I was listening to a podcast, and the speakers mentioned that they use Google Earth to find elk habitat that has feed, bedding, and water. That’s a pretty common sense approach and not a revelation to anyone who knows how to hunt. However, one of the speakers mentioned he consistently hunted an area but didn’t know why the animals were using the area at that certain time. That comment got me thinking about an area I used to hunt and I decided I’d revisit it using Google Earth.
This area is not particularly high in elevation (tops out at about 9800 feet) and the foliage is mostly sparse sage and native grass with a few pockets of dark timber on some north and east facing slopes. There are a few smaller aspen glades with green forbs and the area is surrounded by hay meadows that have natural water and are irrigated about 6 or so miles from bowls I’d hunt. I never found an active water source in all the years I hunted it – just assumed the elk were traveling for water. I always killed my bulls or bucks when they were moving out of the timber or over a saddle to feed. I guess I was a pretty one dimensional hunter then because I just got to where I thought I needed to be, and never really had a reason to explore more of the bigger area that I concentrated on.
Some years I’d hunt this area during early rifle seasons, but most years I hunted the last part of rifle season, but it didn’t matter too much because the elk and deer were always there.
In looking at the area from Google Earth, I could find the areas I killed animals and the timber they moved out of or the ridges they crossed, but I could not find water. I looked down every drainage and into every glade for several miles and used historical images to try and find areas where water might be. I’m sure there could be a seasonal seep or creek somewhere in the timber earlier in the year. However, this area is so arid that I would guess that even in the timber – by fall the water source would be very dry or dried up completely.
I mentioned this area was surrounded by hay fields with water. We all know elk will travel some distance to use a water source; but I never saw elk moving between the hay fields and the area I hunted. Also, the lower private property has an altitude of about 7000 feet and had enough timber on the steep hillsides above the hay fields that I would think the elk would eventually start to use that rather than move back up to the higher elevation. Mosquitoes and biting flies around the hay fields may have factored into why the elk moved up but, the upper elevations still had bugs and not enough wind/elevation change to make it dramatically cooler. Regardless, I would never see elk in the hay fields in the summer and I would have heard from the ranch at the bottom of the area I was hunting if the elk were moving through their pastures in the middle of the night or seen sign.
If you’re still reading this, where would you suppose those elk were getting their water? Also, how far is the furthest you think elk herd might travel between their bedding area and water?
This area is not particularly high in elevation (tops out at about 9800 feet) and the foliage is mostly sparse sage and native grass with a few pockets of dark timber on some north and east facing slopes. There are a few smaller aspen glades with green forbs and the area is surrounded by hay meadows that have natural water and are irrigated about 6 or so miles from bowls I’d hunt. I never found an active water source in all the years I hunted it – just assumed the elk were traveling for water. I always killed my bulls or bucks when they were moving out of the timber or over a saddle to feed. I guess I was a pretty one dimensional hunter then because I just got to where I thought I needed to be, and never really had a reason to explore more of the bigger area that I concentrated on.
Some years I’d hunt this area during early rifle seasons, but most years I hunted the last part of rifle season, but it didn’t matter too much because the elk and deer were always there.
In looking at the area from Google Earth, I could find the areas I killed animals and the timber they moved out of or the ridges they crossed, but I could not find water. I looked down every drainage and into every glade for several miles and used historical images to try and find areas where water might be. I’m sure there could be a seasonal seep or creek somewhere in the timber earlier in the year. However, this area is so arid that I would guess that even in the timber – by fall the water source would be very dry or dried up completely.
I mentioned this area was surrounded by hay fields with water. We all know elk will travel some distance to use a water source; but I never saw elk moving between the hay fields and the area I hunted. Also, the lower private property has an altitude of about 7000 feet and had enough timber on the steep hillsides above the hay fields that I would think the elk would eventually start to use that rather than move back up to the higher elevation. Mosquitoes and biting flies around the hay fields may have factored into why the elk moved up but, the upper elevations still had bugs and not enough wind/elevation change to make it dramatically cooler. Regardless, I would never see elk in the hay fields in the summer and I would have heard from the ranch at the bottom of the area I was hunting if the elk were moving through their pastures in the middle of the night or seen sign.
If you’re still reading this, where would you suppose those elk were getting their water? Also, how far is the furthest you think elk herd might travel between their bedding area and water?
