Topo Map Terms

[charlieyca]

Coming a flatland swamp donkey hunter topo maps are definitely one of my weaknesses. Have I marked each of these correctly saddle in blue, bench in red? The location is in RMNP so not spot burning taking place. 2nd, How do you approach each area? My first thought would be hunt saddle first light catching transition from feeding to bed, then still hunting flat bench midday?

 

[elkliver]

Correct on the Bench . Saddle maybe sort of but not really a traditional saddle. With a Saddle you usually have two of the knobs like the one just west of your your arrow and the Saddle is the low point between them. As for how to hunt..... depends on what the wind is doing and time of day where they area is in relation to feeding, water, etc.

The Saddle for example is travel route to move across a ridge from one drainage to another. often an escape route but can be a regular travel route if feed was on side and bedding on the other. So how you would hunt it depends on why the animal is moving. if you had other hunting pressure on the bedding side, it would be likely they would move through the saddle to escape over the hill. see below map for better example of saddle. The area east/north east of the elevation of 5200 is a great example but depending on how the animals run the ones in the middle of the map between the knobs may also be used

 

[charlieyca]

Thanks elkliver, If you were hunting bench midday and had not spotted an elk in there area, how would you approach, assuming thermals going up the bench. gotta ask to whered the name come from?

 

[elkliver]

where what name came from?

 

[elkliver]

Ok, this might be fun if you get some other folks to weigh in with thoughts. Some folks will advise against hunting a bedding area and instead suggest wait until first light or last light and catch them leaving... problem is that in heavy pressure you may never see them. So assuming Rifle Elk hunt and heavy timbered hillside... say...the first week in Nov. Hopefully there has been some moisture to quiet things down a bit.

The obvious bench that you have notated im not liking for holding elk. They might be there but its pretty low on the ridge. In my mind, a more likely one is between the red and blue arrow. Area with Red arrow is a pretty large flat area. Watch your topo map and see what the elevation change is between contour lines.(your example is about 80 feet) There can be a pretty nice bench and it wont be as obvious on the topo. and Elk dont need Flat to bed. They will bed on steep nasty hillsides. so im liking that ripple of land halfway between the two.
You specify that wind is moving uphill midday Its likely thermals are going Uphill at the bench but wind is also moving up canyon.(ill assume to the right in your pic). Hunting by my myself, i would probably start from right side of the screen and move left. Move very slow and let out a very quiet cow call once in awhile. this would be just down from the top a ways. There is often a bench under the top of a ridge and then a steep hillside and then another bench. Since i am by myself, i would put myself at top of second bench so i can see both of them,. If wind is really going straight up hill, i might start high and then zig zag down to next bench working the length of the ridge and down.

If at all possible, i would get where the tail of the Blue Arrow is and see if i can glass other side of that little drainage. By now you should have been picking up sign and know if elk are using this area or not. If seeing a lot of sign, i would go very slow but make sure i cover all of the area in the head of this little draw down to the little ridge across from the tail of the blue arrow.

all of the above would be flexible depending on what i find on the ground and/or what the wind is doing

 

[charlieyca]

Now That is the answer I was looking for. Smaller bench higher on the ridge, try to glass into instead of still hunting. The name elkliver, liver as in the organ?

 

[charlieyca]

anyone else? how would you approach the first pic and hunt on early morning hunt. (you can ignore or include the burn at the top)

 

[muddydogs]

OP your map marking is correct. A saddle is any low area between two higher points. While your saddle isn't extreme it is still a low point and depicts an area of less elevation gain therefore easier travel or so full of blow down that a mouse would have a hard time getting through it.

I wouldn't give that little North Facing bench much thought if I was actually hunting this area. Depending on the time of year it doesn't see much sun and just doesn't appear to be much of an elky bench. I would probably glass down into the bench from the South as there appears to be enough topo to be able to see the bench before I did anything.