I decided years ago that the people who get a bull or buck every year scout. And I don’t mean a little. They scout a lot. And therein lies the problem for most of us. The ones who don’t scout enough usually fall into two categories.

NO. 1: LOVE TO DO IT ALL

I’m definitely in this category. I’m not an expert at anything because I like to do it all. I have a buddy and all that he does is fly fish. I love fly fishing but I’ll never be as good as him because that is all he does., year-round. Read my articles. You see what I do. Spring it is mushroom, bear, whistle pig and turkey hunting, bowfishing and crappie fishing.

Then it’s strictly crappie fishing and then backpacking/fly fishing and picking huckleberries.

Then bow hunting and on and on it goes. So if you’re like me, it’s hard to dedicate three to four weekends to strictly scouting. I know that I should. But we live in Idaho. There is too much to do. I still want to do four to six more crappie trips, one to two more backpacking… You get my drift. Because of all of the opportunities there are just too many voices screaming for our time. So this is one big reason we don’t scout as much as we should.

NO. 2: FAMILY AND WORK

There are some people that are rich and have unlimited time off, but as a whole most of us have precious little free time. For the last 43 years, I’ve worked 10 to 12 hours a day. Most of you readers have one to four weeks of vacation. If you have a growing family, you’re lucky if you get to take one week of vacation to hunt.

You sure can’t justify taking one to two more weeks to go scouting.

You have to (and want to) take vacation with your family. So unfortunately, for many of us the first one to three days of our hunt (if you’re lucky enough to hunt for one week solid) is spent scouting more than hunting. The first elk that I ever got we moved camp twice before we got into them.

And the above scenario is why a lot of people hire guides. And guides are a great option if you can afford them. But that’s not an option for many of us.

So with all of the above said, there are a lot of underlying reasons as to why we don’t scout as much as we should. I know. I get it. I live in the same world that you do. All that I’m saying, is that the more you scout, the more successful you will be. If you can only scout for a Saturday, then so be it. If you’re lucky and can scout for four weekends prior to your hunt, that’s better. But whatever boat you’re in, let’s get into scouting.

First off, you don’t want to start scouting in April, the elk and deer are in their wintering grounds. They may migrate out 5 to 15 miles by October. You probably ought to wait to do your scouting until July and hitting it hard in August is actually the best.

If you draw a special tag, spend time scouting. Especially if It’s a once-in-a-lifetime draw. I’ve only been successful in drawing three tags. A bull moose, cow moose and an antelope tag. A moose is a once-in-a-lifetime deal so you want to give it full attention. The good deal on my moose tag was, I had something like two to three months to hunt. So I could hunt while scouting. But most hunts may only be a week so you need to scout beforehand.

So how do you scout? Let’s go over my antelope scouting deal. Ugh, it started off rough. Katy and I were going to go scouting but the four-wheeler wouldn’t start so I threw a chain on it and had her pull me to jump start it. Unfortunately, it locked up, threw me over the front sliding on the asphalt and then flipped over on top of me. Luckily, she was looking in the mirror and stopped right fast or she’d have drug it over the top of me. Trip to the emergency room, broke rib, jerked the skin loose from the knee to the hip, thought I’d broke both legs, etc.

But despite the minor delay, we got out 24 hours later. Just like when hunting, you need to scout at daylight/dark. Find out where the herds are. Find a shootable buck. On most draw hunts you’ll be hunting a trophy animal so it is worth the time to scout.

You’ll want good optics. I used Riton Optics and have had good luck with their 10X42 binoculars. You’ll also want a good spotting scope. Your goal when scouting isn’t necessarily getting up right on top of them, you just want to know where they are and if there’s a good one in the herd and pattern them.

It took me a couple of trips but I found a nice buck. Now I knew where to go. BUT — you need to have two to three spots checked out. What if you get there opening morning and someone else is there? Or what if wolves have moved in and run everything out of the country? You’ll have to jump.

Also, pre-locate a spot to camp. You don’t want to camp in the meadow where the elk are at. A lot of hunters throw up their tent the weekend before. It stakes out their spot plus, they can drive up and not have to take a day to set-up camp.

Well, hopefully some of these tips help. Good luck!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I decided years ago that the people who get a bull or buck every year scout. And I don’t mean a little. They scout a lot. And therein lies the problem for most of us. The ones who don’t scout enough usually fall into two categories.

NO. 1: LOVE TO DO IT ALL

I’m definitely in this category. I’m not an expert at anything because I like to do it all. I have a buddy and all that he does is fly fish. I love fly fishing but I’ll never be as good as him because that is all he does., year-round. Read my articles. You see what I do. Spring it is mushroom, bear, whistle pig and turkey hunting, bowfishing and crappie fishing.

Then it’s strictly crappie fishing and then backpacking/fly fishing and picking huckleberries.

Then bow hunting and on and on it goes. So if you’re like me, it’s hard to dedicate three to four weekends to strictly scouting. I know that I should. But we live in Idaho. There is too much to do. I still want to do four to six more crappie trips, one to two more backpacking… You get my drift. Because of all of the opportunities there are just too many voices screaming for our time. So this is one big reason we don’t scout as much as we should.

