TC’s are never close to hills and forests. So you just keep your scout next to them when you are exploring. Eventually you’ll find a stone/gold pile or berries and you can already guess where is the TC.
Besides, TCs can only be located in certain areas of the minimap.
There is never bad luck when you lose the scout to a TC. It’s just either you not knowing what I wrote above, or you being distracted/not paying attention. In both cases the player is the one to blame.