Clancy has hunted whitetails from Montana to New York, but his home turf is in southern Minnesota’s fields and forests.

The time to get into the woods is right now, he said, because pre-season scouting is critical for putting together an early-season game plan.

“Without a game plan, my opening days usually prove to be unproductive and disappointing,” he said.

Besides deer movement and patterns, bowhunters must account for hunter movement and patterns. One of the realities of hunting public land is dealing with pressure from other hunters. This pressure can be your worst enemy or your greatest ally depending on how and where you set up.

Clancy said hunters are generally much more predictable than deer. It begins by determining where hunting pressure may concentrate, where deer most likely will try to escape the pressure, finding those escape routes, then having the patience to let your plan come together.

T.R. Michels, who literally wrote the book on whitetail hunting -- actually several books -- said buck escape routes are different than doe escape routes.

“A buck wants security and will look for a low-lying area or place where the cover is thick,” Michels said, noting that a buck only stands 3 feet high, so he needs only 4 feet of cover. “If a buck has a ditch or irrigation canal, he can walk down into it and feel secure, while a doe will just bust out across a field.”

Something to keep in mind about public hunting land is the certainty of a wide variety of hunters entering the area in the early season. Each has his reason for being there and will move to an area that best suits his activity. Grouse hunters work different areas than waterfowlers just as pheasant hunters work different areas than squirrel hunters. Don’t forget that non-hunters also enjoy public lands, admiring the fall colors, horseback riding and a variety of other activities.

If the land you are scouting experiences fair to moderate hunter pressure, you should consider this and position yourself along a route where deer are likely to sit to avoid the traffic. Clancy said the other option is to hunt within the escape cover itself, although that presents its own set of challenges.

Deer don’t like to move far from their home territory, so don’t expect them to run vast distances to escape hunting pressure. They will generally head for the thickest cover where few humans are willing to venture because shooting lanes are narrow and shots longer than 15 yards are unheard of.

This is tough hunting, but if you want that big buck, you must be willing to try it. Michels said it’s best to scout public land between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. while the bucks are bedding down.