This buck bedded in tall grass during hunting season. Find these spots now.

The weather for the past three days has left something to be desired. Normally, by now, it's quite easy to get around in the woods, but in my area of the northwest Lower Peninsula, we've had 18 inches of new snow in the past 72 hours.

So give the snow a few more days to melt, and then go for a walk in new deer areas. You may just find this fall's new whitetail deer habitat on federal or state-owned land.

A two-hour hike can be great fun. Especially when this little jaunt enables hunters to check on where deer are traveling.

Now is when to find hidden bedding areas, seldom used trails & other hotspots.

Actually, hunters can get some good winter exercise while scouting for old and new deer sign. The third fringe benefit of this early-spring hike is to look around near feeding areas or bedding areas for shed antlers.

To me, the walk gives me some exercise while allowing me to check out various nearny areas. There are always spots that are seldom or never hunted hard, and I like to use this opportunity to check out different locations before the snow is completely gone..

Deer are amazing animals because they can -- and will -- hide out in some of the strangest areas. Some of these spots are used year 'round, and very few sportsmen take the time and make the effort to go there to study the terrain for good deer sign.

This buck bedded in cedars and pines but traveled through this pinch-point.

Let's face it: some deer have more ambition than some hunters. But deer, also are a lot like hunters: they choose the easy spots. It's the big bucks that sometimes settle into a pattern of laying up in places where humans never go.

It's up to you to find these locations. They often are in very heavy cover that can barely be penetrated in an upright position, but imagine how happy you will be if you find such an area this spring and follow a buck's tracks out of there. These areas can be an ace in the hole next fall.

Get out and look before all the snow disappears.

I've seen countless whitetails laying up in cattails around a swamp. Some head for the densest part of a cedar swamp, and other deer will hole up wherever they can get out of the coldest winter weather. Deer in this area favor thermal cover that offers good bedding habitat.

Creek bottoms are good spots to check, and I still have some food plots that will begin growing once it warms up. Deer lay up back in heavy cover, and it provides them with available food and cover throughout the winter months when deep snow piles up.

There is a narrow funnel in one of my hunting areas that has a deer trail running through it that looks like a cattle path. That spot has thick cover at both ends of the funnel, and I check it often during the winter to look for big tracks moving through the area. I know that many of the largest bucks in the area bed down at opposite ends of the funnel, and I have good stands at both ends of the cover.

There are some deep tangles in some low-lying areas. The cover  is thick and tangled, but even the largest bucks seem to ease their way through such spots without making a sound. If you or I were to move through it, we'd make a great deal of racket. The bucks, they ease through without making a sound.

Walking and looking, stopping and checking out tracks along major and minor trails, is perhaps the best cure I know for cabin fever. We all suffer this problem to some degree during the winter months. This offers a temporary cure for a winter-weary hunter.

Check those areas you really wouldn't want to walk through,

Pick a nice day, dress comfortably for the weather, and go for a stroll. Stop often, look around, and study the area for some "eye candy." This is one term used for a big buck, and I've walked up on such animals on many occasions.

One never knows what they may find during an early spring walk in the woods. If nothing else, it is great exercise and provides us with some fresh air.

It's something we can't find while sitting on the home sofa.

Pick the right spot and you may shoot a nice buck like the author.

It's a common problem for deer hunters. They find themselves in unfamiliar territory, and are trying to puzzle out where the best place is to hunt.

Many hunters take a wild flying guess based on minimal input from gazing at trails, and pick a spot. Often, it may look good but in many cases it is a hurry-up and poor guess that won't pay off.

Having said that, we can answer the question that serves as the title of this daily blog.

Guessing at good hunting spots is never a great idea.

Knowing where to hunt is always better than guessing. Knowing comes from a constant familiarity with the area being hunted. Let's put it another way: We travel to Alabama in mid-January when the rut is in full swing, hoping for a good buck, and we hunt on private club land.

