Contributors to this thread:
How many optional locations do you identify before you take off on your hunt?
I normally plan on 4 locations minimum. This year I was one short, so I hit GE again. I think I have found an area that may now have been bumped up to plan B.
I figure I will know within 3-4 days whether they are elk #'s worth staying for. With ~ 14 days of hunting planned, I should be covered.
Thoughts?
Your alphabet is way too small for me. :)
I leave KS with at least 20 spots I hope to check out. Lots of places look good on GE and often are but might not be the week I'm there. If there isn't fresh sign, I'm looking for where they went or another place they could be. Having many options is essential.
A couple years ago I went into a hunt with a plan to never hunt the same place twice. It worked very well. I called in elk to within 50 yards on 9 of my 11 hunts. (Morning and evening considered different hunts).
I guess my definition of a "spot" is 2-5+ square miles. Currently I have ~ 80 waypoints/points of interest in my 4 areas. If history is any indicator, it is possible I might even find an elk NOT at a waypoint!
I ask the questions as I am worried that any particular location could have someone camped in it or a group of diehards hammering the area.
Same here Z....I don't hunt one spot then drive 40 miles to another. I generally stay in the same 5 mile radius and hit many spots I've hunted in the past or newly scouted.
I also have my "gotta move camp" and drive spots as the ultimate backups but they are often hours away vs. an hour or less away.
I need to pull over around Copper Mtn/Vail and hike up to see what all these trucks parked along I-70 are finding up there........ :)
I'm a novice, but I've got 8 spots picked out within about a 10 mile radius. Hopefully I don't get to try out all 8 :-)
--Mitch
I have 8 "spots" in one area of about 25 square miles. Five other spots in a 15 square mile area that's 15 miles away. Another 8 spots on the other side of the unit 45 miles in the other direction.
Today's day four. Two of my 8 first week spots have guys hunting them. One of those has a camp at the closed road gate. Three of the others have elk, and I'm concentrating on the one with the most fresh sign, where I was on a nice 6x bull this morning. All are within a mile of a road, and my streak of not seeing another hunter in the woods continues.
I have over 150 sq miles of elk to find. I take as make alphabet numbers it takes to find them.
Close to the road :)
I like to have maps of way more area than I could ever possibly hunt in 2 weeks so I can pack up and move to a completely different area at any time. I spend more time looking at maps during the hunt midday and at night than I do prior to the hunt. Things just seem to click better once I'm there. It's never like I think it is once I get to a new area.
+1 Midwest
GE scouting never ever looks the same when ya get there!
Having maps of other options is of true value.
I have 4 area's all with in a 2 mile radius of my campsite.
That is 4 days of hunting into each one.
Have fun Z and enjoy!!
Good luck, Robb
12 days until I'm rolling into spot "A" Absolutely cannot wait to get there!
--Mitch
I usually have about that. But like you are saying, the spots are completely different areas. It would take a few days in each are to figure out if I have to move so don't have time to check more than that with usually having 11 days or so. Each season, plan A has been paying off, so I never check the others, now I have too many spots I want to see. This season I am trying my last 2 seasons "plan B" and if it isn't paying off, I can drive 2 hours back to "plan A" which I know is pretty good. Just want new country and adventure this season
