Ideal glassing distance

[jpmulk]

For mountain mule deer, what is your ideal glassing distance? To minimize deer being able to see your movements yet be close enough to glass effectively with a set of 10x42s on a tripod?

 

[Newtosavage]

Depends on whether you're trying to score them in the field or just tell whether they are legal or not.

I don't care what they score, so for me, I've confirmed whether a mule deer buck is legal from about 1/2 mile with a good pair of 10x42's. Ideally, 1/4 mile is what I'd call the sweet spot where you can pretty much do what you want and not spook them unless they happen to be looking straight at you and you really move a lot. I wouldn't be afraid to stand up or move (slowly) on a deer that's 200 yards away though. Done it plenty of times. Depends on how many does are around it though.

The 1/2 and 1/4 mile mentioned above are on a steady rest/tripod. Hand held you can deduct about 1/3 of that distance.

 

[Rich M]

I wasn't quite on a mountain but have glassed 1/4-1/2 mile pretty well with a set of 10x42s. Looking for deer under bushes is diff, we had deer bedded about 400 yards from us and could see em halfway decent. When they are up and walking, hard to miss em.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I will second the 1/2 mile and in, you can spot deer double or over double that distance but it will be pretty hard to tell between does and bucks, depending on glass quality though.

 

[willfrye027]

Man it totally depends. This year in Idaho I spotted a great buck from about 2.5 miles out. I had to drop down a canyon 1600 feet and then climb about the same up the other side. He switched beds and I never got in on him. We could have drove around closer but it would have taken about 2 hours. Tried to glass in there from a closer vantage the next day but could not cover the country and see everything well enough.

My answer would be far enough away to feel like you can see as much as possible, but not so far away that you can’t make a play. In a high country basin with a rifle, you may need to be within 1000 yards to have time to get within shooting distance before they walk into the trees. In the desert, can probably watch where they bed and move in from a couple miles out.

Spotting them is one thing, but you need to be able to get them killed once spotted.

 

[Newtosavage]

Man it totally depends. This year in Idaho I spotted a great buck from about 2.5 miles out. I had to drop down a canyon 1600 feet and then climb about the same up the other side. He switched beds and I never got in on him. We could have drove around closer but it would have taken about 2 hours. Tried to glass in there from a closer vantage the next day but could not cover the country and see everything well enough.

My answer would be far enough away to feel like you can see as much as possible, but not so far away that you can’t make a play. In a high country basin with a rifle, you may need to be within 1000 yards to have time to get within shooting distance before they walk into the trees. In the desert, can probably watch where they bed and move in from a couple miles out.

Spotting them is one thing, but you need to be able to get them killed once spotted.

Would have taken me a lot more than 2 hours to drop down 1600 feet and back up! Whoa!

 

[robby denning]

Man it totally depends. This year in Idaho I spotted a great buck from about 2.5 miles out. I had to drop down a canyon 1600 feet and then climb about the same up the other side. He switched beds and I never got in on him. We could have drove around closer but it would have taken about 2 hours. Tried to glass in there from a closer vantage the next day but could not cover the country and see everything well enough.

My answer would be far enough away to feel like you can see as much as possible, but not so far away that you can’t make a play. In a high country basin with a rifle, you may need to be within 1000 yards to have time to get within shooting distance before they walk into the trees. In the desert, can probably watch where they bed and move in from a couple miles out.

Spotting them is one thing, but you need to be able to get them killed once spotted.

many good answers already, but I'm leaning towards this one.

so many factors at play. If they hit the skyline, or have a good snow backdrop, I've identified them from great distances with 8x

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

There is no set rule. Doesn't matter the animal, the location, angle, the optic, vegetation, and the magnification as there are way too many variables. No matter what, you will miss animals. Skill level can reduce the number missed but you will always miss a number of them.


For half-mile and in, quality 8x-10x will work. But you'll still be lacking when picking things apart. Case in point. Few years ago I was scouting for a friend's hunt. Glassed up a mule deer under 1000 yards away with my SLC 15s. I could not make out a rack (tucked up tight under a bush). Now on Rokslide that means that SLC 15s are inadequate for glassing at that distance or further. So I put my STX 95 on a tripod and took a look. Same thing; could not tell if there was a rack. Again, this is Rockslide so that means the STX 95 is inadequate for that distance. Changed locations, cut about two hundred yards, and same thing. Could not tell if it had a rack; until it moved its head and I saw the rack. So I can claim my optics suck because they didn't do what I wanted them to do. Easy to cherry pick to make a point which many on this site love to do.

Going to use Robby as an example (good). He claims that he can see them at a "great distance" with 8x. Since this is Rokslide and cherry picking data is king, that means his 8x are superior than my SLC 15s and my STX 95 since he can see deer at "great distance" but my optics are garbage because they couldn't make out desired detail under 1000 yards. By omitting certain information, it can certainly skew impressions. Robby was the exception on this as he provided crucial info on his "great distance".

Long story short: Use your 10x (and hopefully spotter) but have realistic expectations. No matter what, your optics will always leave you wanting more at some point.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

Really depends, for summer scouting I try to stay out of the bucky habitat as best I possibly can. Which means using the spotter to really pick them apart. Its hard though, some places you have to glass in tight, not other option.

 

[ih784]

For mountain mule deer, what is your ideal glassing distance? To minimize deer being able to see your movements yet be close enough to glass effectively with a set of 10x42s on a tripod?

1 mile.

 

[Oregon]

At a mile you can definitely go "that's a good buck!" Or you can go, "I think that's a buck".

 

[Brendo91]

while I’m hunting I like to be close enough to make a move but still have a good vantage point. Usually that’s between 500-1000 yards away but it varies based on the terrain. If you know exactly where they are hanging out 500 and under is better IMO. If you are just glassing to cover ground I like to see as much area as possible out to about a mile or so.

 

[Jimss]

Boy, there are so many factors. I know I spot deer in snow a lot further away than when everything is green. Also a lot easier to spot bucks further after leaves drop on brush than when leaves are on. Probably a lot easier to spot bucks across a canyon than in flat country. So many options it's impossible to list them all.

I use 10 x 42's all the time plus a spotter on a tripod sitting next to me. I can scan things a lot quicker with binos but there are a heck of a lot of deer I miss until I scan the same areas with a spotting scope on a tripod. I would have trouble effectively field judging bucks at over 400 yards with my binos but can pretty much judge them 1/2 mile away + with a spotter. I just returned from a muley hunt. I'm not sure how many buck antlers, ears, and white rumps I spotted with my spotter that I never saw with binos. Obviously it takes a lot of time and patience to do this!

With that said, there is no way in h$ll I'd hunt open country muley bucks without binos plus a spotter unless I wasn't interested in field judging or score. A spotter will save you a lot of hiking plus frustration with deer spotting you and heading over the horizon that you don't see with just binos.

 

[Rocky723]

So many variables in this one. This year I spotted a decent 3x3 from 2.5 miles away while he was walking over a ridge top and was sky lined. We ended up making a play on that guy and my buddy harvested it. This buck was crossing over a ridge top in the snow and with the sun shining just perfectly that we could see the tips of his antlers and we had a tripod. It all depends on the situation. Other times I've barely been able to tell if its a buck or doe from 1/2 mile away. I would say maximum without a tripod 1/2 mile, with a tripod 1 mile is pushing it without having snow. The closest without spooking them also depends. Are you on an open face in the foothills or semi-timbered face with lots of shadows? A safe distance is 400-500 yards before you start getting a little risky with being spotted. There are so many different factors but the best distance is as close as you can get without being spotted