Map Study - Exercise III

[cohunter14]

Below is a topo of a new area you are looking at hunting. Prior to pulling up the area on google earth, what spots look intriguing to you and why? What will you be looking for when you begin looking at aerial images of the area? Assuming everything checks out with the aerial images, what would you plan of attack be if you were heading there for a scouting trip? If you were unable to scout prior to a hunt, what would your plan be for hunting the area?

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[iccyman001]

If you were to draw lines that cut this in half on both the Y and X axis, I\'d be playing in the III quadrant!

 

[F M]

Boy I hate my new computer with windows 10. I copied the map to paint and marked it and copied it back and its a blank map. Marks are gone. :?

I am looking at the left half pretty hard. Has bench\'s for bedding and saddles, water.

 

[Eyeeyecaptain]

I definitely need help in this area, but I agree that the benches on the west side look good. I wouldn\'t discount the drainages off of the jeep trail on the NE side either.

 

[cohunter14]

Any other takers with some opinions???

 

[cohunter14]

Here is my take on the area...first of all, I see very little open areas for feeding. Because of that, one of the things I would want to know from an aerial view is if any of the timbered areas are aspen trees as opposed to dark timber. Areas that have aspen trees can still provide some food underneath, which can\'t be said of thick dark timber.

The areas I\'ve circled are areas of initial interest. I really like the red circled area, but it is about a 3 mile hike in from the red star where that road ends. You could also get there from the road farther to the north, but that would require a steep climb and drop into the area - I\'d prefer the flatter terrain. The red area could be a great place to hike into and camp or even hike in to hunt if you have the energy. I also like the initial looks of the blue circled areas because those would be potential feeding areas if the area is, indeed, a bunch of dark timber. Those meadows could be accessed either from the road above or from the road below (two blue stars).

If I got to scout the area or while hunting it, one thing I would be on the lookout for in particular here is game trails. Most of this area is pretty steep slopes and the elk will more than likely be hanging out at a certain elevation, with game trails traversing at that elevation. I would definitely be interested in finding those. The first place I\'d look would be in that magical 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Once you find those, you can follow them to figure out additional feeding areas, bedding areas, and water sources.

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[cohunter14]

I\'m bumping this up once more...let\'s hear from more of you folks. Agree or disagree with some of the ideas posted? Let\'s hear from some of the elk slayers on here...where would you find yourself? Feel free to ask questions as well.

 

[AndyJ]

IMO-This spot looks GOOD. I love really rugged terrain because the elk seem to as well. I am about 99% sure I know where this is and if I\'m correct there is a ton of beetle kill, as in, nearly the entire forest is dead. For this reason I am not concerned about feeding areas. One thing beetle kill did was allow a lot of light and moisture into the forest floor and plants and grasses have flourished. It is not uncommon to be wading through lush, chest deep grass in the middle of what used to be dark timber. In other words, food is everywhere. This area is going to take some boots on the ground work to pinpoint good areas. Every one of the north facing slopes has potential to be really good.

The first place I\'d look would be in that magical 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the mountain.

This is really good advice. I would echo this advice.


If you told me I had to pick one spot of the map to hunt I would pick the north facing slopes to the left of peak 10775\' almost dead center in the map. That spot has saddles, benches and broken up terrain that elk love and is advantageous for the hunter.