NO. 2: FAMILY AND WORK

There are some people that are rich and have unlimited time off, but as a whole most of us have precious little free time. For the last 43 years, I’ve worked 10 to 12 hours a day. Most of you readers have one to four weeks of vacation. If you have a growing family, you’re lucky if you get to take one week of vacation to hunt.

You sure can’t justify taking one to two more weeks to go scouting.

You have to (and want to) take vacation with your family. So unfortunately, for many of us the first one to three days of our hunt (if you’re lucky enough to hunt for one week solid) is spent scouting more than hunting. The first elk that I ever got we moved camp twice before we got into them.

And the above scenario is why a lot of people hire guides. And guides are a great option if you can afford them. But that’s not an option for many of us.

So with all of the above said, there are a lot of underlying reasons as to why we don’t scout as much as we should. I know. I get it. I live in the same world that you do. All that I’m saying, is that the more you scout, the more successful you will be. If you can only scout for a Saturday, then so be it. If you’re lucky and can scout for four weekends prior to your hunt, that’s better. But whatever boat you’re in, let’s get into scouting.

First off, you don’t want to start scouting in April, the elk and deer are in their wintering grounds. They may migrate out 5 to 15 miles by October. You probably ought to wait to do your scouting until July and hitting it hard in August is actually the best.

If you draw a special tag, spend time scouting. Especially if It’s a once-in-a-lifetime draw. I’ve only been successful in drawing three tags. A bull moose, cow moose and an antelope tag. A moose is a once-in-a-lifetime deal so you want to give it full attention. The good deal on my moose tag was, I had something like two to three months to hunt. So I could hunt while scouting. But most hunts may only be a week so you need to scout beforehand.

So how do you scout? Let’s go over my antelope scouting deal. Ugh, it started off rough. Katy and I were going to go scouting but the four-wheeler wouldn’t start so I threw a chain on it and had her pull me to jump start it. Unfortunately, it locked up, threw me over the front sliding on the asphalt and then flipped over on top of me. Luckily, she was looking in the mirror and stopped right fast or she’d have drug it over the top of me. Trip to the emergency room, broke rib, jerked the skin loose from the knee to the hip, thought I’d broke both legs, etc.

But despite the minor delay, we got out 24 hours later. Just like when hunting, you need to scout at daylight/dark. Find out where the herds are. Find a shootable buck. On most draw hunts you’ll be hunting a trophy animal so it is worth the time to scout.

You’ll want good optics. I used Riton Optics and have had good luck with their 10X42 binoculars. You’ll also want a good spotting scope. Your goal when scouting isn’t necessarily getting up right on top of them, you just want to know where they are and if there’s a good one in the herd and pattern them.

It took me a couple of trips but I found a nice buck. Now I knew where to go. BUT — you need to have two to three spots checked out. What if you get there opening morning and someone else is there? Or what if wolves have moved in and run everything out of the country? You’ll have to jump.

Also, pre-locate a spot to camp. You don’t want to camp in the meadow where the elk are at. A lot of hunters throw up their tent the weekend before. It stakes out their spot plus, they can drive up and not have to take a day to set-up camp.

Well, hopefully some of these tips help. Good luck!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Used to be, I’d catch crappie until the end of May. The last four or five years, I’m still catching them up until I start bow hunting, which is nearly September. I don’t know what has changed. But who cares? The bite is real!

Of course, the technique to catch them changes as the year goes by. On a recent Monday, Katy and I caught 114 and on Thursday we caught 141 in four hours. And she was reading a book for one to two hours both times. This year, it seems like the red/white tube jigs are the hot ticket with a small jig head but Thursday I switched to a Lake Fork Trophy Lures Baby Shad in their pearl color and it held its own.

Of course, they aren’t up right by the bank like in the spring when they’re spawning. We’re catching most of them out 50 yards from the bank and farther. To catch them is a little unique. We’ll cast out and let it sink to the bottom. If you’re fishing with two rods, cast out both.

Then pick up the first one and slowly pick up the tip of the rod and slightly reel. They start hitting right away. If not, repeat. Near dusk it is a hit every cast, literally. Reel it in, unhook your fish and by now another fish will be hitting the second rod. Don’t grab the second rod though. Cast out the first one right fast so it can be fishing and then reel in the second fish. Unhook him right fast and then cast it back in and grab the first rod. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until you’re tired. Fishing is unbelievable right now. More than likely you’ll only be able to handle one rod.

I don’t have a depth finder on the Black Pearl (which the haters call the Edmund Fitz Terror due to a few mishaps) so I can’t tell you what depth to fish in but I’d say out to 30 feet. We catch most of them deep but as soon as I say that we get a lot of fish not over four feet deep. You might say, Tom, they’ve followed your jig up from the bottom but quite a few times we’ve had a jig laying over the side of the boat and caught a fish not three feet deep.

But big news, even though we’ve owned the Black Pearl for 34 years and she is very well weather worn, we did upgrade her last week. We put on a Honda BF2.3 gas motor. Ahh … It is like a slice of heaven. No longer do we have to monitor the battery power level nor are we limited to staying within a couple of miles of where we launched. Nor do we periodically have to paddle back due to a dead battery. A couple of times in bad winds I’ve made it back within 50 yards of the dock only for the battery to die (curse of all curses) and get blown off into eternity.

