Ep. 496: Summer Scouting Mountain Bucks — Trail Cameras, Cuts vs. Mature Timber, and Why Deer Disappear on Opener w/ Johnny Stewart

Beau Martonik sits down with Johnny Stewart -- a PA-based DIY public land hunter with 30+ years of big woods experience across Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Ohio, and North Dakota. This one is all about summer scouting. Johnny breaks down how he runs trail cameras from April through September purely for inventory (confirming a buck survived the winter), why he almost never moves cameras in summer even if they are not producing, and the pattern he and Beau figured out for why bucks vanish from cuts the moment archery season opens. Turns out it is not always pressure. Sometimes it comes down to food, and not the food sources you would expect. They also dig into the mature forest / mature buck correlation -- including a story about a late-season WV buck that left his bed specifically to eat shelf mushrooms off a downed cherry log -- glassing velvet bucks from road vantage points, and Johnny's philosophy on mid-October scouting and hunting where the deer isn't. Plus gear talk on the Timber Ninja Kunai and new Mini Kunai, the advantage of hunting with a cameraman, and a teaser on a University of Georgia study showing that fresh scrapes glow in UV light.

Topics:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:13:38 — Self-filming and upcoming YouTube content

00:17:55 — Mountain hunting traditions and the NH drag-out story

00:21:22 — How each year compounds; building a 30-year catalog with Spartan Forge

00:27:13 — Summer vs. fall deer locations; camera placement; cuts vs. mature woods

00:42:42 — Why deer leave cuts on opener (wild cherries and mushrooms)

00:47:56 — Mushrooms and the mature forest / mature buck correlation

01:18:13 — Camera soaking strategy; velvet transition window; early October shift

01:29:42 — Trail cam tips; spring seeps; summer scrape activity; UV scrape study teaser

01:44:54 — Glassing cuts in late July/August; velvet growth timeline

01:55:02 — Timber Ninja gear talk: Kunai, Mini Kunai, C2 sticks

02:10:00 — Wrap-up

Resources:

Johnny's IG - https://www.instagram.com/thejohnnystewart/

Johnny's YT - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJohnnyStewart

Johnny's website - https://johnnystewarthunt.com/

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