Distance to Most Common Scouting Locations

[GlassAlongside]

As a new hunter, I am trying to scout locations within half an hour of home, our town is surrounded by USFS land on two sides, about 15min drive away. Yes, I know we are spoiled. Haha.
My question for all of you is, what is your most common length of time to drive to a location to scout?
30min?
1 hour?
2?

Thanks!

 

[Rich M]

What are we scouting for?

Whitetails are a minimum of and hour or more.

Muleys and western stuff is 30 hrs or more. I don't scout til I get there.

 

[Ross]

2-3 hours

 

[bozeman]

Whitetails- on our and our neighbors property

Elk- 20 hours (Yes, it’s rough)

 

[GlassAlongside]

Nice, yeah, basically wondering what big game you are scouting for and how far you drive to scout for it. For me, its Mule Deer, but I know many take trips across state lines and that is more of a hunting trip where scouting is part of the trip.

 

[elkyinzer]

15 minutes is about the closest place I hunt and I drive by public land to get there. 45 - 90 minutes is pretty routine and I'll go out to about 2 hours for a day hunt. After that I have camping supplies with me. I get a lot of enjoyment out of just exploring the public ground my area has to offer.

 

[remnar]

Luckily about the same as you OP for Deer and Elk .

 

[Rock-o]

Distance (you asked in the subject) or time (you asked in the body)? No matter what mode of transportation or combination of it's a long distance from Texas to Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. Time to any of those will vary depending mode of transportation. No matter what it's a long distance and a long time. Sucks living here.

 

[Rodéo]

2-3 hours normally

 

[street]

2-6hrs

 

[Nykki]

Where I hunt moose at is an eight hour drive from the house. About 475 miles

 

[justinspicher]

10-45 minutes, depending on where I go.

 

[Raghornklr]

1.5 hrs on the short end up to and including 12hrs. All depends what tags I have.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Whitetail and bear 15 minutes to 2.5 hours. Western stuff I scout when I get there.

 

[ewescue]

Whitetails in my state is primarily 10-25 min drive. Very close to home, sometimes I'll scout other areas of the state that are about 3-4 hours. Out of state whitetail, usually 1.5-2.5 hours, and even then I stay with a friend that puts me 10-35 min from most spots. I like to be close to where I'm hunting if at all possible, it makes keeping tabs on things much easier and lends to more success IMO.

Any western game is a minimum of 20 hour drive, up to 40 hour drive or a flight away. Those are only E-Scouted, then ofcourse scouted once there for the hunt.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don't scout much, but the closest I hunt to home is 2 hours away, and the furthest is 5+.

 

[def90]

Where I hunt elk is only 20 miles from my house as the crow flys but about a 1.5 hour drive as the mountain roads go.

 

[S7even]

My elk spots takes about 30-45 minutes to drive up there, then 15 min to walk in and check cameras. Mule deer is about 30 min-2 hours drive up to glass the areas.

 

[cjdewese]

I have 100K acres of national forest out my back door so I am lucky enough to grab my bow and walk to hunt. Being in Southern California it's about as good as it gets here. For now it's the only place I hunt but as I get more experience I may start branching out more.

 

[GlassAlongside]

Where I hunt elk is only 20 miles from my house as the crow flys but about a 1.5 hour drive as the mountain roads go.

This is the kind of distance/duration thing I was thinking would be the case for many of us who live nearby mountains on public land. Thanks for replying with both. Its interesting to see that many are willing to drive more than a few hours to scout their hunting areas, and then drive back as well. I wonder how many camp/spend the night at their locations mentioned above before heading home.