TOPIC: Scouting methods

I know the majority of people just look for the NE facing slopes besides that does anybody look more into it such as altitude before going to check out a hillside you've scoped out thru google earth or something of that manner?

I think if you search here their are several others threads on this subject. That being said, I always look at google earth first and look for good drainages coming down through real steep areas. I don't worry about NE facing slopes up north, we find it on all slopes!

TN.Ginsenger wrote:

I know the majority of people just look for the NE facing slopes besides that does anybody look more into it such as altitude before going to check out a hillside you've scoped out thru google earth or something of that manner?

In my area where I've been hunting for the last two years we have rolling hills and it's interesting that 90% of the sang I've found is between 1300 and 1400 ft in elevation.

I think the most important thing you can do is learn to identify ginseng friendly trees on google earth or as I use acme mapper because I can switch between topo and satellite maps so quickly.In my area Tulip trees show up as a vibrate green color.

Yea I tried to tell a difference thru google earth by the color of the leaves it shows but it only shows a slight variations such as your pointing wasn't sure if that was a true slight variation of of actually colors or not

TN.Ginsenger...

Here in my county... our elevation ranges from around 600' (river bottom) to 1100' (highest ridges). We do not have mountains.

It is quite rare to find seng above 800' in elevation. It does happen, mostly on tall hillsides that pretty much face back due north... or up at the heads of some hollows where it is facing back due north.

But in the average hollow around here... you are going to find the bulk of it below 800' and it will actually be somewhat sparse between 750-800 but really start to pick up in the 750 and below range.

This right here is a very common situation here in my county. If you start out at the head of the hollow, working your way down... at the higher elevations... you will see a gravel creek bottom, perhaps no water yet, and you will see a lot of muscadine, hard green briars, sasafras, poison ivy,... then as you work your way down the hollow you will eventually get down to that 800' elevation range and your gravel creek, will turn to slick rock bottom... and then you start seeing more seng companion plants, MHF, Bainberry, etc... and often just a little more down the hollow, there will be a drop in elevation (that slick rock creek, will go off a little waterfall or two)... could be only a 10-30' drop elevation wise... and then BOOM... the seng shows up big time.

I have seen that situation play out hundreds of times in many many hollows here in my county.

I think in my case at the higher elevations, you have mostly sandstone, but as you get lower you run into the limestone bedrock, and start having limestone outcroppings... and when you get there, that is when the seng shows up.

TNhunter

Last season was my first involving gensing. I found a piece of property(private) and the elevation is about 850' above sea level. Most all the north/northeastern slopes had gensing on it and it was from the top to the bottom. The environment was perfect and the gensing was thriving there. I don't know if it grows better at higher elevations but it certainly can thrive at lower elevations also. I have plants all over the place.