E-Scouting vs boots on the ground (poll)

[Deleted member 52098]

Curious how many people only put eyes on their unit of choice a few days before the hunt… vs those that make sure to put boots on the ground well in advance. (poll)

 

[WapitiBob]

Every antelope hunt and this years deer hunt e scout only, which for those is nothing more than looking at roads.

 

[GrantK]

Depends a lot on how rare the tag is and how close to home it is, I'd rather burn vacation time hunting for an OTC tag or easy draw, 15 point elk tag or a once-in-a-lifetime species and I'd almost prefer to spend more time scouting than hunting, know as much about individual animals as possible on opening day.

 

[mevertsen]

My dad has a deer tag in an area we know well and we hunted last year. I have e scouted that country a lot. And I have hunted all over it a Fajr amount for deer, elk, predators and small game.

What looks like a short hop doesnt always calculate out. What looks impossible might have a simple solution.

We went for a drive and came up with a solid plan I would not have considered were it not for driving out and taking a look.

It involves camping out of the main hunting area, and it involves my dad going through the effort to get permission to hunt some private property in the area.

Boots on the ground wins for me.

 

[Redman]

I try to get out a day or two before season starts bu that is not always possible.

 

[Dawson]

I spend most of the time flying around in google earth marking good looking areas, if I’m able to then I’ll check them out in person, nothing ever look the same as it did on google earth

 

[Pucky Freak]

I find there to be advantages to each, and I do both. In-person scouting is useful for finding how recently animals have been using an area, and which animals. Game trails are clearly visible on Google Earth Pro, but I need to be in person to look at scat, tracks, beds, rubs, etc.

 

[Stocker]

For me E-scouting is great to narrow down spots and have a few starting points, but for me personally I need boots on the ground. I have ADD so bad I mark way too many spots, many aren’t bad spots, but I waste a lot of time thinking I need to check all of them.

I went to Idaho a few years ago on an Idaho B tag? (I think it was a b tag, could shoot a bull in October with a rifle)

I had a lot of areas e-scouted. It took me basically the entire hunt to work through all my waypoints. If I was there during archery season I’m confident I would’ve been in elk hard, but they were in different areas during my hunt.

 

[2rocky]

Boots on the ground is the only way to truly scout an area. I laughed as where I killed a bull in a roadless area was marked on a Escouting site as a 4wd road open year round.

About 1/3 of what looks good on a screen is worth a damn in person. The screen just tells me where to start.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Boots on the ground is the only way to truly scout an area. I laughed as where I killed a bull in a roadless area was marked on a Escouting site as a 4wd road open year round.

About 1/3 of what looks good on a screen is worth a damn in person. The screen just tells me where to start.

I had the opposite issue today, went to look at an area that looked amazing and had a year round county road / forest service road into the area... you would have need a lifted / amphibious vehicle to get through to the end of the road.

 

[RyGuy]

Sure, I’d love to put eyes on the unit I’m hunting multiple times before I ever get there to hunt. But I also love to catch and eat walleye in the summer. Life doesn’t always allow me to “boots on the ground” scout, and even when it does, sometimes I don’t make it out there.
It definitely gives you a leg up over people who have never been there before though.

 

[BearFoot]

We do this every year. E scout then go there. Each year I learn and have more love for land I live in. Critters are where you find them.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

There is no substitute for boots on the ground. Though when I say that, I am less concerned about exploring every nook and cranny than I am about getting familiar with the area and making sure there are no showstopper issues for hunting there. On more than one occasion, I have seen nice looking spots on google earth, only to find out with boots on the ground that the road in got deactivated (or bridge washed out, or gates closed, or otherwise inaccessible) 10 miles before the spot, or the sat photos are a few years old and what looked like scrubby re-gen in some nice clear cuts is now tall enough you can't see 10 feet, and so-on.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

E-scouting is terrific to narrow down areas to physically scout. Boots on the ground finds spoor, browsed areas. Both ways have respective benefits.

 

[Kodiak06]

I've spent so many hrs looking at the maps online I'm sick of it lol. I'll be in the unit for a week late Apr or late May scouting

 

[Snag23]

If I live several states away from where I will be hunting I definitely will just e-scout. But much prefer to combine boots on ground and e-scout.

 

[Nameless Range]

I Think I enjoy scouting more than I enjoy hunting. I suppose it’s always a combination of both, the E scouting gives me a good idea, and the boots on the ground show how insufficient the E scouting really is to understand chunks of Earth.

I love going for a hike in a place I’m interested in hunting in mid July, when the highs are in the upper 90s. Places that are destinations or highways during hunting season are empty of people, and you literally do have mountains to yourself. It’s those hikes outside of hunting season, when the goal is to just take the place in, that I fall in love with geographies.

 

[Texashunter21]

I am hoping this year is the year i get to go in and look at the unit