The Honda BF2.3 motor pushes the BP about three times as fast as the electric trolling motor, too. As soon as I get a free moment, I think I’ll go down to the courthouse and legally change her name to SUCK MY WAKE! That definitely sounds more prestigious than all the other names that my disillusioned buddies have called her. Such as The Edmund Fitz Terror, The Coffin or Carp 1.

Now that I have a real motor and can fish more and will be paddling and cussing less, what am I going to do with all of the fish that allows me more time to catch?

Yes, I am definitely on top of the world now that I have a gas motor. I’m thinking that I’ve reached the pinnacle of crappie fishing. 

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

I know that I’m totally blessed and get to do a lot of cool stuff, but my most favorite trip every year is backpacking with my daughter, Kolby. It’s the best daddy-daughter time in the world. No TV, no cellphones, no internet, no nada. Just me and her. We get to talk about everything under the sun with no interruptions. When I take time to hear her insights, it amazes me as to how smart and perceptive she is. I’d never have a chance to see this side of her if we didn’t withdraw from the busyness of the world.

I live a busy life. Right now, I’m 30,000 feet above the earth headed home. I’ve been out of state for two weeks and have two to three in-state trips this week while home and then I fly out again for two more weeks.

While going through TSA, I got a call from an editor wanting me to fly down to Texas in a few weeks for a dove hunt. And working on a deal with Knives of Alaska to develop a professional boning knife for the outdoorsman. It will soon be hitting the market. I’ve got to run down for a few days to bone out a steer, deer and a hog and do some filming on processing and do a couple of TV shows.

There is always something going on or being planned. So to get away, just me and my daughter by ourselves in the wilderness backpacking and fly fishing is precious. If you don’t do this with your kids, you really should. It’s the highlight of my year.

After your initial set-up cost, it is a cheap outing. We covered backpacking gear a couple of weeks ago, but I’d advise buying good gear. It will last for years to come and not toot out on you while in the backcountry. We tested out an Alps Mountaineering Chaos 2 and an Alps Meramac 2 tent, their Crescent 20 sleeping bags and their Nimble Air Mats. All worked great.

I had a flurry of articles I had to submit so we got off a little later than I wanted. I wanted to get to our camping spot, set up and fish for an hour or two before dark. As is, we got there in time to get set up before dark. We threw up the tents and while Kolby was pumping up the mats, I gathered enough firewood for the duration. I love the Nimble Air Mats. They’re unique in that the storage bag acts as a pump of sorts. It connects to the valve on the mat. Fill the bag with air and then roll it up to force air into the mat. A lot of mats are only 1-inch thick, the Nimble is nearly 4 inches thick so you only need one mat. This will save me from packing two.

We built a fire, ate some snacks and then stumbled to bed. The next morning, I got up early and hit my favorite hole. I caught one nice cutthroat, about 17-18 inches and then went back to camp to get Koko. We built a fire, drank some coffee and ate a quick breakfast.

We then hit the river and fly fished all day. I started out using Skull Head black wooly buggers from flydealflies.com. I could not beg a bite. I put on one of their Olive Caddis flies on Koko’s line and right fast she hung a nice native cutthroat. Wow, what a nice fish.

We didn’t catch a ton of fish but got a couple of nice ones and had a great time and as you remember from last week’s article, we got sidetracked picking huckleberries, which isn’t a bad thing at all. That in and of itself would have made it a great trip. I screwed up big time and forgot to pack flavored oatmeal. We love that for breakfast with huckleberries mixed in.

Wow, too many options in the backcountry. Do we pick huckleberries? Thimble berries? Fly fish? Why just do one? So we did all three. Late that afternoon we headed back to camp and built a big roaring fire and dined on Mountain House meals. I love their beef stroganoff dinners and if I don’t pack a MH raspberry crumble dessert … let’s just say that Kolby might go full auto.

As the sun set it started sprinkling lightly. We normally stay up until dark to watch the bats erratically swooping around chasing mosquitoes but due to the sprinkle and being dead tired from hiking all day we crawled to our tents and crashed. The sprinkle turned into a light rain. Nothing is as peaceful as being in a tent warm and toasty while it’s raining outside. Poor animals, they need to buy an Alps tent and sleeping bag.

The next morning the wood was damp. I had some fire-starting material I was testing but it didn’t work so I used some paper towels and soon had a fire going. I dipped a pot of water out of the river and made coffee.

We then hit the river until … we walked by a good huckleberry patch. Kolby put on the brakes and we picked a few more bottles of berries (we pulled the filters out of our Aquimira water bottles and filled them up). I finally got her back to fishing.

Soon the time had come to leave. We reluctantly packed up camp and hit the trail back to the truck.

What a great time.

Kolby and I got home, unloaded and were in bed by 1 a.m. The next day, Katy wanted to go hit the crappie so I unpacked, repacked and we took out and didn’t get home and in bed until 1 a.m. again!

Wow, two girls that are fishing me to death. Now that’s a good problem to have!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.