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E-Scouting

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E-Scouting

Postby Swede » 05 22, 2023 •  [Post 1]

Every off season I spend a lot of time on my computer scouting for the next season. This year, since the last season has been especially challenging since I can't be sure where I will be permitted to hunt. In addition, the rules have changed for getting archery tags in the eastern part of Oregon have changed. I do not know if I should dump points as some have done or hang in there and take my chances.
I have found that the different on-line satellite and mapping sites offer different image quality and show different things. I suppose some of the issue is due to my inability to maximize what I get, but Google Earth seems to have the best image quality while others give road numbers and show the names of streams and mountain peaks. Some show camp sites etc. Sometimes I think I need an E-Teacher so I can operate more efficiently.
What do you jerks do to maximize your E-scouting time?
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Indian Summer » 05 22, 2023 •  [Post 2]

If I were you Swede I’d be thinking like a deer hunter back east. You can forget about getting away from people. It’s not necessary anyway. Look for the thick stuff for bedding and hunt the bottlenecks and edges of cover leading to and from that. Food is everywhere. If you can fund what they are keying on great but if not don’t worry about it. Hunt those travel corridors. They are obviously worth your time during the rut too.

For elk in the big mountains of western Montana and Wyoming I don’t think e scouting is worth a whole lot. It’s good for picking places to go do some actual scouting. When you get out there, you need to have a plan. But it’s not a good way to locate elk. And I’ve scouted places that looked great and we’re completely dead. I’ve also stumbled on elk many times and said why in the world would an elk be here. Not something I’d look at online at all.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Swede » 05 22, 2023 •  [Post 3]

Thanks Joe. I appreciate where you are coming from. I am looking for tree stand locations. I just spent 3 days looking at a new fairly small area and located 13 spots to check out. The trouble I am having is that When I see a likely place on GE, I have to take the coordinates to another map site. This is just to find road numbers, etc. for the area so I can place the location on a paper map to carry to the field. It is a very tedious and time-consuming process. My eyes are literally hurting so I need to get away and do something else.
Then, like you said, I may find out there are no elk in that area during the season.
I know your map service would be far easier and much more certain.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Jhg » 05 22, 2023 •  [Post 4]

When I escout there is the big picture, obvious stuff. The hard part is finding subtle terrain features that I think other hunters will overlook but could be real gems. I refer back and forth with the screen and my maps. For me, I am trying to find smaller saddles that elk will use from one side of a ridge or one part of a basin slope etc.
Or a tiny plot of timber near some food feature that hunters blow off in their rush to look over that big park one ridge over. I do search out what might be used corridors, that because they are so hard to actually see on screen they get over looked as well.
What I want is not a major route that a lot of elk use at some point but a little sly slip of an easy transition for the few elk or a couple elk that are pocketed in the area.

My most productive saddle is literally 20 yards wide and a mere flat spot on a finger ridge. It is nearly impossible to find on screen. My map shows it as a no-descript little blip in the elevation. You would like it Swede. Not a lot of elk but every year there are two, three or four encounters there or near there. Perfect for a patient stand hunter. I had a cam there and it captured bear, moose elk and deer.
Oh, and there is a tiny seep on one side that offers a nice drink and a stripe of green forbes.

Here it is:

E4669991-B874-40FA-A007-13D2FD9B77B5.jpeg
E4669991-B874-40FA-A007-13D2FD9B77B5.jpeg (189.43 KiB) Viewed 935 times
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Swede » 05 22, 2023 •  [Post 5]

You characters are just confirming that e-scouting takes a lot of time and effort to do right. I find it gives me a good starting point and plan for my field scouting. Going out without a map and waypoints is hit and miss and involves a lot of wasted time. I want to maximize everything I can learn when I hit the field. Saddles are good. Springs and wallows are good. Springs near bedding areas are the best. The more points you can find in close proximity the better. Getting drawn for a tag is sort of important too.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Jhg » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 6]

I like your approach Swede. Staying flexible, trying new areas, new ideas. Due diligence. All traits of a successful person.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Tigger » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 7]

Swede, have you ever heard of OnX? Pack those paper maps in the bottom of your pack for emergencies and switch to OnX. So, so much easier. You drop a waypoint where you want to check out, label it some silly thing only you could dream up, and navigate right to it.

I, too, like Google Earth, but then I just drop a waypoint on OnX. Really much easier!
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Jhg » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 8]

OnX has its place and is excellent when you are seeing a new area. Once I get aquainted I go back to paper maps. Faster, bigger perspective of area. I think you are right though. OnX would be a good tool for Swede right now.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Swede » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 9]

I have OnX on my home computer. I use it a lot, but it does not have great clarity and things are missing. I have the OnX App on my cell phone, but don't know how to use it. It would be great to have someone show me the ropes with it I suppose. I like Terra Server, but it too causes eye strain.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Jhg » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 10]

I ended up cancelling my OnX because after a while I found I was not using it much.

I suppose the next comments are off topic but it seemed to be a wall between myself and the woods rather than a doorway. Rather than helping me get closer to being a "part of it all" the app was interfering with how I was interacting with the woods by removing how you use your brain, a compass and a map to understand, navigate and access an area.
A totally different experience. I feel there is value in intuitive reasoning/imagination, like when you read a book.
Not saying anyone should feel the same way as I do but for me it is a big deal in how I experience my time in the woods. I want it pretty fundamental and natural. That is a big part of why I am there in the first place. To get back to something basic.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Lefty » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 11]

I'm a big paper map guy. Mankato State University had a big army corps engineer map depository.
I was using predator indices road use and water flow maps to help set up trap lines in places I'd never been.

I still use topo emaps extensively to find those flat locations and springs That can't be seen on Google or Onix

When I originally started archery hunting I am part selected the area I hunted in the desert because there were no roads. The one area that I set up for bears I selected because it was near the area that I shot my first elk in 30 some years ago only my beer area was in Idaho and not Montana.
. Much like paper maps Google Earth what is there today may not be there tomorrow well maybe I should say next year
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Swede » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 12]

You characters are getting at the heart of why I started the thread. There just seems to be a gap in the online maps and satellite photos. It is hard but not impossible to put it all together.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Elkhunttoo » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 13]

I have BaseMaps on my phone and use it all the time. So many time out shed hunting I have found that the old fences with the private property signs on them are not even close to the property boundary’s. Some fences running east to west and the actual boundary goes north and south for over well over a mile before you hit private property.

Also love the fact that I can mark a spot and hang a stand in it, and when I get back to service send the link to the rest of my hunting group and they can walk into it in the dark having never been there before.

As far as scouting from home, I once again use the maps probably more for shed hunting. Although I am always looking for what I think might be a headwater spring of travel route for elk during archery season.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby Lefty » 05 23, 2023 •  [Post 14]

Elkhunttoo wrote: I have found that the old fences with the private property signs on them are not even close to the property boundary’s. Some fences running east to west and the actual boundary goes north and south for over well over a mile before you hit private property. .

Welcome to Idaho
A regional farmer put in a well was plowing 100 acres of state land for 6 years before he was fined the price of the well fee, :roll:
Look at the Idaho mapping system,, landowners are often way onto the adjoining public lands.
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Re: E-Scouting

Postby DKenn757 » 05 28, 2023 •  [Post 15]

I have been messing around with OnyX and Gohunt maps on my phone. I also ordered some paper maps for the area I want to target in Montana. I like OnyX better than gohunt maps as gohunt still leaves something to be desired.
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