Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Do you use a spotter?

Before I get to serious about buying a compact to midsize spotter to carry to the field this fall. I would like your feedback as to whether or not you use one when you are elk hunting a new or area you are not real familiar with.

I'm still learning how to hunt elk, wondering if I could improve my chances by just sitting in a spot and patiently using a spotter. I know the "spot" makes all the difference, so I'm still learning what makes a great "spot".

The areas I've hunted and likely hunting this fall have been a mix of fields (parks), meadows, quakies, dark timber and not the more open type areas I see on TV in AZ or NM.

So if you have minute.. reply.

Your feedback is appreciated.

I use my binocs and a camera. Binocs are easier to use than a spotter. If I see something that needs a closer look, I zoom it in and take a pic with the camera. Then I can blow it up 8x on the screen for a good look.

I use them only if trying to evaluate something already spotted.

A good binocular on a tripod is much easier to use and stay behind.

Meat hunt - no spotter because any elk will do.

Hunting for a specific size critter or in REALLY open country, yes. A spotter can save a lot of walking.

Got into new country in Wyoming. Scouting the first evening we watched elk dropping off a 10,000+ foot mountain headed to feeding areas way down low.

I don't know the distance but must have been 2-3 miles away.

Through 10X bins they looked like tiny dots; through good spotter,you could ID sex at that distance and see twice as many elk.

Might not always use them but I would not leave home without a spotting scope.

I downsized my binos quite a bit to allow for carrying a spotter easier. I still need to lighten up my tripod a bit but having the spotter can be pretty important.

Nope. I use my Swarovski EL 8.5 x 42's and that's it. A spotter would just be added weight for me.

I carry a spotter with me on every hunt I go on, every time I go out. I left a spotter behind one year (early 90's) on a mule deer hunt when I thought we would be hunting the standing quakies in a snowstorm in southern WY and when the storm broke the deer were everywhere and there were multiple big deer I wanted to get a look at. As it was we went and killed a 200" deer but I'm not convinced he was the best deer we saw from that hill. I'll never forget that day as it may have been the best day of truly big buck hunting I've ever had and didn't have a spotter to take it all in

I just picked up another Leica Televid 62 APO. Great little lightweight scopes that are worth their weight IMO. If you're meat hunting you probably don't need it but if you're looking for a specific animal then pack it

On at least 3 separate occasions a spotter was without a shadow of a doubt the difference between filling my Colorado tag and not

My spotters of choice are

Graybird and Snellstrom

I'll take that as gospel.

I know a spotting scope saved the life of a spike elk one year. My buddy and I had cow tags and thought we had a cow dead to rights at 500 yards as it slowly fed in the oak brush below us. Through binocs you couldn't see the spikes.
I'll definitely be packing a spotter on my limited entry elk hunt this November in Utah. Took me 13 years to get this tag and I want to get a really good look at all the tines before I drop the hammer on a bull.

A spotter on the front side of Meadon Peak at daylight wouldn't suck. 😎

No spotter: only good binos

I'm usually hunting cows, only trophy cows though, but I can spot them with the binos. Wyoming wildlife department told me just last week that the cow I took last fall was an 11 1/2 year old matriarch. (meat was great)

Unless I'm just meat hunting, I always pack a spotter with me.

I love the heck out of the little Vortex 11-33x50

Yeah I know it's not the biggest with the most zoom, but it sure saves a lot of boot miles and it is super clear. If it broke today, I would replace it tomorrow. Plus it's very light weight and packs a heck of a punch as for what this little guy can do for you.

I am a meat hunter too, especially for a once a year trip out west for elk. I was wondering if a good pair of 12X -15X binos would be more practical when paired with a tripod. About the only time I wish I had a spotter was at the range to check my targets from a distance.

At some point the issue comes down to how you plan to do at
least most of your hunting. If you plan on moving about much
of the time with brief periods of glassing, then a good set of easy to carry binnocs and a small spotter would suffice very well. If on the other hand, glassing will be the primary method, then a tripod and a good set of larger binnocs are a requirement. But its still not over, because although they are wonderfull to look thru, a very good set of 15x binnocs are still 15x. And for that style of hunting, 15x wont always be enough.