Someone acts as a paid or unpaid guide, drives us to a stand where deer are known to pass, and with some luck, we shoot a buck. If we don't shoot a buck, it means that none were seen, none were of the size we wanted or a buck did show up but didn't offer a chance for an accurate shot.

We hunt again in the evening, and are placed in a key location where we should see deer. No one can always make deer move, and no one can guarantee that a hunter can and will sit still.

If we should hunt this way, with others telling us where to hunt, it's a wise move to pay close attention to the terrain in which we hunt. There are always some things that can offer subtle hints about each location. Try to figure them out as you move deeper into cover.

More deer are shot in thick cover than out in the open.

Deer often are found in fringe cover, that area between thick heavy cover and open land. Of course, a ground blind or tree stand may be located anywhere in-between, and it's up to the hunter to learn why one particular spot is better than another.

One of my favorite spots is on a low hillside with thick heavy cover on three sides with open land on the west side. The prevailing westerly wind blows down through the open cover, and the stand is cross-wind.

The only way a deer can pick up a hunter's scent here is if he climbs into or out of the stand. The stand should be high enough on this small hill to blow scent over the surrounding thick cover.

One thing hunters must do is look at terrain the way a deer look at it.

• Where is the food supply?
• Where are the key bedding areas?
• Which trails connect those two key locations?
• How can deer, especially larger bucks, travel back and forth without being on trails?

Other key factors include:

• How does the wind blow in each location, and does it swirl backwards when hitting a woodline?
• How can a hunter get into and out of the area without bumping into moving deer?
• Does the hunting area have two or three way to enter and exit to avoid traveling the same route time after time?

Choose a stand site that is easy to access without bumping deer.

• Which type of stand is best suited to that area?
• Which would work best: a ground blind, pit blind, tree stand or elevated coop?
• How high is high enough for elevated stands?

I've found that a tree stand elevation of 15 to 18 feet is usually high enough under most circumstances. I've got one stand that is close to 30 feet in the air, and it is a consistent producer but steep-angle shots are not a good bet when a hunter must make a decision in a hurry, and then take a quick well-aimed shot.

Many of my stands are at 14-15 feet. That places a standing bow hunter at roughly 20 feet in the air. A stand at 18 feet puts the same hunter at roughly 24 feet. Each stand has special requirements, and hunters must solve these problems long before the season opens. Match stand height to the best natural features of a tree. Don’t place stands directly on a trail but just far enough away that a deer moving toward you won’t be looking directly at you.

Hunters will have far better hunting success if they know why a hunting location is best. Guessing implies that one is trusting to luck or fate. With a guess, the hunter will have a 50-50 chance of guessing right. If you error, make certain you error on the side of common sense when choosing a stand site.

Of course, this also means a 50-50 chance of guessing wrong. There is nothing worse than a stand that requires hours of effort and time to prepare only to learn it is not in the right spot.

This year, don't guess. Know where the hotspots are long before the season opens. Doing so beats guessing every time, and you can take that to the bank.

Scout from a car or truck and stay inside to glass. Look for big gobblers like the one below.

Hunters have plenty of time to think about the upcoming spring turkey season. That time can be well spent looking around right now.

Turkeys are gathered together in large flocks, and some flocks number 60 to 100 birds. Occasionally a big gobbler will be with them, or will be found nearby, but many of these huge flocks are hens and last year's poults.

It's somewhat easy to do a bit of really early preseason scouting. We don't really try to single out an exceptional gobbler, but if one is seen, it pays to remember where it was found. Each time you go for a drive, and look for birds, keep a mental or physical written note on where birds are found, the time of day, and approximate size of the flock.

A short drive allowed us to find a large number of birds. Keep track of them.

