. Every year, researchers and game agencies provide more pieces of the puzzle, none of which paint a rosy picture of the future of America’s favorite game animal. Plenty of folks have written CWD off as just another thing that weeds the old and weak from the herd, but new findings indicate it is much more than that. And if we don’t take those warnings seriously, it’s entirely possible that, eventually, no one with a stake in the cervid game will have the option to ignore this disease.

Of course, you’ll need to avoid a few common mistakes if you want to get the most out of your trail camera strategy. If you’re considering running trail cameras for your whitetail or other big game pursuits, this guide can help you figure out everything from choosing one to finding the best spots to place them all season long.

Types of Trail Cameras

Traditional

Traditional trail cameras don’t give you immediate access to photos and videos, but they also don’t require cellular service to function. Trail cameras require SD cards and tons of batteries to run. Depending on the weather conditions and batteries, you might have to change them multiple times in a season. If you’re lucky, you might have a camera that lasts you an entire season or longer before you need to change the batteries.

You also have to regularly check your camera, if you want to stay up-to-date on your intel. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the season’s over before you go pull your SD cards.

Cellular

Unlike traditional trail cameras, cellular trail cams allow you to view your photos and videos without physically checking your camera. This means you can monitor deer activity without putting pressure on a specific hunting area.

Unfortunately, cell cams only work in areas where they can get good service. Otherwise, you’ll have to go pull your SD card or move your camera to a spot with service, which defeats the purpose of having a cellular trail cam.

One of the benefits of having a cellular trail camera, like the Moultrie Edge 4 is that you can easily organize and store your photos in an app. You’ll save time and money when you don’t have to keep up with a pile of SD cards.

Trail Camera Strategies and Placement

While trail cameras can certainly provide incredible scouting info, it’s not as simple as placing one on just any tree. You have to consider trigger speed, distance, and false triggers. Where legal, you might have to do a little prep work to make sure you get the best photos possible. Depending on the time of year, you’ll want to consider where you should place your trail camera.

Consider the time of year. Are you summer scouting for whitetails, looking for season-long hunting data, monitoring the rut, or trying to find a buck’s core area. These factors will determine how you need to approach your camera setup.

• How to Set Up A Trail Camera
• Where to Place Trail Cameras in the Big Woods
• 3 Locations You Need to Put Trail Cameras This Summer

Where to Place Cameras

Food sources, travel routes, terrain traps, and scrapes are great places to set your trail cameras. Ag fields, food plots, or feeders (where legal) can give you a good overview of your local deer herd. Travel routes like creek crossings, worn trails, soft edges naturally funnel deer through certain areas. Similarly, saddles, pinch points, benches, bluff gaps, etc. that might be difficult to hunt without busting deer can be good spots to leave a camera all season long. Of course, scrapes are natural communication hubs for deer, and the right ones might clue you into several different bucks using that area.

• How to Chum Whitetails
• How to Use Mock Scrapes in Summer
• How to Use Trail Cameras After the Rut

How to Set Up Trail Cameras

Most hunters just find a tree and hang their camera at waist height. I’m not saying this is wrong or that you shouldn’t do it sometimes, but there might be a better way to set it up if you’re trying to make sure it doesn’t grab a mature buck’s attention.

Again, you’ll want to consider the time of year when you’re hanging a trail camera. There are also a few mistakes you can avoid to make sure your trail cam photos don’t suck. Luckily, trail cameras like Moultrie’s Edge 4 allow you to utilize features like Live Aim to fine-tune your setup and see exactly what’s in frame.

• 5 Mistakes Deer Hunters Make with Trail Cameras
• 7 Reasons Your Trail Cam Photos Suck
• How to Make Trail Camera Batteries Last Longer

Trail Camera Laws and Fair Chase

Trail cameras have sparked contentious debates since they first came out. A lot of western states have even banned them on public lands for portions of the hunting season. Arizona actually banned them outright for the purposes of scouting or hunting. Just this year, Idaho banned the use of cellular trail cameras on public lands throughout its hunting season.

Some states that ban trail cameras on public lands might allow them on private lands. Others allow cellular trail cameras but restrict hunters from using immediate intel to hunt that same day. Trail camera rules vary by state, so make sure you research your local regulations before purchasing one.

Trail Camera Mistakes

One of the main ways you can derail your hunting is by relying solely on trail cam pics to determine where you hunt. While cameras might clue you into a big buck’s habits, they can give you plenty of red herrings. A single picture of a buck might mean he’s living in the area or simply passing through. You need more information to confirm or deny that theory. Scout around, look for tracks, rubs, potential bedding areas, or spend a few evenings behind some glass to get a visual if you can. Use that picture as a piece of the puzzle.The worst thing you can do is plan your whole hunting season around one image and miss the rest of the story.

You can also sabotage your setups by checking your cameras too often, leaving you scent and potentially bumping deer. This reason alone makes a compelling case for cellular trail cameras.

Trail Cams Tell Part of the Story, Not the Whole

Trail cameras are great tools for giving an estimate of your local deer herd. They can give you great intel, but they won’t tell you the whole story.

Just because you don’t get any trail camera pics one day, doesn’t mean the deer aren’t tearing it up at that location. I once watched a pile of deer feed just out of range of a camera. If I hadn’t been hunting that day, I would have assumed the woods were dead. You can’t believe everything your cameras show (or don’t). Make sure they aren’t making you a worse hunter. Use camera intel to inform your hunting strategy, not dictate it.

• How Trail Cameras Made Me A More Patient Buck Hunter
• You’re Using Trail Cameras Wrong
• Why You Should Reconsider Your Trail Cam Strategy
• 3 Best Trail Camera Locations During the Rut
• 3 Best Trail Camera Locations For Pre-Rut
• How to Get the Most Out of Your Pre-Season Trail Cameras

Final Thoughts

Trail cams aren’t just for the whitetail woods. Where legal, you can use them to locate elk, turkeys, bears, or other critters. Just make sure you follow local rules and regulations. Like with deer hunting, trail cameras can be a convenient tool when it comes to hunting. They can give you great intel, but you’ll have to use your woodsmanship and critical thinking to decipher what it means.

If you have a family or little ones, you know how challenging it can be to balance life and hunting. Joining the two naturally makes sense. While there’s a fine line between cultivating an interest in hunting and making it a chore no one wants to do, you can gradually introduce your kids to it by letting them tag along with you. Besides, if you’re trying to score some brownie points for the fall, giving your spouse or significant other a little me-time can help you do just that.

Even if you just want to introduce them to scouting, here are a few ways to summer scout with your kids that don’t involve running them through a mini bootcamp.

Just Ride

When he was still alive, my grandfather would load me and my cousins into his Toyota pickup, and we’d ride through his hunting club. He did this year-round but especially during the summer. Sometimes we’d stop to check blackberry patches in recent cut-overs or look for ripe persimmons or summer grapes dropping into the gravel roads. My grandfather had plenty of stories tied to these spots. As he drove, he’d point across a cut-over to where he’d once killed a turkey or an SMZ where he shot a buck and ran his truck into the ditch after loading it up.

