It is late summer, which means hunters are getting ready for the fall hunting season. Like so many hunters that have the opportunity to travel and hunt whitetail in the Midwest, there is a limited window of time that you can have boots on the ground. You don't want to waste that time trying to come up with a plan and scouting - you want to be implementing your hunting plan and chasing big whitetail Kansas bucks.
So if you are trying to time your hunt perfectly to hit the rut, here are some tips on how you can make the most of your limited time hunting whitetail.
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Study The Geography
If you aren't familiar with the area that you are hunting, reach out to the landowners or your outfitter to get some data about the land that you are hunting.
If you can find a pinch point between two areas of timber and some good feeding areas, you can expect that there will be some movement in that area. The whitetail are going to be bedding in the thicker timber and traveling to the fields to feed. This is the area that you want to pay attention to for step 2...
Gather Data
You're going to want to put a trail camera and some feed in that gap. That doesn't mean that you're going to necessarily hunt in the gap, but this is the most logical spot that we're going to get inventory for what's passing through here over the next few months.
You can check for scrapes, buck signs, and any other sign of whitetail cruising from thicket to thicket.
Make Your Plan
As we just mentioned, where you set up your camera and feed isn't necessarily the place that you are going to hunt. So look at the geography of the area to find a few other smaller pinch points in the area that could be potential hunting areas. And you want to have a few options so that if one area doesn't work with the wind one day or you get a skittish doe that blows your cover, you have other options.
The point of all this work is that when you show up in November for the whitetail rut hunt, you have an inventory of the deer in that area, you know their travel corridors, and you have camera data to support it all. Then you can have a hunting plan beforehand.
Having comfortable gear that can adapt to the fluctuating summer temperatures can help you during your scouting session as well. Check out the Summer camo bundle from Skre for an excellent choice for summer scouting excursions.
That is our advice to make the most of your pre-scouting in the Midwest, especially if you're going to travel and you have limited time to hunt.