How to help others learn the art of spotting game

[gamestalker]

I've been archery deer hunting with my family this month, so been spending a lot of time in the field, which is always a good thing. But I ran into a couple of hunters yesterday that have been hunting / camping out there since Jan. 1. After talking for a few minutes, they shared that they were having a lot of difficulty finding any any bucks. They had some really expensive glasses too, $3K glasses actually, so I immediately considered that they might not realize they need tripods to effectively use that glass. I really felt for those fellows, they had stomped over hill and dale hoping to bump into a buck, they were very obviously wore out, and deeply discouraged.

So having been there myself before, a guide who became a close friend, saw the passion and love for hunting I had, and then shared with me the art of glassing. Back then, this was something that was little well known, and those that did employ the tripod, most wouldn't advertise this tactic. But this one single tactic changed everything I ever knew about hunting, and opened a whole new experience that has been full filling and enjoyable. So when ever I run into a hunter who is really showing heart and true love for the sport, I sometimes offer this tip, as well as a few other tricks in the bag. I guess after so many years of reaping the benefit of a privileged friendship with a guide, I think I enjoy helping others to harvest their game, than for myself.

So while talking with these gentlemen I explained to them that using a tripod would greatly improve their odds of finding deer. With a some what stubborn response, one gentleman blurted out, that if he isn't seeing deer with those $3K glasses, there aren't any deer in that spot, period! With that said, I grabbed my 10x42 Leupold's, which by all means are no where the high quality of his 15x56 Swarovski glasses, I snapped them onto to my tripod and started glassing the near by hills, well maybe 700 or 800 yards, a couple were a bit beyond my range finder. After a few minutes I spotted some doe's bedded, according to my range finder, they were about 680 yards away.

This is where I finally broke through and was able to convince them, that they needed tripods. At first, one guy said I probably already knew those deer were there, I chuckled and waved that off. Instead, I asked him to locate those same deer with his glasses, without a tripod. I allowed him the try and use my glasses as a reference point even, standing directly over my tripod and glasses. After about 10 minutes of both he and his buddy trying desperately, I managed to drive my point home. When I left their camp, they were excited and getting ready to make to 1 hour trip to town to buy tripods and adapters. I told them I'll be back out there in a couple days and hope to find them with at least one deer hanging, or at least be down a few arrows in their quivers.

Next time I see them, and I know I will, as they said they've been hunting and camping in that same spot for over a decade, I'm going to see if maybe I can drop a couple more tips on them. Like radios and ear buds to help guide each other in.

Back in the day we didn't have, nor could we afford the cost of good radios for accomplishing this. We could either get certified and licensed to operate very expensive radios that were big and heavy, or CB radio's, which were also big and heavy, and not very effective either. The other issue was that these radios back in the day would eat batteries so fast, you had to carry lots of heavy replacements. I remember wearing these large DIY battery belts made from Radio Shack stuff a few times, but that was ridiculously heavy and impractical. So what we usually used were flags.

The hunter and guide would have a bright colored piece of cloth tied to a long stick. One so the guide could more easily find the hunter in the glasses, and one so the hunter could easily find the guide through his glasses. The hunter would be looking at the guide through his glasses, while the guide gave predetermined signals with the flags.

But now days, with all the advanced technology and as inexpensive it is, just about any hunter could be outfitted with ear buds, and decent radio's for $100 or so. So with a couple tripods and radios, a couple hunting buddies could quickly be progressing to a near professional level of hunting tactics, and then maybe passing it on to some other hunter in need of help some day.

GS

 

[eastbank]

i learned from my grandfather in the woods to see deer you must look for small movements and deer-animal parts, ears,noses,legs,rumps, backs,bellys and of course whole animals and hunt very slow while stalking the animal. i am able to see more deer by doing that than many of the people i sometimes hunt with, but most of the time i hunt by myself. eastbank.

 

[gamestalker]

The still hunting technique, as you described Eastbank, is very effective in heavily wooded areas. But when your hunting the massive wide open public lands, high desert regions of Arizona, New Mexico and a hand full of other states, still hunting is brutal, and would involve miles and miles of randomly walking the units. It's simply a no go in this type environment.

GS

 

[sage5907]

One tip that I can give people about how to spot game is to look an area over with your eyes before you ever lift your binoculars. Many a hunter has spent 5 minutes looking over an area with his binoculars only to put them down and spot a hereford bull standing 50 yards in front that was completely unnoticed.

 

[gspn]

I hunted mule deer in MT this year for the first time. Next time I go I'll bring a tripod.

Over those huge distances it's dang near impossible for me to find them unless they are moving...and sometimes even then only if the light is right and I can see those white butts.

 

[Coltdriver]

15 power glasses are unnecessary.

I have a pair of 8 and a pair of 10 power. That is all one needs anywhere.

A tripod would be about the only way to use a pair of 15 power glasses. With an 8 or 10 power I can hold them still enough to make good use of them.

But its still good advice, especially for someone who is a little new to it.

 

[Charley C]

I would be surprised if you could find 15 X 56 Swarovskis for 3K; that's a very high ticket item!

 

[short barrel]

I've hunted big and small game for 50 years. I have never carried optics. No spotting scopes, no binoculars, no scopes on my rifles. I have never understood the need for that crutch. If I use a glass and spot an animal at extreme range, what have I gained? I can't shoot it that far away. Stalk, you say. Well, the same animal I saw through the binocs were visible without optic aid. I still knew it was there stalking is still as viable.

I can perhaps, maybe, possibly, understand why a western hunter in open country would want glass. He might see something interesting he wants to drive toward in his truck.

