Tips for Glassing Terrain

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Thank you for your experiences , I will read your thoughts and practice before I go out west hunting this year.

I’ll hit a local park (riparian reserve) and glass there. Folks think I’m birding which is fine. But I’ll pick apart the bushes and other vegetation looking for snakes, mice, etc. Not quite the same but does help keep the eyes a bit sharp/

 

[roughnecknine0]

Looking: Look through binoculars and only focus on the "full" picture. You often are expecting to see a full animal. You scan quickly, often times only hitting open patches, and proclaim "no animals". You either get up and move on or fidget around. If there is no rest for the binoculars (trekking pole, tripod, etc) then you are looking.

Glassing: Look through binoculars and only focus on small pieces of the sight picture. Every single thing gets dissected; every bush, tree, rock, etc. Once you confirm that there is no discernible animal do you move the binoculars a small fraction and repeat the process; always keeping 75-80% of the area that you just dissected in your view. You do only look for a fraction of an animal. Once you have glassed everything, you do it again, again, again, etc. Animals tend to "magically" appear out of nowhere. Found this to be true with bear (black and grizzly), sheep (Dall and desert), whitetail (regular and Coues), mule deer (Rocky Mountain and desert), axis deer, elk, javelina, mountain lion, moose, caribou, etc. You'll get more opportunities with this approach but some animals will still slip through the cracks.

It is easy to say to look for part of an animal such as the inside leg (color differential). The hard part is finding it on your own the first time. But once found the first time, each subsequent one becomes easier and more natural. Over time you will build an internal "database" and makes finding animals much easier and quicker.

It is easy to notice the difference between someone glassing and someone looking. Doesn't matter if they are sitting next to you or are on a ridge over. Their actions and body language are dead giveaways. I'll keep tabs on folks to know if I should glass in their direction (lookers) or if I should exclude that area (glassers). I know the lookers will likely miss animals where the glassers will likely have found them.

Thanks for the absolutely awesome info, love it!

 

[PRC_GUY]

Where ya headed out west? I'll be leaving for eastern Wyoming in less than 3 weeks, to hopefully repeat last year's muley hunt.good

Where ya headed out west? I'll be leaving for eastern Wyoming in less than 3 weeks, to hopefully repeat last year's muley hunt.

good luck and be safe?

 

[Reloader77724]

Looking: Look through binoculars and only focus on the "full" picture. You often are expecting to see a full animal. You scan quickly, often times only hitting open patches, and proclaim "no animals". You either get up and move on or fidget around. If there is no rest for the binoculars (trekking pole, tripod, etc) then you are looking.

Glassing: Look through binoculars and only focus on small pieces of the sight picture. Every single thing gets dissected; every bush, tree, rock, etc. Once you confirm that there is no discernible animal do you move the binoculars a small fraction and repeat the process; always keeping 75-80% of the area that you just dissected in your view. You do only look for a fraction of an animal. Once you have glassed everything, you do it again, again, again, etc. Animals tend to "magically" appear out of nowhere. Found this to be true with bear (black and grizzly), sheep (Dall and desert), whitetail (regular and Coues), mule deer (Rocky Mountain and desert), axis deer, elk, javelina, mountain lion, moose, caribou, etc. You'll get more opportunities with this approach but some animals will still slip through the cracks.

It is easy to say to look for part of an animal such as the inside leg (color differential). The hard part is finding it on your own the first time. But once found the first time, each subsequent one becomes easier and more natural. Over time you will build an internal "database" and makes finding animals much easier and quicker.

It is easy to notice the difference between someone glassing and someone looking. Doesn't matter if they are sitting next to you or are on a ridge over. Their actions and body language are dead giveaways. I'll keep tabs on folks to know if I should glass in their direction (lookers) or if I should exclude that area (glassers). I know the lookers will likely miss animals where the glassers will likely have found them.

Really great advice!!

 

[fatrascal]

A lot of great advice in this post. Ill add that I also use the bino's quite a bit but when I do not find anything I also glass with the spotter. Many times I have found game that is too far out for the bino's to see. Or the animals are in the shade both close and far and that extra magnification will help you pick out an animal that 10, 12 or 15 power could not pick out. Or looking under trees. Many times you see the silhouette of antlers or sticks. The spotter will tell you if that silhouette is an animal or vegetation.
Where to look? Everywhere. High, low, in the middle, in the creek, in the barren dry desert spot, in the yard of that cabin, on top of the mountain, under the rock. Hot spots in the morning are creek areas and springs that have lush vegetation, then transition areas such as moving from feeding spots to bedding spots. This could be open areas, areas following a creek going up a mountain, under trees and rocks, and sometimes they plop down right where they are at. I sometimes make rules for the animals by patterning them. They do the same thing day after day until the day they change it up. Take nothing for granted and glass everything. Hot spots first then everything else. Fast at first then slow it down. After two days in the same spot if I dont find anything I want to hunt I move to another spot. If I see a ridge and think it would be cool to climb to the top and look over it, well I quit thinking about it and do it. Great optics will not make you a great Glasser. Great glassing will make you a great Glasser. There have been times that I've had people with sub par glass out glass me when I'm using the expensive glass. I look through their binos and they are cloudy in one eye or dirty. But they are slowly and methodically picking apart the terrain. Slow it way down and pick it apart and you can be as good as anybody. One last thing. When your binos and scope are locked on a spot, leave it locked. Move your eyes and look at everything in the field of view. Goodluck. Fatrascal

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Practice, and burning ridgelines into your brain like a image on tv that was paused for too long is key.

Then when something is new, or out of the normal it stands out fast.

 

[eaglemountainman]

One last thing. When your binos and scope are locked on a spot, leave it locked. Move your eyes and look at everything in the field of view. Goodluck. Fatrascal

This is a very useful but often overlooked bit of advice.

 

[Blue72]

While I always say big views start at 15x……if you carry two binoculars…12x is a great compromise.

I was just looking at people 2-3 miles away with my Maven 12x42's this morning and reminded myself this is all I need if I’m trying to save weight and still see far away