I cary 10X Mojave binoculars and a 12x40x60 Gold Ring spotter....wouldn't leave the truck without it

I even have a second spotter on a window mount that stays in the truck

I use binoculars for finding game and the spotter for evaluating what I see

10X won't tell me much at a mile except deer or elk ect ect.....but 30X on up tells me if it's a buck or bull.....or a good buck or a good bull

Pronghorn are an even better reason for a spotter

Hunted elk Unit 4 New Mexico, spotter completely useless in the mountains. That setting up the spotter on TV shows to see the elk on the next mountain is just for the show to sell the spotter. Where a spotter would be useful is then the elk are low in the winter grounds, which are wide open. Then the extra power of the spotter would come in handy to help pick out the one you want.

I was looking at an Leica spotter, and one trip to the mountains that purchase is off my wish list.

For example

10X at under a mile

See the big billy?

Just under 800 yards

See the Rams?

Maybe an easy one.....and on this one I will help

1 mile......see the bedded Kudu?



Just a bit of a help and help with 20X



One more less subtle hint



60X



He later posed for a close up

I pack and use my spotting scope tons. I have killed many animals that were in thick cover or at long distance that I would never seen with binoculars. Glassing with a high quality spotting scope is a must in my area.

My spotter is with me 100% of the time I am scouting or hunting.

With either a high point to work from or in rugged terrain where one can scope opposing slopes I will carry a scope. One can hunt a lot of terrain and a move of just a 100 yds or so changes the view.

Mostly it's binos though and I go to the spotting scope for definitive quality assessments. If it's a dead day though, I will get out the scope and start a patterned search looking into every pocket and shadow. Pretty handy in this country.

Hunting sheep and goat above the tree line is not the same as hunting elk in the pines. Hunting Kudu in the brush is not the same as hunting elk in the pines. Just my opinion.

Depending on the time of year, you may or may not use one other than to check horns.

It has been too cold to sit and glass with a spotter many times for me.

Graybird saw an elk in the pines at just over a mile with 10X binoculars

40X told us he was a bull worthy of the 4 mile pack out





40X cropped



He later posed for a close up as well

You're probably right

I use 15 x binocs and a tripod for elk hunting. Same for scouting. I have a fairly good spotter ... at home.

Hi,

A spotter is A MUST in open country Elk hunting. Any open country big game hunting, by the way. And in not so open country big game hunting...
I allways carry one in my backpack.
My favorite right now is a Meopta S1 75 APO. Angled. With 20-60x and 30x WWAngle eyepieces, plus their great carring bag. Light, simple, VERY STRONG, and OUTSTANING OPTICS. In the neighbor of U$ 1000.
I am tempted to take a look at the new S2....

Good luck,

PH

tedthorn and 1minute......love the pics. Taking them through a spotter can be pretty fun, and informative.

This heavy horned 190" class buck gave us the slip this past November. He was buried on the low side of a sandhill. This photo taken through meopta S2 at app 1000 yds with hand held Iphone or it would be better quality..

[img:left][/img]


One of my all time faves....

[img:left][/img]

Our one and only glimpse of this giant non typical (cropped)....

[img:left][/img]

This taken at only 600 yds or so....

[img:left][/img]

Biggest buck I've ever seen in Texas, a 9x8 app 36" wide. Hand shake killed the pic, but you get the idea.....

[img:left][/img]

I spend lots of time behind a spotter while elk hunting. Even if we didn't hunt in a brow tine bull only district I'd still spend lots of time behind a spotter

My spotter stays in the truck - when I even bother to take it. Instead I have upsized my binocs, which still aren't all that large.

But I'm a public land/RFW meat hunter and will take the first legal, healthy-looking, mature animal I find. The extra weight and nuisance of carrying a spotting scope isn't something I want to put up with and not something I've needed.

That said, I've been hunting the same areas for 34 years and have a good idea where the elk will be.

No chit. Killing is different than not killing as well. Eating steak is not the same as eating lettuce. We are going to blow some minds when these deep thoughts reach the hunting world.

My point was posting up photos of sheep above the tree line and elk in burnt out pines and deer in the grass and brush, is simply not the same as Elk in the mountains full of GREEN pines to justify a spotter for Elk.

