alright hey everybody Michael Batease from the Elk Calling Academy sorry were a few
minutes late tonight my computer did a big update last night and it was almost
like it had to reconnect and rethink and connect with everything so okay tonight
since it's that time of year where a lot of us are starting to you know hit the
woods and and do some scouting I figured that's what we're gonna talk about
tonight scouting you know what do you what do you look for when you're out
scouting but first off how do you kind of narrow down an area in what tools do
I use and all that kind of stuff so you know we're in a great time right now
because there are some tremendous tools at our disposal that we can really
really Scout an area and get to know it without even leaving the comfort of our
home so now I'm not saying that you know those tools are a replacement for
getting out but they definitely help narrow down where you want to go put
boots on the ground at so so when I'm
sorry guys so um when I first start looking in an area there's a few
different tools that I use so for my online scouting I use on X of course
because you know on X is a great tool because you can log in on your computer
you can drop pins you can you know we mark a lot of points of interest things
you want to look at and then that transfers over to your phone so with the
two of them kind of kind of working together but really before I start
dropping pins I use Cal topo CA el tio Pio
if you haven't heard of Cal topo and I and I really wish that you know YouTube
live could use some some screen sharing but Cal topo is a great tool because
you have a lot of different maps at your disposal you have Forest Service Maps
you have you know USGS maps just a lot of maps and you also have then aerial so
to where you actually look at satellite images and and can really narrow it down
but when you're on some of those tunnel maps they have layers that you can turn
it on like slope grading that will basically give you a color code of how
steep of an area that you're looking at and so when you turn that color grading
on you know it really changes color and then on the right it has a key chart
that based on the different colors it'll tell you that's 10 to 20 degrees 20 to
30 degrees and and so on so you can really get a good idea of you know how
steep that country is and it's it's kind of neat because you can turn that layer
on while you're looking at a topo map but then you can go up to your tools and
you can click satellite view so now you're looking at a satellite view
that's color-coded but the other neat thing too is they have sun exposure and
what sun exposure will do is it will help you find bedding areas and the neat
thing is about the sun exposure is is when you turn that sun exposure to layer
on you can change the calendar from today to the month of september or if
you're hunting in October so that way you can really see how the sun's gonna
affect you know that area that you want to go hunt and so so between that slope
shading and then the sun exposure you know you can really find some good dark
timber bedding areas and you haven't even left your home yet and so like I
said I'll start with Cal topo you know I'll find those areas then I'll jump
over to my on X Maps on my computer and kind of put a square
around it put a box around it shade it and kind of market point of interest but
then I will also go to Google Earth Pro zoom in and then tilt so I can get that
full true three-dimensional as if I'm standing in the can
looking around and seeing you know how tall everything is and and so so those
are the biggest tools that that I use here in Idaho we have another great tool
that is on Idaho Fish and Game's website it's the Idaho hunt planner and again
it's a topo map but you can turn on certain layers you can turn on roads
hiking trails campgrounds burns you know all kinds of information to really get
at your disposal so you can really dissect this area you know that you're
looking at you know I I try to find kind of those those hidden gems those hidden
pockets that people are gonna cruise right by because you know a lot of
people look for a deep canyon because they just want to go eight nine miles
back in or seven miles back in and and in reality you can have some great areas
within you know mile and a half to two and a half miles down the trail and the
neat thing is there's a lot of people are just zooming right by that to get
back deep in the canyon but so e scouting you know those those are the
tools basically that I really use so it's Cal topo Google Earth Pro on X maps
and then the Idaho hunt planner so the Idaho hunt planner basically what I'm
looking for is motorcycle trails hiking trails you know things that are going to
get me back into areas that you know want to easily access but then to is you
know you can find closed roads and gated roads I know a lot of states have trail
maps that you can you can access and road maps that vehicle use maps so that
way you can find these seasonal roads that you know may be open during the
summer but then they close during your hunting season so you know those are
great to learn because then is your your you know hunting around that area you
can learn access points to get animals out of whether it be a hiking
trail or a closed Road that's gated or anything like that so now you know I