My wife and I were driving home a week ago when a dozen gobblers scooted across the road and flew. When we were 100 yards away, we saw a large number of hens and poults cross the road and they studied us as we drove by. There were two or three really large Toms in the original group, and the group of hens and poults had some little jakes with their perky two-inch beards. They were casually noticed, and the location remembered. I know a guy that owns that land, and it's likely I can get permission to hunt it if the birds stick around that long.

Obviously, no one knows whether they will draw a first- or second-season tag this spring, but those that applied for the guaranteed last season will get a permit.

Another thing that we don't know is whether those big gobblers we saw will be within five miles of where they were seen last week. Winter birds hang pretty tight to areas where they are being fed, or where food is found, but they seldom stick around much after April Fool's Day. They may continue to be very close if there is a large number of hens, but if the hens split for another area, it's a sure bet the gobblers will follow.

This mid-winter scouting for turkeys is no more than an excuse to spend some time looking for birds. Most hunters know the birds will be scattered before the season opens, but it gives us a chance to pursue our sport without harming the birds.

Mid-winter scouting is easy but keep good notes on where gobblers are seen.

It's always a wise idea not to crowd the birds. I have a window-mount for my Bushnell spotting scope and also carry a good pair of Bushnell binoculars. I drive the back roads, and if birds are spotted, out comes the binoculars and spotting scope, and the turkeys are studied from a distance.

There is no need to get out of the car, and it's wise to keep conversations low. Turn off the car, sit still, don't talk with the window down, and study the birds. Draw a map of five or 10 square miles, and mark where birds are seen.

Note the number of gobblers seen and approximate beard length. Count the number of jakes seen, and note the locations and time of day. Turkeys often develop a pattern of feeding, moving, displaying, dusting and all the other things they do.

In due time, these maps showing date, time of day, number of gobblers seen, travel route etc. will form the basis of a pattern for these birds. As turkey hunting season gets closer, study maps and times to pin down where the birds are found at specific times of day.

If they are seen flying up to roost, note with specific detail where these roost trees are located. If it appears the birds will still be there when your hunting season opens, check with landowners for permission if the birds are roosting on private land.

Turkey scouts become quite adept at hiding their whereabouts. I know a guy that leaves one man in the car, and another outside (away from the birds sight) who appears to be getting ready to change a tire. Hunters who sit motionless, with two pair of binoculars trained on an open field or woodlot, will attract attention from passing motorists.

Do your best to avoid being seen glassing for gobblers. It doesn’t pay to advertise.

I've watched other turkey scouts lay down in the seat to avoid being seen by people in cars passing by. They don't want people to see them studying distant birds. Looking for birds is a fun way to pass the day, and doing some of it now and again just before the season opens, can be of great help when the season does open. Just make sure to do it often enough so you know where the birds will be on opening day.

And ... don't trespass without permission. Stay in your car, watch, make notes but leave your turkey calls at home. People who sit in a car with the window down, and call to visible birds simply educate them, and there is no sense in doing that because it will just hurt your hunting success.

It’s not a big buck but this hunter did his scounting homework.

Anyone who greets the dawn in the field is getting a good jump on the day, and will most likely find game animals and birds moving. Do it just right, and it can be a kick-off to your preseason deer scouting.

I visited one of my hunting spots two days ago, and there was a comfortable breeze in the air, not too cool but certainly not warm. It felt good to be a bit chilly, and I walked in to a high hill where I could watch for whitetails without being spotted or winded.

The sun was still blushing the eastern horizon when a doe with two fawns wandered by, stopping here and there to nibble on alfalfa. They walked along the edge of a nearby green field, and sniffed at some new green growth, apparently to see if it was tender enough to eat.

Two bucks, both fuzzy-antlered with velvet, cut the corner of a fallow field, dipped down into a gully, came out the other end and disappeared into the woods. They were quickly followed by a spikehorn that had got sidetracked, and was now playing catch-up with his buddies.

Greeting the dawn to scout deer is one of the best times to be afield now.

