How Far Can Elk See / Spot Movement?

[taskswap]

We should also be more specific than just "movement". There's a huge difference between shifting on your pad while glassing because your leg fell asleep and waving your hands around in the air while messing with gear/your hat/waving to a buddy, etc.

Deer and elk don't have hands. It's one of the biggest cues to them that we're "other". A small hand movement is far worse than a big body or leg movement IMO.

 

[HighUintas]

We should also be more specific than just "movement". There's a huge difference between shifting on your pad while glassing because your leg fell asleep and waving your hands around in the air while messing with gear/your hat/waving to a buddy, etc.

Deer and elk don't have hands. It's one of the biggest cues to them that we're "other". A small hand movement is far worse than a big body or leg movement IMO.

How about antler tines? I can see a hand moving being similar to antlers.

 

[taskswap]

How about antler tines? I can see a hand moving being similar to antlers.

I don't know that anybody's studied how deer or elk perceive the difference. LMK if you find one.

 

[HighUintas]

Probably joe hutto knows.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Depends if you wash your clothes in UV brightening detergent.

 

[Indian Summer]

I say it so much people get sick of hearing it, but this trend of lashing a rifle to the pack costs many animals every year. Animals don’t always give a warning they are coming out of the trees, and don’t always stick around long when seeing a monkey fornicating with a football trying to kill them. That’s been true since Luis and Clark.

Did you have to bring back a sad memory!

 

[cbuck516]

I just remembered another instance where I got busted. It was the week after thanksgiving and I was on a snowy glassing knob laying down on my side trying to keep my profile low. I ending up slowly rolling over to get something out of my bag (while I was glassing a small herd at 800 yards) and they ended up seeing my movement and the whole herd took off. I was being pretty cautious but I must have skylined myself enough that they got uncomfortable. I started glassing from a slightly different spot that left me more exposed and I had no issue slowly crawling up over the ridge without spooking them. That second spot I was glassing from I may have just been too confident how much movement I could get away with. This was in an area with lots of predator pressure so it’s possible these elk are most sensitive than some others.