He rarely made these rides about hunting, even though I know he used them as little scouting trips. They were a great way to include me and my cousins, and those rides, along with my grandfather’s stories, made us look forward to hunting season.

Even if you don’t leave the truck, riding gives you an easy way to get the kids out of the house and show them something new. You can monitor spots from the road, glass, or even try door knocking. Either way, it doesn’t take a ton of effort.

Hang a Few Trail Cams

I recently made the mistakes of dragging my two daughters with me to hang a trail cam during the hottest part of the day. Normally, this little trip wouldn’t be an issue for them, but it was a long, hot walk (way to go, Dad). It wasn’t long before the tears started and I was swatting mosquitos while haphazardly putting their hair into buns. Luckily, there’s a way to include your kids on a trail cam mission without collective and instant regret.

As long as you take them early in the morning or late in the evening, setting a trail camera with your kids is a great way to include them in scouting. Depending on their age, make sure the walk or hike doesn’t feel like the journey to Mordor. Otherwise, there won’t be a repeat trip. If it feels like fun to them, they’re more likely to want to do it again or even help you during your set up process.

Don’t only include them in the work process either. My girls love seeing photos and videos of deer or other critters, and it’s a way to show them that the “work” we did to hang those cameras actually paid off.

Teach Them How to Glass

In my home office, I have a pair of binoculars that lives on my desk. Every time my girls come visit me throughout the day, it’s the first thing they reach for before heading to the window. Why? Because glassing is cool whether you’re 5 or 35.

Glassing from the road can be an effective way to summer scout without putting pressure on deer. It’s also an easy one for kids, because they get to ride in the A/C and you don’t have to worry about hosing them down with bug spray. Plus, you can bring snacks. If there’s one thing that will keep kids interested, it’s snacks.

You can also teach them how to glass. It’s not the same glassing that’s required to spot the ear twitch of a bedded deer, just the casual viewing of a few deer feeding in a field. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to glass where you plan on hunting. There’s valuable intel in just observing deer, even if you can’t hunt them. Besides, your kids won’t know the difference either.

Final Thoughts

If you’re hoping to get your kids into hunting, scouting trips can be a great intro. Just remember to keep it simple. The goal is to help them enjoy the outdoors, not resent them.

Luckily, whitetails adapt regardless of hunting pressure, and logging cuts can still hold mature bucks. You just need to stop hunting them like everyone else. Take a step back and evaluate how you’re hunting an area. After that, you’ll need to get some boots on the ground, ask the right questions, and look for the subtle details everyone else overlooks.

Scouting a Clear-Cut

Whether you’re dealing with a new or familiar hunting spot, you need to ground truth a clear-cut to validate, or invalidate, its condition. E-scouting is a great starting place, but boots-on-the-ground observations will always reveal more than GPS data is able to. Clear-cuts change quickly over a few years, and what you once knew may no longer apply.

If you’ve ever walked around a logging cut, then you know there is almost always a deer trail tracing the outside boundary. Don’t waste too much time, but walk that perimeter and note every deer trail entering and exiting the cut. Drop waypoints on any hubs you find. Water holes, creek crossings, and scrapes on intersecting trails are all important details that can help you hone your scouting efforts.

At some point along the cut’s edge, you’ll see an old two-track lane where machines brought logs in and out of it. You should be able to see where that lane branches. Follow the main path first, then investigate the branches if time allows. This will give you a basic understanding of how deer move in the area.

Scouting for Buck Sign

Once you have an idea of how deer generally use a specific clear-cut, you’ll need to dial in your scouting efforts to look for buck sign. Glassing, observation sits, and trail cameras are great options for gathering intel. The goal is to determine how deer are using the area during daylight hours.

Try to determine whether the deer are feeding in the cut at night and returning to timber in the morning or if they’re bedding and browsing in the heavy cover all day. It might seem like they’re bedding in plain sight, but if you’ve hunted a thick cut, you know how easily any deer can disappear. Especially mature bucks.

While you might find the obvious sign for most of the herd, mature bucks tend to operate a little differently outside of the rut. Bucks reach maturity by avoiding danger, so by the time one reaches its fifth birthday, it’s pretty good at staying alive.

A concentration of big rubs would be a great sign, but in low deer-density areas, you might not get that. Don’t overlook tracks. If you happen to find a big one, drop a waypoint or even take a picture. That way, you can compare it to others that you find.

The Subtleties

In a logging cut, not every trail belongs to a mature buck, but it can pay to follow a few obscure trails. You just need to find a place where a mature buck can loaf for extended periods of time and let his guard down.

One old buck I scouted over a few years spent a good portion of his time feeding in a clear-cut. Occasionally he daylighted there, and I always wondered what was different on those days. One summer while scouting, I found a giant bed tucked between a pine and a laurel bush. It was in the direction he usually entered the cut. I figured that had to be a place he would spend the last minutes of daylight before making an appearance.

A deer trail led away from that bed and down a steep, rocky hillside that seemed like a place most deer would avoid. At the bottom, the terrain leveled into a flat dotted with smaller rocks. In the center of the flat, without much surrounding cover, there was a scraggly tree. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to break up a buck’s outline.

Behind that tree was another giant bed. A well-worn trail wrapped around it with fresh scat nearby. It didn’t scream typical hill country buck sign, but it taught me to stop making assumptions about mature bucks.

Find A Weakness

Even mature bucks let their guards down. There will always be a place and time where he feels a false sense of security. It’s our job as deer hunters to figure that out.

A lot of times, these places happen to be staging areas. Maybe it’s a transition or a soft edge that leads from a clear-cut into the timber. Sometimes you might find a track in these places or a rub near a subtle trail. You might find browsing sign that other hunters overlook. Other times you’ll have to listen to your gut and just hunt it with the best possible conditions.

Either way, experience and observation are the best teachers. Pay attention to the small details and create theories based on what you find. If it doesn’t work, keep trying. That’s half the fun of it.

In June 2026, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) finalized its new Earn-a-2nd-Buck system, a change designed to encourage hunters to harvest more antlerless deer.

Under the new system, every licensed deer hunter will receive one antlered deer tag. However, hunters who harvest and report an antlerless deer using a Deer Management Permit (DMP), Bow/Muzzleloader Antlerless Deer Tag, or Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) tag can earn the opportunity to receive a second antlered deer tag. Once that antlerless deer is properly reported, hunters become eligible for another buck tag that can be used during those same deer seasons.

The new regulation is part of the DEC's broader effort to increase antlerless deer harvests and better manage New York's growing deer population. Because does are the reproductive engine of the herd, wildlife managers often rely on increased antlerless harvest to slow population growth.

According to a March 2026 NYS News release announcing the proposed regulations, “During recent hunting seasons, less than 15% of licensed hunters harvested one antlerless (primarily female) deer and only about 3% of hunters harvested two or more antlerless deer. The proposed regulations are intended to encourage and incentivize hunters to harvest more antlerless deer to help better manage deer populations.”

