Scouting tips
Here are the top 10 tips for effective scouting, offered by area hunting experts.
1. Get maps: Have appropriate maps, such as national forest maps and topos, as you go afield, and a waterproof pen for making notations in their borders.
2. Use optics: While a pair of sharp eyeballs is mandatory, don’t rely solely on them. Most hunters will take along a 8- or 10-power binoculars to expand their search area. Some will even pack a spotting scope.
Glassing hillsides from a good vantage allows you to cover far more ground and see much more undisturbed wildlife than you could ever see on foot or by driving. Some hunters prefer 8X binocs to 10X because they’re easier on the eyes during long periods of use.
3. Get out of the vehicle: Referring to game management unit and topo maps, do some hoofing where you might find sign that you’ll never see on the road.
Most animals will stay away from roads or other high-traffic areas, so just driving up and down roads will not get the job done. Get into the woods and use all the skills of woodsmanship and stealth to slip in and out of the areas frequented by animals.
However, don’t leave trace of your presence that could alarm the animals and change their patterns.
4. Find the water: Focus scouting on water sources, especially after a dry summer. Game ranging from grouse to elk won’t be far away.
5. Work into the wind: Scouting follows the basic principles of hunting. Animals have senses far more acute than humans, and their noses are often the first to confirm danger. Scout with the wind in your face or at least crosswise to you.
6. Read the ground: All game animals leave evidence. Look for their droppings, tracks, trails, beds, scrapes and other signs that will paint a picture of the animals activities in an area.
Elk hunters look for specific scats. Summer elk droppings are softer. In the fall, they’re rounder and firmer. You want to see the fall droppings.
7. Check forest edges: Wildlife, including turkeys, deer and elk, enjoy the food sources adjacent to the escape routes along the edge of fields or openings that join with timber or steep country. The openings may be natural meadows, clear cuts, burns or agricultural fields. Many well traveled game trails are just inside the timber from open spaces.
8. Think ahead: Use scouting trips to prepare an area for the hunt by building blinds, pruning shooting lanes and marking access routes, say, with a GPS. Carry gloves, pruners and folding saw.
Scouting trips also are a good chance to meet landowners and ask permission to hunt adjacent areas.
9. Do double duty: Preseason camping or even early grouse and bear seasons are good opportunities to scout for big-game seasons that come later.
10. Go online: Idaho, Montana and Washington all have a tremendous amount of resource information, directions, maps and even aerial photos for hunt planning by “cyberscouts.”