I hunt in a costal hemlock jungle for elk and a spotter is a must for everywhere but timber hunting. But the elk stay way the heck away from the timber. They like the thick 20 year old reprod.

One step and the vanish. No hard feelings I just got a laugh from your post. Different strokes.

I hunt open country elk all the time and never use a spotter. If one needs to glass 6 hours per day, two eyes are vastly better than one.

I have thousands of $ worth of optics and no real spotter. I found that if I need a spotting scope to tell what it is I am going to shoot, I couldn't get to it in enough time to shoot it anyway.

My days of horizon to horizon hunting are gone forever. I don't miss it much, I wore out a good body doing it...

We also have a three point or better rule. A spotter is a must.

I just got a spotter last year and it's in my back pack or in the truck. I also got a new set of 10x zen rays for this season. Anything over 12 or 15 you better have something to set them on.

I don't have anything productive to add but here are some spotter pictures







Every time I leave it behind to save weight I end up regretting it.

Somewhere I have pictures of this 6x6 through my spotter



Try not to be jealous of my fine and sophisticated taste in beer







I spotted this matched set through my spotter.

Looking at all of the pics makes me think I should be using a spotting scope. I have a compact Leupold 15-30x50 that I thought id use in the field but it stays in the truck once the real hunting starts, the weight isn't worth the benefit to me.

I carry 10x42 Swarovski binoculars that I bought 3 years ago and went to a 3-15x50 Zeiss Conquest last year so I can identify points or brow tines right before squeezing the trigger. All the upgrades including the little spotter were the result of not being able to determine if a bedded bull was legal at a little under 400 yards in thick brush. He stayed there 45 minutes before we were sure he was legal by changing viewing angles a few times, very lucky he didn't spook. By the time we were sure he was good to shoot some cows had wandered into range so we got a bull and cow in a few seconds once my buddy shot at that patient bull.

An excellent quality spotting scope is next on my list probably still a few years away.

Thanks everyone for all of the input. I've picked up a mid size spotter (65mm obj) and plan on carry it this fall on my elk hunt. Now I need where to sit and how to be effective with it.

Confession: I have a tendency to start chunk'en stuff out of the pack after the first day to reduce weight. This year I will resist and "endeavor to persevere".

Get a better pack

I fixed that for you

Oh BTW Ted,
What tripod are you using, that's a good looking pod.

Tks,

Sirui

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1118086-REG/sirui_bsrt1005p_t_1005x_aluminum_tripod_with.html

I will put this Vanguard in my pack this year to try

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1123605-REG/vanguard_veo_235ap_aluminum_tripod_pan_head.html

Several here like the Slick

IMO, a spotter with a bipod is too much added weight and bulk.

I spent my money on Swarovski Binoculars. If you can hold them steady, you can get a "doubler" for a little money and not much weight.

donsm70

Doublers are a giant waste of money IMO. I hate em.

Drum, still using that Leica 62?

I sold the one I had when we were out looking but I just bought another one. I also have a Meopta S2 that's incredible. I keep the S2 near the truck or ATV and keep the Leica in my pack

How's everything my friend?

Doing well and I trust you are too?

Meopta has come on strong, haven't they? If they pick up the light trans a bit across the product lines, it wouldn't hurt...:)

Am planning to roll thru the metropolis there in mid-August and aim to make some time to buy you lunch, if you are willing...

Would love to see you! Stop in anytime!

Meopta is putting out some fantastic stuff. I agree about having some lighter options. If they come out with a 60mm spotter I'd be all over it

We are fantastic here. Kiddos are growing up too fast

Will do--will bring my Nikon for a compare...:)

For elk I do not. I use 10x42 Meostar HD's on a tripod and keep the spotter in the truck.
Is this your first elk hunt? Elk are generally not that hard to dredge up with glass. They will glow if the sun is shining on them.
The only reason I would carry a spotter is if I had a primo unit and had my heart set on a 330+ bull. I would use the big glass to try to get a rough estimate of how big he was before I burned the boot leather to get closer.

Workday post--still recuperating?

Yup.. I'm out for 2 weeks. Lotsa campfire time and time at the reloading bench.

