Tips for Success Series: A Scouting Strategy

Now that the Utah results are out and we all know where we will be hunting this fall… I think this would be an appropriate time to roll out the next installment in my “Tips for Success” series: Have a Scouting Strategy.

Several years ago I made arrangements with a friend “to go scouting” and told my wife my plans. She looked perplexed and asked why I was “going scouting” with one of my friends and not taking all the neighborhood boys. Her understanding of Scouting was the Boy Scouts… it took some explanation to help her understand what I was actually doing. She got a little upset and said, “So you’re just going to look for deer?” The emphasis she put on the word look was unmistakable, from where she stood she saw absolutely zero value in the activity I had planned. “Do you expect the deer to be there in September?” Again, the emphasis on the word expect confirmed that she thought I was an absolute fool! That only compounded when I responded. “Yes. I hope so,” and I headed out the door. Although those first few scouting trips were met with considerable resistance, it didn’t take long for my wife to see the value in these scouting trips. She has consistently seen meat put in our freezer over the last few years.
My wife was correct in her simple assumption of what scouting is… looking for deer (or elk, or moose, or whatever). That is exactly what I did on those first few scouting trips… and thinking back as I look at those first few scouting trips they were pretty comical. I would drive around looking for animals, stop at a couple places, spend about 15 minutes looking around through binoculars, then head home. Don’t get me wrong, I still gained valuable information from those trips and learned far more than if I had remained at home watching television.
As we enter the summer scouting season leading up to the 2016 fall hunts, let me share some of the things found in my 2016 Scouting Strategy.

A herd of elk on Google Earth.

Before I ever step foot in the mountains I spend a fair amount of time on Google Earth (GE). Ok, full disclosure and honesty here… I spend A LOT of time on GE. I have a topographical overlay saved into my GE and toggle back and forth between the maps looking for spots that look worthy of an in-person, on foot investigation. A VERY valuable feature of GE is that it acts as a log for me for each scouting and hunting trip. I create a new folder for every year, and in that folder I will save placemarks of where deer, elk, and moose were spotted and if fortunate enough where a buck or bull was killed. Following each hunt I will trace out the trails that I hiked and add notes about which days and the time of day when I made those hikes. I now have a good working database of my scouting and hunting history. I am a very visual person so I find the use of GE very beneficial by displaying all the placemarks and trails on the screen at once I can identify very clear patterns. This helps narrow down where I do my scouting based upon the tags I have in my pocket. This is where my first bit of advice to pick an area and stick with it really becomes beneficial in influencing my scouting. Over the last several years I have learned exactly where to go to find deer and I have also learned that I need to look in different spots to find elk. In many ways, GE helps me determine where to go for the next phase in my Scouting Strategy…. placing trail cameras.

Placing trail cameras with my two oldest kids.

Many love them, many hate them… whether you use them or not, no doubt you’ve likely come across a water hole with a trail camera or two (or six) surrounding it. I use trail cameras, and I really enjoy them. I currently have 4 different cameras that I scatter across the property to be my eyes when I cannot be there myself… but I tend to use them a little differently than many guys I know. I use them to investigate the new areas that I had identified on GE or to revisit old areas that I had moved on from as I discovered new areas. Ultimately this means that I probably won’t actually hunt where I place the cameras this year… go figure, right!?! My plan this year is to place two cameras in new spots to “investigate” these areas and then two cameras to “monitor” areas that were once my go to spots yet I don’t want to lose touch with them! I don’t spend a lot on my trail cameras, mostly because I know of the propensity for these types of things to grow legs and walk away. Even on private property I have not been immune, although I have yet to have a camera stolen I have had them vandalized or tampered with. It is frustrating for sure, however I strap a camera onto a tree and walk away knowing full well that I am taking that risk and each time I return to check a memory card and refresh batteries and find my camera still on the tree I consider myself fortunate. There is varying opinion on how often to check a trail camera, in some cases I’ve heard of guys checking them every couple days. My preference, and this could simply be a product of my busy everyday schedule, is to check them every five to six weeks. This may sound like a long time, and it does make it difficult to sit at my desk job and wonder about the pictures I may have waiting for me… or if the camera has even been working right… or if the camera is even still there! But I have found that letting them “marinade” (as I call it) for several weeks between checks to be very successful. Primarily, I limit the number of times I check them to also limit my scent and my disturbance to the area. Whether that is actually the case or the reason for my success, I’ll never know but I’m going to continue to think that. One additional really cool benefit to the trail cameras is that it gives me something tangible to share with my family members that hunt. They don’t share the same passion and zeal for the “off season” type stuff like scouting that I have but it is not difficult to get them to sit down for ten minutes to look at my latest batch of trail cam pics. It is fun to see them scroll through the images and stop and say, “Now, that’s a nice buck! If I see him in September…” I find that over the course of five to six weeks I can get several thousand images from a well placed camera, however only about one third of those images will show an animal in the frame. It can be tedious to wade through several thousand images, but I can honestly say that the end result of several hundred images of deer, elk, moose, coyotes, etc. is well worth the time spent. On this blog I have a page dedicated to trail camera pictures, and I have selected just a handful of my favorites from each year from the thousands that I have saved (check it out HERE).

