“Back country” question

[HunterKyle]

Just curious about some general knowledge on onx mapping. One area I’m considering for this September has what seems to be quite a few either fire lanes or just old shut down roads and I just what to know if this is something I should definitely avoid because of the likely hood of pressure or not. the gap between definite trails that grant access is almost 4 miles


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[Taudisio]

Elk will be where elk are. I’ve seen them next to the road, in the road, miles from any road. You need to go scout. As far as hunting pressure, that’s impossible to tell. You will either burn a day running into people or you found an unpressured spot and have it to yourself. I’ve ran into huge groups of people 5 miles from a road. And I’ve found road systems like above that don’t appear to be traveled during the season. I would not “avoid” that area until you have specific intel about it.

 

[cnelk]

Send me the coordinates - I'll hunt it and let you know

 

[Dos Perros]

I wouldn't rule it out because of pressure worries. I would rule it out because you can't glass it. Plenty of other folks here would run through there though calling to find elk.

 

[Mag_7s]

E-scouting is a great tool we have in our arsenal. It can tell us so much about an area with little effort. We can look at terrain and macro habiat features that are conducive to what we are looking for. However, nothing replaces boot on the ground. If the area piques your interest in my opinion you have to physically scout it. If those boxes are checked and you decide to invest your season in there, that will be the next piece in your puzzle in figuring out the pressure aspect, other than word of mouth.
Pressure also can ebb and flow year to year. For me it takes a few years to get an understanding of an area and what to expect.

 

[insanelupus]

Vehicles don't bother elk near as much as stinky hunters and 4 footed predators. If there are good elk numbers and lots of people, start looking where people aren't or don't want to be. That's what the elk are doing.

 

[wytx]

I wouldn't rule it out because of pressure worries. I would rule it out because you can't glass it. Plenty of other folks here would run through there though calling to find elk.

Pretty easy to use those trails or roads to slip in quietly and be where the elk are before daylight.

 

[bsnedeker]

A lot of those old trails are completely unusable. After they are done logging they will often go in and bulldoze those old roads and knock trees down on the sides so the trail is nothing but churned up earth and downed trees. Just because you see those on the map doesn't mean they are actually useable trails.

 

[f16jack]

Go scout and see ease of access. Also, are the roads open, open to atv's, open to mountain bikes?

 

[324matt]

Looks like you’ll want a horse to me.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I have quite a few places like you have shown. In the early 90s they were conduits for access for a number of drainages. Last year when I took a look there was a tree down across them about every 2-3 ft. I moved up the hill found a game trail and and traversed about 3 miles to the head of the drainage.

At that point I found a skid trail that was probably about 20 years old. Other than the 3-4" tree that was growing in it every 3-4 ft - it was fairly nice going.

I didn't find any vehicle tracks, man tracks or game sign (except a grouse). The trip occupied a days effort, was informative but I likely won't go back in my lifetime.

Roads on a map are a place to start but no guarantee for anything. Some of my best roads are wagon roads from the 1800s and none of them show up on any maps. You might want to check what you are interested in with google earth first and if you are still interested - go take a hike.

 

[SuspiciousFish]

E-scouting is a great tool we have in our arsenal. It can tell us so much about an area with little effort. We can look at terrain and macro habiat features that are conducive to what we are looking for. However, nothing replaces boot on the ground. If the area piques your interest in my opinion you have to physically scout it. If those boxes are checked and you decide to invest your season in there, that will be the next piece in your puzzle in figuring out the pressure aspect, other than word of mouth.
Pressure also can ebb and flow year to year. For me it takes a few years to get an understanding of an area and what to expect.

Oh man, we learned this the hard way on our first day Elk hunting last fall (my first hunt). I did hours and hours of E-Scouting and the first day we fought so hard over rocks and cliffs to get to a glassing spot. We finally got to the spot and the only open area to see was about 500 yards across of forest across the gully. At the end of the day I learned the two things you need to look for are water and fresh sign.

 

[Mag_7s]

Oh man, we learned this the hard way on our first day Elk hunting last fall (my first hunt). I did hours and hours of E-Scouting and the first day we fought so hard over rocks and cliffs to get to a glassing spot. We finally got to the spot and the only open area to see was about 500 yards across of forest across the gully. At the end of the day I learned the two things you need to look for are water and fresh sign.

Thats a good point, I've been burned on water sources more than once, even with summer scouting. I've scouted late July, lots of water, only to get up there mid September and everything I was banking on is now dry. However sometimes they go under ground and reappear a little ways down the mountain (another hard lesson learned). Another thing I would also mention is understanding animals behavior. Be it muleys or elk, their behavior and use of the landscape also really changes during the late summer. The lush feed in the higher country might have burned up and muleys might have dropped a 1k feet of elevation or the bulls have dropped down to the rutting grounds. While e scouting is a fantastic tool, and will save you lots of time and help narrow down your area search, you still have to get in there and put all the pieces together.

 

[SuspiciousFish]

Thats a good point, I've been burned on water sources more than once, even with summer scouting. I've scouted late July, lots of water, only to get up there mid September and everything I was banking on is now dry. However sometimes they go under ground and reappear a little ways down the mountain (another hard lesson learned). Another thing I would also mention is understanding animals behavior. Be it muleys or elk, their behavior and use of the landscape also really changes during the late summer. The lush feed in the higher country might have burned up and muleys might have dropped a 1k feet of elevation or the bulls have dropped down to the rutting grounds. While e scouting is a fantastic tool, and will save you lots of time and help narrow down your area search, you still have to get in there and put all the pieces together.

We dealt with that water issue a lot. Last fall 80% of the supposed water sources were dry in the first area we were camped at. Another factor is the micro-climates of mountains in CO. You can be in an area that is bone dry then go 10 miles over into a gully and it will be like a swamp in there. I remember in another area we went to later in the trip there were full creeks everywhere then we went up to a 12,000 ft ridge to glass and it was bone dry on the other side. The mountain shadow effect is very real in the high country.