So we’ve all been there, hunting an area that we’re not familiar with and have no idea where to start. Luckily, there are people out there willing to help, you just have to know who to ask and make sure you ask the right questions. Let me start off first by outlining what NOT to ask. When you’re dealing with professionals in the wildlife industry (biologists, game wardens, etc), understand that they’ve probably already received 200 calls this week from folks asking, "where exactly are the animals?". Now I’m not a wildlife professional, but if I were, I’d consider these people lazy and undeserving of any tidbits of information that I had. I would however respect someone who called me with intelligent questions regarding the game they were after. The following represents some of the questions that I typically ask Game Wardens, Forest Service Agents, and Wildlife Biologists when speaking to them about a particular area:

Now some of these questions basically relate to "where are the animals?", however asking them intelligently will typically spark a good conversation that may lead to a better success rate! Don’t forget about all the hunting forums out there too. There’s a lot more than just our site, search the internet for things like "flat tops elk forum". You may get results back from actual forum posts where people mention specific tips and areas.

Finally, don’t limit your questioning to the "usual suspects". I’ve made calls to local taxidermists, businesses, even fly-fishing guides in the area asking questions about whether or not they have information that they’d be willing to share.