How many hours of e scouting?

[WMag338]

I agree with everything said here. I’ve gotten better the more I do it. It’s very rewarding when you put the time in escouting from across the country then hear bugles from the waypoint you saved once you arrive. I’d say I’ll give a hunt 30-40 hours if escouting throughout the summer.

 

[Buckshotaz]

I look an area over with Google Earth, then I fly the area using my kid's Micro Soft Flight Simulator. I get a better idea of what I am dealing with.

 

[dtrkyman]

I’ve killed lots of critters on waypoints I dropped from home in places I had never stepped foot!


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[Rich M]

Honestly, 1 hr.

Take a look to see what it looks like, check where folks tell you to look but then you need to realize the google earth imagry is diff than on the ground.

You know what you need to learn in 1 hr.

I use that stuff as part of my job.

 

[def90]

I just got a job at OnX and can see everone's pins..



Lol, jk

 

[dylanvb]

I lied. When you have a plan and it doesn’t work out it’s back to the drawing board. I’m probably at like 15-20 hours of e scouting now.

 

[SlinkinElk]

I like to look over an area, drop some pins near water sources that are also far from roads, and use these as a general guide for getting boots on the ground

 

[Buck197]

I scout nonstop, when I can't hunt with a rifle or bow, then I hunt with a camera or binos. New unit, same unit. Any chance I get to become more familiar with the areas I hunt, the specific animals in a unit, etc, even getting to know locals. I'm divorced with no kids, so I guess I have a viable lifestyle to that. But the more you scout the better. E scout, contacting game and fish/DoW, googling around, if you're not local or reasonable to access an area. You just never know when that hard work will pay off for you and give you the tidbit you need to put it all together.
Personally.im super pissed as the summer ends because my lazy asked hunting buddies haven't done jack but expect all the info from me...this falls going to be as much much watching em chase there tales as it is trying to fill my tags!!

 

[Z71&Gun]

This sounds like a great idea, unfortunately, I can't find any videos of GMUs in Washington.

Every youtuber in washington tells you exactly where they hunt. As a resident, I think it's awesome that the number of d bags with gopros strapped to their heads doubles every season in those spots.

 

[dboone3]

Every youtuber in washington tells you exactly where they hunt. As a resident, I think it's awesome that the number of d bags with gopros strapped to their heads doubles every season in those spots.

Who do you watch? I've only seen Samong and PNWild. I figure I could maybe discern some of the spots from the landscape, but I've never seen either one outright say.

 

[JP100]

As a professional hunting guide, I spent exactly 3 hours and 7 minutes per sq mile of new area I intent to hunt. After a decade of scouting, I have found this is the optimal time

 

[Z71&Gun]

Who do you watch? I've only seen Samong and PNWild. I figure I could maybe discern some of the spots from the landscape, but I've never seen either one outright say.

Samong is top-notch and a great guy. Problem is those PNWild party hunting mofos give his spots away too. They think it's cute to burn spots. Just listen to their bear season podcast that came out recently. They brag and laugh about it, then blame the viewers and take no responsibility.

 

[Smallie]

I've done a fair amount of e scouting. I understand how to read topo maps and look at satellite images.

I have never once shown up to where I scouted and found that it looked like what I saw on the maps. Never.

So what I do now is spend about 5 minutes looking at a topo satellite overlay and I can tell myself, ok this is steep country with alot of valleys, or draws running east and west. Then I go to the area and check it out on foot.

Maybe my map reading skills suck, I just dont find a ton of value in spending more than enough time needed to get a snap shot of an area, 20 to 30 minutes MAX.

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I agree with this especially out West. Now I will just drop a bunch of waypoints in a unit then study topo for a few minutes around each spot and then just wait until I show up and see it in person. More local spots just drop a pin a general area and then go out and walk it. Usually find the best spots nowhere near where I would think the best spot would be based on e-scouting but maybe I just suck at it too

 

[Stalker69]

I've spent 16 days several times pre scouting, just find others in the same remote places come opening day. It's nice when it don't happen, but seems like a losing battle more now.

 

[TaperPin]

I look an area over with Google Earth, then I fly the area using my kid's Micro Soft Flight Simulator. I get a better idea of what I am dealing with.

That’s brilliant!

 

[TaperPin]

A detailed topo is priceless for getting around and satellite images really clarify what’s growing there, but until you see it in person chances are it’s not what you think.

What is very very useful is looking an area over to understand the structure of the place, a scouting trip to look around, then going back to the maps and satellite to sort out the areas beyond what you were able to explore.

I‘ve hunted an area in Region G for 10 years, but there are nearby features that don’t show well on maps and you can’t see from the highest ridge.

If you’re just getting into high country hunting, you can learn a lot about animal behavior comparing what you observe with an arial view. There’s a tendency to assume seeing an animal during hunting season means he lives there - an arial view often shows a higher percentage area the deer or elk or Wookiee was pushed from or the common sense escape destination he was headed to. Just last night I was thinking of a big buster buck that was moving through an area that‘s not normally mature buck-ish, and an arial shot shows an obvious big remote bowl that curved around more than my little brain understood with the topo. I have no doubt that old deer has spent many years bouncing between big remote bowls during the seasons. Not only am I confident in his destination, but also the group of ridges he probably came from.

 

[MallardSX2]

Hundreds of hours.

 

[OkiechasingElk]

I'm probably pushing 60+ hours eScouting via OnX, Google Earth, and Google Maps/Terrain in the last month. 90% of that is while at work....

Also the hours on Rokslide forums are also adding up, also while at work...