How much time to spend glassing?

[Rizzy]

They like the shade. West slopes in the morning, East slopes in the evening. Steep dark north slopes typically have better feed in late summer-fall and are cooler. But don't limit yourself to just these aspects, glass everything you can from your setup.

 

[TreyPound]

the reason you would wait would be to let the board cure all the way. Wait a week or two so the resin hardens all the way and isnt prone to as many pressure dings. I surf mine right when i get them and ya they dent eaiser but who is just a pressure dent.

 

[Block]

Personally I think glassing all morning or all day is a waist of time. I'd hit a good glassing spot right at day light and look around for an hour or so then I would start still hunting a likely area. 8000 feet isn't really high country in the West but not knowing where you are actually hunting doesn't help with giving a good answer. Where I've hunted at 7000 to 9000 feet its generally forested with smaller open pockets and one would be hard pressed to find enough area to glass for more then an hour from any one vantage point but start moving through the area and there is a lot of opportunity to glass small openings here and there along a still hunting route.

This get up high and spend all day glassing is something the TV hunters have made popular as it's easier to film then trying to follow a still hunter around all day. You being new to hunting would benefit from getting down in the brush and experiencing hunting, following game trails, checking water sources and blowing a few opportunity. Its hard to learn hunting or the area setting up on a hill all day looking through bino's.

My saying is its time to get off my butt and go make something happen instead of waiting around hoping something happens.

^^ This is good advice... sometimes covering ground is the best way to learn. It’s really easy to glass dead zones all day.. Iv had more luck in NEW areas covering ground until I find good sign and then glassing smaller pockets.. almost more of a power hunting technique. If ur not after a target buck I wouldn’t be too worried about jumping a few deer here and there.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

It depends on what glass you have. Some binos and spotters are less than ideal to glass through for any length of time.

My binos mount to my tripod and I carry a spotter with me as well that I swap out to get a better look at an animal. I have Zeiss Victory 10x56 RF binoculars and I can glass from them all day without having headaches or eye strain.

So your glass dictates whether you glass for hours or minutes.

 

[jonnycoder]

Relative to rifle season, finding deer and bucks via slow hiking is a lot easier. I mean a lot easier. But getting closer than 75 yards is hard. I like the general advise of glassing morning and evenings but slow hunting during the day.

 

[CavemantheHunter]

I usually set up in my first spot an hour before daylight and sit there and glass until 10-11 am. From there, I either put a stalk on an animal we put to bed, or hike into a secondary glassing area. Will glass the second area mid-day until 3 pm. Have had luck with bucks getting up to move beds between noon and 1 pm. Then set up again two hours prior to dark and glass until dark. Rinse/repeat.

 

[CaliforniaMuley]

make sure your at your glassing spot at the prime times, and not hiking to it or back from it at first light and last light.

 

[arwhntr]

I have a hard time sitting and glassing or hunting a single place for a long time. I usually get into my first area day 1, glass that evening and following morning until 10-11am. If I don't find what I'm looking for I hike mid-day to area 2, along the way looking for sign and stopping to glass for bedded bucks. I'll glass area 2 that evening and following morning and cycle repeats.

I also don't kill 200" bucks so my method may be trash.

 

[The Ri Guy]

I glass as long as it takes to find a good buck.

At the end of the day it's highly dependent on where you're hunting and your experience level (in general and with that area).

Dense forest? Good luck glassing more than shooting lanes. Wide-open burn areas? Save your legs and use your glass all day long. Recognize lots of fresh sign but not seeing any deer? They're there somewhere, but you're likely only going to catch them when they're moving -- glass can cover a lot of dirt.

I used to bushwhack with the best of them and killed a small Mulie all but one year for 15 years. However, I only saw a truly mature buck (180"+) one time hunting this way, and he was half way to the next county by the time I cut tracks and saw him.

About three years ago I finally learned to be patient and glass until I found a buck worth pursuing. Since adopting patience, I've killed my two biggest bucks to date. Both bucks left lots of sign so I knew they were in the area, but I didn't actually see them until the same instance I was shooting -- right spot at the wrong time for several days until magic happened.