The last part of my scouting plan involves my eyes, a pair of binoculars and spotting scope, and my boots. I’ll be honest here… I bought my first trail camera in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2014 that I had the conversation mentioned at the start of this article with my wife and began to spend actual time outside of hunting season looking for game with my own eyes. I had such a good time actually spending time behind my binoculars that I seriously considered never setting another trail camera again and going solely to an in person method of scouting. I can’t believe how much information I was missing by relying completely on the trail cameras. When on these scouting trips I do not like to get overly aggressive and get too far into the area, I prefer to set up and glass from long distances so that I can truly sit back and observe the animals. This allows me to see the usual travel routes these animals use to and from different areas, since the muzzleloader hunt is still relatively early in the season many of these travel routines are still being used by the deer that I’m chasing at the time. I usually am only able to do this in the evenings, and I have two or three different spots that I go sit. These spots are high in elevation and provide me with good vantage points. From where I park my car, I can see almost a 360° panorama and can glass several of the places that now top on my list. A short hike from the little parking spot and I can peer into a large south facing bowl that is usually bustling with action while still being able to see a few of my other top spots. I like to go on these scouting trips with a friend or two. We set up plenty far away from any animals so being quiet is not a requirement, we can converse without much concern. It’s during these scouting sessions that I have gotten to know my hunting companions best as we talk about work, family, and life in general. We also take time to relive some hunting memories and talk about what worked in the past and what we’d like to try in the future. We begin these glassing sessions by dividing up the mountain and looking over a specific section of terrain. But once we spot an animal, especially a buck or bull that we want to inspect further, it generally devolves into what I would consider a glassing free-for-all. I take mental notes and enter that data into GE when I get home. I always remind myself to take lots of pictures but inevitably I walk away with very few pictures taken. When the animals start to emerge and spotting them gets fast and furious I often forget entirely about my camera. Here are a few things that I have learned on these evening glassing trips…

First, my personal comfort is absolutely paramount on these scouting trips. The first few trips I would find a relatively decent spot on the ground, set up my spotting scope, and start scanning with my binoculars. I quickly learned that I needed a more comfortable place to sit. This all depends on your personal preference, but I carry a relatively lightweight three legged camp stool to sit on now. I have heard of guys buying the little kneeler pads for gardening and sitting on those, they work just fine as well. If you are comfortable you will be able to spend more time behind the glass instead of constantly fidgeting around, changing seating positions trying to get comfortable, or standing up because your leg or foot has fallen asleep. Second, also related to my general comfort, is to bring a jacket whether you think you need it or not. Even in the summer high in the mountains when the sun goes down it gets chilly and it’s very hard to hold still when you are cold. There have been times where I have had my jacket and not ended up needing it… but it’s better to have it and not need it than need/want it and not have it!

Third, I don’t do extended glassing sessions “off hand” anymore, I always begin by setting up my tripod with an adapter that I created for my binoculars and begin glassing with my binoculars on the tripod. The tripod adds a measure of stability that I could never achieve by just holding the binoculars in my hands. I have noticed a significant difference in my glassing ability and productivity by putting my binoculars on my tripod and having the glass completely steady… I used to spot something off hand with my binoculars and switch immediately to the spotting scope. Now, with those same binoculars on a tripod I switch out to the spotting scope much less frequently. With a good solid rest under my binoculars I am able to evaluate bucks and bulls at distances where I would have previously only been able to see them clearly with the spotting scope and I find that the binoculars are much friendlier to my eyes than the spotting scope. On those first few glassing sessions I bet that I spent 70-80% of the time looking through my spotting scope… now I spend 70-80% of the time looking through my binoculars. And fourth, stay behind your binoculars until that last little bit of light is gone! My first few scouting trips I decided to head back to the car with light remaining simply so I wouldn’t have to do some hiking in the dark. That last twenty minutes or so of light, after the sun sets and goes down behind the peaks to the west, have been some of the most productive moments. Set aside the desire to get an early start on the hike back to the car, sure I know it’s easier to get back on the road home quickly while there is still light but you will be missing what I consider the greatest moments the woods can give you. The problem with experiencing this moment of peace is that it has always resulted in a flurry of animal activity and a scramble to see everything you can in the fading light. It is peace and chaos simultaneously… it’s magic.
The last piece of my Scouting Strategy is making sure all the pieces of this strategy fit into my real life responsibilities. I would love to spend more time on the mountain just looking for deer, elk, and moose but honestly the time that I do get is very limited.

