Free: Contests & Raffles.
i looked up vail earlier today and have been there before. i just didnt know it. it was in an archery season when i didnt even have my license so it didnt recognize it as a place to hunt. but i remember it from the experince i had there and didnt like the number of people there and why cant you scout there?
I think there are a lot of us in the same boat. New to hunting and not really sure where to start. One piece of advice that others have given to me is to start getting in the outdoors and read as much as you can. The library is your friend. Learn what deer need for living and find areas that have lots of that and few people. Get ready for a fun ride. Hoping to put a deer down my first year too.
There are deer everywhere on the wet side. So chances are you do not have to go very far from home to find a decent spot. Just need to find access to available hunting land. From there all you need is Bing Maps or Google Earth and a little patience and dedication. And, a good pair of boots When I begin scouting new areas I try to find spots not easily accessible to the average sportman, but that I can get to and spend a good bit of time. That usually starts with a day of burning gas in the truck and marking maps of where all the gated loggin roads are. At this point it's not as important to be getting out and hiking. That will come later. I just want as many access points as possible.Once I have my list of gated or burmed access points I spend a good number of evenings on Bing Maps. I am looking for clearcuts or areas of feed close to water with a good number of hiding and/or bedding benches. I am looking for these close enough that I don't have to spend an entire day getting there, yet far enough away the average beer drinkin', gun tote'n, road hunter isn't willing to venture into.Once I have a good number of prospecting spots located it's time for scouting. Most of your clearcuts will have fire trails around the fringe. Walk them all looking for tracks and fresh rubs. Don't bother with walking through the center of areas looking for sign. Work the edges of big timber and thick brush. It's ok to blow through these areas quite fast on your initial scouting trips. All you want at first is to rough grade them as good, bad and ugly. It doesn't take too much animal or hunting knowledge to figure out which ones are good and which ones are bad. But, you do want to know if these areas are year round spots or just wintering and calving areas. That's why you want to be looking for rubs as well as tracks.Make sure you check out good glassing areas close to the road. Look for trash or other sign where hunters would setup and wait. You may find an area that looks good, but if there is sign that it has been hunted hard and guys are spending a lot of time there you might not want to mark that spot as not so good. Or as I mark them in my notes "Iffy"Now once you have your prospects preliminarily scouted it is time to concentrate on those good spots. Time to bust the timber a little and find out where those animals are bedding. Where they are breeding. How they are moving to and from the area. And what vegetation is located where within the feeding areas. Make sure you schedule scouting days for both morning and evening trips. Soon you will find a few spots that just seem to have everything. Time to find out who is living there and what their habits are. This is the fun part. Now you are not just looking or scouting deer and elk. The game now is where's Brutus, Doofus, Scrappy and Wholly Crap. It's why are you there today Micheal Johnson and where the heck are you going Beavis? You are watching certain animals and trying to understand why they do what they do and what makes them tick this way and that way.Pay attention to how they work the areas during times of heat and times of cold. Times of rain and times of drought. During this time of the lunar cycle and at that time in the lunar cycle. You might even want to let yourself be seen once or twice to see where they escape to and how fast they bug out. You don't necessarily need to know a lot about deer and elk if you can know a lot about this deer and that elk. If you can do that then soon you will know a lot about most deer and most elk within your area.In the end your own spot is going to be much better for you than someone elses "Honey Hole" anyway. Because you will know it and it's residents and others will not. Plus on the wet side you are going to find that a honey hole this year might only be acceptable next year and not be worth a crap the year after.Really liked the way you presented yourself and the way you asked the question. Newbies reading this should take note of how you do it right. Good luck to you. Hope you have a lot of fun finding that glory hole. We will be expecting pictures and a story in the fall!
