How Scout Radar works
Thermals and sun/shade: experimental spot estimates use five USGS 3DEP elevation samples across 120 meters, calculated sun position, forecast cloud cover and wind. The hour selector updates these estimates. Wind of 10 mph or more is labeled wind-dominated. Slopes below 2° show a weak terrain signal; clear, low-wind daytime heating can suggest upslope movement, and clearer nights can suggest downslope cooling. These thresholds are unvalidated planning assumptions. The sun/shade card estimates whether the local slope faces the sun; it does not simulate distant terrain shadows, trees or buildings. No terrain or weather means no thermal estimate. Neither card changes the activity score.
Version 3 combines species daily rhythms with local forecast weather, North Dakota seasonal rut estimates and your habitat, hunting-pressure and snow-depth reports. Higher, Mixed and Lower compare planning conditions; they are not odds of seeing or harvesting an animal.
Rut timing: typical ND breeding windows add 5 points in the broader window or 10 around the estimated peak during daylight for deer and elk. Whitetail peak uses Nov 15–20; elk uses mid–late September. Mule deer peak Nov 20–30 and the broader window boundaries are Prairie Scout approximations. Herds and individual animals vary; this is not live rut detection.
Snowpack: NOAA’s roughly 1-km analysis indicates mapped snow presence. Its issue time is unavailable, so it is context only and missing data is never treated as zero. You can enter local snow depth. For whitetails, a report over 12 inches combined with limited habitat subtracts 8 planning points because deer may relocate to winter cover. That weight is an unvalidated app assumption; reported depth stays constant across forecast hours. Snowfall, drifts and crust are not predicted.
Moon: phase, illuminated fraction and horizon position are calculated for the selected hour and location. Moon phase receives no score bonus: research does not establish a dependable universal increase in deer activity.
Pressure: nearby NWS station observations show pressure and its approximately 3-hour trend when comparable readings exist. Readings older than 2 hours are marked stale. These are observations, not future pressure forecasts. Pressure receives no automatic score bonus because a consistent activity response is not established.
Existing adjustments cover strong wind, heat, precipitation chance, habitat and hunting pressure. All weights are transparent planning assumptions, not validated biological probabilities. Local sightings can outweigh the estimate. Migration counts, local population, access and legal seasons are not modeled; waterfowl scores describe feeding/flight windows, not migration arrival forecasts.
Sources: NDGF deer rut · NDGF elk · NDGF snow and movement · Moon research · Storm and pressure research · NOAA snow analysis.
