Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

Scouting Ridges on
Topographic Hunting Maps

Scouting for ridges on topographic maps is a pretty simple process. The most important thing to note about ridges is that they are used by many animals as connecting game trails between cover, food and water.

In most cases, you will be following the game trails that will travel a pathway parallel to the ridge, but most trails will be at least 1/3 of the way down the mountain or hill. Animals will always walk below a ridgeline so that their profile will never be seen by predators.

Many elk and deer like to be down on north and west slopes during the summer because that is where the most shade exists. In winter, they will bed down on the east and south sides of the ridge to soak up as much solar radiation as possible.

In many cases, there will be more food growing on the south and east sides of a mountain during the winter months when food is hard to find because these areas receive more sunshine than the rest of the mountain.

Popular ridges for elk are long extended ridges that have many fingers or side ridges that create bowls where elk can hide out in solitude after the rut. They tend to look for grassy benches on the southern side finger ridges which are connected by the main ridge to the thick cover on the north side of the hill. Elk seem to like the finger ridges because most predators won't take the extra time to explore every small finger ridge that branches off of the main ridge.

As you walk the ridges or the game trails below the ridges always keep your eyes open when approaching bushy deadfalls and thick clumps of cover. You never know what might be bedded down watching your approach. It is best to bring a good pair of binoculars with you to peer inside these areas and look for twitching ears and antlers before the elk or deer sees you and decides to get out of town.

The wind also plays a big factor on where animals will be located. In the summer wind is needed to cool down. In the winter, animals will find dense foliage with an even topped canopy to escape as much heat loss as possible.

When the weather is fair, deer and elk will both bed down on a bench on the downwind side of the hill or mountain about 1/3 of the way down. These areas hold pockets of still air, where scents are either being blown over the top of the hill by prevailing winds or up the hill by rising thermal wind currents.

1. Stock Tanks
2. Ridges
3. Ridge End Points
4. Game Trail Hubs
5. Saddles and Dips in the Ridge
6. Hillside Benches
7. Forest/Pastures/Burn Breaklines
8. Field Saddles/Creek Beds
9. Hilltop Field Funnels
10. Forest Inside and Double Inside Corners
11. Natural Funnels/Chokepoints