Scouting. It seems simple enough to understand. Go out, look around, take a few notes. A week or so before deer season, hang the stand or stands and get ready to be run over. That's how it works, isn't it? Well, isn't it?

The truth is, there's just a little bit more involved to scouting - real, in-depth information that can be used scouting - than just an afternoon spent diddy-bopping through the dingleberry bushes hoping to find, well, something.

Scouting is an art, something like the doctor who can perform an appendectomy without his patient noticing that first stitch. The trick, as the analogy would imply, is to get in, get the information, and get out without altering the natural flow of the area in question.

Sound complicated? Well, just for laughs, lets throw these variables into the scouting equation - public land, and a five-day work week. Where to begin? Certainly, time is an issue. And without question, everyone and his or her brother is going to eye-balling the same 40-acre block of prime public real estate. Give up?

For those willing to do a little homework and subscribe to what I'll call a philosophy of improvise and adjust, effectively scouting whitetails on public land doesn't have to be an exercise in futility. Nor does it necessarily come complete with elevated blood pressures, bumper to bumper parking lots, and hour upon hour spent on in-the-field evaluations. Oh, the field time will be there - eventually; still, and in the meantime, there's plenty of other ways to plan for public property.

Cyber-scouting and Home Work
If, even as I speak, you're reading this - which obviously you are - you therefore have access to one of the greatest scouting tools ever created, bar none. That, my friend, is the Internet.

Think of it. For a small monthly fee, you're able to study, in-depth, millions of acres of public land without ever leaving the comfort of your reclining chair. Simply click your mouse, and BOOM - there you have topographical maps and high-resolution geographic software of many of the nation's publicly accessible lands. Another click, and you're sifting through any of a million different hunting chat forums, several of which, you note, include public land-specific rooms where you, the lurker, can pick up interesting factoids. True, it's going to be necessary to separate the grain from the chaff; however, it's all information nonetheless. One more click, and it's aerial photography time. Take a minute. There's Iowa's Lake Rathbun, and her more than 23,000 acres of public shoreline. Look, there's a natural funnel on the ridge above that small backbay. Funny, but you never noticed that before; but then again, you never looked at that area from 5,000 feet either. And then there's the state wildlife agency websites, each with their maps and forecasts, applications and tactics. The worst part about scouting on the Internet? Remembering that at some point during the day, you should eat.

But what about this 'Homework' aspect? Well, this refers to the non-electronic scouting options available to anyone with $14.95 and the ambition to sit down with a cup of coffee and a copy of their state's Atlas & Gazetteer. Like Internet scouting, this two-dimensional map work can answer questions without the hunter ever having to leave his or her easy chair. When used in conjunction with area-specific maps, collections such as the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer can cut in-the-field scouting time dramatically simply by allowing the researcher to red-flag those sections or parcels which, at least from a map-driven topographical standpoint, should command a place of priority on the scouter's To Do list.

Still, there's another aspect of the 'Home Work' that, while little more complicated than an hour spent with a detailed map of the public area in question, is nonetheless routinely forgotten. Or worse, ignored. We'll call this the telephone stage. Yes, the Internet can be a phenomenal source of scouting information; however, what could be more beneficial or up-to-the-minute than public land specifics obtained from those who spend one-third of their lives on and around the area itself? That's right, the area manager and his or her contingent, the technicians. Over the past two decades, I've come to rely heavily on the information, advice, and suggestions offered by public area managers from coast to coast as it pertains to scouting their particular little 'slice of heaven.' Though helpful, hunters should keep in mind that these individuals are busy and do have their own share of daily responsibilities, only a small portion of which can be spent answering questions dealing with where and when and how. This said, it's often beneficial for everyone involved if hunters treat their discussions with area managers and techs as if they were interviews; that is, keep it short and to-the-point, and only call after all the preliminary 'home work' has been completed.

On-the-job training
While there's no denying that map study, homework, and an hour or two spent plotting and scheming on your desktop computer with the latest and greatest topographical software are all good and very vital parts to the whole that is effective scouting, particularly where public land is concerned, there's absolutely no getting around the inevitability of actually putting your boots on the ground you plan to hunt.

