Virtual Scouting

[Vanish]

Trying to learn how to virtual scout.

I snapped this shot from Bing Maps of an area near where we've been hunting. The area is a mix of aspens and pines. As you can see, lots of water. Is there anything you see in this that says "elk" to you, or warrants further investigation?

[Harmy]

This looks almost exacly like my hunting area... Of the numerous water holes I see in the photo I would focus on two more so than the others. There is one in the bottom left and another center right. Both of these butt up right next to heavy cover whereas the others are more in the open. I have found in my area that there seems to be more activity on the side of the water with more cover. Plus, there is better room for me to hide nearer these water holes specifically.

[elkohalic]

Looks like a heck of a trail right through the middle of those aspens, almost like a road. lol Would need to where the valley is and the top of the mountain is at, It all looks good to me. Honestly I could not determine where to hunt there without knowing the lay of the rest of the land.

I wonder how many of us looked at that map and had to check our area for that place LOL. Yup it looks like where I'm hunting also, he he!!

[cnelk]

IMO
There is too much water in the immediate vicinity to figure out which the elk are using the most.
About the time you commit to one spot, they are at the other...

One area that I would look into is the 'neck' of trees on the right side, just above center.

[>>>---WW---->]

Looks like it could be some good habitat. But nothing beats wearing out a little shoe leather. If you are willing to do that, check out the two little mud holes in the lower right part of the picture.

[Vanish]

Looks like it could be some good habitat. But nothing beats wearing out a little shoe leather. If you are willing to do that, check out the two little mud holes in the lower right part of the picture.

I'm headed up there this weekend. The left is the uphill side, right is downhill.

This area is adjacent to the area we hunted last year, I haven't actually visited it yet. I'm glad it sounds like elk territory!

There is too much water in the immediate vicinity to figure out which the elk are using the most.

That seemed to be the case to me last year, water wasn't a big concern as there are springs, pools and ponds all over the area.

Oh yeah ... the trail through the center I believe is an ancient logging road. The area is closed to all vehicles (including atvs) these days. Some of the "roads" are elk highways now.

[otcWill]

Looks like it could be good. Depends on how accessible it is, if anybody else hunts it or knows about it, and what the rest of the area has around it. There is tons of great habitat that elk just don't frequent for whatever reason. Sounds like you are on the right track as you are probably there now confirming whether there are elk in there. Good luck!

Will

[Vanish]

I visited almost all the spots pointed out, as well as some of the other interesting features in the area. There had been elk in the dark pines near some of the holes not long before we were there, you could smell them and see where they had stood up. None of the water holes had seen much use.

First off, one of the awesome pretty meadows in there:



A few questions though. Identifying scat, not sure if these are both elk. I know the second photo is poor, but there was still the "pill" like aspect to it, just VERY mushed together. The big thing is the color difference. I saw plenty of moo cow earlier in the day, which was this color, but this was more pellet like instead of splat like of the cows.





Here is another interesting one. Not far from the water hole in the very bottom left of the photo. I thought you had to take the entire head in Colorado, not just antlers, but after rereading I guess I saved myself some effort:

a. buCk/bull: Head — with antlers or horns, attached to carcass; or testicle, scrotum or penis attached to carcass.



Most of the water holes had water, a few did not. Either way, most only had a half dozen tracks near them:

[easeup]

excellent elk country with real fresh scat. and elk beds.
tall grass too!!!!
there cannot be too many moooo cows there or that would be mowed down....

[elkaholic]

Great looking country. I would say you are going to have an exciting fall.

[JimKirk]

great looking area. elk sign seems to come in many varieties. fresh scat is a hot one. it indicates they hang around and feed. fresh tracks or tracks in general are great, wallows and water holes a great find too. i've gotten alot of pictures on travel routes that did not necessarily have alot of sign other than tracks. alot of water makes it harder to pinpoint em , but when you do, I find they stay in the area unless spooked out. around here there are alot of free range cattle but I have often seen deer and elk in the same meadow at the same time.

[one_elk]

Benches and water in my experience elk like access to steep terrain for security and access to water have found many a bull below a bench that has a steep band of rocks….best of luck to you.

[Vanish]

Thread necro! Thought I would mention a couple things about how this played out during the season.

I checked out all of these water spots and the only one with major activity was the one in the top right of the image, but it had dried up by the time the season rolled around.

This area was hunted by more than one party on opening morning. I didn't make it to this area until around 10am, as I ran into a herd on my way in the dark. I saw a guy shoot a small bull at the edge of the meadow around the small pond in the bottom right. There are two wallows in the bottom right corner that are not visible in the aerial photography. I had just walked up on one wallow and was photographing/gpsing it when I saw a guy pop over the slight ridge above me. A bull was headed to the wallow and he got the shot.

The video I took of the two spikes walking past me occurred in the big meadow on the left, just to the bottom right of the lower pond. Somebody had pushed them out of the timber to the left of the meadow.

I later called in and shot an elk in old growth aspen in an area less than a quarter mile above the image. It and several others came from the direction of the large pond at the top.

[Lefty]

I spend a lot of time on satillite maps cross checking with topo maps.
The area I hunt for bear and elk I found using maps
The smallest road going the furthest in to the most secluded llocations