Pennsylvania Preseason Buck Scouting

There is nothing like seeing a picture on your trail camera of a big buck to get you excited about the fast approaching opening day of archery. It also serves as a great motivator to get your bow out and start practicing to get to mid-season form before the first day. This year we put out four different trail cameras for about four weeks straight moving them around occasionally to help us pattern the bucks movement. With still four weeks to go we still have time to explore more areas but have already uncovered three solid shooters and two late season baggers.

 This buck is a beautiful 8 point but has little nubs at the end that want to make him a 10 point

 The 8 point with his little 5 point friend

 Another 8 point about 4 miles away from the one above that might end up as a 9 point

 The 9 point grooming himself

 This buck in the front has on antler growing down very strange, the reason I posted it is because of the 10 point in the background

 This is one of the late season baggers I would probably shoot but is a young buck its just a high pressure hunting area and I can almost guarantee he will be killed during rifle so why not enjoy myself and fill my tag.

 Another view of our good 9 pointer

Our friend that wants to be a 10 point.

Here is a pretty good pic of the 10 point. We didn't get any good front shots a few blurry ones that show all his points but he is a good shooter.


Preseason scouting plays a very vital role for any hunter wanting to decide where to hunt, what to kill and what might be there next year. I will prioritize my stand locations based on my findings and it will be much easier passing up a legal 6 pointer if you know there is a good shooter on your land.

Here is a great article on GPS tracking of buck movement. If you have a great property with food plots or agricultural fields consider changing up your strategy and hunting on entrances and exits to bedding areas vs. entrances to food plots. Bedding areas are just as important to know their location as food plots but all too often we only focus on food when we should focus on killing mature bucks as they are stretching their legs on the way out of their bedroom.
QDMA: GPS Reveals Early Season Buck Movement Patterns