Newbie hunting experiment. iHunter extras worth it?

[kpfishngame]

I'm a late bloomer, first started hunting 3 years ago at 28 years old, only solo trips from Edmonton. Took till the second year to get my first whitetail buck, wife was so "thrilled" when I boiled the head in the house to mount it euro style. Work and injuries got in the way for me to hunt this past year, such is life. Only been doing public land, haven't done much in the mountains or foothills at all, aside from some hiking/backpacking. Have done numerous scouts where I would think "ya, that's a good looking spot", just to be greated by like 10 other hunters or hunting parties, so just a waste of gas lol. I have the iHunter app, and it's extremely helpful for the relative newbie that I am. I have been really thinking about trying some mountain or foothills hunts, 400's and 300's. I would absolutely love to get my first elk, cow or bull doesn't matter to me. With everything on this forum, all the searches, all the people saying "this place sucks" "this wmu is filled with people" "blah blah blah", kind of makes things a bit more daunting. Especially when I look at google maps, and ihunter maps, harvest reports, etc, and it all just kind of garbles to some confusion. I hate the idea of being in the way of other people hunting an area, so all the heavily hit spots are places I try to avoid. Some places I have gone, whenever I see someone else or a group, I immediately leave.

Looking at the iHunter app, there are a few extras that seem like they could be good for me, specifically the public land access yearly subscription thing, and all the landowner maps. Are these helpful in your opinion? Do they ACTUALLY help a guy out?

Maybe you have a WMU in mind, a wilderness area, PLU, whatever, that you have been thinking of hunting regardless of poor harvest reports. A spot away from the crowd. Maybe I could be a guinea pig and try that spot out. I don't know the lay of the lands as much as you experienced folk. Honestly doesn't need to be specifically elk, just a spot your thinking "meh, could be something over there", but for whatever reason you just haven't gone there. Any ideas in mind? I only have a truck, so hiking is my method, no need to encroach on the quad areas, of which I don't really know where those areas are. Again I hate the idea of being in the way of other people hunting, bumping animals that someone else has been stalking would suck.

Or you could just reply "hey you useless lazy ****! get off your ass and find it yourself!"..... I get it....

[Smoky buck]

Here is some honest advice and not trying to hide anything

Don’t get too caught up on harvest reports a lot of the locations I have had the best results in are in areas that show poor to moderate harvest numbers. Often high harvest numbers can mean high hunter numbers.

In many cases consistently be successful means the hunter knows there hunting area well. This is not about miles of country but instead known the small 50-500 yard pockets. I could easily send you to a WMU that is good to me but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be good to you. I shot my deer out of a WMU that most people were complaining about not seeing deer. I have multiple locations that I am confident will continue to produce in this WMU

Scouting and time in the field is king in my opinion. I spent years running around looking for magical honey hole hunting areas and reached the conclusion they don’t exist. Time and time the areas the have been the most productive are areas I was able to invest the most time in learning. I now focus on areas I can invest time in

As a new hunter scouting will be tougher because you are still learning what to look for. You will learn more about how to scout by studying the species you want to hunt. This means learning the habitat it likes and how it’s habits vary through the year. Go outside of hunters for this information you will get less biased opinions from biologist reports

The real art to avoiding other hunters is about going to those areas they overlook or most think are too tough to hunt. This is not about how many miles you can burn on your boots. I have seen plenty of busy places in the backcountry.

I am no elk hunter so I am no help there but I can tell you for a fact there is plenty of whitetail on public land in all the 300 WMUs west of Edmonton you just need to invest time learning the pockets

Instead of asking where to go maybe ask hunters what they look for when scouting for new locations. This is way more valuable because it will help you find your own hunting spots and that will increase your odds of finding places with less hunters

[35 whelen]

Well said, We should have this for a sticky for all the people that asked that very same question.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by 35 whelen

Well said, We should have this for a sticky for all the people that asked that very same question.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Too many typing errors for that lol

[kpfishngame]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Instead of asking where to go maybe ask hunters what they look for when scouting for new locations. This is way more valuable because it will help you find your own hunting spots and that will increase your odds of finding places with less hunters

Excellent info. To be honest this is probably the hardest part, finding places that actually hold animals, and why these places hold the animals. Reading books, watching videos online for what to look for, etc, it all kind of looks the same. What makes this patch of green more tempting than this other patch of identical green 500 yards away? lol

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by kpfishngame

Excellent info. To be honest this is probably the hardest part, finding places that actually hold animals, and why these places hold the animals. Reading books, watching videos online for what to look for, etc, it all kind of looks the same. What makes this patch of green more tempting than this other patch of identical green 500 yards away? lol

You are also looking at the contour of the land looking at the paths with the least resistance that offer comfort of cover at the same time. Animals often travel along the tops of ridges or along benches or bottom of ravines. Too much dead fall is a bad thing as well. You are looking for food, water, and bedding locations. Personally I also like mature mixed timber

With whitetail you are also looking for scrape and rubs

The biggest thing is looking for sign. Right now is a good time to go for drive and look for tracks in the snow. Get on game trails and follow them they will show you where the animals want to be

I know you mentioned elk but maybe focus on whitetail first since they are in higher numbers close to Edmonton. But if you are set on elk giver but expect some years of failure well you learn because they are tougher and in lower numbers

[Barry D]

I hunted a ranch down in 308 for 30 years and I agree that the more you hunt an area, the better you get at hunting it. It was back in the early 80's and I made a big topo map of the 20 square miles we hunted, and then put stickers on each kill site. Each species had a different colour. After about 15 years a pattern started to imerge for each species we haunted. The next 15 years only confirmed the first 15. We literally had huge areas where we never shot an animal even though it was hunted at least a bit if not a lot. It all looks the same to us, but those animals have there preferences, and this is one way to learn where to hunt and how to keep your self in the best chance locations.
Now we hunt solid big bush up north, and the same principle applies. Now with trail camera you can really narrow down where the animals are. Have them out all year and you'll learn they are not in the same areas in every season. Walk the land when you can. I shed hunt, coyote/wolf hunt and just explore the area and it's paid off big time.
Oh, one more thing, once you find sign of high animal numbers/activity while you are hunting, learn to sit, watch and be patient. I've shot at least one big game animal for 43 years straight. Most were shot when they where moving and I wasn't.

