I got a chance to go and scout the area around Idaho City this morning with a friend. We got up there right at dawn and found the first forest road I could find just north of town and went into the woods. The first thing a notice is that the area is heavily wooded and steep. I could not really find any place to sit and glass because all you can see is pine trees everywhere. So we got out and started hiking on an old not is use road and some motorcycle trails with our eyes glued to the ground looking for sign. It wasn't long untill we found a few game trails and started following them and I see tracks I have never seen before. The looked like small cow tracks and I figure they could be Elk tracks. So I pull out a wildlife identification booklet that I have and they look like Elk tracks for sure. I also found alot of scat that I also believe is from Elk icluding some that was very fresh (still shiny and sticky). I didn't get a chance to see any Elk today but I sure beleive I saw alot of sign. I also saw Deer tracks and scat in the area as well. We then headed to another spot towards Bannock creek and we spooked three does that were beaded next to the road and got a good look at them. They just ran down the road a few paces and then jumped up the other side a little ways and stood there, when we got out of the truck they just slowly walked off and disappeared into the thick forest. I'll tell you one of the does was huge, it had a bigger body and was taller than any Deer I've seen in Ca. I was also keeping an eye out for any Turkey sign but saw none. I'm not sure how to hunt this terrain though. It was so thick there were not many places to set up and have many shooting lanes. If I were to hunt this area with I rifle I'm not sure if a scope would help or hurt my chances. Anyway it was a beautiful morning out in the woods of Idaho, I am looking foreward to many more in the future. Hopefully next time I'm out I will find some Turkey sign as that will be the first season I will be able to buy a resident hunting liscence for. Good luck to all that were actually hunting this weekend, for now I am just in scouting mode. In the future I will try and remember to brind my camera so I can post some pics.