While this article applies to hunting in normal times, the same principle applies to hunting for food in a survival setting: You have to know what your quarry does in order to increase your odds of getting it.

Here are a few things to focus on.

TERRAIN CONCENTRATIONS

Obviously, deer tracks always catch my eye. But what I'm really looking for are concentrations of tracks that relate to some sort of terrain feature.

In Iowa, those take one of three forms: ditch or creek crossings, the head of ditches/ravines, and fence crossings.

My favorite public-land locations are fence crossings. Why? Because there are fewer of them, and they're often overlooked by other hunters. Fences are abundant in Iowa, even on public land, and not all of the fences mark the boundary between public and private land (in case you thought I was trying to sit right on a property line). One of the best locations I found during this spring's shed hunt was a fence crossing deep in a large area of public land. The fence, an apparent remnant from before the ground was public, featured five, tight strands of barbed wire. A tree limb had dropped from one of the area's many oaks and landed on the fence. The deer crossing sign was impressive—and I saw zero evidence of any other hunters in that area.

Terrain features are far more reliable clues than any other sign such as rubs and scrapes when it comes to indicating predictable, repeatable paths of travel for deer. A ditch is as much of a ditch in March as it is in November. And deer will cross it at the same spot, in the same manner all year long. The same goes for creek crossing and fence crossings.

ADMIRE RUBS AND SCRAPES – BUT DON'T BANK ON THEM

No one loves finding a giant rub more than I do. Same goes for deep, well-worked scrapes.

I love to find them whether it's spring of fall. But I put very little stock in them before late October. In other words, I was happy to find some big rubs and plenty of scrapes while scouting this spring. But that sign won't have any bearing on where I choose to hunt this fall unless it was located near an area of concentrated travel.

Why? Again, it's simply a function of efficiency and time. I'll have, at best, a week to hunt in October and a week in November. That's not a whole lot of time, especially when you factor in time lost due to less-than-ideal weather conditions that could minimize deer activity. Setting up in an area that held a plethora of rubs and scrapes in March is a gamble—that area may or may not be holding bucks again in the fall.

Rubs and scrapes located near an area of concentrated deer movement created by a terrain feature get my attention. That sign tells me that not only are deer using that corridor of travel in the spring, they also used it last fall —and some of those deer were big bucks.

TREE PICKING

This final tip is one borne of efficiency. The entire time I'm scouting, I'm constantly using a phone app to track my location on an aerial map and noting areas of concentrated tracks, rubs, scrapes and—most importantly—stand sites.

I have wasted far too many hours walking around in a circle with my head tilted skyward trying to find a suitable location for a treestand. No more. When I show up to hunt this fall, I'll have more than a dozen locations marked, including the exact tree I want to place my stand in.

Iowa isn't going to take the title of nation's toughest place to hang a treestand (that honor goes to Kansas and its ridiculously crooked trees) but it's close. Iowa has plenty of hardwoods dominated by oaks. But, for whatever reason, those oaks seem to always lean just enough to make hanging a stand a pain. The straightest trees, of course, are often the lovely locust with its trunk covered in needle-like thorns.

One way of ensuring you have the best chances possible for getting a kill is to scout your hunting location out before hand.

Using hunts for other prey lets you see what you will face when you are hunting for deer.

To get more scouting advice, check out Outdoor Life.