The sun was rising above the horizon when I spotted a veritable gold-mine of turkey gobblers. Twelve gobblers were moving like a combat platoon, and they came across the top of the hill and crossed within 20 yards of me. I was sitting on the ground, knees up and Swarovski binoculars to my eyes. I had to lower the binoculars to better see the gobblers.

One bird had an honest 12-inch beard, and two had 10-inch beards, two had 7 1/2 to 8-inch beards, and the others were jakes. The sunlight glistened off their dark feathers, turning the colors from russet to gold to black and back again. They didn't know I was there, and they passed by and headed down into an open field where they would be out of sight of a nearby road.

I caught a glimpse of some animal moving through the timber, and never could see it well, but it appeared to be a coyote heading for a place to lay up for the day.

I didn't spend much  over an hour sitting, and it become apparent the critters were done moving. I walked the edge of an alfalfa field where mud remained from an earlier rain, and checked for tracks.

One big splay-hoofed deer track was visible, and it looked two-thirds larger than any other deer track I saw. Buck or doe? Hooves splay out in mud, and that could account for some of the size, but it could have been a deer of either sex. I knew of one very large doe in that area last year, and had heard reports of a good buck as well. It's always easier to think of it being a buck than a large doe, but thinking that doesn’t necessily make it so..

Watch field edges, the edges of swamps and woods, and watch where deer come from and go.

I used to hunt with a man who claimed he could tell the difference between a buck and doe track with 100 percent certainty, and under certain circumstances, I believe I can too. But, tracks in mud never seem to offer quite enough clues to its sex, and I need something more to go on than a widened track in soft mud.

Was today a scouting day? Absolutely. I could determine where the bucks entered the woodlot in the morning, and with a westerly breeze, even picked out a perfect tree. I'll have to watch in the morning more often, and then get serious about a stand once I know the bucks are using the same trail every morning.

I learned years ago, when hunting bucks in southern counties, that farmland deer will travel one of two or three trails in a given area. We sometimes had to flip a coin to determine which of two trails to choose from, and often the coin would lie to us. So much for gambling.

Preseason scouting doesn't need to be a major investment in time nor does it have to be done every day, but hunters should spend time scouting three or four times a week whenever possible.

An hour a day now can make a big difference once hunting season begins.

It's not only an important part of deer hunting, but it can be fun. My wife used to sit in a stand before the bow season opener, watch the deer and videotape them. By early September, she would have the buck of her choice on tape, and she would later lay claim to it with a well-placed arrow.

She always shot the buck she videotaped, and that proves that preseason scouting, from the spring on,  does work. And, it's fun.

The hunter who pays attention to deer and turkey movements and  invests some sweat equity will find some out-of-the-way spots where big bucks and gobblers live. Some of those locations are easily hunted and some are not.

Some of these out-of-the-way spots can be found while hunting other game species. Some of the little hidey-holes where bucks lay up are so small that one wonders if there is enough cover for a cottontail rabbit to hide. Take it from me: it doesn't take much cover to hide a big buck.

Some friends who have learned to check around tall trees ringing a water hole or low spot where spring rains gather often learn that such locations can be hotspots for wild turkeys.

Fall turkeys alerted me to this hurt buck.

Some of my friends hunt in widely scattered locations. Many also hunt upland game birds, cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares, wild turkeys and other types of game. The observant ones can find buck hideaways.

A friend pays attention to such things, and as he walked past an overgrown apple orchard after a hard rain, he spotted a big deer track going over the fence. He'd tried to get his pointer to work into it in search of birds, and the dog refused to go.

Being a patient fellow, he walked his pooch around the orchard, and found the way the buck left that orchard. He also noticed that the tracks went past a big pine tree. Two days later he scaled that tree in the late afternoon after putting the dog in the truck kennel, and took his bow with him. Thirty minutes before the end of shooting time a buck that grossed 152 points jumped the fence and walked past his tree.

