Year round approach vs out of town scouting/hunting?

[Thomasj1107]

For those of you that live year round in your western hunting locations, how does your approach differ as a whole year round when it comes to scouting and hunting elk, bear, deer, etc on public compared to an out of town approach where it’s a lot of escouting and then a week or two to hunt at the most? Do you have a routine, do you still do a lot of off season boots on the ground scouting, or do you just mainly use your time in the field during season as your intel?

 

[justinspicher]

I live within 30 minutes of several spots that I frequently hunt. I visit these spots several times a week, depending on my work schedule. When I do out of state hunts, I don’t do any sort of scouting, just go and see what happens, but I don’t hunt out of state much.

 

[Thomasj1107]

I live within 30 minutes of several spots that I frequently hunt. I visit these spots several times a week, depending on my work schedule. When I do out of state hunts, I don’t do any sort of scouting, just go and see what happens, but I don’t hunt out of state much.

When you visit these spots several times a week…. What are you doing there in different parts of the year to prepare you for a hunting season say 9 months away, or 6, or 3?

 

[5MilesBack]

I just need to know where I'm setting up base camp........beyond that, I'll find the elk when I get there with a tag in my pocket and my bow in my hand. And I live pretty close to most of my hunting areas.

 

[roadrunner]

I don't worry about it locally until I draw a tag, which is never a guarantee.

 

[Pdzoller]

I play cat and mouse with animals year round. Hunting doesn’t necessarily mean killing. If I’m in the woods I’m learning. I don’t really like to spend too much time in my favorite locations because I don’t want to wear out my welcome if you will.

Not sure if that makes sense…

 

[def90]

I live 20 miles from where I have hunted the last 5 years and I am self employed. Because of that I have not had the time to do any real scouting so I might as well be flying in from Minnesota or wherever. That said I have not been successful either. Despite knowing the area I hunt pretty well as far as boots on the ground goes I'm still missing something. I think having time to go out and just sit on a random day and observe is critical. But there is always luck, my cousin came out two years ago for 2nd rifle and randomly happened upon a bull on his first day and shot it. It happens.

 

[justinspicher]

When you visit these spots several times a week…. What are you doing there in different parts of the year to prepare you for a hunting season say 9 months away, or 6, or 3?

Generally just checking them out, see what has been in and out of there. A lot of it has to do with just getting out of the house and getting into the woods.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

Elk- I hunt about 3.5hrs from where I live now. I don’t “scout”. I make sure the trail is cut out every few years and we stash wood every few years. I never, ever, ever, go into my spot “scouting” in the days prior to opening day. Every few years we’ll have time for a summer trip in. I’ve hunted the area my entire life.

Mulies- I deer hunt 15min, to about 1hr and 15min, from the house. I learn a LOT horn hunting. A lot. Definitely our main form of scouting. Once horn hunting is over, we’ll branch out and check out different areas, usually higher elevation, early-season type of areas.

 

[RuggedYogi]

Most of the trailheads for the areas I hunt are 30-60 mins from my door. I spend as much time in the woods as I possibly can. I’ll e-scout an area I’ve never been in to look for places I want to check out. But hiking and shed hunting seem to be much more productive than looking at a screen.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Most of the trailheads for the areas I hunt are 30-60 mins from my door. I spend as much time in the woods as I possibly can. I’ll e-scout an area I’ve never been in to look for places I want to check out. But hiking and shed hunting seem to be much more productive than looking at a screen.

What point in the year do you actually apply what you are seeing in the field to your fall hunts though? Obviously what you see in March wouldn’t be applicable to September….so when does the time in the field become useful for the particular season?

 

[hunterjmj]

I hunt mule deer 15 min to 1 1/2 hours from my house. Shed hunting and coyote hunting are my forms of scouting the spots I normally hunt. I try to learn a new spot or two each year. I elk hunt the same spots but don't really scout for them. Elk seem to move around so they are either where I'm hunting at the moment or they are not.

 

[Bubblehide]

Locally I hunt a non-migatory herd (area) of mule deer. I have scouted the area pretty much year round for decades. Over those decades the herd has continued to decline. That continued scouting has played a significant role in my ability to consistently fill tags despite the plummeting herd numbers.

I also hunt an area with miggratory mule deer. This area is a significant drive, most of the day each way. I scout this area much more than most (alot more). But not nearly as much as the first, simply due to proximity, but generally from a long weekend, to a week or two at a time (summers, spring break, Thanksgiving week, Christmas, Newyears.

I of course do e-scouting, but I also read a ton of relivant research, as it has significantly helped in understanding the big pictures and putting pieces together, significantly improving my breadth and depth of knowledge.

Knowledge and experience significantly helps with out of state hunting. I have also been know to carry a rake to wipe out animal tracks so I can swing back through, that day and or the next to get a solid feel for current activity.

