Electronic Scouting. (Jones' Hunting Tip).

Tom Johansen and Larry Olmstead, both guides for Wolf Creek 

Outfitters, and I walked along a creek bottom, scouting for deer sign. We found a spot where trails crisscrossed at a tree line, and we all agreed it was an excellent ambush spot. But after testing the wind, we decided not to hang a stand there, because the tree line caused the wind to swirl.

The second spot we found had a trail coming down from a hilltop and intersecting with worn trails crossing the creek. Rubs and scrapes nearby made the place look even better, and the wind seemed to flow steadily across the creek. A towering oak on the edge of the creek made this the perfect spot for a treestand. So we placed a treestand 15 feet up in the oak tree and removed overhanging limbs from surrounding trees to clear shooting lanes. Since I wanted to hunt another spot that evening, I placed a TrailTimer here to monitor activity at the trail intersection until I could return.

With some good hunting at the other location, I didn't get around to checking the TrailTimer for two days, and with all of that time gone by, I expected the timer to reveal lots of hits. To my surprise, however, not a single animal had passed in front of the timer. So I removed it -- and the treestand. My electronic watchman told me this spot probably wasn't as good as it had looked.

At my other treestand, I was seeing plenty of deer during the morning but none during the evening. Wanting a good evening site, I scouted and found a new spot where sign indicated plenty of deer movement. To assess its potential as I continued scouting elsewhere, I placed a TrailTimer on the main trail there.

The next day, around noon, I checked this new site and found that one deer had triggered the TrailTimer. So I set up a treestand, cleared shooting lanes, and settled in for the evening. A half hour before dark two bucks made scrapes nearby and several does came into view. By the time these deer came within bow range, it was too dark to shoot, but at least I was on the right track.

This was just one of many cases in which electronic trail monitors have helped me fine-tune my hunting locations. And I'm always amazed at what I've learned through this process of scouting electronically. For example, I've learned that blacktail deer leave feeding areas much earlier than I had believed. And some trails, although cut and gouged with deer hooves, are traveled solely at night. Hunting such trails is a waste of time.

TrailTimers are like remote watchmen that monitor potential hunting spots as you hunt elsewhere. You can scout and find what appears to be a hotspot and learn the date, and the time of day or night animals walk past that spot, without spending any of your precious time there at all.

My monitors will record up to 500 events, so I can leave them for several days or even weeks. Some monitors will record only 10 events, and these are of minimal value. If one deer feeds back and forth in front of the unit, the memory could be used up on one animal. The monitors I use are programmed to wait one minute after each event before recording another, a feature that helps prevent recording one meandering animal multiple times.

If your unit shows numerous hits only minutes apart, you can assume this was caused by the same animal or group of animals. I witnessed a good example of this while hunting with M.R. James in Kansas. I'd placed a TrailTimer on a tree located at the corner of a woodlot. Checking the timer later, M.R. and I found that it had been triggered at 5:30, 5:31, 5:33, and 5:34 p.m. Another cluster of hits showed up around 1 a.m., and a third group was recorded about 3 a.m. Although we had nine events, most likely only three deer had come by, and only one of those passed during daylight hours.

Electronic trail monitors have their limitations. My monitors are activated by body heat, so you can't be sure what kinds of animals have triggered them -- deer, cattle, bears, raccoons. Of course, you can overcome that limitation by using an electronic monitor in conjunction with a camera. That way you can see what triggered an event.

Also, the monitors I use tell only part of the story because they record only animals directly in front and within 30 feet. Thus, an animal walking close behind a monitor will not be recorded as an event -- even though it might have given you a perfect shot from your treestand.

Nevertheless, electronic monitors can give you interesting insight into the number of animals traveling a trail, their frequency, and the time of their movements. Monitors are especially useful in monitoring restricted sites like bear baits, because they will record virtually all animals that come to the bait. (Just be careful not to get any scent on a monitor, or a bear will probably eat it.) If you're short on time and want to scout a broad area, some electronic watchmen can help you out. I personally have four TrailTimers, and I used them regularly to help in my scouting. They not only tell me which areas might be good, but also which won't. Could I ask any more than that from a hunting partner?