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Choosing the right hunting spot
Choosing a Hunting Spot:
Choosing the right set up is just as important as scouting. We here at High Prairie Lodge and outfitters find that set up is the key to not only seeing big deer but taking trophy deer and game. Whitetails, Mule deer, Elk and antelope are all what I like to call “pattern-able “ and they all leave game sign. Finding game sign will allow you to get in the right place to score a trophy animal but just finding sign may not be enough to create the proper set up to actually harvest that big buck or bull you are after. However reading game sign during your scouting the right way will help give you insight for where, when, and how to set up your tree stand or ground blind increasing your chances at harvesting game.
All the guides here at High Prairie Outfitters, are trained to interpret game sign to paint a picture to help chose our stand and ground blind set ups.
A lot of people put heavy emphasis on finding scat or droppings. This is a good sign no doubt that deer and elk are using the area but you have to look more closely to really reap the benefits of your find. A close inspection of scat with some training can give you insight into what big game is eating and if you know your land this will help you locate feeding areas. Deer especially are very specific eaters call concentrate feeders where elk are more like cattle grazers you can use this knowledge to narrow down major feeding areas.
Another message you can get from scat is finding concentrations of scat indicating social areas or bedding areas for big game. Higher concentration of scat piles may also mean feeding areas as well.
Tracks: Game trails often bare the making of clear game tracks. If you examine the tracks you can get a feel for the size of the animal and more importantly the direction of which the animal is traveling.
Using this info of game traveling direction, the High Prairie guides set up game cameras in a special manor that allows us to have a 90%+ success rate in harvesting trophy bucks by filling in the last few pieces of the puzzle.
Wind: wind is the single most important determining factor when choosing which tree to hang your stand in. We like to hang two scouting cameras one facing the direction from which most of the tracks are coming from and one perpendicular to the trail. The perpendicular camera is special because our guide hang a feather form a string in front of the trailcam and what this dose is as the wind blows it will take pics of the feather this helps us pattern what the wind does specifically in our area in relation to the surrounding terrain. The High Prairie guides then take this info plus other info that we have collected such as moon phase, temp, time of day all provided by our Stealth Cam cameras along with the pictures and now we can successfully hang our stand or set up our ground blinds to ensure our clients get the best possible opportunity at their desired game.
That’s the difference of world class and the other guys. …