can someone post a few pictures of what a bench would look like out in the mountains? I see it referred to a lot when reading up on looking for elk but I haven't been able to figure it out. Even my climbing/hiking buddies haven't been able to answer this one for me.

Same thing as a shelf if you are from the East

It's just an area up on the side of a mountain where it's more less flat.

Flat area on the side of the mountain that follows the contour of the mountain at the same elevation. IE: you can walk it, ride it, etc and not go uphill nor downhill. Deer, elk, humans, all will follow benches as they allow an efficient, energy saving, means of getting from point A to point B. As long as you are learning about hunting benches, pay close attention to "saddles" too!

A near level area surrounded by steeper terrain. Typically favored bedding/resting areas. I have better luck on elk approaching them from above. Coming from below they spot me first.

Other western words which you should familiarize your self with are: saddle, draw, gulch, coulee, butte, mesa, and arroyo.

Bells in the shoe laces till past the croud.

Bells in the shoe laces till past the croud.

Crap oops.

I learned a new use for the word "Park" while hunting in Colorado.

If hunting west of Boulder, add 'Subaru' to your vocabulary.....

Here is a natural 'bench' in a steep 'drainage', it can't be seen unless you are on it and has a 'seep' below.

It's about a half acre and the biggest 'bench' in the whole 'cut'.

Not to be confused with a 'dish' or 'bowl'.

The last picture shows the steepness of the drainage and the bench is straight across and a bit lower on the opposite side.

That elk was on the side of a 'bluff' under a 'saddle' in the 'scrub oak' glassed from the 'bench'...

Kent

Photo 1. This is an area where elk hang out. The photo point had a small 6x6 standing in it a few hours before. This is an area where motorized travel is not allowed, and would be difficult even if it were. The red arrows indicate benches that are good places to find bedded elk. Note that these timber-covered areas are north-facing slopes. The yellow arrow points to a saddle. The blue indicates a ridge point where one might find a solitary bedded bull. The open meadow areas are called �parks� in some areas. North of this photo point there are more timber covered benches and ridgetops where one would also look for elk after daylight.



Photo 2. From the same elk�s perspective shows two saddles with elk paths leading through them. The large bench indicated by the red arrow is a well-used bedding area. Early in the season, when the locale has not yet been pressured too much, one might find bedded elk in the timber patch in the foreground. Approaching bedding areas from above gives the hunter an advantage, as mentioned, for a couple reasons: 1) elk tend to bed where they can see downhill where they expect danger, and 2) thermals, once the day warms, will tend to flow upslope, carrying a hunter�s scent upward to bedded elk. Particularly in the mountain west, thermals form pretty reliably on most days, and upwind-downwind is often downslope-upslope.

I think I understand a saddle to be the lower area between 2 mountains, peaks or hills, is that correct?

Yep. Even a shallow dip on a ridgeline.

eastern vocabulary will differ somewhat from western.
some terms like park or coulee arent used there for example.
not all eastern mountains have benches either. some go straight to the top without any level spots at all. some however have pronounced benches or level areas at several locations between the bottom and the ridgeline. they usually
run paralel to the ridgeline. other eastern terms would be
(point) meaning where the mountain would change direction. you would go around the point to get on the opposite side for example another would be (hollow) meaning an indentation or change of contour on the mountainside.

I grew up in Florida, I can tell you about the swamp and I can tell you about the ocean, but mountains...not so much as I've only been learning for about 2 years now.

Ridge, dish, cut, bluff, chute, bench, plateau, saddle, slide, bowl, cliff, trough, escarpment, finger, flats, meadow, face, wash, dip, canyon, ditch, stairstep, burn...

Don't walk on the ridge or you'll be skylined. Sidehill under the bluff on the trail, checking the benches stairstepped below the escarpment for bedded elk. When you come to the turn you'll find a slide below the saddle with a cut making a chute with a finger on each side of the wash. Glass the flats with the meadow and the plateau with the trough cutting a ditch through it. On the opposite face there is a dish and bowl beneath it with an old burn.

If all else fails cross the plateau to the canyon... if you kill one there... take a knife, fork, months supply of toilet paper...

you'll have to eat it and chit it down there.

Kent

WTF is a 'escarpment'? A place to hang scaly fishies?

by the way, you forgot 'rim'.....

