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Joined: Jan 2001
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Tom,
Depending upon the kind of habitat, which I cannot possibly know about your area. 20 minutes is not even scratching the surface of actually glassing at least in the PNW cascades and Rockies here. Nor would it be in western canada, South Africa, or Alaska.
I'll bet on average I spend 2 hours glassing the valleys below me, canyons and meadows. I primarily hunt bears, and mule deer this way. Animals bedded could be pretty much invisible until they move. More times then I can count I've been packing up to move and spot something that was there all along!
Everyone's favorite areas or the geography they spend time in is different. For me 20 minutes is not glassing, it's scanning. For me to look over a whole area searching for antler tips or ears twitching across an entire field of view takes a while.
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 18,881
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 18,881 |
Agreed. But trying to stasy warm in sub zero weather can be challenging. E
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 392
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 392 |
Agreed. But trying to stasy warm in sub zero weather can be challenging. E Sub zero weather will teach any hunter how to properly layer very quick.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Yep!
No sub zero open seasons here for Deer. My seasons here will be in the 20's to 50's
Bears are often in the 80's day time! More trouble with mossies then frost!
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,604
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Glassing is a great tool, but it's utility depends on the country and what the animals are doing. I'd say it's one tool in the toolbox. I have a few favorite spots for elk (in CO) that are mostly heavy timber where glassing doesn't work very well.
smokepole, I agree. I know you hunt some of the areas near some of the territory I do. The last several trips, my spotter has been useless dead weight. The primary reason is the drainages are narrow and each one pretty much blocks view into the next. Best case, I get between two and can see in both. I usually see stuff just with my eyes or range finder and have never had any luck peering into the timber with a spotter. For me, the ears have often been far more useful. My spotter now is used mainly form my car setting up and looking into a few areas from a bench somewhere.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 46,050
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 46,050 |
It's not useless dead weight.....think of the workout you're getting!
A wise man is frequently humbled.
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Campfire Outfitter
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I hike in 6-7 miles and set up a camp. I hunt within a mile or so of my camp. Have to be real honest about temps, steepness, deadfalls, etc. when thinking of shooting an elk. When someone came up with the saying that the work just begins when you pull the trigger, they were not kidding with elk. Had the realization one year while archery hunting that I could not get an elk out in a reasonable time due to extremely warm temps. That, and I would have been engulfed in flies and those little bees.
Back to your original question, it took two years of scouting to find an area about 2x2 miles that always seems to hold elk (not sure if elk is what you are after). So, if you are only seeing occasional sign, one or two sets of tracks here and there, keep going. You'll know when you find a good elk area.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,391
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,391 |
The game will dictate how I have to hunt. To say method 1 or 2 is the absolute best way to do it all the time is not good. There are too many variables in the game and one needs to be able to adapt to those changes. You are there to hunt and if you do not adapt to the hunt then you are camping and not hunting. You have left to many questions unanswered for us to be able to make a blanket statement. One thing I can say is that if the hunting is your primary concern then you move with the wildlife if need be. Your honey hole from July may be empty in september what are you going to do hunt or camp?
I Kill Things......deal with it..
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Joined: Mar 2008
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Smokepole,
I don't disagree with you one bit. There are areas where it is incredibly tough to make glassing your primary tool. Most of those places are better for hunting Elk with a bow, something I haven't done a lot of the last couple of years. Kind of have an addiction to Mulies in the high basins.
I don't either. NW Montana is tough country to hunt. Most of it is Boreal forest and brush infested [bleep] holes. Your pic and assessment of post rut elk pretty much mirrors my lifetime of hunting experience around here. The game check station data pretty much says your odds of killing an elk here in rifle season is only slightly better than winning the lottery. Mule deer on the other hand... In the high country, glassing more open country the last hour of light, anytime in November, if there's deer there you'll see them popping out of the edges of the timber to browse. I tend to look for areas that have water, and/or lots of bitterbush. Of course, I glass a ton even when I'm stillhunting the thick nasty stuff. Always looking for parts of deer, or something fur colored.
I'm Irish...
Of course I know how to patch drywall
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Joined: Nov 2007
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Campfire Outfitter
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What part of the Cascades are you talking about?
The parts I've hunted so far are basically as thick as the coast range "jungle". Nowhere to glass. Heavy timber with heavy brush under it. That's Oregon from about Eugene south. There is more open country but it's not within the High Cascades hunt boundary.
I think I've located a spot to try next time I get a tag which has some big meadows behind ridges .. maybe moraine piles and ponds that have filled up? I have to check those out late this coming summer.
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
Here be dragons ...
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Campfire Outfitter
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Almost everywhere above 6000 feet is glassing habitat in Wa. And Or. On the west side, on the east side it's all glassing
Lived in the cascades near snoqualmie pass 25 years, now I'm near Walla walla last 8 years.
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,736
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,736 |
Back to the OP's original post.
The most "nomadic" hunt I was on was a Dall sheep hunt in 2005.
From a remote moose camp/landing strip, we hiked out 6 miles and stayed overnight in an artic oven tent. From there we bivouacked
everynight - wherever we ended up. The reasoning was of course, not to be tied to a set tent site. This would free us up to continue to range and spot to find the best ram. There was no re-tracing steps to get back to camp. And in August, in Alaska,
its dang near light all night! We had a small two man pup tent which worked out well. This style wouldn't be for every hunt.
Other sheep/mt. goat hunts were with a "base" of operations for a day or two and then pick up if need be and move to another area.
The tent elk camps we use are from a more stable base tent with the option of staying out a night if need be. Normally we don't feel limited or hindered if we stay in a general area and hunt 360* from camp.
My home is the "sanctuary residence" for my firearms.
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Ah.
The only thing above tree line in my area is Mt McLoughlin and tree line on it is about 7500 feet. There's another transition from scrub pine to douglas fir at about 6500 feet. The vast bulk of the area is under 6000 feet.
I went through Walla Walla the last two summers one trip each. Yeah, that's definitely glassing country.
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
Here be dragons ...
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 19
New Member
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Glassing is a great tool, but it's utility depends on the country and what the animals are doing. I'd say it's one tool in the toolbox. I have a few favorite spots for elk (in CO) that are mostly heavy timber where glassing doesn't work very well. If you're after bulls during the rut, sometimes listening is more effective than glassing. This is one of my favorite photos. This was an early hunt with my hunting partner cupping his hand to listen. Every year there are multiple bulls in this basin, but they rarely venture out of the timber during the day. Ideally you locate them by listening and go in after them. This particular year, there were 4 bulls in there: ![[Linked Image]](http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p46/cpwatts_2006/IMG_0245-1.jpg) And if you're hunting during the general rifle seasons after the rut in CO, lots of times the bulls are laid up in the timber recovering, and on public land anyway, they tend to shy away from open areas where they can be seen during shooting hours. Which is just to say that if you don't see animals in the open, it doesn't mean they're not there. Listening is imperative, but don't forget to use the nose when in thick timber/brush.
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