Tips for Success Series: "Pick a Spot & Stick With It!"

I’ve wanted to write up a series of brief articles to post here based upon the things that I have learned over the last several years that have dramatically impacted the success that I have experienced on my hunts. Here is the first of such articles.
The absolute best advice that I could give to any individual who is just starting to get into hunting is: Pick a spot and stick with it.
If you were to simply go to the Utah DWR website or go to the DWR store and look at maps of the hunt units here in Utah (or really anywhere in the western US) you’ll notice one thing… they are all huge. All of the individual units contain more acreage than what one hunter can cover in one season, heck multiple seasons. So the challenge faced by every hunter out there is to identify which of these hunt units we will spend our time and energy actually hunting and where we really hope to find the animals we are looking for. This is an overwhelming task, especially for those with zero experience or knowledge of a specific area.

Our camp on my grandpa's Central Mountain, Manti
 elk hunt with the mountain we hunted in the background.

I experienced this recently when my grandfather drew a Central Mountains, Manti limited entry rifle elk tag. It was a brand new hunting unit to me, I had never once stepped foot on the Manti chasing any kind of big game animal. We were starting the research process on this unit from scratch. I was designated as researcher for the pre-hunt scouting so I went through a couple different steps to “pick a spot.” I immediately turned to the internet for any information regarding different locations within the unit. With a list of locations (mostly vague generalized area names) I turned to Google Earth and began looking for areas that would appear to fit my grandpa’s hunting style. From that time on Google Earth I was able to refine those generalized locations to specific locations that looked promising to me. With those locations in mind I took a drive with my grandpa to those areas just to check them out and we made a preliminary decision where we would focus based on what looked best to us. As opening morning rolled around and the hunt progressed we rarely ventured far from that spot. We picked a spot and we stuck with it… for better or worse (2014 Rifle Elk).
Whether you are hunting general season deer, general season spike or any bull elk, or a limited entry hunt you inevitably have to make a choice of where to hunt. The permits issued will tell you which unit(s) within the state you can legally pursue game in, however within each unit are numerous possibilities. In many units there are areas with different types of terrain, different levels of access, and inevitably differing amounts of other hunters and the game you are after. This is where you need to make a decision… and once you make a decision stick with it. Admittedly, this advice applies best to general season hunts where you can make an initial decision then year after year as you hunt that same area you can build a knowledge base that will ultimately yield consistent success. Limited entry hunts are a little bit different because the hunt is usually a one-time deal or if you do return for a second hunt there it is often years later. I have heard of great success using this philosophy on limited entry hunts if a large hunting group decides that they will all apply for the same hunt individually year after year and as each member of the group draws their tag they build their knowledge of the unit and share the knowledge and experience within the group.
Let me illustrate the benefit of picking a spot and sticking with it through two personal experiences. First the positive… I have some family property and have hunted that area for deer for nearly 20 years now. In 2012 a couple friends and I decided to try hunting elk there for the first time. We had very little knowledge of the elk herd in the area, we really began the hunt not knowing if we would even see an elk. We considered the hunt an educational experience more than anything, we ended up seeing a handful of elk but were not able to create any real chances for filling our tags (2012 Muzzleloader Elk). The things that we learned on that first hunt influenced the scouting strategy that we put in place the following summer. Later that fall, with the knowledge gained from the previous hunt and a summer of scouting, we had a much clearer idea of where we thought the elk were going to be. Success came for me on the second evening when I was able to shoot my first bull elk, a spike. We saw even more elk during the 2013 hunt and learned even more (2013 Rifle Elk). In 2014, now with two hunts and two summers of focused scouting, we felt that we had a pretty good base of knowledge and were anticipating success. We found elk easily and regularly during that hunt, and on the second morning I again tasted success as I was able to shoot a nice little 5x5 bull (2014 Muzzleloader Elk). In 2015 we continued to build our knowledge and had an especially successful year shooting two cows, a nice buck deer, and narrowly missing our chance at a couple nice little 5x5 bulls (2015 Muzzleloader Elk).

General area where a couple nice bulls were missed
on the 2015 muzzleloader elk hunt.

Over the course of the last four years we have built a solid knowledge base on our little spot, and over the course of the four years we have been able to increase our chances of success each year.
Now, the negative… after the 2009 deer hunt we decided that we were not seeing the number of deer that we thought we should be seeing on our family property. So for 2010 we determined to hunt a different area of the state. None of us had hunted this new area in more than 25 years, so essentially we were going into this area as if it were brand new. We didn’t do any scouting and showed up for the hunt the Tuesday before the muzzleloader opener and thought we should be able to find deer pretty easily. Four very frustrating days later we drove home and promised ourselves that we would never again discount the value of the knowledge that we had of the family property that made it seem so easy to find deer and have success (2010 Muzzleloader Deer).

