BJ made some very good points, the main one being that you have to locate elk country before your going to find elk. Here in Idaho it' s nothing to find fifteen to twenty spots that would be very attractive to elk within a 10 mile radius. That' s when I start scouting for elk because I know that there won' t be elk in all fifteen to twenty spots. There is one way to scout for elk before archery season and another way to scout for elk before rifle season. The reason for the different methods is the fact that before archery season the elk are vocal and have not been harrassed and then by rifle season they have been. Since rookelkhunter' s question concerns bow hunting elk, this is how I go about scouting for elk at that time. First of all I scout alot aprox. 20 days in July and 20 more in Aug. If I' m scouting areas I' ve hunted for years I go into the lower parts of drainages and basins especially north facing ones and check for elk sign usually in the afternoon while the elk aren' t there. The wetter the better. I' ll penetrate anywhere from 1-5 miles off a dirt road. (stay away from trails)Once I locate 5 or 6 herds I pick out the biggest one, ones with about 50-60 elk( remember this in July) I' ll go back in to where the big herd is feeding and watering with wind in my favor about 2hrs before dark, when they show up I sit watch and LISTEN, most important thing you can do, you' ll learn a hell of a lot by doing this and besides it' s the next best thing to hunting them, ( take a kid with you). I usually stay put till around midnight. Man the calls you' ll hear at this time will amaze you, that' s why you listen, very important for a bowhunter, you' ll hear calls you never thought they' d make & squeals & squalls & half hearted bugles, cows making sounds and bulls racing toward her, bulls making sounds and cows come a running, 2 spikes sparring, another raking a bush with his huge 10inch spikes it' s constant action. I' ve heard over a 150 bugles this early in the season many times and when this is happening I want to be there. This is also an important part of scouting that' s learning everything possible about them so you can successfully hunt them when the time comes. I never call at these times. I repeat this process with different herds during these months and have never had a problem spooking animals out of an area. Doing this type of scouting all the way up to opening morning can be very rewarding, you will have the jump on folks who don' t scout. Too you now have at least half dozen places to choose from. If you' re new to an area get some topo maps of areas you' re interested in and look for drainages, north facing basins, benchy areas also look for the ones with water in them, every area you look at won' t pan out so make sure you do the leg work until you find the ones with these ingredients and you' ll find elk, hunting them effectivley is up to you. The further you get away from other hunters the better you' ll do. By doing these things you should have no problem keeping tabs on them all the way to opening morning. Make sure you are in the area you plan on hunting at least 30 min. before light and listen,DO NOT CALL UNTIL YOU CAN SHOOT. There is so much more to say on the subject but I have to end it sometime. I have a totally different approach to scouting before rifle season, but that' s another subject. elknut1.

Geesh, think I got reader' s cramp.

i agree with gleninaz not only cause i live in arizona but iv' e seen them in colorado,oregon and arizona move down when it snows. if you have alot of snow then move down lower. i' m not saying that all of them move down but alot of them do. but you will find alot more BIG BOYS in the higher elevations.