It is now late February. Personally, the part of the year that I hate the most. Deer season has long passed, waterfowl is over with, and small game is coming to an end. Now it’s just a game of waiting until early April to hear the heart stopping sound of gobblers screaming from the trees. Although this time of year could be highly beneficial for your next hunting season if you get tired of waiting and need to get back in the field.
Learning your environment
I personally like to hunt a lot of Virginias beautiful 1.6 million acres of national forest. I like to think I know my spots pretty well. That is until I go on a scouting mission and find a new bedding area that I haven’t seen prior, or a big white oak across the ridge I never noticed. With all the leaves off trees you can easily spot more trails you can backtrack through, game sign and maybe even find a better location to put your tree stand that increases your odds of harvesting the mature buck you’re after.
No stealth stress
Everyone knows the feeling. You’re trying to be as quiet as possible walking through the trees on a hunt when out of nowhere you hear the gut wrenching “wheeze” and watch in the distance as you watch some bouncing white tails getting further away from you. While that still happens on a scout. It sucks a hell of a lot less when you’re not trying to harvest one. In my opinion it gives me a chance to breathe. Cover more ground than I would pre-season scouting as I don’t care as much about moving deer out of an area since I won’t be hunting there for 8+ months.
Shed hunting
Everyone’s favorite part about being in the woods post season. Shed hunting. It is the easter egg hunt for every sportsman and continues to be one of my favorite activities. When the rut ends, a drop of testosterone levels in male deer cause weakness in the bone at the top of their pedicels which causes their antlers to fall to the ground. Where they sit waiting for you to find them (unless a squirrel gets to them first). You can bring your buddies to walk around in the woods and find hidden treasures. It really is a great time.