Scouting services ??

[CHWine]

Did you tag out though?

No. Didn't see anything worth 21 points.

 

[SteveCNJ]

Robby Denning runs a scouting service in addition to his fully guided services.

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[whaack]

I used Joe at www.headinwest.net
He was a great guy, spent time with me understanding what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and my experience hunting.
His plans where awesome! I am 2 for 2 self hunting bulls in Wyoming.

We hired Joe this year. Really hoping it goes well. So far our experience has been great. We are a couple IL guys with a few elk hunting under our belt and need an extra push to get success.


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[GunsAreFun]

There’s a guy on FB named David Neil’s that does this. I considered using him, but we weren’t sure what unit we were going to so it wasn’t really an option.

Plus work was really slow at the time so I had tons of time to research and scout myself. Got within bow range of elk five of seven days so it was money well saved.

 

[Aubs8]

Joe at Headin West (AKA Indian Summer) helped me choose an outfitter in 2017 and helped me with a solo trip last season. Two for two so far.

Coming from NY, it was definitely worth it. I would highly recommend you speak with him!

Take care.
Mike

 

[Deadfall]

Question? Hw does work? You pick a area, they scout it out? They have areas already scouted out? Is it map scouting? What kind of information is being deciminated: Travel patterns? Winter to fall routes? Terrain? Water? Pressure?

 

[Deadfall]

Not at all interested in participating, however, being the curious bugger that I am. This has peeked my curiousity

 

[Jbehredt]

Not at all interested in participating, however, being the curious bugger that I am. This has peeked my curiousity

Your post piqued my curiosity as to what peeked meant

 

[dirtytough]

Question? Hw does work? You pick a area, they scout it out? They have areas already scouted out? Is it map scouting? What kind of information is being deciminated: Travel patterns? Winter to fall routes? Terrain? Water? Pressure?

My understanding is most services decide where to scout and place you. It seems more for general elk tags like MT, WY, ID, and CO. I’m sure they would do it for draw tags as well. But you are limiting your client base then

I have read it’s a lot more than just about the actual target. A lot of logistics like where to camp, water, road conditions, glassing points, etc.

I don’t know how much the services cost. I do have a friend and his group of 3 used one. They killed a 300” 6x6 and a 335” 7x7 on that hunt. So it was probably worth it for them.

I believe Rokcast did one with Jim Carr and they talk about it on there.

 

[Deadfall]

My understanding is most services decide where to scout and place you. It seems more for general elk tags like MT, WY, ID, and CO. I’m sure they would do it for draw tags as well. But you are limiting your client base then

I have read it’s a lot more than just about the actual target. A lot of logistics like where to camp, water, road conditions, glassing points, etc.

I don’t know how much the services cost. I do have a friend and his group of 3 used one. They killed a 300” 6x6 and a 335” 7x7 on that hunt. So it was probably worth it for them.

I believe Rokcast did one with Jim Carr and they talk about it on there.

Thanks. I'll go browse around the rockcast

 

[wytx]

“Location of a specific animal” means just that. Information on how and where to hunt does not fall under that definition.

Yep, I get that. Just pointing out make sure you are legal with whomever you use.
If someone wants to pay for glassing locations and camping spots then go right ahead. Not a thing wrong with that.

 

[Indian Summer]

Yep, I get that. Just pointing out make sure you are legal with whomever you use.
If someone wants to pay for glassing locations and camping spots then go right ahead. Not a thing wrong with that.

I think the problem they are trying to eliminate are the high dollar hunts for world class and world record animals. The targeting of a specific animal because of it’s trophy potential. I’m not a fan of that myself. The guy who killed the Spider Bull in Utah with Mossback Outfitters cannot possibly feel much of a sense of accomplishment. I bet we are happier with our 300 inch public land diy bulls. Or the 270s!

 

[Savagenut]

One more bump for other opinions. Thanks

 

[UTJL]

I used a scouting service for elk last year with mixed results. All the locations given either had great elk sign or I saw elk. However, there were also plenty of hunters at all but one spot. I had done my own E scouting and was able to find elk with way less hunters at these back up spots.

If you don’t want to call the local biologist, game warden and spend time E scouting before the hunt it’s worth it. However you can get similar results own your own if you put in the work.

 

[Indian Summer]

I used a scouting service for elk last year with mixed results. All the locations given either had great elk sign or I saw elk. However, there were also plenty of hunters at all but one spot. I had done my own E scouting and was able to find elk with way less hunters at these back up spots.

If you don’t want to call the local biologist, game warden and spend time E scouting before the hunt it’s worth it. However you can get similar results own your own if you put in the work.

I know some pretty cool biologists. They have great information on herd dynamics and habitat. Population trends. Long term weather patterns. But they don’t hunt. They work during hunting season and for the most part they never were the hunting type. They can give you a bead on whether or not a certain region is in good shape... on the up or declining. But they won’t be much help pin pointing honey holes and avoiding dead zones. If you’ve never hunted elk before and someone put you in spots where you saw elk or sign every day that’s good. As far as seeing other hunters... it’s the lower 48, that’s going to happen and you need to know your area better and work a bit harder to outshine those people. Good luck!

 

[UTJL]

The biologists didn’t provide specific spots. I approached them with questions about what elevations the elk were at for the time of year, had I identified the right food sources, what was the population density was in specific drainage is picked out. This info helped me pick areas I thought would hold elk. It’s hit or miss depending on the biologist and your approach. I also spoke to the biologists extremely early in the year (March) which I think helped.

The scouting service also provided spots that held elk or great sign but they were more crowded.

I thinking scouting services are worth it if you’re a new hunter or have zero time to scout in any way. But in my extremely limited experience it didn’t provide an additional advantage over my own extensive e scouting.