look for there's a few things I look for when I'm when I'm looking online it's
definitely good dark timber on northeastern facing slopes that's
typically bedding areas open ridges open southern facing slopes and then kind of
some meadows and open areas down below and then of course water so if I can
find all that kind of in close proximity that's an area that I'm going to
highlight or draw a box around and Mark point of interest that's an area that I
want to get into and get boots on the ground and really see it so now once I
actually get out into the field what I do a lot of times first is I'll navigate
roads and kind of drive through this area while I'm driving these roads what
I'm really looking for is trails coming off the side of the road and then going
off the other side I'm looking for trails that are being used what kind of
tracks are in there give me an idea of the number of animals in there that are
moving around how close to the roads they are but also on these trails too
I'm marking these trails on my phone on my on X as points of entry so it may be
that you know you've got a park a quarter mile down the road then you walk
up that road quarter mile in the dark and then you hit one of these trails and
it may be kind of a hidden trail that a lot of people just drive by and don't
see but you know you happen to mark it then you hit it that morning and bang
your your back into an area up on a little Ridge in a hurry and then you
kind of have that advantage because you're kind of out in front of people or
you're you're up into an area you know right at first light so drive through an
area look for game trails look for water you know little creeks and if you find
trails next two creeks you know that's that's a great combination those are all
places that I want to go hike and check out now once I actually decide okay this
is an area I want to hike in I basically just pick one of those
starting points one of those trails whether it just be a game trail or a
designated hiking trail and just start walking in and I don't necessarily beat
feet I'm not in a speed walking race I'm not too concerned about the number of
miles as I'm moving through I'm really really paying attention and look
Hull's you know do we have some fresh tracks do we have fresh sign fresh pee
spots fresh dropping so when you're when you're looking at elk droppings if it's
really really fresh it's gonna be green the longer it stays out there it starts
turning brown and then eventually to you know black and just crumble away so if
you find green that is fresh elk droppings so but there's a few other
things that I'm looking for too you know most people when they go out
scouting they want to see animals and trust me I love seeing animals when I'm
out scouting and it's it's great to see but what I'm really looking for more is
signs of running activity rubs wallows you know and obviously the walls aren't
gonna be active but you can tell it's been you know an old wallow and the rubs
you know you can tell if it's last year's of the year before you know if
it's still you know a little tan or if it's really turning gray so those if you
see different shades of rubs then that basically tells you that that's a spot
that he'll come back to year after year after year now once I find kind of areas
like that that have you know rubs in them have some fresh sign have a couple
of game trails and have fresh tracks on it I can tell there's animals in the
area I'm gonna go ahead and deploy a trail camera you know definitely try to
find a travel corridor or a trail that I'll set that camera up on and I just
want to get an idea of what's in the area now if you're only finding Bulls if
you're high up on them on the mountain and all you're finding is Bulls what
you've probably done is you've probably found a summer hangout for the Bulls and
bachelor groups or lone big bulls a lot of times on camera I'm looking for cows
and calves more than I'm looking for Bulls because if I find cows and calves
hanging out in that area where these these these rubs that exactly tells me
where those elk are gonna be during September that's where they're gonna be
during the rut so those bulls up high comes up
member you know end of August getting close to the rut they're gonna they're
gonna leave that high country and they're gonna come down to where the
cows and calves are so the Bulls will always go to where the cows are now you
you may see kind of some random Bulls in with the cows those are typically
younger Bulls you're bigger more mature Bulls will be off by themselves during
the summer so now that doesn't mean that you know even though I hiked this area I
set out charile cameras when I'm looking on the map I'm also looking for high
elevation points that I can glass so a lot of times what I do when I go out in
the field is you know get up a little bit before first light eat breakfast
kind of you know get ready for the day and then that way I'm hiking right there
at first like when there's usually a lot more animal activity animal movement
temperatures are cooler because you know here we are knocking on the door July
temps are start gonna start pushing you know mid 90s upper 90s hundred degrees
so it's gonna be hot during that afternoon you really don't want to be
