Hunting Feeding to bedding corridors

[LDriver]

Hello all,

Looking to get some assistance in trying to know what to look for when e-scouting travel corridors from feed to bedding and vice versa. I've stumbled into these in the past, but seem to have an issue trying to e-scout them. I get there has to be some sort of paths/trails, but I haven't been able to consistently find them via OnX. Appreciate any pointers you may have.

[Lefty]

I may hunt some challenging area, Often the feeding area is the base of mountains 8 miles long, and the bedding areas somewhere above that strip for bedding maybe 100 yards into the timber or miles in. ,, Yeah Some days maybe its this canyon or this ridge or this valley often depends on presure, cattle and winds

[RanchoSueno]

I used the gohunt app to trim in areas that met elk bedding quota and have that saved for areas of interest in-season. It's cool because several highlighted spots are actual areas I have popped up on elk. Otherwise I pin saddles, benches and bowls above or near good graze. Then just keep moving till they start talking or I get eyes on one

[Swede]

Rancho X2. I can help you narrow down your search of better-quality areas, but when you find the answer to what you ae asking for on public land, please post it here first.

[Tigger]

"I get there has to be some sort of paths/trails,..."

I dont necessarily agree with this. There may be. Or there may not be. There are so many trails in most areas they may just pick one out of convenience each day. Or they might use the same one. Or they might not use any. Hope that helps!

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

LDriver: Welcome to the site. Always good to see a new user.

Finding a good transition area between feeding and bedding areas can be tricky at best. I've seen hot areas go cold for several days as elk tend to move around to different feeding areas from time to time. Personally, I think to many hunters now days depend way too much time looking at computers when they should be out there burning shoe leather. The best advice I can give would find yourself a good high vantage point and just watch what the elk are actually doing in your area. I'm sure you will find that their travel routes to and from feeding areas will vary from time to time. But, you will find that there may be some routes favored over others but not necessarily on a daily basis. They are hit and miss at best. So get out there and do some real scouting if at all possible. It's the best way to know what is really going on.

If you are dead set in that type of hunting style, be prepared to be spending lots of time doing it. What seems to be a good route to cover one day may not always be a good plan every day.

[Swede]

As most of you know I tree stand hunt. I depend on finding places that are visited by elk more frequently than just random occurrences. I check places I have found either by e-scouting or previous on the ground discoveries. I plan to leave next week to verify or eliminate some old places I have hunted and new ones I have pinpointed on a map and copied the coordinates for.
I have discovered places that were being used daily by a bull. It was great, but once I killed that bull, the waterhole he used went cold. Those spots went dead for years. This has happened several times over the seasons. Mostly I set up on locations where several active trails come together at a waterhole, saddle or rarely a bedding spot and wait. I use e-scouting to narrow down the areas where I put my old boots on the ground.

[saddlesore]

i agree with Tigger. Very seldom have I seen trails going to feeding or bedding areas. I encounter game trails all the time usually making their way thru timber. They do change from year to year because of downed timber ,wash outs. etc. Walking on them and leaving your scent is sure way to guarantee they won' t be used for awhile.

Finding an escape route such as a saddle or down/over a ridge that is only accessible thru certain places could lead to success.

However,throw a couple or several hunters in the area during or before season ( so called scouting,traipsing thru bedding areas) will insure that the elk will change their game.

Unless you are fortunate to hunt areas with few hunters, forget about what elk do the other 11 months of the year but find out where they go, when they go when hunting season starts,

It is all about survival, elk will eat less desirable foods, drink less desirable water and bed down in less desirable areas (Usually where they can jump up an down over a steep hill or up one that may only be a small shelf 8-10 foot wide.)

As long as elk are not pushed out of a feeding area, they will generally move out and back into the timber at about the same place for two or three days. Then move on. If they have to leave for water and go quite a ways, chances are slim they will return each day.

That is where hunting the same area,the year after year pays off , but even that doesn't guarantee a punched tag. E scouting helps some,but it does not help in the factors I mentioned. Elk do not read the rules like hunters do.

[Lefty]

LDriver: Welcome to the site. Always good to see a new user.

Finding a good transition area between feeding and bedding areas can be tricky at best. I've seen hot areas go cold for several days as elk tend to move around to different feeding areas from time to time. Personally, I think to many hunters now days depend way too much time looking at computers when they should be out there burning shoe leather. The best advice I can give would find yourself a good high vantage point and just watch what the elk are actually doing in your area. I'm sure you will find that their travel routes to and from feeding areas will vary from time to time. But, you will find that there may be some routes favored over others but not necessarily on a daily basis. They are hit and miss at best. So get out there and do some real scouting if at all possible. It's the best way to know what is really going on.

If you are dead set in that type of hunting style, be prepared to be spending lots of time doing it. What seems to be a good route to cover one day may not always be a good plan every day.

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can be tricky at best.
What seems to be a good route to cover one day may not always be a good plan every day.

Some areas can be easily identified and be good
Years back as a commercial trapper I used all sorts of maps to set up trap lines in places I had never been. In all those years I only had one not work out,,, because a great Federal trapper working the area and the coyotes weren't there.

I started my elk hunting and bear hunting e-scouting. which for elk included easy access from my home less than 3 hours to the blind. I was keying in at that time on water in the desert, basically water tanks,, I need to state "I knew nothing about elk"

Where Ive been hunting elk are not very patternable,,, exlcept I have noticed elk especially larger hers really know what the wind will be doing in the morning.


ou asked a good question which all depends. But spending time where elk are "boots on the ground" ends up being the best,,, and when the best isnt right here ,,, Well there is plenty of other things to do learn and know

[Swede]

I can see trails on Google Earth, etc. but I cannot tell if they are current or if it is elk, cattle or something else that are using them.

