Scouting, Dark Timber

[trophyhill]

This is one of my favorite places to hunt. There's a seep and a wallow real close, but this is what it looks like 360 degrees around that wallow. In places like this, you don't have to make a sound. But I can't sit, so I like to speed things up by attracting the bulls. Otherwise it would make an outstanding sitting spot. I love this type of terrain. And yes, I've packed a few bulls out of this stuff. It helps when you have a 38" inseam.
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i know a place like that. There was only one dumbazz hunting it last year. Yours truly. If you want to find elk and not see any other hunters. Its places like these

 

[mavinwa2]

if you are hunting big, dark timber in GRIZZ country....here's a real story for ya to watch.

 

[H2PVon]

300yds from my camper.
OTC Public Land.

Obviously we didn’t sit there that day.



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Not looking for your "honey hole", just trying to find out a good spot to park my camper.

 

[WasatchRanger]

I'm worried if you find elk August 15th, they have a new zip code September 25th.
Does it do more harm than good?

Finding Elk is most people's biggest problems. If you are hunting in an area that you can scout consistently I would try to find Elk around that August 15th date and keep going back every week or so to see how they move. You may be finding big bachelor herds August 15th, but as September rolls around you may be finding more satellite bulls or groups of 2-3 raghorns and spikes in that same area.

If you are hunting an area that's way far away I think finding Elk in August would be helpful, but I would want an extra day or so of scouting before the season started.

 

[Pony Soldier]

In my experience, the bulls are in cool places with green feed. By Sept they are where the cows are. It may not be the same place.

By september I have seen the cows in the river bottoms and in other years - on the top of the ridges (4-5000 ft higher). By the third week in sept we often have snow yet on the west side its rain and bugs.

Lots of luck. But its a crap shoot dependent on the elk and the weather and whether the FS has decided to burn another 50-100,000 acres.

 

[cnelk]

Based on my trail cams, both cows and bulls change their patterns about August 10. Right around the time the bulls shed their velvet.

If you scout areas prior to that date, it could prove futile later.