hiking around a whole lot during that time cuz you know animals aren't moving
so really the last thing you want to do is is really start bumping them out of
their beds when it's that hot and really causing a lot of stress on them so so I
kind of tend to stay out of those areas in you know you know mid to late
afternoon when the temps are really really hot but evening time that's
that's when I'll get up on these high vantage points and you know find a find
a good shade trees you know get the binoculars out get it set up on a tripod
and just glass and I'll sit there in class until dark just to kind of see
what what kind of you know activity and what kind of movement so now once I have
a trail camera in area I go about every three weeks and swap out the swap out
the cards I'm not one that walks into the camera pulls the card and then sits
there and looks at it well what I'm right there at the camera so I've talked
about this in the past I have all my cameras marked they're numbered the
memory cards that go with each of those are numbered so all I have to do is walk
in do a quick switch and then you know I may walk up to an elevated position in
that area in class for a while before I decide to you know come on back out and
then when I get back to camp during the hot part of the day or while I'm sitting
there scouting I'll pop that card in and just kind of start looking through it
and I know exactly which camera came from because like I said they're marked
one two three four or five I have them marked on my on X maps on my phone with
the camera number in the year so like right now I have 118 218 318 418 you
know those are all set they're marked so that way when I'm looking at them if I
kind of start seeing some pictures I can again I can pull up that on X go to
where that camera is kind of pan out a little bit and kind of look at the
surrounding area you know and you'll also start to see two travel times your
camera will tell me travel times you know which way they're you know which
way they're heading in the morning which way they're heading in the evening and
so then based on that information like I said pull up that on X you know
right where that camera is okay they're there you know kind of kind of head
north-northeast during the morning man there I'll bet you they're rolling
around this point and bedding down over on this face over here in the evening
you know they're heading Southwest okay what do we have hey there
they're probably traveling through here getting a drink at this Creek and coming
out here to feed and so that gives you a lot of information right there you know
their travel corridors you know where their bedding you know where they're
feeding and so based on when you go in there to hunt whether it's a morning
hunt or an evening hunt or you're planning on staying all day you know
exactly where to get in there to get on those elk as early as possible you also
know during a midday when they're bedded down where you don't want to be and have
your thermals blow up into them so but you know that's kind of in a nutshell
you know what I do for for my scouting you know like I said it's it's always
great to great to see animals in fact I got up this past Saturday and did a
quick loop to swap out card on a camera and I we we hunted this this draw or
this area quite a bit last year and I wanted to explore a new route into it to
really keep thermals in our favor even more in the morning coming in because we
were kind of dropping into this thing about halfway and I had a feeling that
there was elk out on the tail end of it where it drops down into a really big
Canyon and so I stayed low this Saturday and kind of went around the point man I
found a great bench that I didn't even know was there
overlooks you know the the start of the little draw that we hunt in and then
also on down into the big draw so really really gives a lot of area to cover and
scan but the other neat thing is to it'd be a great place to sit there with
binoculars and look at the other face across the other big Canyon because
there are some trails that we hum that accesses all that too so alright guys so
coming up Friday's video is going to be the 2018 cow call challenge so we have
seven or eight of the more popular cow calls that are on the market what we're
doing in this video is we're getting off camera blowing on them and we're gonna
have you guys vote on which one you think sounds the best to really
determine you know what's the best what's the best calc all that's on the
market for 2018 so so that's gonna go live Friday about six o'clock this
weekend Saturday if you are in the Boise Nampa area the or if you're coming into
town the Great Northwest outdoor Expo is going on over in Nampa Idaho at the
Florida Idaho Center I will be over there there's a there's a calling
contest at 11 o'clock in the morning on Saturday I'm gonna be over there about
nine o'clock and then after the contest I'll be wandering around so if you're
there come up say hi let's talk about elk hunting a little
bit but definitely get over to the show there's a lot of great things there's
ton of excellent seminars there's gonna be some great opportunities and some
cool things to check out so all right guys hey thanks for tuning in
I always appreciate the support as always keep calling keep practicing
what