At the moment, overharvest doesn't seem to be a concern with this regulation change. “Deer populations are growing across much of New York and, in many areas, are increasing to levels that are detrimental to deer, their habitat, and the public,” NYSDEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said.

Hunters planning to pursue whitetails in New York this fall can find additional information about the Earn-a-2nd-Buck system, along with answers to frequently asked questions, on the NYSDEC’s website or the New Hunting Regulations to Increase Harvest of Antlerless Deer Q&A page.

The agency has also implemented several other deer hunting regulation changes for the 2026 season, including expanded antlerless hunting opportunities, modifications to Deer Management Permit issuance and transfers, and updates to broadhead regulations. Hunters are encouraged to review the full list of changes before heading afield.

I was able to get my hands on the Edge 4 Solar before it dropped. Here are my initial thoughts.

Specs and Features

• Network: Connects to any of the Big 4
• Memory: Built-in
• Power: Includes rechargeable battery
• Max Photo Resolution: 40 MP
• Video Resolution: 1080P
• Trigger Speed: 0.4 seconds
• Detection and Flash Range: 100 ft.
• OnX Hunt integration

Upgrades from Edge 3

• Waterproof: IP67 design
• Buckshot: Sends zoomed-in max-res buck pics
• Night Clarity: Enhanced IR LEDs for night pics

First Look at the Moultrie Edge 4 Solar

I just received the Edge 4 Solar this summer, so I haven’t had the chance to test it in harsh, wintry conditions. However, I’ve tested every iteration of the Moultrie Edge so far, and the improved photo and nighttime video quality in the 4 Solar is evident.

The same day I deployed this camera, I received a video of a doe investigating the scrape where it was placed. Some of the prior Edge or Edge Pro cameras tend to blur at night, but Moultrie improved that dilemma with the IR LEDs. As you can see below, the video quality is crisp without blurs or flares. Even the resolution in the background appears to be improved from the Edge 3.

Moultrie’s New Edge 4 Solar includes some of the same great features as previous models like the OnX integration, built-in memory with GPS, and the Live Aim, which allows for a quick, seamless setup.

New features for the Edge 4 Solar include a larger solar panel, Night Clarity (improved IR LEDs), an IP67 waterproof rating, and Buck Shot, which automatically sends zoomed-in pictures of bucks. The door on the camera also got an upgrade. Instead of the typically latch that the other Edge cameras have, the Edge 4 uses a button to open and close the controls panel, which streamlines the camera body and prevents it from snagging on anything.

Solar Panel and Set Up

One of the advantages of cellular trail cameras (where legal) is that they allow you to set it and forget it, given that you’ve found a proven spot. This is especially critical if you want to monitor a property from a few states away. The Moultrie Edge 4 Solar allows you to do this, thanks to the rechargeable battery and enlarged solar panel. MeatEater's own Janis Putelis highlighted the utility of the Edge 4's solar panel.

"Once I find the right spot for the camera, the only reason for me to touch it is if a bear turns it."

The solar panel has two adjustment wheels that allow you to position it in the direction that receives the most sunlight. This is critical for maximizing the charging capabilities, and it only takes a few moments to fine tune. I set up my Edge 4 Solar just inside a tree line that borders a cutover. It doesn’t get direct sunlight throughout the day, but it gets enough. So far my batter has been hovering around 96-98%. I have it placed on a travel route that doesn't truly heat up until October, but you should expect more battery drainage if you place it at a feeder or anywhere deer linger.

It only takes a matter of minutes to have your Moultrie Edge 4 up and running.

Organization

Run enough trail cameras, and it’s easy to lose a few of them, especially if you cover a lot of public ground. The OnX integration ensures that you won’t forget about your Moultrie Edge 4 after the season ends or you decide to move them to a new spot. In fact, Moultrie has a quick, convenient tutorial here on how to sync your Edge cameras with OnX.

What makes the Edge 4 Solar, and all the edge cameras, so effective is Moultrie’s user-friendly and robust app. The cataloging, OnX integration, and organization make it easy to keep track of various properties, deer, and cameras. If you're someone who prioritizes strategic organization for your hunting intel, especially whitetails, the app alone should appeal to you.

Final Thoughts

If you’re already familiar with the app, then you know how streamlined and effective it can make your trail camera strategy. If you’re looking to add a cellular trail cam to your scouting regiment, you should put this one at the top of your list. Check out the Edge 4 right here.

What those year-round cameras did for me was change how I view whitetails, particularly bucks. One of the most interesting takeaways involves predators and their impact on deer movement. Here are a few things I learned from year-round intel.

Toothy Critters & Cagey Bucks

Back when we filmed the first season of One Week in November, I started my hunt on a property in south-eastern Minnesota. The first morning, while sitting over a pinch point and waiting on a cruising buck, I watched a forky bound through like he’d seen a ghost. A little while later, a coyote came down the main trail.

I figured that might be it for the morning, but it was the first of November and I had nowhere else to be, so I rode it out. An hour later I was standing over a 155-inch eight-pointer that came down the same trail. It was a good lesson, but it was still the prime rut where anything can happen.

The presence of predators at other times of the year must have a more outsized impact on immediate deer movement, or so I thought. After a couple years of running year-round trail cameras in northern Wisconsin, where the density of bears, wolves, coyotes, and bobcats is high, the truth became more evident.

I realized that at least with bears, coyotes, and bobcats, their presence seemed to have a short-lived effect on overall deer movement in the same locations, while wolves seemed to have a much more meaningful impact. While my sample size is small and highly anecdotal, my observations showed me two things.

If a single wolf comes in and hangs around, which happened a couple years ago on a property I hunt a lot, it seems like the deer traffic normalizes pretty quickly. An entire pack is a different story. This happened on that same property last year, and it pushed a heck of a lot of the deer and the coyotes to the fringe habitat closer to the roads and houses. It was a real eye opener, and one I probably won’t forget any time soon.

Terrain Traps Rule

One spot I’ve run cameras on pretty much steady for three seasons is a pinch point next to a swamp. It’s not a very obvious terrain trap, but definitely funnels deer movement. It’s a rut hotspot, for obvious reasons.

It’s also one of the most consistent locations I’ve ever found for just general deer movement, which becomes much clearer when you hunt where the deer density is really low. Deer use that swamp edge all year long, with enough frequency to realize that focusing on terrain traps for mostly rut hunting is selling the whole thing way short.

While we all love sitting over a good food source or maybe a water source, if you want to have deer close and vulnerable, figure out the land. Learn where the deer have to walk, and then hang a camera and wait. Over three years I’ve watched that spot produce more action than I ever would have predicted. Hunt those pinch points and funnels during the rut, but don’t forget they can produce every day of the season if the deer have any reason to walk from one side to the other (which they probably do).

