How do I become a better glasser?

[2rocky]

Drew a Late Season Deer Hunt that has lots of Burns. How do I become better at letting my eyes do the work instead of my feet?

How do I pick out likely glassing spots when E-scouting?

What makes you stay in a glassing spot a little longer when you aren't seeing deer?

What makes you write off a glassing spot?

What is the minimum amount of time you will spend glassing an area if you haven't seen a deer yet?

Thoughts on glassing with a tripod?

 

[Rich M]

I have exactly 1 mule deer hunt worth of experience. So take with a grain of salt.

First find where deer are. Find sign, tracks in road, something. If I glassed a drainage all morning and didn't see anything, I'd likely be somewhere else that evening.

Be there early and late - moving deer are easier to see.

Tripods hold glass steady - so yes, do that as conditions permit.

Your horsepower x will be determined by distance - higher X if trying to glass a burn a mile or two over as opposed something close.

 

[idahohikker]

There’s other tips but I’ll share one that I think gets overlooked to some degree. Over the course of a year I look at hundreds and hundreds of deer between the season and winter range and bear season. I think it really helps to put in the time to train your eyes to mule deer colors and shapes.

 

[Wapiti1]

Use the view tilt in Google Earth, zoom in and look from the spot you think might be a good glassing point. You'll get a decent idea of how much country you can see. What is difficult is if the timber is sparse or thick. Hard to tell that on google.

I stay in my glassing spot until a certain time depending on weather, and time of year. Like from daylight until 10am if it is warm and early Oct. I mentally enforce the time to leave so I don't short a place. If it is really cold, and/or snowy, that will last through lunchtime and maybe all day if I can see a lot of country. Deer will move all day when it is cold. Add in rut activity and you could see a buck any time.

Checking that spot again depends on what I saw. If I found does, I'll come back again and again. If I saw nothing, it's off the list for a couple of days, and I will probably give it another shot later. Hunting pressure moves them around.

Most of the time, I have a morning spot and evening spot picked out.

A tripod isn't critical, but it will improve your glassing. Being able to see without any shake in the glass is a huge improvement for noticing movement like a subtle ear flick or tail wag. It is rare that you'll see the whole deer a lot of the time so you're trying to pick out deer parts at distance.

Just my thoughts.

Jeremy

 

[Laramie]

I used to struggle to stay in my glass for long periods. Now I am comfortable for hours. I did a couple of things to get there.
1- I bought good binoculars that are very clear and comfortable to me.
2- I didn't wait until my hunt to start training my eyes. I spend time in the field glassing frequently and keep my binoculars in my truck 90% of the year. I'll glass various animals throughout the year. Waterfowl is a fun one that helps train your eyes to see detail at a distance.
3- I learned comfortable positions to sit in while glassing. Use a tripod if it's comfortable to you. This makes a huge difference and is overlooked by many.

Where, when and how long to glass varies by time of year and location. Some areas can be covered in a short period of time while some basins can't be covered in several hours. During periods when deer should be moving, I glass fairly quickly as a deer on it's feet is much easier to see than one bedded. Late morning through early afternoon, I'll really take my time looking for pieces and parts of deer that are bedded.

 

[Bubblehide]

When you are glassing, grid the area looking for pieces of animals instead of the whole animal; but pull away from the glass every 2 to 5 minutes and take in the big picture, as you might see an animal outside the limited glassing area.

 

[Travis Hobbs]

A comfortable chair, a good tripod, good glass and lots of practice!

I use to think there was a skill set involved, I now believe glassing is a 100% learned skill. My wife, years ago when I met her would come glass summer range mule deer with me. She was literally the worst ”glasser” I have ever seen. Like painful bad.

12 years later, and a ton of hours behind the glass, I would put her up against almost anyone. She can flat out spot game now and out glasses a lot of good spotters. The only thing I can really think it is, she is glassing basically year around with me and just got way better.

I know another guy, very similar. Was really not very good, but man he’s improved over the years and impressed me every time I glass with him.

I think guys would be better off practicing glassing than a lot of other things. At least for me, it’s the primary tool I use to hunt.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Good glass, for clarity, and so you can comfortably glass for hours without eye strain.

A tripod: for mule deer especially, this is seriously critical. They don't call him the grey ghost for nothing. Also, you can't glass for hours on end hand holding without becoming seriously motion sick, not to mention the strain of trying to hold your glass still some other way. A spotter at long range is more or less useless without a tripod, if you're really picking apart cover. Also, tripod mounting really clear binos is unbelievable if you've never experienced it. It'll make you sick to realize how much you've missed in the past.

