Game plan for an area with too many options.

[timberland]

Here\'s an area I plan on hunting this year. It\'s very similar to habitat you would find in the Missouri Breaks, NM, and AZ. Fairly open for glassing, a water tank or spring every couple miles, saddles on every ridge. For reference the line is a mile, so the valleys aren\'t very deep. Pretty good road access, longest pack out would be a mile or so, they just don\'t show on the aerial. It\'s open enough there is grass everywhere, not just just in the river bottoms. Pick me your milk run spots and your game plan for the first three days.

 

[timberland]

I\'ve mapped all the water holes and tanks and all the trails. Areas like this are frustrating to me because every hill and valley looks like the last one. No distinct differences in feeding and bedding areas, so hard to formulate a pattern.

 

[cohunter14]

Barry, I edited your picture to remove the coordinates so you don\'t have a bunch of folks joining you on your hunt this year

I will take a better look since I know the coordinates, but in the meantime maybe you can post up a pic that shows the details better. For instance, are those all pine trees or are there areas with aspens? Also, if you could post a matching topo map it would be very helpful. That aerial shows some good details but there can be hidden benches, etc. I also want to point out to anyone looking at it that the top of the map is actually S, SW and not N.

 

[cohunter14]

Just took a quick look and to answer anyone who had the same question as me, yes those are all pines and no aspens.

 

[cohunter14]

Barry, here is my two cents and definitely take it for what it\'s worth! I have actually done some scouting in some terrain like this and here is what I noticed: the elk typically follow a lot of the drainage\'s in the bottoms and will also use the natural funnels and saddles that the terrain provides. Those saddles and funnels in these areas can be pretty significant because otherwise the elk are dealing with some pretty steep terrain. A topo map will really help in pointing these out as well, but the red circle shows an example of one of those natural funnels.

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I would have circled more, but there are quite a few of them on here so it would have been a map with a bunch of red marks. The big thing to do is to check out those funnels and see which ones have solid game trails going through them. In an area like this, you should be able to put together a solid idea of their travel routes by looking for those game trails that go through those saddles or pinch points. You can also get a good idea of which drainage\'s are getting the most use by doing the same thing, looking for game trails. By covering some ground here with your boots, you should get a good idea of what the elk are doing based on the game trails. A few well placed trail cameras will also give you confirmation.

As far as hunting it is concerned, I would focus on finding some good glassing locations and be at those at first and last light. The nice thing about areas like these is elk don\'t have a lot of choice when it comes to feeding. They are going to be on one of the south facing slopes as those north slopes are so heavily timbered they will probably have very little in the way of good vegetation. You just need to be able to find out which slope they are using.

Water is typically easy to find in these areas, but most of it is down low in each of the drainage\'s. If there is any water up high, I would definitely want to check it out as well.

I hope that helps!

 

[timberland]

Thats a lot of great info. Also thanks about the coords, I forgot about that. Here\'s the topo. It really stretches the brain looking at all the jumbles. I\'ve picked out a couple good saddles but maybe for the first three days I should be looking at glassing spots. I\'ve hunted stuff like this in the Breaks, and glassing elk was tough because the were up and over the next hill which wasn\'t that far away. And there was a lot of hunters, and I don\'t expect that here.

 

[cohunter14]

Personally, I would try to find some good glassing spots via google earth and the topo\'s. Use those for the first few hours and last couple hours of daylight and during midday you can check the saddles. A couple questions for you:

1) Are you going to have a chance to scout the area before hunting it?
2) Are you going to be hunting it during archery season? If so, will it be during a time where you expect the elk to be vocal?
3) What attracts you to this specific area versus the surrounding area?

 

[Swede]

Barry, you did not say how you want to hunt. I will assume you are going to ambush them somehow. Otherwise watch the wind. The rest is a matter of calling tactics. For my purposes I would check out the springs and water tanks. I would go to the drier areas where it is about a mile from a stream and search there for those spots. Look for sprigs with numerous tails coming in from bedding areas.

 

[timberland]

This will be archery but I don\'t want to be dependent on calling. My purpose of this thread is to have a comfortable three day game plan because I won\'t be able to visit the country until season starts. I will only have about 8-10 days to get er done so within the first three days I will reevaluate and adjust as needed. The map and photo depict an area that I know has elk. This zone has a lot of empty areas, so the elk are in pockets surrounded by a lot of elkless areas.

 

[cohunter14]

That sounds good Barry. It\'s always nice knowing there are elk in the area. As I mentioned, I would mix early and late glassing with covering some ground in between. If the elk are vocal, it is a bonus and will make finding them a lot easier.