What We Know About Scrapes

A week or so ago, I got a trail camera video of a young buck visiting a scrape. He raked his velvet antlers on the overhanging branches and just did his thing. I showed it to one of my daughters, because in the 2024 season we sat 40 yards from that scrape with a doe decoy out. With half an hour of shooting light left, a young buck popped out of the swamp, eyed up his potential girlfriend, and then put on a show. He pawed that scrape up, peed in it, stood on his hind legs, and raked the branches overhead. Then he made the mistake of trotting into bow range.

I’d rather hunt around a bunch of rubs than a community scrape for most of the season. The middle 10 days of October are an exception, but I am fascinated by scrapes. I’ve left cameras on a few of them for a couple years, and I’ve learned that I don’t know shit about scrapes and why deer use them.

They visit them every month of the year, and while they don’t always go to town and work them, it seems like every single deer that comes in will at least give the licking branch a little sniff and a taste. I’ve come to believe that the urine-soaked dirt is important, but not nearly as important as the licking branch. That doesn’t really matter much to a hunting strategy, but it’s an interesting takeaway.

It’s also just fun to realize that some of the sign we associate strictly with fall activity actually functions as a communication tool all season long. I never would have learned that if I had been responsible and pulled some of my cameras at the end of the season.

While summer scouting might benefit you come October, do you really need to burn the boot leather during beach season to have success this fall? After all, plenty of hunters fill their tags on quick out-of-state hunts with no prior experience in a place. Here are a few reasons to consider whether or not you need to spend a ton of time summer scouting.

Pattern Changes

Getting a buck on camera in August is great, but that hardly guarantees you’ll wrap your tag around him come October. Unless you’re planning on hunting an early September opener, your scouting intel from August probably won’t tell you where the deer will be this fall.

That doesn’t mean summer scouting can’t offer you valuable intel. You could look for historical sign, travel routes, and potential bedding cover to determine if you should revisit a spot in the fall. But you could also do that in February when the snakes, ticks, and spiders aren’t out. Besides, if you’re scouting an area where deer are browsing on new green briar shoots, honeysuckle, and other seasonal vegetation, that will change after summer.

Fresh Intel is the Best Intel

I’m not saying you should procrastinate your scouting duties. Instead, you should be more methodical in how and when you execute them. I enjoy watching a velvet buck slip out of a cutover or cross a field, but I’d much rather find a big track as I’m scouting my way into an evening hunt in October.

Prioritizing a few intentional days of scouting just before the season opens (or even during) can give you more real-time intel than hacking your way through the middle of summer. It’s easy to think that you have to spend as much time on stand as possible during the season, but that time on stand doesn’t really help if you aren’t hunting the deer where they’re at.

Instead of hanging and hoping in a random spot, go in super early and scout your way into a place. Done right, this is the true benefit of mobile hunting. Look for fresh tracks, droppings, and feeding sign to tell you where to set up.

If you’re hunting acorns in early October, you should find this feeding sign under a tree that’s dropping. Now, you might not know the caliber of bucks in that area, but some fresh tracks might give you a clue.

Winter Scout First

Dropping a few cameras or hanging stands during the summer is one thing, but you should already have these spots marked from historical data. This might seem counterintuitive, but finding fresh rubs or scrapes at the end of deer season is much closer to when you’ll actually hunt them as opposed to the middle of July.

Winter scouting gets talked about a lot, but it’s something that few hunters actually do. I get it, you’ve slogged through an entire deer season, burned all your brownie points, and probably feel slopes-of-Mount-Doom levels of exhaustion. But even a few days of winter scouting can go a long way.

Assuming nothing drastic happens to the landscape or local deer herd, there’s a good chance the intel you find winter scouting will show you how to hunt a certain area the next year. That way, you can focus on the archery range and dialing in your setups during the summer months.

Final Thoughts

For most folks, you don’t need to make a special summer trip just to scout. Even if you’re planning a multi-day out-of-state hunt, take a day to scout a few areas instead of going in blind. You’ll have hot intel on the deer come fall without skipping out on a few cold ones this summer.

I appreciate the speed, accuracy, and technology that modern compounds offer. You can make shots on deer with a compound that you wouldn’t dream of doing with traditional equipment. But there is something primal about hunting with a traditional bow. It’s nostalgic and draws me back to my traditional roots whenever I feel the need for a change.

Despite all the progress with modern equipment, it seems like every year more bowhunters need to scratch the traditional itch. Some make the switch permanently, while others want a new challenge for a season or two. Either way, there's something about traditional archery that intrigues hunters.

If you're considering making the swap to traditional archery this season, here are four reasons to make the jump.

A New Challenge

If you've been bowhunting for years, it's easy to fall into a routine or even autopilot with modern compound bows. You shoot your bow all summer, dial in your effective range, and maybe you’ve experienced a decent amount of success in the deer woods. If you’re craving a new challenge, a traditional bow can deliver that.

There's no let-off, peep sight, release aid, no rangefinders, and no sliding sight pins—just a simple stick and string. Because the shot depends more on your ability to repeat a successful process, you have to practice more intentionally than you might with a compound. Traditional archery is less about punching groups and more about building instinctive shooting skills.

That challenge doesn't stop at the range either. The limited range of traditional archery forces hunters to get uncomfortably close to game. This forces you to develop better woodsmanship and sharper scouting skills to create more precise shot opportunities. You'll look at the woods differently when your max range shrinks to 20 yards. Every trail, pinch point, and bedding area becomes an opportunity to close the distance.

Simplify Your Setup

Modern bowhunting sometimes feels more like managing equipment than hunting. Unless you buy a ready-to-hunt bow, you’ll need to buy sights, a release, maybe a stabilizer, quiver, rangefinder, dampeners, and the list goes on. None of these things are bad. They all serve a purpose, but compound bows have a lot of moving pieces and some you don’t even need.

Traditional archery offers a refreshing alternative. Most recurves and longbows are incredibly simple. No moving parts, extra gadgets, or excessive tuning. You simply grab your bow, a handful of arrows, and head for the woods.

There's a certain freedom that comes with simplicity. Instead of worrying about whether your sight got bumped or if you remembered your release, you can focus on the hunt itself. You become more connected to the experience and less dependent on equipment.

You’re Tired of Your Heavy Bow

You don’t realize how heavy compound bows can get until you’re several miles back on a hunt. By the time you add a sight, quiver, stabilizer, arrows, and other accessories, it's not uncommon for a hunting bow to weigh eight to ten pounds or more. That might not seem like much until you have to carry it all day through the mountains.

Traditional bows offer a dramatically lighter alternative. Many recurves and longbows weigh just two to three pounds. Even with a quiver, you're often carrying less than half the weight of a fully outfitted compound setup.

For elk hunters covering miles of mountain country, public-land deer hunters navigating rough terrain, or anyone who enjoys spot-and-stalk hunting, a lighter bow can make a noticeable difference. Less weight means less fatigue, more mobility, and more enjoyment during long days in the field. Sure, you’re trading that weight for effective archery range, but if you prefer to hunt close to your game, it’s probably worth it.