As far as knowing a good glassing spot from Google earth, it just takes some experience. If you've found a few dozen really good spots in times past with boots on the ground, then cross reference those with maps/Google earth, you just start to get a feel for what a good spot might be in an area you've never been.

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[jkdrgn]

A tip my brother uses, he’ll let the binoculars sit still on the tripod, and he’ll “walk around” in the view as if he was there, peeking around bushes etc. It helps keep in perspective what a deer would appear like, and if nothing else it slows him down and causes him to leave the glass in one place long enough for deer to move or become visible.

 

[JMDavies]

Learning to glass can be a frustrating thing especially when doing it with a much more experienced person. I always start with glassing the areas closest to me and the obvious honey hole that are in the area. That usually takes about 10 minutes. I then start slowly glassing starting close and grid searching back and forth horizontally. I'll stop now and again to look with my naked eye to see if anything has popped out while I've had my head buried in the binos. I'm no pro but it works for me. Get a comfortable pad, tripod and get lost in the glass. Have fun and good luck to you.

 

[WYCFM1]

patience is the key to all mule deer hunting


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[WYCFM1]

patience is the key to all mule deer hunting


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And glassing first that matter


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[Jherek]

I am no expert by a long shot... But my 2 cents.
My first few trips outwest, with middle of the road glass and no tripod. I was really impatient and felt like I sucked at glassing! My last trip with really good glass, tripod and quick adapter I felt like I improved 20x at spotting, and become much more patient. I feel like patience is the key, but that is much easier with a tripod/good head.

The main thing that seems to work for me is foucas on an area, and take my hands off the tripod, I scan/grid the whole area within the glass really well, or just stare watching for movement, Than move so you are still covering a little bit of the original area. Also I take my eyes off the glass alot and scan that same area, or wherever trying to catch movement and keeping my eyes from getting to strained.

 

[jmez]

Practice. The more you do it the better you get and the less you feel you are wasting time.

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[Rich M]

How far are you guys typically looking? 500-1000 yards, a mile,??

 

[Jake Larsen]

How far are you guys typically looking? 500-1000 yards, a mile,??

All of the above. And out to 2 miles +. When you see a big deer at 2-3 miles, you know it. You can't count points, but you'll know if it's something you want to kill.

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[idahohikker]

^ Yep. If possible having at least 2 miles in a couple directions is helpful.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Also, probably the most valuable trick I have learned: glassing for hours at a time from "one place" doesn't mean you are posted up without moving an inch the whole time. 10 yards of movement up or down a ridge can open up all sorts of new country. You've got to change your angles. Work up/down ridgelines, in all 4 directions if possible to get new angles. You can glass for an hour from one spot, move 50 yards up the ridge, and suddenly see 10 deer bedded in some hollow or behind some cover you never saw before. This has proven to be especially true at closer ranges, 300-1000 yards. I always start with a quick scan of the most likely places with binos on the tripod, then I grid with binos, then switch to spotter and grid on my lowest power setting. Then I grid heavy cover/likely places at the highest setting I can without the heat screwing up my clarity. Rinse, repeat. Move up or down the ridge, do it again.

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[BIGEYES]

Several ingredients to becoming good at glassing: Patience, quality glass, a tripod( very important, this allows glassing a grid pattern), comfortable position behind the glass.

 

[Ultraheight]

OP, as far as picking glassing spots digitally, use the viewshed analysis tool on Caltopo.com. It will shade all the area that is visible from a spot (you can control the eye altitude; I recommend 2 meters). Use Google earth to ID outcroppings and spurs that get you high enough to see the most country.
IMPORTANT: Remember that trees are tall and are not factored into 3D digital imagery. Your hill on top of the glassing spot must be tall and dramatic enough to clear the trees by a substantial amount. I once hiked 6 miles roundtrip to a spur that didn't end up being high enough to see jack shit. You should be able to see how tall the spot is based on USGS topographic altitude lines.

Also consider getting above treeline if you can. It is colder, more exposed, less water, and likely more of a hike, BUT, you will be able to see a great angle of the county, and you can often dip through a saddle to double the country you can glass. Hunting down is always easier than hunting up (just watch your silhouette). As far as burns go, you need to decide whether your burn areas are close enough to hit a couple in one morning or just find a large promising one with fresh sign to bet on