what do you look for?

[let.it.fly]

what do you look for when looking at topo maps and satilite photos. im goiing to be hunting a gmu thats new to me, west side( not oly pen). what should i be looking for? just looking to narrow my search before i start scouting. thanks for your help guys.

hunter

[bow4elk]

What are you hunting?  PM me your phone number and I'll be happy to help you decipher aerials and topos for hunting big game.

[MIKEXRAY]

I look for good feeding areas with big timber above for bedding . Find a place away from roads and I always hunt up instead of down in canyons simply for the fact that if I score it is a down hill pack.  I look for funnels in the terrain between feeding & bedding and I set up at those funnels well before light. I pick the funnels a little farther from feeding areas as the elk in my area head out before first light. If you set up to close to feeding area they will already be by you. I find a funnel about a mile up & get set up as described. I also look at where the other hunters will be coming from, main roads or camp grounds & use that to my advantage also. Good luck. Mike

[seth30]

What map website would you recommend?  That go hunt websight is like chinese, and google earth doesnt show property lines. 

[yelp]

Seth...Chinese?  Please explain grasshopper!  


I also like Flashearth, Terraserver, Google Earth, Many county GIS sites, Parcel searches, The best    aftermarket mapping software you can buy Is Maptech terrain navigator - pro.  Comes with all of the USGS quads and subscription to aerial and works with most GPS units.  For instance you could use you tracking function when elk hunting and download it on a map..or mark where camp is etc..

[seth30]

Thanks for the help

[Little Fish]

If you are hunting the West side there is a good chance you'll be hunting timber company land. With that said I look for concentrations of clearcuts surrounded by dark timber. An ideal scenario is to find a medium sized clearcut surrrounded by timber at the end of a road with only one access point.

[let.it.fly]

ALL VERY GOOD INFO. i kinda gota get out of the mind set that "i need to be looking for the deepest darkest canyons. what are the elk concentrating on as far as food goes over here. just foraging around clear cuts or what

[seth30]

cool, now I just have to figure out which seciotn i wanna hunt.

[seth30]

that and find a elk hunting partner