Chris Maroldy
So the good news is it’s summer and the livin’ is easy, but the bad news is the rent is too damn high and you might be wasting your time scouting for deer season.
If you doubt me, step outside into the sauna we’ve got going on all of a sudden, and take a look at the new license fees the NC Wildlife Resources Commission is charging after the last increase of only a few years ago.
The excuse is inflation—‘Let’s Go Brandon.’ I feel like those graffiti stickers you used to see at the gas pumps a few years ago will be coming back, even on the fridge at hunting camp.
The license and fee structure is a lot more divvied up and incomprehensible than it used to be, too. I don’t know which states or which business consultants the NCWRC is taking its cues from, but we’re headed in the wrong direction. Virginia likes to nickel-and-dime sportsmen on every variation of how they might like to hunt and fish, and there are other wildlife departments of a similar bent that I could name as well. Neighboring South Carolina is not blameless, though she tends to err on the side of obscure rules and twists and turns rather than trying to squeeze dollars out of every orifice depending on how you like to ‘harvest the resource.’
I miss the days when I could brag on the NCWRC compared to other game and fish departments. But ’nuff said for now.
The sudden hot weather has made me think of how I used to spend summers getting ready for deer season. It was easier for me to schedule back then, but I used to be able to spend early mornings and a couple of weekly middle-of-the-night sessions prepping for deer season throughout the summer. I thought this was particularly helpful on public land.
If you’re really heat-averse, I would continue to recommend this strategy, especially if you are new to a piece of hunting ground. Use the first three or four hours of daylight to scout and learn your ground. It can be remarkably cool and comfortable if you set off on your scout at dawn. You will bump into deer feeding and moving toward their bedding areas. Take the win on this. You can use this knowledge later, and no harm done for the open season.
I’ve always been surprised at how many people will not scout at all during the summer because of the heat. The early mornings for walking and the late evenings for sitting in an observation stand are usually much more pleasant than most people seem to expect. If you know your hunting land and deer habits already, these may not be ultra-revealing tactics. But for learning new land, getting out in the woods beats eating Cheetos on the couch in the AC.
At night, you can hang stands when it’s relatively cool and bucks are not in their bedding areas. You can also follow glow-in-the-dark trail tacks to suss out your competition. Oh, yeah …It might be a sneaky trick, but all’s fair in scouting and hunting. You’re not messing anyone up if you look for and follow reflective trail tacks in July. You’re just gathering info on your fall competition.
At some point, though, summer scouting for deer is busywork and not as productive as, say, catfishing or writing your memoirs. I would also caution that not every area is prime for nighttime ramblings unless you are snake proof. I’ve never had a problem up here, but there’s no way I would be traipsing through the dark woods in moccasin and rattler country just to get a jump on a less ambitious poor nimrod. Cooler night-time temps bring out the cold-blooded creepy crawlies.
I tend to think the late winter and early spring are still the best times to get most of your homework done in your quest for worthy antlers, but don’t overlook the dog days of summer.
When it comes to scouting, maybe the early, hot dog gets the bone.