pre season scouting

[vandeman17]

About 6 of us will be deer hunting Idaho this year. We are planning to go to a spot that we used to hunt but haven't hunted in over 10 years. I am hoping to make at least 2 scouting trips over there before the general season in October. My plan is to make them a 3 day weekend since it is such a long drive over there. When do you guys think will be the best and most useful times to go. I was thinking about going once in late May or early June and then once towards the end of August or early September. Thoughts?

[UBA]

I would say sounds pretty good besides the deer you see in may might not even be around come hunting season

[vandeman17]

I would say sounds pretty good besides the deer you see in may might not even be around come hunting season

I am not REAL worried about seeing animals, though it would be nice. I more want to see the terrain again, make sure we can still access our old spots and see if there are any new spots we will want to check out.

[UBA]

Snow pack might be a concern depending on elevation. I ran into that problem last year. Huge snow drifts stick around a long time.

[vandeman17]

Agreed. I am hoping to be able to do some hiking as well so that I can mark areas on my gps and get a feel for different areas. You can only learn so much looking at an area through your binos or spotting scope. 

[6x6in6]

Since it's a long drive, is it possible to double up your 3 day weekends in a back to back fashion?  Take 2 extra days off also?
Then package it all up over say Labor Day weekend, assuming that your Monday is a holiday?
This is of course if the area you plan to go is not a major holiday weekend camping fiasco.
2 travel days and 7 days of scouting maximizes the time and cuts down on the fuel expenses and wasted windshield time.

We did this quite a few years back for Wyoming and it worked out very well for us.

[vandeman17]

Since it's a long drive, is it possible to double up your 3 day weekends in a back to back fashion?  Take 2 extra days off also?
Then package it all up over say Labor Day weekend, assuming that your Monday is a holiday?
This is of course if the area you plan to go is not a major holiday weekend camping fiasco.
2 travel days and 7 days of scouting maximizes the time and cuts down on the fuel expenses and wasted windshield time.

We did this quite a few years back for Wyoming and it worked out very well for us.

I was thinking the same thing at least taking one more day off around labor day so we could have 3-4 full days of scouting but then I remembered that my buddy is getting married that weekend.  I am hoping that I can get few of the guys to go with so we can split gas and I also plan to camp out if I can to cut down on expenses.