It's a very basic premise, really. The squirrel hunter in Appalachia using a 3x9 scope can identify his quarry by searching the winter tree limbs. And he can pick him off that limb from 75 yards, whereas the non-scope hunter must wait for some movement and then try to align his iron sights. A true marksman won't miss with the iron sights, whereby the half-ass marksman with a scope won't miss because he was aided by the scope. I would ask you which is the better hunter? I say he's the one whose woods sense has developed through experience to know what to look for. He WILL see his quarry, and he Will get it. He didn't need glass.

Glass is a crutch. The "hunters" who advocate a need for glass would do well to back up and try hunting without. He will certainly come to a better understanding of his quarry and himself. His own limitations cannot be established if he insists he needs glass.

 

[witchhunter]

When I was guiding, it always amazed me how some hunters never picked up this skill set. I constantly taught them to look for ears, horns, rump patch etc. I had a hard time showing some of them deer that I had in the spotting scope. I guess that they were looking for a whole deer standing broadside. A spotting scope opened up a whole new range for me. Good glass is so important out here in the west. But maybe not as important as recognizing the fact that you are looking for just part of a deer not a herd!

 

[gamestalker]

That's just absurd, glasses are a crutch. OK, so the "real hunter" is the one that does it the hardest possible way, or such that the animal has the upper hand, a fair chance as it were, and that using modern tech is some how cheating? And I suppose range finders are considered cheating also?
Gotcha!

There is little that is more satisfying, than peering through a good pair of glasses or a spotting scope looking at game several thousand yards away. Having the advantage, that they are completely unaware we are watching them, then planning the stalk, what could possibly be better? To use tools of the trade to increase the Hunting Experience" and the odds of harvesting, is good common sense, not cheating.

GS

 

[gamestalker]

Your so right Witchhunter, that it's often difficult for someone to find the game in the glass if the whole animal isn't visible and moving. This is where the art of glassing comes into play, very much an art, isn't it?

And a lot of patience is sometimes necessary, sometimes I'll glass an area for an hour or more before picking up a bedded buck during mid day. It's an awesome feeling when you pick them up in the bed like that, noting like it.

GS

 

[notaglockfanboy]

[I've hunted big and small game for 50 years/QUOTE] I don't go hunting, I go to kill game. You keep hunting and eating tag stew, all of us who are "cheating" will eat meat.

 

[rcmodel]

Seeing game and seeing game are two completely different things to most people.

When I was in Basic Training a buddy and I from Kansas who were coyote hunters would count deer and other game in the woods along the trails to pass the time while going on 5 mile runs every morning.

We would often see & count 15-20 or more deer on a morning run.

And nobody else in the platoon could see them, even when we pointed them out, 50 feet off the trail!

Kinda made you wonder who had your back in combat if 100 city guys couldn't see a herd of deer standing back 30 yards in the woods!

rc

 

[Johnny_B_Goode]

Most binoculars do not even have a mounting point for a tripod. Cheap radios have been plentiful for all of the 40 years I have been hunting we always managed our drives with radios. We used CB radios at first. Then we had problems with other hunters listening in. So we switched to marine FM radios. A marine FM radio is your best value. No one is scanning FM. Marine radios are 25 watts right out of the box. FM walkie talkies are sturdy and weather proof. They have a range of over 5 miles.

When I was a kid I would run through the woods with the dogs. Using a FM walkie talkie I could reach someone with a 25 watt truck unit who would relay my messages. Even in high winds when you couldn't hear the dogs we always had a young man in the woods who was strong enough to run 5 or 6 miles through the woods with a walkie talkie. We seldom lost lost our dogs. Plus the man in the woods is going to get a lot of shots. He is going to see the deer when the dogs jump the deer. Deer that double back and run through the dogs are going to run right smack into the driver.

 

[gamestalker]

As a matter of fact, there are few binoculars that don't have a 1/4" threaded mounting hole to attach the tripod adapter too. This I know from experience while working in the guns and sporting good industry. However, most individuals aren't even aware of what that 1/4" threaded hole is even for, they often think it's just there for the name plate that is threaded into it.

As for radios, Marine radios do work, but they aren't optimal, most do not have ear bud capability, nor do I think they are legal for this purpose.

CB radios are an absolute nightmare. They eat batteries like candy, use 12 volt systems, which means big heavy "D" batteries to obtain as much usage time as possible, and the additional weight of having to carry extra batteries in the field is impractical. In addition, they aren't small, and com is garbled and often broken by people shooting skip, or other near by user's.

And good modern day FM radios weren't even available until the last 10 or 15 years. Good one's like the one's we utilize, are crystal clear and have provided good line of sight com out to 10 or 15 miles, sometimes further despite the 5 watt limit. And 4 double "A" or triple "A' batteries will last for days of constant use. And they are available with semi private frequencies to reduce interference from other user's.

Up until the low cost FM's came around, we had to buy super expensive licensed radios, the type that utilized repeater's, com capability was literally unlimited distances, but they were crystal clear like most all FM radio's. This set up ran well over a grand per radio though, plus the cost and time to get licensed, and one had to have a business license to acquire them. I haven't looked at any of the newer Marine radio's, but honestly, the inexpensive 5 watt FM's have provided plenty of capability for this purpose.

GS

 

[gamestalker]

You are so right RC, seeing game, and seeing game are two completely different things. I can't even begin to tell you how many hunters I've guided that simply couldn't see the game we were pointing out to them. One must learn the art of picking them out, be it with optics or with the naked eye, it still requires one to acquire the skill.

GS