What good is scouting!!!!

[good2eat]

A little rant this morning.....I spent in excess of 110 hiking miles scouting. Had plans for A/B/C/D/E/F and so on.... Saw tons of sign from fresh to week old and older, fresh beds, etc. Things were looking good. Until opening day.

Not an animal to be found, all fresh sign had ceased. What the....!! Rough season, not a peep to be heard, saw only 6 animals, only 1 bull and he was gone in a flash.

Not sure what to do to figure out where these suckers went. I was high, low and everywhere in between. Water was not an issue in the areas I hunted for the most part. The areas were amazingly "elky", which I guess is why I saw so much sign while scouting.

[ElkNut1]

When did you scout the area to be hunted?

ElkNut1

[CurlyTail]

During September, if you can find the cows, you will find the Bulls. Elk are indeed migratory - more so in some areas than in others - and do seem to have preferred rutting areas which are usually high on providing security. Elk in many areas are trained to move either into private property or federal preserves with the onset of Archery season (think Estes Park, CO).

The elk this season did seem to be unusually quiet with little spontaneous bugling activity making them hard to locate.

You see now why once you locate the elk, you keep coming back to the same areas every year, and keep your areas TOP SECRET - or the Elk will leave .

If the miles you put in this year were on established trails, you need to get off the trail system

[Lefty]

Yikes;
Happened to me bigtime last year.

Its still hunting and often things don't go the way we have them planned. For me that is part of the hunting experience

Im able to scout/camp/ hike/ ATV, more than I hunt, This year I elk hunted a completely different area.Unfortunately most of my scouting this year didn't take place in August.

[Lefty]

,....You see now why once you locate the elk, you keep coming back to the same areas every year, and keep your areas TOP SECRET - or the Elk will leave .

The area I hunted the past 6 years had a family come into the area I hunted, unfortunately their methods of driving nearly every day keep the elk out, of the staging/ rutting area.
Things happen, we need to adjust.

I stepped into a new area, tough, hiking up then down,. and a ways back in,.. and there are elk Im sharing with other "good" hunters

[Elkduds]

I use scouting to learn the lay of the land. Plus I enjoy the hell out of it. I scouted 12 days this summer to learn a new unit, where I have a Nov. tag. No way the elk will be in Nov where they were in Aug. I now know where to look if Nov weather is mild, wintry or in between. I guess I am always scouting for elk to some degree whenever I am in the mountains. In fact, to me hunting is secondary to scouting.

[good2eat]

When did you scout the area to be hunted?

ElkNut1

Was last in most areas 1 - 2 weeks before opening.

[good2eat]

During September, if you can find the cows, you will find the Bulls. Elk are indeed migratory - more so in some areas than in others - and do seem to have preferred rutting areas which are usually high on providing security. Elk in many areas are trained to move either into private property or federal preserves with the onset of Archery season (think Estes Park, CO).

The elk this season did seem to be unusually quiet with little spontaneous bugling activity making them hard to locate.

You see now why once you locate the elk, you keep coming back to the same areas every year, and keep your areas TOP SECRET - or the Elk will leave .

If the miles you put in this year were on established trails, you need to get off the trail system

First, few established trails, only ones used were to get into specific areas and the cross country from there.

The tough part was I couldn't find them at any elevations, I looked and looked. Going to continue to hike around the areas to see if I can find sign in the few areas I didn't make it into.

[Charina]

So hard to say without knowing the particulars of the situation.

What I notice in OTC units in Utah, is when the crowds show up Friday night, the elk instantly switch gears. Prior to Friday evening, they would come out an hour before dark, be vocal, and hang in typical "elky" spots where I've been seeing sigh. Then, Friday night, the roar of ATV's and diesel trucks signals the arrival of the top predator. The elk are suddenly silent in the morning and evening, never seen in daylight voluntarily, and retreat to some pretty nasty holes where the vast majority of hunters don't go. They turn nocturnal for most activity (breeding, feeding, water, moving), and avoid those spots that elk hunters think are "elky" - because that is where the hunters are.

I go to the "bedrooms". Steep, dark, remote, full of blowdowns, along little finger side ridges, etc. The crap where we don't want to pack them out of as its so stinking steep and thick. I am continually amazed where those bulls can get those racks of antlers through. I have a tough time getting through and into the area, and yet they are in there with their wide antlers. Go figure.

[BRazz]

Agreed. We took a gamble last year and went to a new place that looked super elky. It was...and was one of the best hunts in my archery life. This year (naturally) we went back and saw lots of trucks at the trailhead and several camps back in there, none of which were there the year prior for whatever reason. We saw one distant cow and heard zero elk. There are lots of factors at play but definitely the presence of people can really shut them down pretty quickly.

That said, there was somebody in said camps that shot a really nice 6x6 a 1/4-mile from the road... But he did say that he just happened to pass some fresh and obvious tracks that a pretty sizable herd had made - he didn't hear this big bull bugling at all.

[chiledog]

I went back to the area I hunted last year where there was a lot of rutting activity, elk, bugles and all until the last weekend when they kinda disappeared.
This year, many more hunters in the area and very few elk and no vocalization. The hunters mostly went home by the last weekend and then the elk showed up again.
Very quiet all season. I think they may have been late with their rut. Don't know.