Longer trip during season Vs taking time off to scout before

[Bachto]

If you had limited ish vacation time to scout and hunt which would you rather do? Use all the vacation during season and make sure to have multiple spots/back up plans? or would you take some of that vacation and do a scouting trip the month before to potentially cross off some of these spots on the list and then take a shorter trip during season?

To be exact, the problem I am struggling with deciding is I have about 7 full days of vacation I can use for my hunting trip in September (out of state archery Elk, and an area I've never hunted and is about a 7 to 8 hour drive ). So do I use all 7 of those days during season and with weekends have about 10 to 11 days of hunting/traveling and just be ready to jump spots if one isn't producing. Or do I take 1 or 2 of these vacation days and use it for a scouting trip in August and help narrow down an area or 2 to prioritize or commit to?

Here are the pro's and cons I have come up with each but just want some other perspectives that I might not be considering.

Taking a longer hunting trip pros:
- Less gas cost (shit isn't cheap obviously) since I am only making one trip there and back.
- Elk will be where the are and the chances of pressure moving them are lower. Example is finding a herd in August and then getting to that area during season and having pressure totally move them and having to spend time trying to relocate them or a new heard anyway
- I will know what the pressure looks like then and there. I won't have to guess what it will be like or where its coming from.

Taking a longer hunting trip cons:
- Wasting my time hunting areas that I potentially could have crossed off/eliminated during a scouting trip
- not using all of my vacation for "hunting days"

Scouting trip pros/cons is kind of obvious and stated above as eliminating or adding to each of these.

What would you do or thoughts/suggestions?

 

[FLATHEAD]

Scouting is good to learn a new place but I wouldnt use my
Annual Leave to do so. I would vote for the longer trip, scouting
closer (days before) to your hunting time will be more valuable IMO.

 

[Amos Moses]

I would go the longer hunt route, but get to the area two nights or more before the season opens. You could learn a lot about where the elk and maybe more importantly other camps are in a day or two before opener.

 

[kentuckybowman]

longer hunt, fresh intel is always best.

 

[Bachto]

I would go the longer hunt route, but get to the area two nights or more before the season opens. You could learn a lot about where the elk and maybe more importantly other camps are in a day or two before opener.

Okay but would the first week of September be worth spending time hunting? From my experience the second and 3rd weeks of September are usually more productive

 

[Werty]

Hunt, elk might have transitioned to some other area after scouting trip.
If you do scout, don't look for elk, look for old rutting sign.

 

[Elkangle]

Hunt longer, esp if your archery in September...just view that 1st week as scouting with a bow..stay mobile and see as much as you can before settling in and really working an area

 

[Indian Summer]

If it was rifle season I’d say show up 2 days early to look things over in hopes of getting it done the first day before elk react to pressure. In archery use every day you have to hunt. That one was easy to answer for me.

 

[Donk]

I think that depends on your hunt timing. If you are going for opening weekend I would try to arrive on Wednesday night. Scout Thursday and Friday and hopefully have a plan for opening morning. If you are going later in the month I would try to keep all the days for hunting. If your spot is only 7-8 hours away I would make a weekend trip to make sure I understood the unit if I had never hunted it.

 

[Jethro]

I'd use all vacation days to hunt. Nothing says you can't do scouting while you are actually hunting.

 

[PMcGee]

Longer hunt for sure especially if it’s an OTC unit. The elk are going to be where they are in September. Have a few spots picked out and don’t spend much time in one if you aren’t seeing elk or fresh sign.


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[cnelk]

Cant kill em if season aint open

 

[huntnful]

For an archery tag on elk, I'd definitely hunt all of your days. They can, and probably will move all over the place during the rut. For early season deer or late season elk, a scouting trip would be worth it IMO.

I'm driving 13 hours to scout for a good earlyish deer tag that I'll hunt for 7 days in september. I drew a good archery elk tag as well, and I'm just showing up the day before and spending all 11 days hunting. You could easily stumble into elk on those first few days of the season when you're just trying to figure things out.

 

[Dos Perros]

For an 8 hour drive, just get off work on Friday, drive all night to get there, plenty of time to get some sleep. Scout Saturday Sunday, drive Sunday night home. Boom two days scouted no vacation time spent. We do this for places that are 17 hours away.

 

[Gerbdog]

I also vote for a longer hunt, scout with a weapon in hand

 

[Huntnnw]

7-8 isnt that far if you really wanna check stuff out. I vote to use all time hunting.. archery is a calling game for the most part and if you are not hearing elk you are moving constantly to find elk that are talking

 

[hh76]

I'd use all vacation days to hunt. Nothing says you can't do scouting while you are actually hunting.

My thoughts too.

When scouting early, that is all you are doing. When "scouting" during the hunting season, you are also hunting.

 

[RGARNER]

I vote for longer trip during season, the trail head that we park was almost full 3 days before season. Getting out and securing a camping spot is a good idea. Also this gives you a few days leeway in the case the weather is too bad and prevents you from hiking out that day. Our extra few days before season started were far more valuable from a scouting perspective than when we flew out to scout in august. One caveat, I wouldn't go pushing through any dark timber or sanctuaries while searching for elk a few days before season and risk blowing anything out from the area.

 

[String&stick]

Depending on your preference for timing you could stretch that into a 12 day hunt using labor day as a free day off. Drive out Friday after work (try to skip lunch if you can and bug out an hour early). Don't know how flexible your work is but see if you can take short lunches or no lunch a few days and take off at noon on a Friday. Either get you to your spot earlier for your hunt or get you a good weekend of scouting in if you want to.

Like others have said, scouting is more to learn the lay of the land and look for last year's sign, as well as finding a few good campsites with some water nearby

 

[Kurts86]

I wouldn’t use any vacation time scouting. I’ve. I’ve Done preseason scouting trips on 2 elk hunts and they weren’t massively productive or they lead me to where the elk had been weeks/months ago.

If it’s a long archery season I would break it up into 2 or maybe even 3 blocks because I know I can really hammer 4 days hunting at a time rather than a week straight and you do diversify your hunt days weather/rut activity across the season. Doing a week straight is never really the best option in my opinion if you can split it up. At least I know it’s not the best for me from previous experience.