Pre-season scouting is the most underrated tactic for killing a big or mature buck on purpose. It’s simply the most important and most underutilized play in your arsenal. I may be paraphrasing but I recall Randy Ulmer once saying that if he only had 10 vacation days for a hunt, he would use 9 of them scouting. Randy for sure said, “If I had to pick between scouting and hunting, honestly…I would give up hunting.” The point is, Randy Ulmer kills bigger bucks and bulls than you. He may be onto something.

I’ve been on a mission to improve my scouting for almost a decade. Between my own personal experiences, conversations I’ve had with the best mule deer killers on my podcast, and every piece of information I can read or learn about the subject, here are some tips I’ve gathered over the years that have improved my scouting:

1. Limit out-of-state hunts. I aim for one new-to-me out of state hunt each year. I simply don’t have the time (or money) to make scouting trips to more than one out-of-state unit per year. Only if I have hunted that unit in the last 5-10 years and feel good about the intel I have, will I take multiple tags on purpose. The only exception is unforeseen, extremely hard to draw tags that are usually once-in-a-lifetime. I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say.

2. Avoid the “next basin” syndrome. The urge to constantly scout new spots within a unit leaves me looking for the greener grass on the other side. On the other hand, when I go back to a basin I’ve hunted before, the advantage moves in my favor. I know where the bucks prefer to bed, feed, and water. I know their preferred escape routes. If the caliber of buck I’m after shows up in an area of a unit I’ve hunted multiple times, he’s likely going to die.

3. Start with macro scouting. In a new-to-me are within a unit, first I drive the roads. Will they be accessible late in the season? Will they be accessible with my horse trailer? How will they be when/if a lot of moisture or rain comes? Is there easy access to trail heads? Is there too easy access? Is it too close to a major city that will flood the trailhead with hunters on opening day? Start with macro scouting, working your way to micro scouting.

4. E-scout, e-scout, e-scout. This should go without saying but any free time I have at a computer is spent flying on Google earth or a mapping service. Rather than trying to mark as many possible points of interest, like I used to, I try to eliminate as many areas as possible when e-scouting. “This spot could be overlooked” or “everyone will be heading to this prominent peak within the unit” or “if I had never been in the unit, this is where I would start.” Think outside the box. You are e-scouting how other hunters will hunt the unit as much as you are e-scouting the terrain and where a big buck may live.

5. Reverse e-scout. Once I have hunted or scouted a specific area or basin in a previous year or earlier in the summer, I go back to that spot on Google Earth or my mapping service. I always underestimate the backcountry basins on the computer until I’ve stepped foot in them. By circling back, I begin to make note of other basins or pockets that don’t seem worth looking in that actually hold plenty of deer, and usually the bucks.

6. Look for sanctuaries. This goes hand in hand with Reverse E-scouting. By finding the often overlooked or especially hard to access basins or pockets you will not only eliminate hunter pressure, but likely find where big bucks are hiding. Look for barriers to entry like no nearby trailhead, single point of access to a basin, pockets not visible from any road or even a backcountry trail. Big bucks gravitate to these sanctuaries.

7. Boots on the ground. Perhaps the most obvious and also the most underutilized. Summer is fun time. The weather is good. Kids are out of school. Family is in town. You want to use all your vacation for the actual hunt. The list of excuses to not physically go scout an area is as long as a summer day. I have to force myself to take some vacation and take a few three day weekend trips each summer. Include the family if needed. A family camp trip can be a fruitful scouting trip. Wake up early while everyone sleeps in. Hike to a nearby vantage point before sunup. Glass an hour then head back to hang with the family for the day. Two birds, one stone.

8. Document everything. Of course I want to see bucks, big bucks, on a scouting trip. That said, if big buck sightings are the only thing I documented, I would be short changing my trip. Saw a decent size buck track? Mark a waypoint. Found a hidden water source? Mark it. Noticed a rub from elk during the rut? Yes, even document those. (Your elk hunting friends might be able to trade intel on a big buck with you). Mark as much information as you can. For one, you will forget if you don’t. Second, these little bread crumbs may add up over the years. Patterns can emerge and patterns are how big bucks get killed.

If you are on a mission to kill a big, mature buck on purpose, these scouting tips will increase your chances. Time logged in the pre-season will pay dividends during the hunt and for years to come. There is so little time to actually hunt during most seasons. Use scouting to stack the odds as much in your favor as you can. Good luck!