E-scouting Question

[teej89]

Hey guys!

First DIY archery elk hunt this year in MT. We narrowed down to where we want to hunt, about 120k acres of land inaccessible by vehicle. Now my question is, due to the fact it's all very steep not many meadows, seems all the meadows are close to roads, and it's all very thick timber, what else can I be looking for to help devise a game plan?

There's a ton of different drainages in this area but looking at them online they're just all timber so it's really hard to determine if one is better than the other. Is it possible to continue escouting this or have I done all I can and I should just use the 2 days I have before the rest of the group shows to get boots on the ground and see as many of those drainages that I can in those 2 days?

I tried looking for benches along side of those drainages and it's so steep there really aren't any.... also is 120k acres too much/too little of a region to focus on for a 7 day hunt? I have one more backup spot that's about 60k acres inaccessible to vehicles.

Sorry for the noob question guys, thanks in advance for your responses!
T.J.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

If you cannot figure out where they can feed you might be barking up the wrong tree. I would be looking for any small openings further from the roads.

 

[teej89]

If you cannot figure out where they can feed you might be barking up the wrong tree. I would be looking for any small openings further from the roads.

once again with a noob question, are meadows the only source of food or will they browse in the timber? I've found maybe a dozen meadows but they're maybe 10 acres at best, is this too small? It just seemed small but then again I'm not used to scouting big country like this.

 

[HermanFromGA]

teej89,

Can I jump on this thread too and hijack some info? I am very interested in this as well.

I have picked a large drainage on a mountain range in Colorado where I plan to go on my first Elk hunt during Colorado's first rifle season. I will be backpacking in 2-5 miles and camping along the creek in the bottom. There are tons of smaller drainages coming down both sides of my larger drainage, mostly covered in aspens and pines. It is very steep in here and so I am trying to pick my glassing spots in the easiest to hike to places, but I do not know if I will able to see out from there, or if I will be looking at worthwhile terrain. There are a few small meadows on some of the slopes. Are these little opening where I should be focusing my glass? Above the treeline it opens up and I have found pictures on hiker blogs of elk herds running around up there, but man it is way up there.

What types of areas do you look for as glassing areas, like small meadows and openings only? Or will timber transition areas like aspen to dark timber be open enough to spot an elk?

And what types of areas do you look for as glassing knobs? Do they need to be visibly exposed rock areas on Google Earth, or will a bump in the topo map suffice?

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

once again with a noob question, are meadows the only source of food or will they browse in the timber? I've found maybe a dozen meadows but they're maybe 10 acres at best, is this too small? It just seemed small but then again I'm not used to scouting big country like this.

There are probably some more experienced guys who could jump in on this, but if you can find 10 acre pcokets, with water nearby, and it sounds like there is plenty of security; I would think it could hold elk. The challenge might be glassing them, but you have to start somewhere. Given what you have said, I would be trying to find some other location as backup spots as well.

Hunting that big timber can be a challenge if they aren't talking.

 

[amoor983]

Parts of Montana have been super dry this year. If it is hot and dry, I would think watering and wallowing holes would be very attractive. Look for water or dark green on aerial images. Narrow east/west oriented canyons would be good bets. You may look for travel corridors that connect these areas to meadows where they go for feed.
As far as spotting, you can never tell unless it is above tree line. On aerial images it is very difficult to tell if trees are 10 feet tall or 100 feet tall. Generally, if the area is north aspect or in shade of another peak, the trees will probably be tall and thick and visibility will be nill. Google earth can help with this; you tilt the aspect to see the relative topography and overlaying vegetation. This should give a good idea of the view shed.
If there is a lot of dark timber, 120k acres is a huge area.

 

[Dougfirtree]

once again with a noob question, are meadows the only source of food or will they browse in the timber? I've found maybe a dozen meadows but they're maybe 10 acres at best, is this too small? It just seemed small but then again I'm not used to scouting big country like this.

I killed my first elk sitting evening watch over a water hole at the opposite end of a 10 acre meadow. It's definitely big enough, but try to find one or two that align with other factors, like water, trails, bedding cover, etc.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Hey guys!
is 120k acres too much/too little of a region to focus on for a 7 day hunt? I have one more backup spot that's about 60k acres inaccessible to vehicles.

You're gonna be surprised about acres in the mountains.

 

[Irrelevant]

There is likely plenty of veg under the tree cover for them to feed on, I've yet to step into many elk woods where that doesn't hold true (Forks Wa 25 yr reprod is one). And 120k is more than you could effectively hunt in decade.

