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With the firearms deer season only a couple of days away, stand placement and any brush work should, presumably, be completed for opening weekend. So what should you do if the location you’ve chosen to hunt doesn’t pan out on Saturday and Sunday? What if the deer trails you set your stand near are no longer being used regularly? Do you tough it out next week in the same location, or should you resume scouting at some point during the season and change your location? If I’m working an area for walleyes and my LCR shows me nothing but a barren lake bottom void of fish, I move. I check out other likely spots and look for structure that’s holding active fish. In my mind, the same holds true when deer hunting. If you’re hunting in Zone 2, you have as many as eight days beyond opening day to get it right: in Zone 1, you’re looking at two full weeks to find fresh trails and areas the deer are using. There is no doubt that sloppy scouting can alert deer to human presence and affect their movement, but if you take some basic precautions and keep a few things in mind, it can be accomplished effectively at any time, even during the season.

If possible, choose a windy or rainy day to do your scouting. Deer are far less likely to be active during daylight hours during bad weather, and it greatly increases your odds of getting into and out of the woods undetected. A windy or rainy day will mask otherwise noisy activities such as cutting limbs to create shooting lanes and setting up a stand. As quiet and careful as we’d like to be, tree-steps, climbing harnesses and portable stands clank and rattle, and there’s nothing like a day without a stitch of wind to carry those sounds a great distance through the leafless woods.

Controlling and masking human scent while scouting and hunting is extremely crucial. You could say that I’ve become somewhat fanatical as it relates to odor elimination and masking my scent, and I’m a true believer when it comes to luring deer to my location using estrus doe urine and “curiosity” scents. Unlike noises that quickly come and go, the human scent that we leave in the woods can linger on the trees and brush for an extended period of time. I simply refuse to spend any time where I intend to hunt without first doing all I can to eliminate and mask my scent. Through trial and success, I’ve had good results using a popular spray-on product for my outerwear, and I use this spray liberally. I’ve also experienced the thrill of luring deer directly to my stand using a drag rag soaked in estrus fastened to one of my boots. If a mature deer keeps its nose on the same trail I’ve taken to my stand without spooking, that’s all the proof I need to know that these products, as advertised, work extremely well.

Another good idea is to keep your hands covered at all times during the scouting period. If it’s a warmer day, wear rubber dish or surgical gloves sprayed with odor eliminator and masking scent while doing your brush work and a pair of leather gloves, treated the same way, while setting screw-steps and your portable stand.

My last consideration while scouting is to set up a mock scrape and daytime dripper near my stand. If there are active scrapes and fresh rubs nearby, this practice, in my mind, becomes essential. While a rub may only indicate a younger buck’s pent-up aggression, a scrape is a telltale sign that a mature buck has laid claim to a particular area and is looking for receptive does. If a mock scrape is set up with care in close proximity to a natural scrape, there’s a good chance that it will be visited, sometimes often, throughout the season.

In my opinion, it’s never too late to scout and change location, but be smart about it. Deer are very keen animals, and when we attempt to spend time in their environment, it pays to be cautious.

Dan Brown’s weekly outdoor column is brought to you by Frankie’s Bait and Marine, in Chisago City, and St. Croix Outdoors, in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

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