Free: Contests & Raffles.
TSH, in the “for what it’s worth” here’s a couple of comments from my perspective: 1. Anytime you can visit the place you plan on hunting later in the year (Elktember) is good if for nothing else than to refine your knowledge of the lay of the land. 2. To confirm where the bulls will be come September, its best to visit the general area starting around the end of July through mid/late August and find the cows! Remember, the rut is all about the ladies and where you find the cows during the last part of summer that’s where the bulls will gravitate to once their testosterone levels start to rise and they leave the confines of their bachelor groups. 3. While scouting in the summer, don’t pay a ton of attention to the rubs you find to locate “fall” bulls. Most rubs seen in the elk woods are velvet rubs and are made well in advance of September. Likewise for wallows but located wallows have a bit more relevance. Wallow use dramatically decreases after the end of August/first week of September, but, even though the elk may not be hitting the wallows, they probably were a few weeks prior to archery season starting and there’s a good chance they may still be in that general area. 4. Well used elk trails, feeding areas, and bedding areas are gold chips when you can find them and put the elk patterns together. Remember, elk have a few basic needs that you can capitalize on. Survival (food/water), Security (travel and escape routes; bedding areas where they can smell danger/predators from below during beddy bye times, and, hear danger from above…this is why elk oftentimes bed 2/3 to 3/4 the way up on a hillside), and the need to pro-create (obviously referring to the fall elk rut).5. Game cams put out mid-late summer are your friends. Some cams coupled with or without some mineral bricks, can provide you some very good info when you finally make it to your elk camp. I know a lot of hunters put game cams out very early in the year and the pics they get are cool, but, do little for you unless they’re snapping the activity that is occurring a few weeks before you start your hunt. 6. Embrace the thick! Elk don’t just bed in dark timber, particularly in areas where there is some pretty good hunting pressure. You will oftentimes find significant bedding areas in the nastiest, thickest, tallest, alder fields in many of the elk areas. During your scouting adventures, you may just find some elk trails that lead into said thick areas.. head in and see what you see. 7. When scouting in August (confirming location of groups of cows, checking game cams, replenishing salt if you put some out earlier, perhaps looking/listening for some early rut activity, etc.)… make sure you approach your trips just like you would when actually hunting. Work in to the spots using the wind/time of day to your advantage so as to not throw you scent into the snouts of any elk that may be there, get in and out of your spots quickly and attempt to not disturb the area/spot too much, etc. Make sure you’re in position at the crack of dawn with your optics to see who is visiting feeding areas (oftentimes, certainly before significant hunting pressure moves in, these feeding areas will be clear cuts and/or natural meadows).. Again, observe from a distance and not in a place where your scent will bust them. Really, there is even no need to move into or close to said feeding areas if you can see em from a distance, right? 8. During your scouting missions, make physical notes (small waterproof notebook and pen) and mark the areas of interest you find on both your GPS and a hard copy map. Once you get back to your ranch, plot your points on big screen mapping software (Caltopo, AcmeMapper, GE, etc., whichever one you prefer)… and oftentimes, you can find some additional points of interest by putting the pieces together. Best of luck to you mister with your scouting and elk hunt this fall!