 

[Redman]

If there is an open area that has grass then elk could be there. It isn't so much as the acreage but the quality of grass/browse. If there is water close by and a little opening you might discover wallows there as well. Boots on the ground will be the only sure way to figure things out.

 

[EYJONAS!]

While it's nice to fly around on google earth and find "the perfect spot" you'll be real surprised when you finally get into it. There's nothing like boots on the ground knowledge and while your on a good site where you could pickup a trick or two you need to remember things take time and boots on the ground experience. Trial and error man, one thing ill say is wildfires are a plenty this year so you better check into that a little bit. You don't need 60k or 120k acres, and to be quiet honest there's not a chance in hell you could hunt that amount of country in a month long hunt let alone a week. Just come out and enjoy it, I'm sure you'll stumble into something and when you do focus on that spot not 100k acres. Good luck

 

[EYJONAS!]

Maybe you should see if Greenhorn would let you use his version of Google earth, it's the latest and greatest version. I hear that's how he finds all his critters

 

[el unit]

once again with a noob question, are meadows the only source of food or will they browse in the timber? I've found maybe a dozen meadows but they're maybe 10 acres at best, is this too small? It just seemed small but then again I'm not used to scouting big country like this.

teej89-
The areas I hunt are really thick timber with little- to- no openings or clearings. The hills are all north facing so they stay shady, cool, and the elk like it there. The little openings or parks are a couple acres at best and the elk utilize them very often- almost daily right now and about the same throughout the archery season.
Still hunting this thick timber was productive for the last two years' elk and 2014's elk was shot in one of the tiny grassy parks (2-3 acres in size) while I was sitting in a natural ground blind on the edge,
Good luck and shoot me a pm if you're in SW MT this fall.

 

[mixedbag]

You'd be surprised how much food can grow in tree cover.Plus,alot of small meadows don't show up well on Google earth.I'd use those 2 days to scout what you found.

 

[teej89]

Awesome thanks guys! Man I thought this thread was dead till i just hopped back on this morning. I'm going to read your responses more in depth after work but just wanted to say thanks for your responses!

 

[esracerx]

Did you mean 120 acres...or 120,000 acres? the latter is 18.75 sq miles. Huge area. Trying to guess acres on google earth is tough. Elk will browse in timber. Especialy timber with scrub oak. It's tough to how dense the timber is. The less dense the more for them to browse. What I started to do in a unit I've hunted many times is pair my gps with onx maps with google earth. Using a paper map as well helped as far as narrowing down what I'm looking at on GE to the GPS. I find roughly the area I have hunted, then do an all poi search on the gps. I look for tanks, then search those tanks on google earth. Found a ton that I had never hit that I definitely will this year. I had hunted an area a mile from these 2 tanks, on top of a peak. But I had no idea they were there. No idea if theres anything hitting it. Little bigger than I'd like. But still a really cool. Ive found the smaller patches of meadow, where they can duck back in the cover to be ideal. I also took a bull in an area I knew had to have water. Was never able to find it as it wasnt on the gps. Saw a small bare spot on GE, theres the tank.

Use everything you have at your disposal together. Paper map, gps, and google earth. Sometimes its tough finding tanks without the use of maps or gps on google earth and vice versa. Then compare that to what is actually you actually see when youre there. Also, Try to find photos for about the same time you're going. Things look totally different or even dried up depending on season. I'd find water before I worry about feed. Especially if its been dry.

One of the areas GE found for me. Hunted a mile from it. Only way to tell if its worth a sh!t is to get up there. One side very steep, very lush. Other side, real open. Still worth a hike.

 

[starvingoutdoorsman]

One thing to do is check imagery dates on google earth if you use it. They keep a backlog you can look at. Water might show up on imagery from april 2014 but you go and its dry as a bone in the late summer. Always good to look back at past image dates when it comes to water IMO. As far as looking in thick timber... That is a new story. A bench in google earth will look way different in person at times. I would recommend looking for a topo database or topo file overlay you can open in it. You can find it on the ARCGIS website if I remember right.

 

[el unit]

You'd be surprised how much food can grow in tree cover.Plus,alot of small meadows don't show up well on Google earth.I'd use those 2 days to scout what you found.

This is spot-on! Hardly any of the tiny meadows or parks I hunt show up on Google Earth. And there is a ton of feed in the dark timber right now.

 

[Vik]

esracerx,

In case you care, the coordinates are visible in that google earth image!

 

[BigSky!]

Based on the past two year's results for me, if you want to do some partial e-scounting, send me a message. I can then tell you where I plan to be hunting. You can then exclude those areas from your itinerary as guaranteed to contain no elk.