[Passthru]

Only thing I would add is, yes, the extra layers are worth it on ihunter. Shows you places to start scouting at least. But time and effort scouting on the ground and getting to know an area are most important. Getting to know a couple square km of forest can take years to actually know it through and through. Keep a journal of all your encounters with animals. Where, what time of day, date, weather, wind direction. Eventually the pieces will fit and will start to make sense.

[Maxwell87]

it’s comes in time, i’m only a handful of years into the big game thing. start by frequenting the bush/places you know best. i’m a long time angler/forager/grousehunter and i went to my “comfort” zone areas first trying to reflect on where i think i seen deer/elk. branch out from there. time in the bush is everything this year i really felt like i learned to swim. previous years more so get wet and try not to drown. this is not a instant gratification pastime.

i hunt a lot of birds this time of year post rifle and mainly just “look” at stuff and poke around. it’s less about the birds now more about next big game season. but it gives me a bigger reason to go look/scout. sheds and shroom seasons i find myself doing the same in the next few months. animals every everywhere and knowwhere. guys mention this a lot. it is true food and shelter i am learning more and more about.

ihunter is a great app the maps for my areas have helped me learn who might own what land public/private. the contact info is nice to for grazing leases. but i cross reference this with google earth 626315731 times a season. learning the terrain from a e-scout and boots on the ground are key.

give up on hoping to find your own mountain or meadow knowone else hunts, it’s not practical. having a few small “zones” you feel confident in are nice within a 10-30 minute drive for each other, have bin my biggest asset now. some days another hunter is in “our” spot, not getting to worried and moving to my plan b is helpful. stop and talk to people to, lots of decent people around. same can be said fishing and foraging. same with guys giving you a “spot” hunters and foragers are “funny” “secretive” mainly because once something is harvested it is now GONE the more people remove animals from a spot the less there are. it took me a while to truly understand this from a foraging perspective and hunting is the same. in time you will meet people willing to share a little or a lot.

personally i enjoy the solo struggle rather than having someone do it all for me. even the days i’m ready to give up and burn it all.

enjoy the process i’ve only gotten birds and deer so far, elk will happen and i’m more surprised on where moose live “now” . best of luck!

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by kpfishngame

Excellent info. To be honest this is probably the hardest part, finding places that actually hold animals, and why these places hold the animals. Reading books, watching videos online for what to look for, etc, it all kind of looks the same. What makes this patch of green more tempting than this other patch of identical green 500 yards away? lol

Ridge and an edge, thats the bonehead recipe for bush deer. If you find a place where a ridge and a hard edge exist in relatively close proximity, then explore at least 5 square kilometers of the surrounding country, You should find a decent area 75% of the time. Deer behavior near a ridge will tend to revolve around thermal drift patterns and prevailing wind... and thats about as predictable as bush deer are ever going to get.

My favorite places cant really be found this way, but the more you get away from those features the more it starts to resemble voodoo, and the more often your prospecting will simply "eliminate options" rather than finding gold.

[Steyr Luxus]

Smokey Buck response is the answer you are looking for!!

[JULIUS]

My work career required me to move a lot so I can sympathize.
When I started in a new area of the province I always collected maps and started making notes of industrial activity ie logging pipeline construction etc. Some time figuring out where these activities will move animals around can be useful. I also look for "pinch points" places where natural or man made features will create a funnel for animals too move thru. Of course water sources and food sources play a big part as well. Look for what I call "dead lines".IE: those lines that for what ever reason are not being traveled by quads. Some times this is a creek or deep ravine. Animals will often stay in very small areas if quad pressure is high. This takes a lot of foot on ground time but it pays off. I have shot Elk in areas close to towns that others by passed going further into the mountains.
I hunt almost exclusively in the public land and have harvested dozens of animals in my 65 years including 15 bull elk and have been with partners that harvested 8. I have harvested from the crowsnest to Grand Prairie and most areas in between. Animals are there but they know how to hide. Elk in particular during the rut period will find a very small area between cut lines or down in ravines and stay there during the high pressure times.
As stated by others on this site probably start with White tails and hone your skill at locating and harvesting and processing before moving on to those animals in fewer number.
Good luck

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Ridge and an edge, thats the bonehead recipe for bush deer. If you find a place where a ridge and a hard edge exist in relatively close proximity, then explore at least 5 square kilometers of the surrounding country, You should find a decent area 75% of the time. Deer behavior near a ridge will tend to revolve around thermal drift patterns and prevailing wind... and thats about as predictable as bush deer are ever going to get.

My favorite places cant really be found this way, but the more you get away from those features the more it starts to resemble voodoo, and the more often your prospecting will simply "eliminate options" rather than finding gold.

EXACTLY! There are hard edge lines that divide ridges and tree species, the trees are there because of the ridges , and the game trails naturally follow these, as do the age old trapper and voyageur trails of years gone by .
Cat