Let\'s Plan a Scouting Trip...
- Thread starter cohunter14
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cohunter14
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- Jul 10, 2017
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Gary, you were already getting a few views of these maps, so I went ahead and fixed them to not show the coordinates in the lower right hand portion of the screen. I also covered up some pertinant information on the topo. Hope you don\'t mind, but that should help you avoid extra traffic 
So, what are you looking for here? Good places to start? Can you also upload a pic that shows the FS access since you are doing this with the DOW mapping software? That should help a little bit as it looks like there are a lot of roads in the area.
So, what are you looking for here? Good places to start? Can you also upload a pic that shows the FS access since you are doing this with the DOW mapping software? That should help a little bit as it looks like there are a lot of roads in the area.
thank you sir. I can show another view of the roads. this is the area I have hunted for the past two years. I thought it would be fun to see how you guys would hunt an area that I actually know. now that I know how to do this, I will post up some maps of where I plan to hunt in Idaho this fall.
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
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No problem Gary :mrgreen:
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,345
In \'paint\' you just have to pull the white sides in so they match the edges of the picture, if that makes sense. There are little blocks that you can click and drag on to shrink the outside white portion.
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,345
Gary, just briefly going through yours, here is an idea of the spots I would want to check out. Probably the first thing I would want to do in this area is to check out the road access. Between the topo, aerial map, and FS road map, you get a lot of different stories here. Assuming the FS road map is right, these areas intrigue me. The bench on the top left is really of interest to me. You have a bench with a bunch of surrounding aspen and open areas to feed along with a nice \'finger\' of black timber in the middle of it. This reminds me of a spot I used to hunt and the finger of black timber constantly held bulls.
I would also be curious what that flatter area in the bottom left looks like on a map if you pan left. The middle spot could have potential if that road isn\'t there. You have a great flat area with a possible seep at the top of that drainage. And the farthest right point intrigues me, especially after the logging that has been done. You have some open areas for feeding, you have water, you have flat for bedding, and you also have a saddle for a potential transition route.
The only other thing I would look for is a game trail between 9,400 and 9,500ft of elevation on the base of those southern drainages and peaks. In my experience, elk will not want to go up and over or hand in those drainages. Instead, they will travel and possibly bed right at the altitude where those bases are.
I would also be curious what that flatter area in the bottom left looks like on a map if you pan left. The middle spot could have potential if that road isn\'t there. You have a great flat area with a possible seep at the top of that drainage. And the farthest right point intrigues me, especially after the logging that has been done. You have some open areas for feeding, you have water, you have flat for bedding, and you also have a saddle for a potential transition route.
The only other thing I would look for is a game trail between 9,400 and 9,500ft of elevation on the base of those southern drainages and peaks. In my experience, elk will not want to go up and over or hand in those drainages. Instead, they will travel and possibly bed right at the altitude where those bases are.
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the left black x is excellent on paper, but just over the ridge to the west is a primitive campground and the end of the road for being able to drive up the mountain. this means that area gets a decent amont of pressure. i was only able to find a young and dumb spike up there. the elk definately use the lower pasture to feed in at night, but are out very early. the right x holds a nice seep/wallow and had lots of sign, but the wind is terrible there. it was blowing 360 degrees there. it is also a good 3 hour hike from our camp.....
the left black x is excellent on paper, but just over the ridge to the west is a primitive campground and the end of the road for being able to drive up the mountain. this means that area gets a decent amont of pressure. i was only able to find a young and dumb spike up there. the elk definately use the lower pasture to feed in at night, but are out very early. the right x holds a nice seep/wallow and had lots of sign, but the wind is terrible there. it was blowing 360 degrees there. it is also a good 3 hour hike from our camp.....
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,345
I am going to go ahead and throw a few ideas out on my original post to get the conversation going again. First of all, when I look at this area, the one thing that pops out right away on the topo is the lack of water. There is one creek that runs at the bottom of a drainage and outside of that, there are two high points that show water. In my experience, elk typically do not want to water at the bottoms of drainages. That would require them to go down to water and back up to bed. Elk are similar to humans in that they look for the path of least resistance and up and down isn\'t the easiest, so those two high points are definitely worth checking out. You will see a red dot at both of those locations. When scouting, I also want to do my best to check for water at the top of each of the draws, particularly in the 8,800 - 9,000 ft range. I am guessing that some of them might have some seeps popping out that could provide other options for the elk. All of the other red dots on the map mark benches that could potentially be bedding areas.
One other thing I noticed is that this area is fairly heavily timbered on the northern slopes and most of the southern slopes are open. This will be important in trying to determine where they feed. If I find one of those benches is being used for bedding, I want to check out any game trails coming into there. I also want to see what the vegetation looks like within that area. Can they feed there, or do they have to go to a southern facing slope to get food? To me, it looks like a lot of these benches could have game trails that traverse around the hill into a southern facing area where they can feed.
The other thing I marked on this map are potential high points where glassing could be done (blue dots). Having the open southern faces could be great for doing some spot and stalk hunting. It will allow you to glass right into those north facing slopes and watch for any and all movement going on.
Anyone else have any thoughts? Any of you mentors want to throw something out there that I might have forgot to mention?
One other thing I noticed is that this area is fairly heavily timbered on the northern slopes and most of the southern slopes are open. This will be important in trying to determine where they feed. If I find one of those benches is being used for bedding, I want to check out any game trails coming into there. I also want to see what the vegetation looks like within that area. Can they feed there, or do they have to go to a southern facing slope to get food? To me, it looks like a lot of these benches could have game trails that traverse around the hill into a southern facing area where they can feed.
The other thing I marked on this map are potential high points where glassing could be done (blue dots). Having the open southern faces could be great for doing some spot and stalk hunting. It will allow you to glass right into those north facing slopes and watch for any and all movement going on.
Anyone else have any thoughts? Any of you mentors want to throw something out there that I might have forgot to mention?