As far as bears goes, if you are scouting or hunting an area with dirt roads, take a drag and use it every evening and again just before daylight... to see current activity. You can do the same with a rake in roadless areas. I have been known to do this for ferral pigs too.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

The biggest advantage to me is just being able to learn areas well by getting out and hiking them in the off-season. Some water sources are dry on certain years so being able to confirm or predict that prior to the hunt is helpful. I look for all different routes in and out of places. Evidence of hunters from previous years such as flagging on branches, spent shells, arrows, carcasses of previous kills, candy wrappers, plastic water bottles, chew cans, etc. It's pretty easy to tell where people hunt every year by just hiking around. Then I'll go into an area I like the day before the opener and see where people are camped and get a feel for where they might end up in the morning and try to plan around that. I've had places that I want to be opening morning but the day before I hiked in and saw a tent set up nearby so I went somewhere else. It's important to me that I'm the first vehicle parked at the access point I've chosen if possible. It's not to deter anyone from parking next to me that morning or hunting the same area that day but I like to be up high early so I can watch for other headlamps coming in to see where they go.
That's for the areas I day hunt.

For areas that require packing camp in with or without pack animals, I try to go on at least one late summer backpacking trip to look around. I look for previous camps, outfitter camps, and all the same evidence of prior hunting activity. I've printed maps of outfitter camp locations provided by the USFS and generally try to avoid those locations or look for where their activity might push animals. The condition of trails is important year to year as some might not have been cleared from a blow down event or just from all of the beetle kill falling which can obviously make travel slow or impossible, especially if pack animals are coming. Some of this info can be obtained by making phone calls, some definitely cannot and that's where being able to go up on my day off and check things out is the most helpful.

To summarize, I mostly try to learn the land well, look for environmental changes from year to year, and observe human activity. Seeing animals and sign is always good too but it's pretty far down my list for pre-season scouting since that
changes so much once people show up.

 

[Thomasj1107]

All great info. Thanks for all the replies. Do you guys that hunt closer to your home wind up going deeper to get away from the crowds, or are you staying within normal day hunt distances from trailheads and only doing a day at a time?

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I live in Idaho but unfortunately I live in the armpit of Idaho that is the treasure valley so most spots I want to hunt are 2 hrs or more away. I’ve been working on cultivating some spots that are closer to home but it is difficult with all of the urban sprawl. I will say that I have found that living close to a large urban center, sometimes it is far better to drive 4+ hrs to hunt than to hunt those spots that are within 2 hrs or less, the hunting is just better, the game acts like game should.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[.204smokechaser]

I work in the woods and live in the woods April-October. Have learned my 2 honey holes by working in those areas about twice a week for 4 months and learned what kind of animals were there and their patterns from working in there. Set up a trail cam for 2 straight years and been 4 years since I’ve had a camera up but still kill a buck in there every year if the season is winding down and I need to fill a tag. Last few years I only went up there on the day I killed my bucks.

More of my scouting routine now for figuring out new country is to make a hike right at melt off, hike in July, and another in September spending a lot of time traversing hills and glassing. After hunting season, spend time in there and see where the animals migrate to with trail cams.

Working in the woods every day allows me to track animals specific movements. Darn near have a sheet that tells me where I should expect a specific deer, elk, or sheep to be at these days as well as small game. I have several does I can tell apart and have given them names. Same with bucks.

Pretty much can tell a person what time of day you can see a moose in a given area.


I don’t hunt farther than 3 miles from the truck in Idaho.

Most of my days off these days are used for back country fishing rather than hunting. Keep my annual leave maxed out in the use or loose category every year in case I draw an OIL tag some day.


For my spots out of state, e scouting and previous knowledge from being in the areas during and after the hunting season is what is beneficial to me. For Montana, making a trip out shooting prairie dogs in the summer and gaining access is about all the scouting I do for that state.

 

[WyoBowhunter21]

I live about 3.5 hours from my elk area, 6 hours from my one deer area, and 3 hours from my other deer area. If I draw the areas closer (about 3% odds for both elk and deer) I can be hunting in about two hours and on my feet hiking in 3. The times above are just to get to areas, not including hike time. My deer area I love is about 9 hours away with hike in time. I travel a lot for work and I like to be home with family when I am not so scouting doesn’t usually happen.

 

[HaakChiro]

I am trying a new tactic this year of looking for sheds and going to scout year round. I found plenty of animals last year but learning how to find them more consistently is my goal. I also want to understand more about them such as feed selection, bedding areas, and their habitat. I’m also new to WA so it’s a whole learning curve anyway.

 

[WBrim]

I am about 2 hours away from the unit I intend to hunt this year, and as soon as the snow burns off enough to get in, I expect to make several trips. It is a unit I haven’t spent any real time in before, so I have some work to figure it out ahead of me.

Otherwise, I really should spend more time in areas I can get tags for more often.