He's no stranger to seeing big bucks. This one passed the tree at 22 yards, and my friend shot him. It is still his largest buck, but it points out the reasons why hunters should be attentive to deer sign. To put a fine point on this observation, two years ago he found several gobblers and hens roosting in that same tree, and took a fine Tom.

Another guy was out chasing ruffed grouse one day last fall, and walked past a sumac patch on top of a hill with a good view in all directions. The man stopped to re-tie a boot lace, and was 20 feet from the sumac patch, and out busted a big buck. He was laying up there because most people walked past the sumac without stopping, thinking the cover was much too small to hold a deer. I've never know gobblers to attempt to roost in sumac, because it's too close to the ground, but such cover can be suitable habitat for other game.

I tell the story of hunting ringneck pheasants near Montrose, Michigan, 40 years ago. I was hunting along the edge of the Flint River. A rooster flushed wild at 30 yards ahead of the dog, and I swung and winged the bird.

A ringneck pheasant alerted me to a buck crossing.

It caught its balance in mid-air, cocked its wings and soared part-way across the river and landed on a tiny island of marsh grass and a few stunted trees. I checked the water depth, and it was only shin deep, and I crossed. My dog caught some scent, pointed, and as I walked up to the dog, a big buck jumped up and bolted across the river. He watched the buck splash across, crisscrossed the tiny island, and kicked up the pheasant and downed the bird.

I kept that oddball sighting in mind, and once the firearm season opened, my twin brother George and I waded across to the island in the dark. One of us went to the upstream end while the other walked through, and sure enough, we jumped the buck as dawn broke and killed it with one shot.

Many years ago, when wild turkeys were being planted in Michigan, I checked out that area in hopes of finding a gobbler. These bird birds like to roost adjacent to water, and I later killed a bird that roosted right where I waded to the island.

Talk to some farmers, and they all have tales of bucks laying up in tall weeds or gobblers along their line fences or next to a barn. They push deer out of swampy little tangles perhaps 20 feet across. These bucks hold in such tiny bits of cover because few people think to look there. Gobblers often avoid such places because the cover is too think  to fly out of but they will fly down and land in adjacent fields.

I have an elevated coop where deer congregate every night to feed. There is a tiny, narrow strip of brush 20 feet from it, and many people have seen big bucks get up out of that brush and move out to feed.

The thing is that bow hunters can dare to be different. They don't have to follow the established doctrine everyone throws at them. They can walk through an area so small that it takes less than 10 seconds to get through, and often they may find the home of a big trophy buck that no one knows about or a turkey roost tree with feathers littering the ground, The trick is to be observant while hunting, and it can help you be successful with other game.

Cattail marshes hold bucks, and I've seen gobbler tracks nearby. I remember a nice buck my friend Larry Barrett of Holland shot as it came out of the cattails. He knew that buck was there, and when he shot it, the buck wheeled and dove back into the cattails and died there.

Don't stick with the status quo. Check things out. Know where the tiny patches of heavy cover are in your hunting area, look for those little nooks and crannies, and try to figure where a buck or a gobbler will come from or go to when leaving. That information is knowledge that you can put to good use during the various muzzleloader seasons.

Try it the next time you hunt. It may produce a nice buck or help you locate a longbeard gobble that can be hunted there during the proper season.  Never overlook anything when walking the fields, swamps and wood, and chances are good you'll find a hotspot that you've overlooked. Such little spots can often pay off.

The big gobbler I discussed seeing recently has disappeared, and who knows where. Hopefully it's not in the trunk of a poacher's vehicle.

I went looking for him a couple times lately , but he and his lady friends apparently lit out for some location where they were not visible from the road. I hope they made it safely.

Did the birds up and leave voluntarily, and after talking to a friend, it appears as if they pulled up stakes and left the area. They may or may not come back to where they were. Only time will tell whether I'll be able to find them again. It's a certainty that others  who saw that big gobbler will be checking  other strut zones in hopes of finding them.

