Question on scouting an area

[T28w]

So this was my first year hunting hunting elk. Went to Colorado for 1st rifle and saw bears, mule deer, a bull moose, but no elk lol. Had a day and a half to “scout” and then three days to hunt. I met some really nice people and learned a ton but have a question for fellow roksliders.

As I was getting ready to go into an area and look around for any sign of elk, a couple of guys that had hunted the area for about 8 years and a locale who had been hunting it 20, talked with me about not “going in” and scouting the area this close to the season. Their reasoning being that “if” you go in and find some, you could push them out of the drainage/area. They recommended just glassing as much as possible. This makes sense and I get it, BUT after talking with them and everyone discussing where they were going to be focusing their hunts, turned out we weren’t really going to be close to each other, they said they had been there almost a week and only seen 1 group of elk. The area did not necessarily lend itself to being an easy or IMO an effective area to glass so my question is if I glass an area during prime hours either am or pm and see nothing, does it make sense to then go in the area and see what if any sign is present? As it played out, me and the locale hunted the same area and I made sure not to interfere with his hunt, but he ended up telling me to come sit with him as he had a bull tag and I a cow. Well when we go in, there was plenty of elk droppings but all appeared to be a week or weeks old. In two days of hunting I never even heard a shot which leads me to believing the elk were just no longer in the area. I left the area on the last day to look for some other area to hunt.

So what do y’all say?

 

[T28w]

I will say my biggest surprise was the amount of cattle present on public land. That and underestimating the difficulty of busting through scrub oaks

 

[5MilesBack]

I stay out of my areas that I know all year. And if it's a new area, I scout it while I'm hunting it.

 

[justinspicher]

With the amount of folks in the woods for hiking, biking, photography and hunting, the amount of cattle and sheep in my area during the summer into fall, scouting is absolutely pointless. Its also hard to glass so I generally stumble arounds the woods until I find an animal.

 

[jmez]

If given a choice, I would have an extra day on the trip for hunting rather than scouting. I always start with the glass, scouting or hunting. If I don't see anything then head in and look around.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I find it helpful to "scout" information from GWs, horse packers, meat processors and taxidermists in the area. I went a full week without seeing or hearing any elk, one phone call put me on a herd and I had a shoot opportunity 45 minutes later.

 

[T28w]

With the amount of folks in the woods for hiking, biking, photography and hunting, the amount of cattle and sheep in my area during the summer into fall, scouting is absolutely pointless. Its also hard to glass so I generally stumble arounds the woods until I find an animal.

I think this is the reality for me also of just getting in there and hoping if I cover enough ground I will stumble across something

 

[T28w]

If given a choice, I would have an extra day on the trip for hunting rather than scouting. I always start with the glass, scouting or hunting. If I don't see anything then head in and look around.

I had convinced myself it would be better to go a day or so early and have a “plan” for opening morning vs having another day of hunting. Also would give the ability to take it easy and acclimate if needed. I drove 23.5 hrs solo to get out there

 

[T28w]

Thanks guys for the responses.

 

[Swede]

I scout any area I plan to hunt. I check for sign and look for places to set a tree stand if the area is new to me. I don't just go in hoping elk may be there someday. Even knowing elk were there last season is not good enough. I set up cameras along trails and at water holes. A few days before the season I place my stands where I will hopefully ambush one.
Occasionally I bump into elk. That is not a big deal. I don't call or pursue them. The elk don't go far if you leave them alone. In rifle season I have located them the day before the season opens and gone back the next and shot one.
Most public land elk cover a lot of real estate in their traveling around. By hunting only three days you can easily miss them. I do not know how long your rifle season is, but if it is only a few days, you need to check and be sure where the elk are, and not just where they will be next week.

 

[T28w]

I scout any area I plan to hunt. I check for sign and look for places to set a tree stand if the area is new to me. I don't just go in hoping elk may be there someday. Even knowing elk were there last season is not good enough. I set up cameras along trails and at water holes. A few days before the season I place my stands where I will hopefully ambush one.
Occasionally I bump into elk. That is not a big deal. I don't call or pursue them. The elk don't go far if you leave them alone. In rifle season I have located them the day before the season opens and gone back the next and shot one.
Most public land elk cover a lot of real estate in their traveling around. By hunting only three days you can easily miss them. I do not know how long your rifle season is, but if it is only a few days, you need to check and be sure where the elk are, and not just where they will be next week.

I had a first rifle cow tag in Colorado, so only 5 days.

 

[Swede]

Where I hunt the elk travel in a large circular pattern. They return to the same general location about every 10 days. If I go to a spot, and see fresh sign, it only tells me that they were just there, and I am behind them. I need to know where they are and where they will be soon. Generally learning an area, and the habits of the elk takes several seasons of hunting them. Otherwise you are always behind or you may just get lucky and stumble into them. This is one of the reasons there are the 5% that consistently get elk and the other 95% that share the rest.

Last season I dropped off my son at a stand. When I saw how things looked there, I was excited for him. He saw things differently, and admitted later that he thought it looked like a waste of time. He decided to take a snooze and did not nock an arrow before he hung up his bow. Within less than an hour he killed a bull that came in with a herd.
So why did we have such a different perception about that tree stand location? He saw the same thing I did. There was no fresh sign there. To him that meant there were no elk around. To me it was an assurance they had not passed there yet. He was ahead of them and in position to ambush one. I knew the area and the habits of the elk that live there. This was my son's first hunt in the area.

 

[Ace1204]

So this was my first year hunting hunting elk. Went to Colorado for 1st rifle and saw bears, mule deer, a bull moose, but no elk lol. Had a day and a half to “scout” and then three days to hunt. I met some really nice people and learned a ton but have a question for fellow roksliders.

As I was getting ready to go into an area and look around for any sign of elk, a couple of guys that had hunted the area for about 8 years and a locale who had been hunting it 20, talked with me about not “going in” and scouting the area this close to the season. Their reasoning being that “if” you go in and find some, you could push them out of the drainage/area. They recommended just glassing as much as possible. This makes sense and I get it, BUT after talking with them and everyone discussing where they were going to be focusing their hunts, turned out we weren’t really going to be close to each other, they said they had been there almost a week and only seen 1 group of elk. The area did not necessarily lend itself to being an easy or IMO an effective area to glass so my question is if I glass an area during prime hours either am or pm and see nothing, does it make sense to then go in the area and see what if any sign is present? As it played out, me and the locale hunted the same area and I made sure not to interfere with his hunt, but he ended up telling me to come sit with him as he had a bull tag and I a cow. Well when we go in, there was plenty of elk droppings but all appeared to be a week or weeks old. In two days of hunting I never even heard a shot which leads me to believing the elk were just no longer in the area. I left the area on the last day to look for some other area to hunt.

So what do y’all say?

Great question I was curious of this as well. My plan is to do as much e scouting as possible including areas to advantageously glass without going in to deep. I would say it depends heavily on the unit and it’s accessibility at times.

 

[cnelk]

One more day of hunting on a 5 day hunt is 20% more hunting time.
One more day of scouting when not hunting is 0% more hunting time.
Choose wisely.