By John Phillips

Editor’s Note: Avid hunter Eddie Salter of Evergreen, Alabama, has hunted deer all his life. This week, Salter, a member of Hunter's Specialties' Pro Staff Team, will share some of his pre-season scouting tips.

Question: How do you scout before the season?

Answer: I try to get out in the field at least a month before the season begins to see what kind of deer activity there is around some of the edges of the field. Many times we overlook these clear-cut areas that are fresh. When you see these clear-cuts, go out in them. Sometimes you can find some deer-feeding hot spots on natural grasses.
Before the season is also a perfect time to take a pair of binoculars and look in the trees to see what kind of mast crop you have. Check out the white oaks. Sometimes, in the South, it seems like white oak acorns want to make only every other year. The acorn crop will start falling from the first week of bow season and through the next month. However, many of the mast crops will begin to fall early in the season. I also look for travel areas and focus on food. In the early season, if a bowhunter doesn't focus on food, then he has missed a key element to being successful in bagging deer.

Question: Do you use any lures, scent control or calls while you’re scouting?

Answer: You always want to use scent control. I use Scent-A-Way when I wash my clothes. Sometimes when hunters are scouting, we overlook the need to be scent-free just as if we’re hunting. Many times, hunters go into the woods to scout and will contaminate an area. If the bucks pick up even a tiny amount human scent, it will blow them out of that spot, and they may never come back. You want to be as scent-free as you can.

Question: When you’re scouting, what else do you do?

Answer: I’ll do some early-season grunting. I’ll use a fawn or a young doe call and an old doe call, just to see some reactions. Hunters often overlook that fact that deer communicate 12 months out of the year. You may spot a doe at 100 yards and grunt to her, and she will come in to look for company. If she comes in, doesn't see anything and eases off, a buck may follow her scent.
I like deer coming in and around my stand because then bucks get comfortable walking by my stand because other deer have come through it. I use the True Talker to sound like a younger deer and an older doe. You can change the call by moving your finger back and forth on the True Talker.