[LDriver]

All, thanks for the replies and assistance. A little more info, I've hunted this area in the past and stumbled into some transition areas, but I do mean stumbled. I couldn't ever square the area with why this area was a transition and why an area 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away, that was very similar was not. Appreciate all the insight.

[Lefty]

I posted this 10 years back All elk basically doesnt exist anymore Things change

elk trails image.JPG (213.09 KiB) Viewed 877 times

That year I occasional saw cows and calves about 1 mile away,,, I did see trails leading to the west. Some time later this was on google A natural mineral lick

[Indian Summer]

This is going to sound sarcastic. But it’s just the facts. Technology has come along way since there were no computers or GPS. Everyone has learned a lot… a ton, sitting on their couch at home. But the amount of dependency on E scouting makes me roll my eyes. It’s like putting your money on a certain number on a roulette wheel. You never know till they spin the wheel. Do they really bed where you are guessing? Do they feed where you assume they will feed? Are there even elk in the area at all? Common sense will tell you where any animal will travel. The paths of least resistance. Benches. At the top or bottom edge of a cliff which creates natural barriers. Saddles. Although some saddles are well traveled while others don’t have a track in them. You can E scout that? lol

There comes a point where the answer is pretty much put some boots on the ground. If you really want to increase your odds of success, go there in the summer. With as hard as it is becoming to get elk hunting licenses these days E scouting isn’t a very good insurance policy on your long awaited hunting trip.

[saddlesore]

This is going to sound sarcastic. But it’s just the facts. Technology has come along way since there were no computers or GPS. Everyone has learned a lot… a ton, sitting on their couch at home. But the amount of dependency on E scouting makes me roll my eyes. It’s like putting your money on a certain number on a roulette wheel. You never know till they spin the wheel. Do they really bed where you are guessing? Do they feed where you assume they will feed? Are there even elk in the area at all? Common sense will tell you where any animal will travel. The paths of least resistance. Benches. At the top or bottom edge of a cliff which creates natural barriers. Saddles. Although some saddles are well traveled while others don’t have a track in them. You can E scout that? lol

There comes a point where the answer is pretty much put some boots on the ground. If you really want to increase your odds of success, go there in the summer. With as hard as it is becoming to get elk hunting licenses these days E scouting isn’t a very good insurance policy on your long awaited hunting trip.

Totally agree Joe. Seem a lot of younger hunters are putting too much confidence in technology.

[Swede]

I will say it another way. I like to e-scout, but I would not bet my hunt on it alone. I like to look at OnX and GE to find places to scout on the ground. I have about twenty locations I want to check out. The good news is that I am packed up and ready to leave for camp tomorrow morning. Of those locations I plan to check out, I will be elated if I find one really good place to hang a tree stand. When I get back, I will try to let you know how successful the scouting trip was.

[Indian Summer]

I e-scout a lot. I’m on OnX Maps nearly every day. Topo view, satellite images. But I’m looking at areas I already know and have hunted. I’m just learning them better. Expanding on them. Sometimes just seeing things in a different light. But I already know the elk are there. I’m picking up where I left off to give me more options. Never too many plan Bs.

[Swede]

My scouting trip was fun and a good investment of my time. When I arrived at my camp location my son Luke and his hunting partner were already there waiting. While unloading the truck and trailer and setting up the tent, Tim was saying there were almost no elk left in the area. The wolves had decimated the herds. He said he and Luke had covered miles on foot and saw almost no elk sign. That summation of several days of scouting perplexed me, but I had not been there for since 2022.
After dinner I asked Luke if he wanted to go with me on the ATV and check out a nearby spring. He agreed and off we went. Soon after getting off the ATV, we started seeing fresh elk tracks about 250 yards from our destination. Well, before we got to the spring fresh elk tracks and trails were very clear. When arrived, the place had the stench of elk, and the ground was pounded to dust over a large area.
When we left, I asked if he was interested in looking over a pond about 15 minutes ride from where we had left the ATV. He agreed and off we went. About 200 yards from the pond, we observed 25-30 elk run across the dirt road we were on. The pond area was also pulverized from elk use.
When we got back to camp Tim asked how our outing went. Just for fun I answered that, "it was just as you described". My son gave him the straight information.
During the remainder of our scouting, I located a several new places that could be productive places to set a stand. All but one of the new points were first picked up e-scouting. Maybe two of them will get one on my stands this season coming up.

[Lefty]

I will say it another way. I like to e-scout, but I would not bet my hunt on it alone. I like to look at OnX and GE to find places to scout on the ground. I have about twenty locations I want to check out. The good news is that I am packed up and ready to leave for camp tomorrow morning. Of those locations I plan to check out, I will be elated if I find one really good place to hang a tree stand. When I get back, I will try to let you know how successful the scouting trip was.

Well Im mostly ready to go,,
Yesterday I walked into an area that as far as I know people just drive by,, it looks small, a 1100-200 hundred yards wide dropping steep into the tight canyon. Ill spend some time on GE Last year I saw an elk and hour before shooting cross the road,,, I started paying moré attention and realized its a bull hangout until the rut. But what got me going,,, I had a trail cam on a 3 year-old golden blonde bear maybe just traveling that leeds into the area
The feeder moo-cows were pulled out Friday, yesterday evening I hiked into the little spot,,, elk tracks. I hiked back to the pickup,, set out a couple trail cams,,, .


I actually got on m computer to check on GE

Oh and packed laundered underderwear and wool socks , Yeah I know still 40 days away,,,
Pulled the ozone generator out of the RV