Scouting! How soon is to soon?

Lbshooter

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Gents, I will be going on my first elk hunt this archery season in CO I haven't chosen a unit yet but I would imagine it's going to be a 9-12 hr drive from NE. If I go to soon I'm guessing the elk patterns will change a lot. I'd like to go a couple times but I only have so much vacation and would rather spend that time with longbow in hand. What do you all recommend for a good pre-season scouting outing?

Thanks,
Cory
 
You can never go too soon. Look for wallows and rubs, you'll see more of those from last year than elk anyway.

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I'm heading to my unit next weekend for 4 days. We'll be looking for elk but mainly checking access points and looking for ways into "elky" areas.


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If you're unsure of where you are going to be hunting, I'd recommend start as soon as you can. Find a unit, get to know it. Find access points and a region of the specific unit as your A-plan.

Once you find a region, timing will really depend if your scouting the alpine or not. I am usually up high, so I typically don't go up to my spots until late June because of snow/runoff. I schedule an annual scouting trip around 4th of July to hang trail cameras. Hope this helps.
 
If vacation time is limited I'd take it the week before the opening and get in the area and find elk for the opening day. All the time you can invest is great but the last five days before the opening gives you the best shot.
 
If you've never been to a unit before, you could easily spend several days just driving around checking out the roads / access points and evaluating the surrounding country.
 
If you've never been to a unit before, you could easily spend several days just driving around checking out the roads / access points and evaluating the surrounding country.
And the fresher that knowledge is the better. Things can change a lot between June/July/August and the opener. Use your limited time the week before the hunt so it's the freshest and most relevant.
 
Thanks gents!

Choosing a unit is pretty overwhelming when you are a newby flatlander like myself. I'm gonna try to go out to the High Country trad shoot in a couple weeks by New Castle so maybe it would be a great time to get a little familiar with the Flattops and hunt one of the units in that area. If I don't make the shoot I will plan on at least 2 days early arrival before season to acclimate to the elevation and do some scouting.

I know asking guys about OTC hunting info/hunting spots is about like asking your buddy if you can date his sister so I appreciate the info gents.

Thanks,
Cory
 
I try and begin scouting the day after the season ends. Elk have favorite areas and as long as they aren't disturbed, have food and water, they will be back there year after year. Learning an area requires a lot of shoe leather to be left on the mountains but I consider that a lot of fun.

ENJOY!!!!!
 
If you can't take off the entire elk season because you went scouting I would do my scouting with a bow in hand. I would rather hunt than scout. Can't tell you how many elk I've gotten into on my first day hunting an area. Spend your summer getting in shape, and scouting google earth. Give yourself two days right before season to drive around like crazy checking roads, access, etc...
 
While I agree to a point that it's never to soon I think you need to manage expectations. It's never to soon to get familiar with an area, but in a lot of places where the elk are in July isn't necessarily where they'll be in September. Just keep that in mind and don't get discouraged about an area that looks good just because you don't see any elk.

However I agree with Buglebrush in that if you can give up some of those scouting days in order to extend your season I'd do it that way instead.
 
Yep, agree with Buglebrush as well, get there 2 days early & pick a good spot to camp, this may take a bit in itself. Then cruise the countryside & get a feel for it. You should have already cruised your maps of the area well beforehand getting familiar with unseen country from roads & trails. Put those two things together & know what way you want to hunt before you get there! Being early in the season it's a very good chance most bulls will still be high at timberline or above. If after bulls that would be my objective in CO. Other states can be different where bulls are found. Not all states & units offer above timberline hunting. Mainly I look for wet country such as marshes, Aspens & hangouts where elk can stay cool from early Sept temps when hunting thicker country.

This photo here shows some of that country below timberline that elk will use early Sept!

ElkNut1
 

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One thing to consider with respect to scouting early is where sheep may be. I got burned by putting too much stock in patterning some elk in August. Just before opening weekend a huge herd of sheep moved into the drainage. Opening weekend I was greeted by several hundred range maggots and those huge friggin Pyrenees dogs.
 
The area I plan to hunt is still covered due to late snow! Anyone else running into that? Someone mentioned going to scout in a couple days?
 
The area I plan to hunt is still covered due to late snow! Anyone else running into that? Someone mentioned going to scout in a couple days?

Yes indeed! Some friends went to fish a lake near where I hunt at about 9500ft in CO. Not only was it snowy, the lake was still iced over!
 
I was out this weekend and only saw snow in the shade. Waiting to long just makes the bugs more of an issue

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Scouting is scouting and knowledge is knowledge. The more information that you can collect the better you are when you start hunting. Because I live in Colorado I spend much of the Summer hitting OTC units learning the unit and trying to figure out what the elk like to do and where they like to go once the hunting starts. I hang trail cameras everywhere I go. I try to check them in Aug then pull them when I go hunting to that unit. One of my units showed the elk leaving the area a week before the hunt started. People were probably scouting that week and the elk were leaving. Watch this video at 6:27 minutes in and keep an eye in the upper right corner of the screen and you will see the elk blowing out of the area. [video=youtube;xz-4Zy0u9yg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz-4Zy0u9yg[/video]

With the limitations that you described I would suggest that you study Google earth until you know the unit like the back of your hand. Mark some areas that you feel would be good (green with water) and dump that to a GPS so that you can find those spots when you get there. Look for trails, muddy water holes, and even for elk. If the image was taken in June you will often see elk out in the middle of the day. Look at the water holes to see of they are muddy which is an indicator that they are being visited by elk. If you can learn where the elk like to be and you show up during hunting season your odds have gone way up. Let me know what unit(s) you are interested in and I will tell you what I know from my studies using Google Earth. Good Luck.
 
I say the sooner the better! Especially in your situation where you don't know the unit. There's so much more to learn such as access points/roads that will help get you into the Backcountry. I was in your shoes last year and we jumped into an entire new area. We scouted it three times before our week long trip and learned a ton more during the hunt. So I'm hoping this year we will have it figured out but you never know! We have became really familiar with the country now just need to learn more about the animals and their patterns
 
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