The author with a nice buck. Brodie Swisher

Every Hunt Means More

When compound hunters swap to traditional, their definition of success usually changes too. It’s easy to focus on a certain class of deer with a compound bow. But when you carry a traditional bow, every successful hunt feels like a huge accomplishment.

If you think a mature buck is a trophy, try shooting any deer with a traditional bow. The rush and accomplishment of shooting a doe or small buck with a stick and string is hard to beat. My first trad bow kill was a spike. I thought I had accomplished something that day, walking out of the woods with a longbow in one hand and dragging that little buck with the other.

A squirrel, rabbit, or grouse all feel like a trophy when you’ve got a trad bow in your hand. Traditional archery has a way of shifting the focus away from antler measurements and toward the overall hunting experience.

Final Thoughts

Switching from a compound bow to a traditional bow isn't for everyone. It requires patience and consistent practice. You’ll have to shrink your effective range and be okay with passing deer that you probably could have shot with a compound. It requires a steeper learning curve, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding when you arrow an 80-pound doe. You may not shoot as many animals, but you might just rediscover why you became a bowhunter in the first place. And that's a trade worth considering.

His win was predicated on a true understanding of how to use forward facing sonar, the latest iteration of the good old depth finder. This technology, which allows anglers to see and target fish that are out in front of their boat, is incredible. So incredible, in fact, that many anglers believe it’ll threaten fisheries once the cost comes down and the average weekend warrior gets ahold of it.

I share those concerns, and wonder what the future holds for fishermen. Especially those who target muskies, or catch-and-keep species like walleyes and panfish. State Game agencies across the country are actively looking at this issue as well, and there are whispers in the fishing sphere of scopin’ restrictions or outright bans.

Outdoorsman face issues like this on the water, and of course, in the woods. Deer hunting, and big game hunting in general, has its own technological divide. Cell cams, drones, and the increasing array of weaponry allowed all enter the conversation and as quickly as any political statement, divide us into factions. Some of this tech has already led to the creation of new laws.

Western Lands & Camera Bans

Five years ago, Arizona banned the use of trail cameras statewide. Officials ultimately argued that trail cams, and how hunters and outfitters use them, are deleterious to the resource and the pursuit.

Montana implemented trail camera usage restrictions, and so have Utah and Nevada. A few years ago, Kansas banned them on public land, and more recently, the state of Idaho passed House Bill 939, which prohibits hunters from using night vision optics, drones, thermal imaging, and cell cameras throughout the fall hunting seasons.

The arc of the trail camera highlights what happens to a lot of technology as it develops over time–they start out big, clunky, and pretty cumbersome. Trail cams used to be giant units, which ran off of D batteries and housed an actual disposable camera, like the ones folks used to leave on tables during weddings so guests could capture the night’s candid moments for the freshly minted couple.

Over time, the cameras got smaller, the use of physical film disappeared, and you can now receive images on your phone just seconds after they’re taken, thanks to a convenient antenna mounted on the camera.

I first ran across a cell camera at a booth during the ATA Show a long time ago, and one of the reps for the company explained to me that he used them to find strutting toms in the spring once the morning gobble-fest fizzled out. I remember thinking that I hated just about every part of that conversation. I also had enough foresight to realize that this was probably going to become a huge category for all hunters, especially whitetail hunters.

Guess what, it has. Now, it’s to the point where we are seeing backlash on their usage. But the genie is out of the bottle, and it’s hard to imagine a world where cell cameras are banned in much of the whitetail-dominated regions of the country–especially on private land.

Rules for Thee

A lot of the debate around technology in the deer space revolves around fair chase. While codified into law in certain ways, fair chase is a moving target. In Kansas where cameras were banned on public land, hunters can still use cell cameras on private land over a pile of corn or on a feeder. It’s hard to argue fair chase in that case, when it only applies to folks who don’t have a lease, own land, or are lucky enough to have permission on private ground.

It’s not just cell camera enthusiasts catching all of the strays these days, either. Drones are a big topic as well, as their general price comes down and usage goes up. Like most technology, drones can prove to be a huge asset to a hunter who is on the verge of losing a mortally hit deer.

But drones can also be used to locate deer and pattern deer, with zero effort. This next-gen surveillance tool is ripe for bad actors to use to gain an unfair advantage over a critter that couldn’t possibly understand the new level of predation he’s being subjected to. Some states have gotten ahead of this issue, with others sure to follow. The same goes for thermal imaging.

The big question with current and future technologies is where (if anywhere) does it end?

The March Toward Easy

Hunters are masters of painting their preferred pursuits as challenging, while also working as hard as possible to remove most of the challenges. The hunter who grows deer and babysits them until they make the hitlist, will tell you that the real challenge is targeting only mature bucks, which glosses over the reality of creating ideal food sources, 24/7 monitoring with cell cameras, and a hunting style that often involves hiding in a comfortable elevated box blind.

The diehard public land hunter will use onX religiously, cameras if he can, and then a couple thousand dollars worth of gear including high-tech clothes, carbon-fiber sticks, a tree saddle, and really anything that can provide an edge. We accept all of this, because it’s just a part of the modern deer hunting game.

But are we going too far? On a broad scale, this can generally be measured by technology and its impact on the resource. If something comes out that increases the harvest noticeably, or would very easily turn nonhunting public opinion against us, it’s probably worth debate.

On a personal scale, it’s a different story. We draw our own lines in the sand. I’ll give you an example here, which involves my teenage daughters. They shoot crossbows, which is about as close to a vertical bow as I am to a skilled breakdancer. I have zero interest in hunting with that crossbow, but have zero problem taking my daughters out to hunt with it.

This is how personal hunting convictions, or whatever you want to call them, have always worked. Where you land personally depends on what you want from deer hunting, but where hunters land as a whole with these issues is a different story. One that will keep being written, and rewritten as new and more effective technology hits the scene.

After a few raps on the door, the landowner opened, and I quickly referred to him by name. The familiarity seemed to put him at ease and we started talking about his farm and life. Ten minutes later, my son and I climbed back in the truck with fresh permission to hunt some of the finest deer ground in the county. Were we lucky? Maybe. But it’s a tactic I’ve used throughout the years to score permission many hunters won’t work for.

Thanks to onX, it’s a lot easier to gain new permissions than it used to be. While most hunters use onX to better understand public and private hunting access, there’s a host of other features that make it an excellent tool beyond just e-scouting.

Whether you're planting food plots, hanging treestands, tracking a wounded buck, or looking for new hunting permission, here are five onX Hunt tools every deer hunter should know.

Area Shape Tool

If you plant food plots, spray herbicides, or manage habitat, you need to utilize the Area Shape tool. Instead of guessing the size of a food plot or field, simply use the tool to draw the boundaries of the area you want to measure with your finger. Within seconds, you'll know exactly how many acres you need to prep for.