There appear to be some big turkeys around. Another friend told me today he watched seven big gobblers cross the road in front of him just south of Mesick. That area has always been a good spot.

My wife and I went for a drive yesterday. We saw just one lone turkey in a fallow field. Only one bird for a two-hour drive isn't very good.

Some turkey decoys may scare some gobblers.

The birds we've seen in the past week seem to be getting a bit more frisky. A friend of mine who apparently has some birds roosting on his land says they wake him up in the morning. He said there are five or six gobblers in a bachelor group, and so far they've managed to scoop up just one lone hen.

He said they set to gobbling almost every morning at daybreak, and all are apparently in love with the same hen. He has seen some strutting birds over the past two days, and they have located just the one hen. She is liable to be in big trouble soon.

I went outside this morning for the paper, and heard a hen calling softly. Just the one hen, and no gobbles. She may just be passing through the area.

These warm and windy days can make for poor listening and looking opportunities. The gobblers don't talk much in very windy weather, and seem to stay close to home.

I'm wondering about using turkey decoys this spring. It's always been a last-moment decision  for me: use them or not? Years ago no one used a decoy, and we depended on coaxing the birds in close enough for a shot with a call.

Decoys add a certain something to a hunt, and when they work, the birds show up where you want them. But, I'm convinced that some gobblers are getting leery of all decoys, and I've seen birds avoid my decoys when they have produced in that same location in the past. I believe if too many birds are shot over decoys in a small area that future generations of gobblers and hens may become more skittish.

The above photo is of my old jake decoys and it's been sewed back together often.

This year, I may not use a decoy. I may spend more time hunting deeper in the timber, and make the birds come looking for me. Without a visual cue (the decoys) it can take a bit longer to get the gobbler to come, but it can build the tension factor when you can hear a bird drumming and spitting behind you but turning around isn't am option. Sometimes those birds complete the circle to stand in front of the hunter, but the truth is that sometimes the bird turns away and never comes back. Other birds may just barge in, stand near a jake decoy, and toy with it just long enough to allow a shot before it flails at it with spurs and wings flying.

I own an old soft decoy. It fooled many good gobblers, and It's been sewn back together several times. This, however, may be Jakie's last season. Soft decoys simply can't handle the raking of spurs from an adult three-year-old gobbler. Mine looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces missing.

But there is a certain something that happens to people when an adult gobbler begins to circle around for another look at the decoys. You must sit tight, don't move for any reason, and sit there hyperventilating with deep raspy breaths. You hope the bird will keep circling around in front before that wood tree stub finally succeeds in boring a nasty hole in your back.

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally during a cold and nasty spring, calling attempts can bring four or five jakes and longbeards on a dead run. They start coming, crisscrossing in front of you, and all are eager to be the first bird to the hen. It's happened a few times to me, and almost always the biggest bird approaches from too far to my right and I can't swing that far without moving my whole body. If this happens, the hunter may have to be content watching a big longbeard  shred a soft decoy or try to impale himself on a hen decoy stake.

Turkey calling often works but one must wait for a bird to circle.

So I wait, let the bird circle around me, and hope he comes within easy shotgun range. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they do not. Hunters can only play with the cards dealt them.

It's been many years since I made this mistake, and hope never to make it again. I had roosted some birds near a fence line that led down to a tiny bog pond. On this occasion, I misjudged the bird's location, and set up directly underneath him.

I couldn't understand why he wasn't gobbling on that cold, clear and still morning. I gave a couple of soft tree yelps with no reply. I took my time, and waited until an hour after dawn had passed without any sounds of a fly-down or a gobble.

I stood up, and the bird flushed from his roost directly above my head. Several hard wing beats soon took him well out of range, and since I've never attempted a flying shot, I decided not to do so this time.

He was a gobbler I'll never forget. But then, he is but one of many that have found a permanent place in my memory bank. The neat thing is I can draw one of these great memories out on a moment's notice.