I think it depends on what you are hunting, I have great quality glass but use the spotter very little. If you are counting inches then a spotter is mandatory. If you are looking for elk then a high quality pair of binoculars will meet your needs. If you have spent much time looking at elk, you can sex them by color. Not always 100% accurate but it works.

I've been on 40+ elk kills in the last 10 years, spotters have played a big part in several of them. I've hunted them in the timber, high country, broken county etc.

Granted, I don't have the experience you do from 1 hunt, but in a couple hundred days chasing elk, the spotter has been a benefit more times than not.

I wish people that doubt the utility of a spotter could spend a few days in my living room.
Across the valley, there are about 400 head of elk that wander around in pretty typical elk habitat; broken timber, sage, deep coulees, always in a mix of light and shadow. It's not uncommon to walk in the living room and see 40 to 50 elk with the naked eye, obvious in the sunlight. Ten minutes later, there doesn't appear to be an elk on the hillside.
Using the 12X40 Leopold spotter, in timber you'd swear couldn't hide an emaciated findoozle, there will be an elk rump, the nose of another, the legs of two more, a couple laying down in 'plain sight' that weren't picked up by the eye. And, magnification beyond 12 or 15 is not the answer. Most times of the year, mirage is such a problem that more magnification amounts to no advantage- sharp optics do matter though, but only if they are held rock solid steady.
At least here in Montana, I don't think most people realize just how many elk there are out there, and how easy it is to not see them.
By the way, for those of you not from Montana, a findoozle is an animal that looks like a cross between a wolverine and a cougar that his more vicious than either. There is a scientific name that I can't recall right now.

I use a spotter a lot while scouting, usually just packing my 8x30SLCs while on the mountain.

I don't hunt without a spotting scope, period. It's just worth the weight penalty for me, every time I put my boots on...

Tanner

Glad to read so many posts about how a spotting scope is useless in elk hunting. Now I won't have to take one anymore :-)

Sometimes when I go hunting I just wear slippers since I don't think I'll be hiking up a mountain....

Which reminds me of a story:

Many years ago I went on a "self-guided" caribou hunt in Quebec, one where the outfitting company provides a camp with a "camp manager," who basically keeps the tent stoves running and is there to radio for help in case somebody gets hurt or lost. In this instance the camp manager was a French-Canadian named Pierre Hetu.

But when the float plane landed the first caribou anybody had seen in a week were streaming right past camp, a herd of several thousand. Pierre was an avid hunter and ran around excitedly, urging all of us to grab our rifles and "shoot zee caribou!" So we did.

The only "problem" occurred when Pierre couldn't stand to be left in camp and followed several of us up the big hill behind the tents, a mixture of rocks, tundra and swampy springs. He forgot he was wearing his camp slippers until we were at least a half a mile uphill, whereupon he returned (with very soggy feet) still calling, "Shoot zee caribou!"

Which reminds me of the S Texas version

Buddy shoots a doe and wounds her.. We trail her that morning until I get a couple of 45s into her, and then again the same... finally decide to go get a dog.

Go back, the word is eat first... take my Justin Snake boots off and put on my crocs...

Well, all of a sudden someone is in the ranch truck in a hurry with the dog to go find the doe... I went... forgot about the crocs...

Lets just say I'd trade wet feet for following the catahoula through brush to bay the doe and finish her.. Any day. This about 15 miles north of Laredo... for those that know the country...

Great stories, made me chuckle.

I've been fortunate to hunt lots of places, including Africa, Sonora, MX, and many states. That South Texas brush country is the nastiest crap I've ever tried to negotiate.

Great story John...

You should come coues hunting . Grin...

Is that an invite?????? It's on my bucket list for sure. Gotta get some lard offa this azzz first though........

If I were reconnoitering a new elk area, I'd bring my Duovids to scan the country.
Eight power to spend a lot of time with and twelve power to check up a little closer.

Certain things are just worth the "weight" penalty for some of us. I for one will carry my spotter, just as I will carry both a ccf pad and and air mattress.

Yep an azz pad is nice to have

Yes

On multi-day backpack Arizona elk hunts, one often has to contend with the "weight penalty" of packing drinking water, which can make the spotter look less appealing in many cases. Other than that, spotters or high power binos on a tripod are great!