Spring has sprung, the snow of the high country has begun to melt, and your aggressive tag strategy has paid off. Successfully drawing three tags in three different units, none of which you have ever set foot in, it hits you. Off-season scouting is crucial to success come hunting season, but what is the most efficient way to approach it? In this article we will discuss some tactics to scout new areas for elk, deer, and antelope.
Early morning glassing is crucial in finding any game that may be using the area in question.
On a macro level, there are certain strategies that pay dividends no matter the species you are pursuing. E-scouting is a solid approach to take before you apply for a tag, and also can be implemented in conjunction with in-person trips. No matter the species, a good rule to remember is that game animals need three things: food, water, and cover. These vary depending on which you are chasing, but the principle rings true nonetheless. For mountain ungulates, particularly elk, look for heavily timbered, north faces with topo lines that are close together in close proximity to flat benches with emerald green vegetation. Google Earth is great for this since it allows the user to select the time of year the photo was taken (desktop only). For Mule deer during early archery, look for south facing alpine bowls above tree line with patches of timber and nearby cover. Antelope e-scouting is essentially locating road access and water sources.
This large canyon had a small creek running down trough the bottom, lots of green grass, and dark timber and rock outcropping. No wonder we found mule deer here!
Once the time comes to head out into the unit for the first time, I like to break it down into three initial trips. The first trip will be purely exploratory, so pack light and prepare to log some big miles. It seems to always be the case that Google Earth makes things appear much smaller than they are, so that alpine bowl that you can “get to in an hour or so” often becomes an all day affair. Not only will you need to inspect your online spots, but also become familiar with water sources for camp water, predominant wind direction, glassing points, and access. The second trip will be solely to locate animals, sign, and potential honey holes. For this reason, you need to be at the glassing point you feel most confident in at first and last light, the middle of the day can be spent looking for sign, and trails. A good rule is to give a spot two mornings and two evenings of real, hard, productive glassing before ruling it out. The third trip is to expand your knowledge on the animals you located on the previous trip. Establishing a pattern for a particular buck, bull, or group of cows or does is important to closing the deal come season. Any additional trips are to increase your familiarity with a particular animal even further. The more time you can spend watching and getting to know a specific animal, the better your chances are of finding an opportunity to catch them in a vulnerable position.
Rubs and sign from previous year’s rut activity often means you’ve found a good spot come September.
Elk are particularly difficult to scout for because the bulls are never with the cows in the summer or early fall. Often staying in the alpine until the rut begins, these bachelor herds of bulls can be difficult to pattern. The cows are often lower in elevation, typically between 8000-10000 feet here in Colorado and will remain there until winter pushes them down.
Open pockets amongst dark timber are a great place to find elk sign.
Locating old wallows, rubs, and other rut sign from previous years is a good plan to learn where the bulls may be once the rut begins as elk typically rut in the same locations. Depending on your local regulations and laws, trail cameras are a great tool to learn where elk are in the early season. Wallows, well used trails, and natural geographic funnels are all great places to start.
The high alpine is sure to take your breath away, in more ways than one!
The high country mule deer bucks call home in the early season is some of the beautiful terrain in the west. Their delicate, velvet covered antlers need to be protected, which is why they stay out of the thick timber until they become hard-horned in mid September. Lime green basins with a south facing slope are great places to start. Find a good vantage point to glass from and look at pockets of timber on nearby north facing slopes. Whatever you do, DO NOT camp in the basin you plan to hunt or scout. Try to stay out of the wide open as often as you can.
We sat out a rainstorm in this cave, a mule deer bed was also under the ledge.
Also look for ridge tops and benches that could provide the buck with an easy escape route. Look for beds at the bases of cliffs, boulders, and other rock outcroppings. Deer love to bed facing downhill with something to their uphill side, so keep that in mind as you glass later into the morning.
Driving through antelope country typically involves lots of wire cattle fences.
Antelope scouting is typically the lowest on my priority list and can often be thoroughly completed with a single day trip. Learning the road system and layout of the terrain is generally pretty straightforward and locating a few groups of goats should not take too long. Antelope tend to travel within a five to six mile loop most often so if you find a herd, they will likely be around the area until pushed out. A large part of antelope hunting is driving, and it is pretty common to cover 100-200 miles in a day of hunting, so you’ll have plenty of time to scout even when the season is open. If you choose to hunt from a ground blind near a water hole, look for one that is at least 3/4-1 mile from any roads, farther is better as other hunters will not be as eager to hike in that far to set up or sit in a blind. Locating good vantage points in the flat, seemingly desolate prairie antelope call home can often feel impossible, but there are usually a few, and when you find them, utilize the view as long as required to glass. Sitting on top of a hill and using the roof of your vehicle as a perch is another viable option to elevate your position. Antelope dislike the wind just as much as we do, so locating some broken terrain out of view of the road is a great place to find bedded goats midday.
Utilizing a high point in open country is a sure way to cover country with your eyes.
The season always seems to fly by just as it arrives, so maximizing your knowledge of the area you plan to hunt will exponentially increase your odds of success. By putting in the time to learn the unit, pattern and locate the game, you will be able to utilize your hunting time more effectively trying to build a plan. The country these animals call home is some of the most awe inspiring terrain in the world, and frankly it is a gift to be able to immerse ourselves in it whenever possible.