It's one of those damn things that when you are at the top glassing elk in the manzanita flats 1200 feet below... you say to yourself, do I really wanna...

Kent

The Mogollon Rim is above me in that picture and I've hunted on or below it all my life... can't believe I missed such a familiar one...

Kent

An escarpment is what your looking down from the rim.

Looking over the Rim... and I forgot promontory...

krp, laughing so hard I'm crying. How long did it take you to craft that paragraph??!

We all forgot "hole", as in hell-hole. That is a place that will always have an elk, and you will always regret you went there to find it, especially if you shoot it in there! They are deep, steep, dark, gnarly, and always on the wrong side of the mountain from truck or camp. Up is the only way you can pack the meat.

BTW, nice pics.

In my experience a bench is any area level enough for elk to bed so they fall don't roll off when they fall asleep.

If we're going to get into escarpments and promontories, might also mention pediplains, peneplains and alluvial fans....

Here in so. Idaho, we have a lot of open country with black timber on the north slopes and open sagebrush on the tops and south slopes. On those, I find the elk like to bed in the timber somewhere around 1/3 of the way down from the top. If you can find a tiny spring in the area surrounded by very dense cover, you might find a bull's hidey hole but finding him without spooking him is a job for an expert.

alluvial fans.... reminds me that we, 'arizonians' use the term 'cienega' for large open grass areas in juniper/pinion country. Meadow just doesn't descibe the country right... but cienega really means marsh or an area with springs, including alluvial fans... local legion claims a word left over from the conquistadors.

I actually use the word escarpment for one specific spot, nothing else describes it correctly and all who experience it agree. When you look over the edge there are elk all over in the manzanita/scrub oak flats and some less than 300 yds out... but 900 feet down. The rim runs a couple miles each way in a horseshoe with the flats around it... very unique spot.

Kent

It's the opposite of a bluff.

Here's a good dictionary of landscape terms for those who like to geek out on the differences between "cuesta" and "escarpment". Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape

I'm guilty. Keep a copy of the book in my office.

Me too....the next to last bull I killed was laying on a "bench" about the size of a small kitchen. The "bench" was along a knife edged ridged and had steep sides [really steep] I killed him as he stood up 75yds away..

There's just over 20 elk in this picture

And here's the same area from that side showing a bench and how deceptive it is from different angles.

bench - anywhere i can sit my ass down!!

above and beyond with the descriptions and pictures. Greatly appreciated! It helps to be able to look at something considering how crazy some of the descriptions can get.

Indeed! All of the pictures and descriptions are quite helpful. Kudos

Ridge:
Dish:
Cut:
Bluff:
Chute:
Bench:
Plateau:
Saddle:
Slide:
Bowl:
Cliff:
Trough:
Escarpment:
Finger:
Flats:
Meadow:
Face:
Wash:
Dip:
Canyon:
Ditch:
Stairstep:
Burn:

Not sure how feasible it is, but there's the list awaiting definitions.... this would be a nice thing to add to my elk hunting binder, not sure how many of these can be described verbally versus requiring pictures? Some are obvious, some clearly very regional.

Thoughts? Would be a good sticky if done, or maybe the boys starting the Seekoutside blog series would be interested....




Actually I missed this... hmmmmm.

I didn't see "Holler" mentioned or "Rise", nor "Borrow Pit" which can be hot spots for game at times.

That's because 'holler's are back east. The rockies ain't got none...... That should get your 'rise'.....

The first time I took my ex-wife, Carol, out to Colorado Elk hunting, I explained to ehr that we would be glassing for Elk, and one of the best places was in "parks". You should have seen the strange look she gave me......

For years afterward, she never missed a chance to rib me about what kind of park I was talking about...

Excellent question primal.

Helps me a lot.

Here are a few benches. Big ones. 1,000 feet to the top or bottom, take your pick.

And below those benches are what are hell holes. I hunted the flat tops for several years and the elk were thick as flies, but getting them in a good spot to shoot was a challenge. Just for once, I'd like to pack an elk downhill...

I hear you. Last Elk I killed in Colorado was in a Hell Hole. Thought I would just be able to drop on down with him...that is until I found myself stymied by the rimrock!

Uphill on hands and knees for a day and a half it ended up being! LOL