After map-scouting an area one day, I killed this buck there the next -- the first time I had set foot in that location.

In the pitch dark, I killed the headlights, powered up my GPS, and set the GPS on top of my truck to begin acquiring satellites. After dressing and gathering my gear, I checked the GPS -- it was ready to navigate to within 24 feet of the target. Excellent. Tapping some buttons, I pulled up the waypoint for my stand site and clicked “Go To.” An arrow pointing the way to the stand site popped up. As I navigated 433 meters to the stand, I wondered how the day would unfold.

Settled into my treestand in the gray light of dawn, I caught a flash of white on the middle ridge. Slowly, I raised my binoculars and focused on a bone-white deer rack bobbing through the brush. Immediately, my eyes probed the tangle of limbs for an opening, and with the buck closing in quickly, I found a clear lane.

When his head dipped behind a tree I came to full draw, and as he stepped into the narrow opening I grunted softly. Unfortunately, he took another step forward, which conveniently placed a wrist-sized sapling between me and his vitals. As my sight pin searched for an opening, the buck’s eyes probed the hillside below me...

HOW DID I GET in that situation? You might say I’m a map nut. In my work as a wildlife biologist, a day rarely goes by without my studying aerial photos or topographic maps. Couple that with my interest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS, a computer program that allows you to layer data over a base map), and it’s easy to see why I rely heavily on these tools in scouting for whitetail deer. Don’t get me wrong -- I still wear out plenty of boot leather scouting after the season. But during the season, if I feel a need to rest an area or to move to avoid competition from other hunters, I often fall back on my maps. And when planning out-of-state trips, I rely almost exclusively on these tools.

I’m convinced the best chance at arrowing a buck at any location occurs during the first hunt there. If you scout an area on foot to confirm your findings on a map, you might as well hunt it because any deer passing through later will detect you, despite your greatest precautions. Why risk “wasting” an area scouting it during season when you can likely pick one of the best ambush spots off a map and hunt it fresh? I’ve killed numerous does and some of my best bucks using this tactic, probably because I never tipped my hand ahead of time. Here is my approach to zero-impact scouting and hunting.

Topographic Maps
Hands down, topographic maps are my favorite tools for scouting areas with a lot of relief (terrain). I could write an entire book on all the terrain features that funnel deer movement, but it’s already been done -- and well. Brad Herndon’s Mapping Trophy Bucks really digs into the nitty-gritty details of utilizing topographic maps for finding the best stand sites.

Years ago, I read a great article on how deer relate to positive (p) and negative (n) terrain features. When reading a topo map, the positive/negative analogy is a great way to visualize terrain. Being lazy, like most human beings, deer will pick their way along a steep ridge top, looking for an easy way down (p). They’ll avoid steep creek banks (n) in favor of shallow crossings (p). They’ll cross ridges through saddles (low areas between two peaks) (p) rather than crossing at high points (n). You get the picture.