Does anyone here have any tips on how to narrow down what areas to scout for whitetail in the upstate area of South Carolina? I’m decent with OnX but I feel I have a hard time identify features that might indicate a good spot to go scout. Any tips/advice would be helpful to make my scouting more efficient, still chasing for my first buck.
Learning to hunt public land whitetail - South Carolina
- Thread starter Jaegerr
- Start date
DINforlife
FNG
If talking about anywhere outside of the mountainous areas of the public land in the upstate (i have no experience there), it is to actually get on the ground. There are so many terrain features that just simply don't show up on OnX. I'm a fellow public land hunter in the upstate. This is my first year hunting in about two years after life got in the way (an injury and then a career change), and my return has really given me a fresh set of eyes to everything I've been doing wrong (pretty much everything), and a few things I just had missed in general.
One of the realizations I had while trekking out from my spot after dark yesterday was how many terrain features I was (re)discovering that were really intriguing that just don't show up on OnX. OnX will show a ridge gradually descending toward a creek bottom, but wont show a 12 foot deep, 10 yard wide, 30 yard long ravine running down the slope into the creek cut. Squeezing around the head of the ravine is a beaten down deer highway hard against the impenetrable thicket of pine saplings immediately beyond it. This is a pretty sweet little choke point, but it's simply not going to show up on OnX.
One of the realizations I had while trekking out from my spot after dark yesterday was how many terrain features I was (re)discovering that were really intriguing that just don't show up on OnX. OnX will show a ridge gradually descending toward a creek bottom, but wont show a 12 foot deep, 10 yard wide, 30 yard long ravine running down the slope into the creek cut. Squeezing around the head of the ravine is a beaten down deer highway hard against the impenetrable thicket of pine saplings immediately beyond it. This is a pretty sweet little choke point, but it's simply not going to show up on OnX.
Great point. Nothing will beat burning boot leather, just trying to make my time more efficient if at all possible haha
np307
Lil-Rokslider
Im one state up from you. One of the biggest keys for me learning to hunt was when I ditched the stand and started hunting from the ground, couple with a "3 good reasons" mentality. I mostly hunt evenings, so that makes this approach easier than if you hunt mornings. But essentially, I have an area in mind and I just go "scouting". If I find a spot with 3 good reasons to sit (e.g. freshly worked scrape, terrain pinch point, favorable wind) then I'll set up. If I dont find 3 good reasons, I just keep walking. It feels so counterintuitive but youre doing way more good than if you sat the whole evening in a marginal spot. One of the first deer I killed that helped me to commit to this strategy, I moved 3 different times that evening based on wind movement and other observations.
Youre going to bump deer doing this. Thats okay. Just note those areas and look for what they have in common with each other.
Youre going to bump deer doing this. Thats okay. Just note those areas and look for what they have in common with each other.
I actually have moved to stand hunting unless I hunt bow season. Climbers are heavy and noisy and as much as I love hunting out of them dragging them through the mountains is a pain, and I have no desire to use a saddle. Once the leaves fall I don’t feel I’m missing anything by just leaning against a tree and staying still. I can see for a long way on the edge of a mountain
np307
Lil-Rokslider
Depending on the timber management of the areas youre hunting, if you can see a long way then youre not where the deer want to be. In Western NC the tree huggers have too much influence and so the timber management is atrocious. Results in lots of big open timber which isnt great for deer. So I get if its unavoidable. But where I hunt in central NC, theres guys who won't hunt where I hunt because they want to be able to see. And consequently they aren't on deer. Ive taken one public land shot beyond 50 yards. Probably half the public land deer I've killed are at less than 30.
bowhuntercoop
WKR
Boots on the ground. I’ve been super blessed to kill some amazing deer in SC.
Lidar map layer on onx helps a ton.
I want thick, high stem count areas, try to avoid hog sign at all cost.
A lot of people don’t realize how fast the food sources change weekly down here. The deer I hunt and kill on sawtooths in September will be on persimmons a week later and the sawtooths won’t have a deer for another year. Hunt the hot sign. I tend to key in on feed trees Warren Womack and Chris spikes style.
My Normal method is scout, scout, scout, then hunt, I do wayyyy more scouting then hunting.
There are some fantastic deer in this state, just takes years of boots on the ground imo. The hurricane drastically changed alot of my historical spots last year.
I killed my best one to date a couple nights ago.
Lidar map layer on onx helps a ton.
I want thick, high stem count areas, try to avoid hog sign at all cost.
A lot of people don’t realize how fast the food sources change weekly down here. The deer I hunt and kill on sawtooths in September will be on persimmons a week later and the sawtooths won’t have a deer for another year. Hunt the hot sign. I tend to key in on feed trees Warren Womack and Chris spikes style.
My Normal method is scout, scout, scout, then hunt, I do wayyyy more scouting then hunting.
There are some fantastic deer in this state, just takes years of boots on the ground imo. The hurricane drastically changed alot of my historical spots last year.
I killed my best one to date a couple nights ago.
Heck that might be my problem right there
Dude that’s a stud, I scored an elk this week out west and now that that tag is filled I’m itching to put some venison in the freezer too. Ended up killing a bull before a buck…
That deer would make midwesterners jealous
bowhuntercoop
WKR
Fants has some giant bucks, tons of pressure but the antler restrictions really help imo. Been super lucky over the year up there and down around my area.
That’s a fants buck? I do hunt over there a bit. That and if you have a boat the core of engineer land on lake Hartwell I’ve seen trail cam pictures of some really good bucks.
woods89
WKR
Get a copy of Mapping Trophy Bucks, by Brad Herndon. That book has really helped me get a sense of how to scout and hunt terrain features.
bowhuntercoop
WKR
No Sumter national forest buck. I’ve killed some really good deer in fants as well though.
I hunt Sumter more then anything because it’s close to me.
When you say sumpter, is it the upstate one in the mountains or the other track down past Anderson? I hunt the mountains
bowhuntercoop
WKR
Mostly Greenwood, Abbeville, McCormick counties since I live in 96, but I hunt around wallaha hard. I’m originally from PA so grew up mtn hunting big woods deer, and using thermals to my advantage.
I honestly think it’s easier hunting them in the mtn compared to the piedmont or low country just based on classic mtn buck bedding.
Dan Infants school taught me a ton in 2010 when I flew out for a swamp bedding and hill county bedding seminar in WI. Been hammering good deer ever sense! They bed classic hill style imo up in the mtn, winds to back, normally with a form of thick cover
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