Favorite Sign

[bigbassin]

Curious to hear what everyone’s favorite/confidence sign is to hunt? I.e. if you could only pick one, would you setup on a game trail, rub, scrape, fresh poop, chewed up acorns, etc.

Still after my first whitetail, but so far trail intersections have led to the most deer sightings for me (all does and spikes). Get me pretty fired up when I find multiple converging in an area while scouting.

 

[kfili]

Assuming it is fresh/hot, my favorite would be a scrape line (so I guess that is technically a combo of trail/scrape). Most of my kills have come off a series of scrapes

 

[LostArra]

Annual scrape/licking branch tree

We have an oak that has attracted bucks for the past 5 years. Scrapes and licking- eye gland rubbing branches. We try to never go near that tree until November then flip a coin to sit it first.

 

[RC_]

Scrapes. Need to have a licking branch and preferably have a couple scrapes in a tight area.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I'm gonna differ from these fine folks, and go with steaming hot droppings. Part of that is how I hunt though.. I don't do pre sets, and a lot of what I hunt is heavily pressured. So I scout a lot and check every transition zone I can find, looking for the freshest scat. Once I know there've been deer in that spot the last couple days, I try to establish bedding and I set up for an evening hunt.

 

[WCB]

I like fresh tracks with a buck in them!

Honestly I just like fresh multiple use sign. Meaning a single fresh track or recent small scrape/rub means almost nothing to me. Now a big recently freshened scrape that was made a couple days ago or rubs keep showing up in an area...or consistent fresh tracks in an area and I'll hunt it.

 

[Huntnfish89]

I'm gonna differ from these fine folks, and go with steaming hot droppings. Part of that is how I hunt though.. I don't do pre sets, and a lot of what I hunt is heavily pressured. So I scout a lot and check every transition zone I can find, looking for the freshest scat. Once I know there've been deer in that spot the last couple days, I try to establish bedding and I set up for an evening hunt.

I've been known to pick up a few mtn milk duds here and there to check for freshness. Haven't progressed to the taste test yet tho.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Whatever I think is the freshest, but at times, all of what's mentioned.

 

[Squirrel Master]

Heavily used trails leaving the nastiest thicket you can find.

 

[knale87]

Freshest most concentrated sign

 

[NateK]

Hoof tracks hands down. Rut sign is cool but there is so much more information to be gained from tracks. Direction of travel, size of deer, age of sign, etc. Big tracks are made by big deer every time!

 

[Rich M]

I like to find an area with hot sign - fresh tracks, lots of them.

If I find fresh poop and fresh tracks, it is definitely game on. The deer around here only dump when completely relaxed and happy.

 

[JBrew]

Early when acorns are just starting to fall, I'll listen for the hottest trees and check them for turds. If its a hot tree, you'll almost always jump deer nearby. Figure out the wind, and hunt it. Later on, I'll look for fresh rubs/scrapes near thickets and food(acorns). Figure out the wind...hunt it. When rut comes along, hunt the does that are in/around those same kind of places.

 

[stanginthe11s]

this is my favorite, it tells me there are deer in the area.

 

[BugleMeTimber]

I like seeing scrapes and rubs that let me know a buck is working the area. Big fan of rattling in the river bottoms during the rut.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

A lot depends on where in the country you're hunting. Here in the South, and this time of year, I'm looking for early dropping white oaks (late September to now) near bedding (typically young, thick pine plantations) and ideally water too with the dry conditions we've been having.

Generally, in these areas you will find rubs and scrapes if there are good feed trees. Have a couple of spots that I've found recently that are just torn up with sign that fit the above criteria.

Yesterday afternoon I found a solitary white oak that was loaded, with scrapes and rubs right under it and a highway of a deer trail leading up to the oak. This was all 20 yards off of an old logging road with thick planted pines on either side of the logging road. The trail was coming up from a large creek bottom, so they're either hitting this spot on the way down to the bottom in the evening or in the morning on the way to bedding.

Due to a Comedy of Errors, however, I left it for another day. Looking forward to getting to hunt that spot with a rifle, as I can see a couple hundred yards down toward the bottom. There's also a lot of young sweet gum that would make a bow shot tough.

 

[loganwayne]

it depends on time of the year. right now im looking for "THE" feed tree. even in a year with tons of acorns there will be one tree for whatever reason they refer and will always stop at. Ive found trees that look like its been tore up by hogs, but its deer looking for acorns from "THE" tree.
During the rut i like finding the big community scrapes that get used year round. i feel like those end up getting 95% of all the bucks in an area to swing by and and least give it a look over in a 2-3 day period. now catching them in it during the day time is the trick.

 

[KHNC]

This is my favorite sign by far. DEFINITELY tells me deer in the area.

 

[Lowg08]

I look for a heavily used pinched single trail where deer all use one trail between intersections going to feed and bed

 

[Yoder]

The past couple years I've found my best spots by driving to work. I leave at 5am and come home at 8pm. I deliberately drive routes that take me through public land. I run Onx and when I see a big buck crossing the road, I pull over and mark the spot to come back later. Last year I saw a bachelor group with two big bucks all eating next to the highway. I wound up killing the biggest one of the group during rifle season. I checked the maps, looked for probable bedding then walked around. I found some good beds and a heavily used trail with recent sign. I setup a trail cam and had six different bucks on camera.

I just saw a nice 8pt this morning. Probably 120 in deer standing right on the shoulder of the road eating. I'll be heading there tomorrow to setup a camera.