Expanding my scouting area

[Mcribs]

Help me expand where I can find a monster. The area I hunt for archery, I’ve focused on elevated mountain basin that have willows, grass and timber. I’ve found good bucks in several of them, mostly in bachelor groups. I’d like to develop more spots to glass but lack confidence/creativity in glassing other nooks.

1. What other characteristics have you seen bucks in?
2. Ever see a monster solo living in a”non-typical” area in the summer?
3. If you see does taking over all parts of a basin (including the higher slopes usually taken up by bucks, does that mean probably no bucks in that basin?

This is pretty rugged country, plenty of water.

Thanks in advance to help develop some new areas.

 

[RockAndSage]

If you're finding them in bachelor groups, those bigger bucks will generally still be in the neighborhood - just in a more secure spot, away from the tomfoolery of the younger ones. Especially once they go hard-horn.

In that geography you described, they could be several hundred yards or more away from the group, but still in the general neighborhood. They're just not slumming it with the dumb kids anymore. Look higher, in places that give them good thermals, good views, excellent shade, and often, rimrock or ribbon-cliff at their backs.

An important aspect of all this to grasp is how the bigger, older bucks quite literally have multiple layers of sensory systems they employ to perceive and detect threats. They're better at setting themselves up in positions to maximize use of thermals, winds, auditory indicators, and visual signals than younger bucks, and far better than does. They'll often use the does and younger bucks as a kind of security screen or tripwire - predators will be attracted more to the group, and the group alerting on something or busting out gives him just that little bit of an edge to perceive threat earlier, monitor, and/or escape.

So, find the bachelor groups in the summer, and the bigger bucks in them will generally still be around the neighborhood - just in a more secure spot.