This means you won’t over-calculate seed requirements, fertilizer rates, lime applications, and herbicide needs. It’ll save you money and time in the long run.

Compass Mode

Hunters are notorious for misjudging distances. Luckily, the Compass Mode feature helps eliminate the guesswork. With a quick look, you can accurately determine distances to terrain features, field edges, pinch points, rivers, bedding cover, and even potential shot opportunities. This can be especially useful when you scout unfamiliar ground or need to plan stand locations.

Knowing exact distances allows you to make more precise decisions when it comes to setting up for a hunt. Bow and rifle hunters will both appreciate this feature when it comes time to hang a stand within bow range of a trail or on the edge of a long field.

Mark My Location

Treestand sites, bedding areas, scrape lines, rubs, food sources, and trail camera locations are all locations deer hunters need to remember. The Mark My Location feature allows you to save these spots with a simple tap. You can easily organize them and return to them anytime you need.

And one of the most underrated benefits is the ability to share these locations with friends and family (the ones you trust, of course). Need to show your hunting buddy exactly where a stand is located? Want your son or daughter to find a stand without getting lost? Simply share the waypoint. You can ditch the outdated (and haphazard) directions.

It's also a valuable safety feature. Sharing your exact hunting location with family members ensures someone always knows where you’re hunting should an emergency arise.

Tracking Feature

Like its name implies, the tracking feature records your movement as you travel through the woods, creating a digital breadcrumb trail. For starters, it's a tremendous aid for blood trailing a wounded deer. It’s easy to lose the trail during a recovery. Tracking allows you to see exactly where you have and haven’t been.

You can also use it to find your way back to the truck, especially on an unfamiliar property, in the dark. Because it tracks your distance, you can monitor how far you walk during scouting trips, shed hunts, or preseason habitat work, so you can know just how many miles you’ve covered.

Landowner Information

Landowner information is key when you’re trying to score new hunting ground. This feature removes a ton of guesswork and allows you to connect the dots as you prepare for the big ask. Instead of burning gas, you can identify who owns a parcel before ever knocking on a door.

There's something personable about using someone’s name, rather than starting the conversation with, "Do you own this property?" It’s a way to show landowners that you’ve put in some level of effort and respect in doing so. Those little details can go a long way when you're trying to gain hunting permission. It doesn’t always work, but it certainly helps.

Final Thoughts

If you have onX, take a few minutes to explore these features if you aren’t familiar with them. You may discover that some of the most valuable hunting tools you own aren't in your pack—they're in your phone.

With nearly a decade of experience in my rearview mirror, I made one of the dumbest hunting mistakes of my life—I stayed home on November 7. The temps hit 80 degrees, and I convinced myself that the deer would sit tight until dark.

Guess who cruised by my stand camera mid-morning?

I know what you’re thinking. Duh, that’s peak rut. There’s no weather on Earth that justifies sitting it out, because bucks will move regardless. It’s a fair point, but that experience reframed my entire attitude towards hunting in unexpectedly warm weather all season long. It should do the same for you.

Nature’s Air Conditioning

For most September whitetail openers, heat is inevitable. Deer are still munching on leafy greens in their summer coats, and a 10-degree increase from one day to the next isn’t likely to change their pattern much.

Flip a page or two on your calendar, and that 10-degree swing becomes something noticeable for deer that have put on a solid layer of fat and fluff. This is true over most of the whitetail’s range; even in the South, where it’s not uncommon for early-summer temperatures to reappear throughout the winter.

I stared for way too long at that daylight photo of the buck I named “Tank” when it dawned on me. He was panting his way to the creek below my stand. Even in late October, the temps forced that buck to search for water. Again, that probably sounds like a “duh” moment. In my defense, public land whitetail hunting is full of lessons that smack you in the head like a bucket of wet concrete and make you question your own intelligence.

I knew Tank spent most of his time on neighboring private land, where there was textbook bedding cover and no shortage of farm ponds to sip from. But a huge percentage of public land across the country consists of riparian corridors and floodplains—and that spot was no different. A low area along a body of water with a closed canopy and an open, breezy understory. All of which adds up to sweet relief for an overheated buck.

For years, I focused on the unique food sources available in those bottomland hardwood forests as primary drivers of daytime deer traffic from private to public, like old-growth white oaks, persimmons, and all kinds of juicy forbs that upland private parcels rarely offer. It took that missed connection with Tank for me to realize the leverage those areas also held as thermal refugia during fall and winter heat waves.

I filed that lesson away for the next temperature surge and quickly realized there was another advantage to braving warm weather on public land. One that followed the thought process of the average weekend warrior.

Snowbird Mentality

Because the South is second only to New England in terms of human population density, a lot of public land in the region is inherently tight to development. Knowing how to play off private land pressures is a huge advantage for a Southern public land hunter.

The season prior to my fumble with Tank, I noticed that I generally saw more deer activity on weekends compared to weekdays, and I anecdotally attributed that to people working on neighboring private lands where most whitetails in the area were bedding. More than once, I heard a chainsaw or lawnmower fire up and had deer show up minutes later. Once I started deliberately hunting heat waves, I realized a similar pattern was also working in my favor.

Consider the temperatures most folks set their thermostats to. Usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 degrees, because that’s what human biology says is most comfortable for rest and relaxation. Coincidentally, that was a common temperature range for post-October warm fronts in central North Carolina. And the non-hunting residents, sick of being cooped up in cold weather, responded accordingly.

Weekday or weekend, if the mercury was too high by my standards as a whitetail hunter, I could bet that the masses would be out enjoying the sunshine and incidentally pushing deer my way. I could also bet that I’d pretty much have the woods to myself, because most of my competition was waiting on the next frost.

Cold Front or Bust?

The venn diagram of deer hunters and people who are obsessed with cold fronts is probably close to a perfect circle. I’m not saying anyone is wrong for feeling that way, because cold fronts can be incredible if you hunt them the right way. The problem is, that’s among the most common knowledge in the whitetail world. Anyone with an ounce of skin in the game is likely to hit the woods when the temperature drops.

I consider myself a pretty gracious public land hunter. I’m happy to share the land with other sportsmen and women because I want this lifestyle to persist despite the modern world constantly pushing away from it. But I also don’t love running into other hunters while I’m trying to fill a tag.

It’s nothing personal; I just prefer the feeling of solitude and whitetails that aren’t on edge from overwhelming hunting pressure. Hunting in warm weather might not feel great, but it’s a surefire way to separate yourself from the cold-front crowds. And you’ll probably find that it’s worth the extra sweat on your brow.

Start with Edges

One of the hardest things about hunting in the big woods is well, they’re big. When you look at a chunk of territory from the road or on a mapping app, it can be hard to know where to start. Edges are a great place.

During the early summer, leaves on hardwood trees are either just starting to bud or green up. That new growth makes it easy to spot transitions to darker evergreens scattered throughout the woods.

Edges are incredibly important in low-deer-density areas like the big woods, as they provide both cover and feed. During the fall, bucks will also use these edges as travel corridors so that they can stay under cover while feeding and/or looking for does.