Over the years, I've developed what I'll call a checklist, a compilation of steps that I go through religiously each and every time I start the scouting process. True, these steps apply perhaps more so when the property I plan to scout is new and unfamiliar territory; however, I've found that because Mother Nature isn't static but rather enjoys changing the way she looks from time to time, scouting even well-known ground prior to the season can make all the difference in the world when it comes time for such elements as stand or blind placement. Each year, my list includes the following -

1. Scout the fringes: By fringes, I mean just that - the edges of the public property you plan to research. Here, you're looking at two variables. The first, the human variable, involves locating the various human access points; that is, how will other hunters or non-hunting users of the property get into and out of those areas of the parcel you plan to hunt? Where are the parking lots? What about hiking or egress trails or paths? Essentially, access in terms of public hunting areas translates into hunting pressure. The easier the access, the greater the pressure; however, forehand knowledge of this pressure, and more importantly, the direction from which the pressure will enter the area, can be extremely helpful when determining where or where not to place stands. The second variable in this fringe equation involves the game itself. In many cases, the human activity or pressure commonly associated with public lands will cause the resident whitetails to temporarily relocate off the property; however, because many public parcels are managed with wildlife, game and non-game alike, in mind, especially from a food source standpoint, these temporary relocations will be just that - temporary. Here, the trick to successful scouting then becomes locating and unraveling the travel routes that these animals use as they make their way across the public-private boundary. Enter - the fringe.

2. Research recent purchases or boundary expansions - Each year, I hear stories about hunters harvesting very notable whitetails while on public ground; however, what I don't hear too often is the often-omitted detail that these same impressive public land bucks where taken from either (a) a newly-acquired but relatively unpublicized parcel of state or federally-owned ground, or (b) a section of now-public property purchased adjacent to a previously known area. The bottom line here is that with a brief telephone call to the state department of fish and wildlife, anyone can become privy to recent public land acquisitions and the invaluable scouting information that can follow. But state fish and wildlife folks aren't the only source of information regarding recent public land purchases or boundary expansions. Conservation organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and Pheasants Forever all place land acquisition high on their list of priorities - land which by virtue of these organization's mission statements will be intended for and open to use by the general public.

3. Don't overlook small or seemingly insignificant parcels. It's no secret that when pressured, big whitetails will seek refuge in some of the smallest, most obscure, "Can't be a deer in there" types of places imaginable. Why, then, armed with such information, would anyone ignore such places, particularly during the scouting process? Hunters should remember that scouting a section of public land and hunting that same section aren't necessarily synonymous terms. They can be, but they don't have to be. That said, what harm could it do to check each and every possibility? Here, it's important that hunters think ahead; that they think several days or even weeks into the season, and not concentrate solely on what will - or won't - happen on opening day.

4. Scout by water. Innovation and improvisation are just two of the many keys to successfully scouting public ground. For instance, while many hunters are familiar with reconnaissance by map and by foot, how many - even when afforded the opportunity - take advantage of the chance to scout a potential parcel of public land by boat? The benefits of a water-borne scouting trip are many, including variables such as stealth, access to forgotten or hard to get to portions of the property, and perhaps most significantly, the ability to cover and analyze a greater number of acres in a shorter amount of time. All this, not to mention the fact that a late summer or early fall boat-based deer scouting venture can very easily and with little pre-planning turn into a fantastic smallmouth bass or trout fishing trip! Remember, the key here is to improvise.

Since moving to Iowa from Washington state in 1997, my wife and I have changed our public land deer scouting habits to where today about 50 percent of our field information is gathered via boat. One of our favorite haunts is a small 1,600-acre public parcel located just a few minutes from the house. Early on, we discovered that the Wapsipinicon River, a small tributary stream to the Mississippi, flowed through the major portion of the area. So by putting in upstream of the public boundary and by taking out shortly downstream, we could scout distant sections of the property which could be accessed by walkers only after an hour-long hike from the nearest parking lot. While the major stands of hardwoods and the primary food sources aren't for the most part situated along the river, the water nonetheless proves a daily attractant, particularly during the all-too-common heat of Iowa's early October archery opener. For us and a lightweight, easily portaged canoe, it's become a simple matter not only to locate heavily used riverside trails, but to transport stands and equipment, place and relocate stands as necessary, and, with any luck, float a hat-racked Iowa whitetail quietly downstream to our waiting Ford pickup. And no one's the wiser.

Public land. Just the words themselves can send shivers up the spines of even the most dedicated outdoorsmen and women. And as for big bucks on public land - well, that's a case for good, old-fashioned belly laughs; still it happens every year when Hunter A tags a 180-class whitetail on Wildlife Management Area B. Or when Hunter C fells a much more than respectable 155-inch buck on Fill-in-the-Blank State Game Land. Luck? Perhaps there's a bit of pure, unadulterated good fortune in the recipe there somewhere; however, the key ingredient in most of these cases is as simple as is breaking eggs or measuring flour. That key? Scouting.

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