One of the nicer bucks that was taken by my brother
on one of his afternoon drives.

My brother is a “road hunter” extraordinaire (road hunters benefit from this philosophy as well) and along with my father and grandfather have developed a routine that they follow religiously throughout the day. Each morning they make the same turns, following the same route each morning. Shortly after lunch they made a short drive into one specific area. Then in the evening they follow a different route for the evening drive. I don’t hunt with them much because I prefer to spend more time hiking around… but honestly, those guys have it figured out! Over the span of the last three years they have killed five deer on their brief afternoon drive just driving to this one specific spot at 1:45 in the afternoon and each of those deer have all been killed in the same small clearing.
With this philosophy you should desire to become so familiar with an area that you know exactly where and when you should be seeing deer, elk, or moose (or whatever you are pursuing). You will become instantly aware if something is “off”… if another hunter, or perhaps another predator, has been through the area. You will also become instantly aware if everything is set up for you perfectly. In my opinion, this is when hunting gets exceptionally fun.

The north facing slope where I watched the herd of elk before
shooting a cow near the water hole that is out of the picture. 

Last fall, on the muzzleloader deer hunt a friend and I hiked into my now favorite spot and just like we had done the two previous years we planned to sit over a small water hole for the evening. The bowl was quiet as we worked through the aspens and before we even arrived at our predetermined spot we began to spot elk working across the north facing slope that we would be watching the rest of the evening. We quickly recognized that conditions were perfect, the elk and other animals had been unpressured, and there was no question that we would at least have one opportunity to fill the cow elk tags that we also had in our pockets. Four hours later, after watching a small elk herd for the entire afternoon, three cows made their way to the bottom of the hillside to the small pond. My friend and I had waited patiently a mere 60 yards from that small pond for this opportunity. We had sat over this same pond the previous year with the exact same result, except last year I decided to pass on a cow elk because a decent little buck was also spotted just up the hill. I have absolute confidence that I will be able to go to the same spot next year and with favorable conditions be able to fill my cow elk tag.
The most difficult part of picking a spot and sticking with it is just that… picking the area or spot! My only advice is to find something that looks good to you. If it looks good to you then you will be more inclined to put in a little more effort to try and figure it out. Do some research, spend some time on Google Earth looking at satellite imagery, if possible go have a look at it yourself on a scouting trip, or if you can’t scout spend some quality time there during the hunt checking it out. Google Earth is a phenomenal tool… there have been many new spots within my area that I have explored thoroughly on Google Earth then later was able to go and see firsthand and it felt like I had been there before.
The second most difficult part of picking a spot and sticking with it is to know how long to stick with it especially if the area isn’t producing like you want it to. This is a tough call to make. Giving up on a spot you thought looked good is like admitting defeat and nobody likes that. None of us want to invest any amount of time in an area only to find that the animals just aren’t there and be left with the feeling that all the time was wasted. On the flip side, nobody wants to give up on a potentially great spot too soon. I suffer from this… not wanting to give up too soon, especially with some of the spots that showed real promise but have never really developed into anything tangible.
Inevitably as you develop a knowledge base of an area you will learn not only the areas that are productive but also the areas that don’t warrant your future time. I have one spot that I hunted three years in a row for deer beginning back in 2011… it was a very good area and I had the opportunity to shoot a very nice 4x4 mule deer buck there in 2012. However, since 2013 I have not been back. I haven’t abandoned it because it is a poor area, but I have spent my time in other areas of the property. I know that area is still productive and I have it on a list of places to check out but it is now a little further down my list than it was three years ago. Then I have another place that I set a couple of trail cameras for two summers in 2010 and 2011, and over the course of two summers I got mostly pictures of small bucks and moose. Nothing that I saw really interested me in that spot so after two summers I abandoned it entirely. On a whim this last summer (2015) I put a couple trail cameras there again and saw a number of nice bucks and lots of elk… don’t forget that over the course of several years things can change! As you develop your knowledge base of an area and some spots fall off your radar don’t neglect them entirely, be sure to circle back every several years because these animals move around.

One of my "go to places" that I no longer go to regularly.

The hardest part is making the call to move on from those really good spots to learn better spots. All of the spots that I have high on my list today and hunt every year were not on my list three years ago, and many of those places that were my “go to” places several years ago now hardly get a second glance as they are well down the list of options. I don’t think this is a bad thing, it’s a consequence of learning more and more about the area that I hunt and really dialing in on just a couple specific spots that are exceptionally productive for me during the hunting seasons.
The key to this philosophy is that it takes a little bit of time to learn the potential of any spot that you pick to hunt. You may not have success (in the terms of a filled tag) immediately when you go into a new area but it is my opinion that if you give yourself some time to learn it then success will come and eventually be had on a regular and consistent basis.