Pay especially close attention to these timber edges that run through a low saddle or other funnels. You can almost guarantee to find buck sign there.

Historical Sign

Once you locate several edges, look for food sources. Look for mast-producing trees, like oak or beech or even wild apple trees. Pay attention to woody browse and shrubs, like young maple and dogwood trees that are only a few feet off the ground, or shrubs like witch hazel and greenbrier and patches of ferns and moss, which deer will utilize once the mast is gone.

During the fall, big woods deer live on a food-to-bed travel pattern. Look for obvious travel routes and deer trails between these food sources and thick cover and start combing around for buck sign.

Though they won’t be as obvious as they are in the fall, both rubs and scrapes from the previous year are still valuable, especially signpost rubs that bucks hit every year. This old sign can give you a great idea of what type of bucks are in the area and how they like to travel. If you find a lot of old scrapes and rubs along rivers and creeks or at high-altitude spots along the peaks of a ridgeline, those bucks will probably utilize those same types of areas again.

Don’t Overlook Tracks

Finding deer tracks during the early summer can quickly tell you if there’s a big buck in the area. You can also tell how many different big bucks are around if you know how to identify their tracks. Though there are some exceptions, heavier (more mature) bucks tend to leave dew claw marks in the dirt. You can also look for longer, splayed tracks and investigate them further. Take a photo just in case you come across a similar track in that general area for comparison or to hone in your setup.

Like fingerprints, a buck’s tracks can be distinctive. Some are short, long, or have distinct chips or irregularities in the hoof that give those bucks away. It can take a bit of practice, but once you learn how to pick out all these little anomalies, you’ll be able to spot that particular buck’s track in a pile of others.

Don’t just stop there. Since bucks typically bachelor up during the summer, you should be able to spot others and get a sense of how many bucks are using that area.

Prepare Now

It’s never too early to get a jump on deer season. The more intel you gather now, the more options you’ll have when October 1 rolls around, and that’s never a bad thing in the big woods.

But don’t just take it from me. I spoke with MeatEater’s Mark Kenyon, who knows a thing or two about chasing mature bucks. Mark has also interviewed the best deer hunters across the country, so he’s a bit of an encyclopedia when it comes to whitetail knowledge. Whether you hunt private or public lands, here are a few things he and the other experts do in the offseason to help them prepare for deer season.

Prepping Food Plots

Deer season feels like a long way from May, but the work you do now can directly affect your success in the fall. You don’t need to have everything ready at this point in the year, but it can help you get ahead of the curve. This is especially true if you have the access or ability to plant food plots.

“This time of year is for making your life easier,” Mark said. “Think weeding, spraying, or prepping a plot that maybe you want to plant later in the summer. Go ahead and mow it so you’re not starting from ground zero in August.”

It might not seem like a ton of work, but the more you do now, the less you’ll have to accomplish when the dead of summer hits.

Adjust Your Trail Cameras

Like your stand setups during season, now is a good time to reevaluate your trail cameras. Whether you need to replace batteries or move them to other areas as seasonal habitat change occurs, look for ways to maximize your trail camera strategy. If you’re already out chasing longbeards, this can be a good time to pull double duty.

“Turkey season is usually the time I like to go pull the rest of my cameras,” Mark said. “I’ll pull them down, clean them, change the batteries, etc. to make sure they’re ready to go in July when I redeploy them for summer scouting.”

A lot of hunters take the set-it-and-forget-it approach to trail cameras. This might work in certain spots, but you’ll likely need to adjust them at some point throughout the year.

Bring A Friend

You don’t have to wait until hunting season to invite your friends or family along for the ride. Besides, two sets of hands are better than one when you’re trying to knock out offseason projects or just “make it more fun,” according to Mark.

“Involving other people is a great way to build community in this area, and it makes it more likely that you’ll actually go do the work. So, just getting your kids outdoors or inviting your dad, grandpa, buddy, or wife to join you for these projects…it just becomes more enjoyable.”

On that same note, don’t hesitate to help someone else. Even if you don’t have permission to hunt somewhere, helping a buddy on their property can be a great way to learn or think about your own hunting spots. You might even get an invite for offering to help. I scored an awesome hunting spot by helping a friend hang trail cameras. What started as a simple scouting trip with a buddy turned into a reliable hunting spot not far from my house.

Develop A Shooting Routine

Shooting year round is a great habit to develop. But, even if you took a break through winter and turkey season, you still have plenty of time to practice before bow season.

“Early summer is great for getting and building good reps,” Mark said. “Now is the time to regain the form and make it fun. Build an archery league with your buddies or start a habit with your kids.”

Mark noted that starting your archery routine now can help you focus on more hunting-related shots when late summer arrives. Building a routine now and getting good reps means you can focus on taking elevated shots from the stand or saddle or even extending your range in August/September. Even if you only shoot a few arrows every day, those reps add up.

Wind Map Your Hunting Spots

There’s always a list of things I want to accomplish in-season that also run the risk of spooking deer. Wind mapping is one of those activities.

“Building out a wind map is something people talk about but rarely do,” Mark said, “but it’s a great thing to do in the offseason. Every time you put up a stand, take some milk weed with you and see what it does.”

You don’t have to make a special trip to wind map a property, but if you’re already trimming shooting lanes, pulling cameras, etc., you might as well wind map while you’re there. Even if it seems insignificant, it’s one of those little details that adds up and can help you kill a mature buck, Mark said.

Final Thoughts

While there are plenty of chores to prepare for deer season, there’s a reason this time of year is called the offseason. Hunters, even one as dialed as Mark, need this time to recharge or just do something else so they don’t burn out.

“It’s okay to take a break from this stuff,” he said. “Whether you’re fishing or turkey hunting, just make sure you do other stuff that you enjoy, too.”

I couldn’t have been more excited as I walked up to that scrappy six-point. But reality started tugging on my sleeve as I field dressed him. My wandering led me nearly two miles from my truck, and I was totally unprepared to pack a deer out that far. I looked up at the lights from a small rural community nearby—so close I could hear car doors slamming—and decided to give it a shot.

One phone call later, I had permission from the nearest homeowner to drag my buck out through his backyard. The following season—after requesting to drag out another deer—he gave me standing permission to access public land through his property. Soon after, he offered me permission to archery hunt on his property. It’s been five years since then, and I live more than 1000 miles from that spot now, but my dad still enjoys open access to that property every season.

Private land permission can be a game changer for any hunter, but it’s hard to get and can be easy to lose. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider before you try door knocking this spring.

The Proposal

Permission is a tricky proposition. In my time as a hunter, trapper, and wildlife research technician, I’ve interacted with hundreds of landowners to negotiate access. I can say with certainty that most landowners would rather not allow a stranger to set foot on their property at all, let alone to engage in a potentially dangerous activity where the goal is to harvest a desirable resource.

Some are definite no’s. Many teeter somewhere in the middle, and your approach can sway them in your favor.

