A key component of preparing to chase elk or any other game animal is scouting the unit where you will hunt.
Yet many hunters don’t live close enough to their hunting areas to get boots on the ground before the season, especially if they’ve drawn an out-of-state tag. A lot of pre-hunt scouting must be done by using digital mapping apps like onX.
OutdoorClass instructor Corey Jacobsen, 10-time winner of RMEF’s World Elk Calling Championships, has frequently faced the challenge of researching new hunting areas.
Corey begins e-scouting a new spot by using onX to locate places where food, water and bedding cover for elk converge. Here’s his CliffNotes starter guide.
1. Know Your Layers and Tools
Knowing how to get the most out of the onX app will streamline your approach to scouting. In the Layers tab, Corey recommends turning on the Private Lands and Game Management Units (GMU) layers but he advises only using the Government Lands layer when needed, because it places a tint over the map that can make it difficult to see certain terrain details. Other useful layers to toggle on and off are Active Wildfires, Wilderness Areas, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Access, Motorized Roads and Trails, Trails, Historic Wildfire and Timber Cuts. These layers help give you an idea of the current and historic state of the land.
The Build Route tool will follow elevation contours to show you an ideal route and the actual distance of that path. Add Waypoint allows you to mark and label locations and even color-code them if you choose.
2. Find Food
To find elk you need to find their dining room. To do this using onX, Corey recommends turning on the 3D satellite map feature and rotating the map so that the southeast direction is facing toward you. When viewing the basemaps in 3D view, try using the Elevation Exaggeration feature to emphasize how steep the terrain is. Look for open ridges and slopes with a southeast, east or northeast exposure. Mark and label these points “food.” You may also want to color-code these waypoints green to make them easy to spot when viewing your map in the field.
3. Find Water
Water is generally easy to locate using onX. The maps show streams as solid blue lines or as dotted lines if they are ephemeral. Mapped marshes and springs are shown with symbols. These are all good features to note. You can see all the mapped water sources using the topo map view and then switch to the hybrid map view to overlay the water sources on the satellite images. Corey also looks for the less obvious or hidden sources of water by pinpointing bright green places on the satellite imagery. Heads of draws or benches can be good areas to look for evidence of hidden water or wallows. Corey reminds hunters that these hidden water sources can vary a lot depending on when the satellite photos were taken. If they were taken in a year with normal precipitation and you’ll be hunting in a drought year, keep that in mind. Drop a waypoint at each possible water source and label it. You may want to color-code these points blue, so they are easy to pick out from the other waypoints.
4. Find Ideal Bedding Areas
When looking for elk bedrooms, Corey recommends turning on the 3D satellite map and rotating it so north is facing you. Examine areas adjacent to or on north-facing slopes where elk can stay secure and cool in thick vegetation throughout the day. Elk need to have multiple escape routes from their bedding areas. If you locate an inviting north slope that only has one exit path or only exposed exit paths, eliminate it from your search. Drop waypoints near especially promising prospective bedding areas and label and color-code them.
5. The Final Factor
Along with food, water and resting areas, elk need reasonable security from hunting pressure. That means avoiding easy access points. So, as you look for overlaps of likely feeding, watering and bedding areas, Corey suggests using the Roads and Trails layer to look for places where these features intersect at least a mile from a motorized road or trail. He zeroes in on these remaining areas once the hunt begins.