On initial contact with a landowner, I always ask if it’s a good time and offer to call or stop by later if not. I want to make it abundantly clear from the start that I respect their time. Next, I explain what they really want to know: who I am and why I landed on their porch or phone line.

In my experience, landowners like to see that you’re putting in the effort to be successful and aren’t just trolling for easy pickings. Before popping the question for hunting or trapping permission, I always mention that I’ve been making good use of public land in the area but would love to hunt new ground or have a more accessible option when I’m crunched for time.

I’ve faced plenty of denials. Most of them were due to existing leases or company policies prohibiting hunting. But I’ve also scored access to some incredible land, and I’ve never had a door slammed in my face. The key is to speak as if you’re asking a favor from someone who owes you nothing, because that’s exactly what you’re doing.

Still, the game isn’t over when you get a “yes.” If you want to hold on to that access, you have to prove to the landowner that you’re not a liability. That’s a long-term commitment.

Play for Keeps

Your relationship with a landowner is an invaluable thing, but it can be incredibly fragile. One rule broken, one whiff of a bad attitude, and you might land permanently on their shit list. Remember, the landowner is taking a risk and doing you an enormous favor in letting you hunt. Show your appreciation by respecting their boundaries and behaving responsibly.

I also always offer venison or a helping hand with grunt work on any permitted property. In the case of the landowner who let me drag my buck out through his property, he declined my offer of venison but gladly accepted a case of his favorite beer. My dad carries on that tradition, dropping by the house with a case of beer at the start of each season and a few times during.

MeatEater's own Tony Peterson explained to me how he's maintained access to a farm in southeast Minnesota for over 30 years.

"I was in eighth grade when a fellow classmate mentioned I could hunt their family place, but he cautioned me against pissing his dad off," he said. "I knew of his dad from football games and figured the best way to go about things was to try to stay off of his radar as much as possible and follow the rules."

While that might seem like common sense, it’s important to consider what “following the rules” looks like for individual landowners.

"Over the years, I've watched dozens of hunters get booted from that property for parking in field drives, leaving gates open, calling the landowner during spring planting or fall harvest, and just generally inconveniencing the landowner. Hunters forget that farmers are running a business, and it's best to leave them to it," Tony said.

Tony said that farm “changed (him) forever,” and he’s maintained that relationship even now.

"I'm super grateful to not only get to grow up and learn there, but also to be able to now take my daughters there. I call him up every year in March to ask permission, and every year he says yes. It's honestly just a gift."

Tony’s takes a long-term approach, and it’s been fundamental to maintaining access. You have to follow the rules a landowner sets for you, no matter how unreasonable or arbitrary you might think they are. Ignoring them is the fastest way to lose permission and gain a bad reputation in the neighborhood.

Read Between the Lines

Landowners might not communicate all the rules directly, and that’s dangerous territory. They might not outright want to tell you they’re uncomfortable with you hunting in the woodlot behind the house or that they want you to stay out during the youth deer season when their grandkids will be out.

But often, if you’re a good listener, you can pick up on cues. The key is to pay attention and always err on the side of caution. This is the best way to prove your worth to the landowner, which can expand your access and opportunities over the years. Basically, if you show your appreciation and don’t become an inconvenience, the glide path to multiple seasons is easy enough to follow.

It’s turkey season, the fishing is getting really good across the country, and we are at about the exact midpoint between the deer season’s end and its beginning. The default setting right now, with a lot of us, is that there is more than enough time. Which is true, until it isn’t.

There are some ways in which a lot of us sabotage our upcoming season that we don’t even consider until it’s too late. That’s a shame, because a lot of the little things you could do now will pay dividends come fall. The first is actually really simple, and fun.

Lazy Practice Sessions

Due to the fact that I really like to arrow strutting longbeards, I’ve been shooting my bow quite a bit lately. My goal, of course, is to send an expandable through the boiler rooms of as many toms as I can, while trying to avoid non-lethal hits that are so common in turkey bowhunting. My goal once the turkey season is wrapped up, is to keep shooting.

I have some buddies who just love to shoot, and it shows every fall. They are straight assassins when it counts (most of the time). They know what we all know, which is that we should practice year round (or at least more), but how many of us do?

One of the best ways you can ensure you don’t take a perfectly good deer season and turn it into a nightmare is to spend more time at the range. This obviously goes for bowhunters, but also firearm hunters, too. Practice doesn’t make perfect when it comes to deer hunting, but it’ll get you a hell of a lot closer than folks who wait until three days before the opener to fling some arrows or punch paper for a few rounds.

Setup Burnout

I’m convinced that one of the biggest hurdles most whitetail hunters never clear is the option’s game with their setups. We all know the mobile hunting advantages, but that is so biased in the public land bowhunters’ direction that it really doesn’t enter the conversation for a lot of folks. Whether you own ground, have a lease, or your grandma’s farm is still in the family, having more options is never a bad thing.

This is a hedge against human nature, especially given the current trend in hunting that involves making one spot a whitetail mecca and then setting up a box blind to hunt from season opener to season close, during every condition Mother Nature offers. When we have a good setup, we can’t help but hunt it.

That’s great, until you want to kill a mature buck. The higher the predator presence in one location, the lower the odds of a good one going there in daylight. It’s really that simple. Giving yourself a few more options for blinds and stands, even when you really just want to go doomscroll in a little house on stilts, is a good idea.

Think about wind direction, seasonal timing, and the likelihood of how and when you might burn out some of your go-to setups. Then, give yourself some ambush options to let the pressure of those locations when you really want to hunt but the conditions aren’t ideal for your mainstay haunts.

Much of this can be accomplished now, while there are still months left before the season.

Camera Traps

To a lot of folks, this would be the most pointless time of year to put some trail cameras out. The bucks’ heads are bare, the deer are not necessarily living where they’ll be this fall, and there’s just so much time to gather better intel later.

Over the last several years, I’ve started to believe differently about all of that. Where I can, I often run cameras year round. Even though the info I gather now isn’t going to be as beneficial as the info I can gather in October, it’s not without some value.

What I’ve found about monitoring spring and summer bucks is that they mostly do predictable stuff, but it’s when they don’t, that I find myself learning something. Naturally, they’ll hit the most obvious food sources and all of that, but what I like to try to figure out is where else they might travel.

A mature buck has a home range of around a square mile, which means very little to most of us. Suffice it to say, he knows his home and core range very well, and throughout the spring and summer he’ll walk trails, visit water, and do his thing wherever it is beneficial. While you might only get 10 deer pictures a week on a trail in the woods for the next few months, you might get five that really tell you something.

We think about mature bucks generally in the context of September to December or January, but they live out there all year. Understanding where they like to travel all year, and what conditions might get them to walk through a pinch point in the spring, can play into your fall hunting strategy.

With today’s cell cameras and relatively cheap plans, you can do a lot of scouting and learning without really putting much effort in. And you should, if you can, because there’s really no downside to it.