# Glassing 101



## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

I hear a lot of people tell new hunters when asking for help, just get out there and glass, glass, glass.
To be honest, it's not that easy and most hunters that are just beginning will fail and not see much big game.
You need to know how to look, where to look and when to look.
Hopefully some people will come forward and share some efficient ways to glass and some proper techniques.


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## nocturnalenemy (Jun 26, 2011)

Good topic. When I put my binos on a tripod, I started finding way more game. It was more comfortable and covered more area than with a spotter which means I glass longer and cover more area. Get up high enough you can look down or across a canyon. My advice is to treat a hillside like a word search. Start top left and slowly work across and down snaking back and forth. I try to be sitting down in my spot as its just getting light. I scan the openings and edges first before starting my grid.

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## twinkielk15 (Jan 17, 2011)

I agree. Either get a tripod or find something to rest your elbows on. I tend to break an area down into three groups; open, semi-open, and thick. I do a quick check of the open (meadows, ridgelines, etc.) because I can spot quickly and easily and often catch animals feeding. Then I move on to semi-open (small gaps, edges, shorter brush). Last, I methodically pick through the thick stuff (often bedded animals). As was already mentioned, pick a side and work from there. 

I start on one side and work top to bottom without regard for which hillside or how far. Then I move over until what was center of my FOV is on the edge and start back up. I like a bit of overlap, like mowing a lawn. 

First light and dusk will net the most and the easiest animals. They'll be feeding and/or on the move. But don't discount late mornings when animals are bedding down or early afternoons when they're stretching their legs.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Glassing is probably the single hardest thing to do effectively in hunting. I don't think I'm very good at it. I hope this gets a lot of hints and pointers, I know I can use them! 

The one thing i will try to contribute that I'm still trying to learn...patience.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Use the 90/10 rule. Spend 90% of your time glassing the best 10% of what you can see. Spent 10% of your time scanning the rest. You will always do a better job of glassing the areas where you expect to see deer. 

Over time, your experience will greatly help in identifying the best 10%.------SS


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## muleydeermaniac (Jan 17, 2008)

The first thing I was taught is not to expect to see the whole animal. Look for parts or an outline that doesn't match the plants. Like the line of an animals back. Or a part of a leg or maybe just the ear. And also to buy optics just a little more expensive than you can afford. I started with a $50 spotting scope, upgraded to one that cost about $300 and used that for ten years and finally saved and bought one that cost $1000. The differences are incredible as I still have all three and compared all of them next to each other.


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

Start with your bino's and the larger field of view and when you find something then switch to the spotter. Also, look in the shadows as the sun rises. They will rarely be in the direct sunlight when they bed.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

I can also work on technique, but the biggest help so far was putting my bino's on a tripod as mentioned above. I have a swaro spotter, but for comfort of all day spotting...bino on tripod is hard to beat.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Thanks for the input people.
Although it does help to get some elevation to glass, you don't always need to get to the top of the world.
I've been very successful glassing across a canyon and upwards. 
It's far more important to be able to "glass with the grain" of the hillsides or canyons.
Find the best "glassing angle" and you have over half the battle beaten. 
It's amazing how moving just a few hundred feet one way or the other, can open up 30-50% more country that's viewable to glass.


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

I like to use the brim of my hat to hold my binos steady. Of course, flat brims would make that hard, so it takes a bent brim. ha


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

ridgetop said:


> Thanks for the input people.
> Although it does help to get some elevation to glass, you don't always need to get to the top of the world.
> I've been very successful glassing across a canyon and upwards.
> It's far more important to be able to* "glass with the grain" *of the hillsides or canyons.
> ...


This little tidbit is one not to forget. I concur with the 'steady hold' of binocs, whether by tripod, shooting sticks, or walking sticks, even the brim of one's hat. It's amazing how much clarity is gained by a steady view through the glass.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

I set my binos up on a tripod for the first time last night for a glassing session and what a world of difference it meant. I will doing THAT from now on. 

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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

neverdrawn said:


> Start with your bino's and the larger field of view and when you find something then switch to the spotter. Also, look in the shadows as the sun rises. They will rarely be in the direct sunlight when they bed.


I agree about shadows. Also, best to have the sun behind or off to your side when you glass.


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## bullsnot (Aug 10, 2010)

Spend some money on glass!! I'd rather have a mediocre rifle and great quality optics then the other way around. Fatigue from glassing can be very discouraging and just give you a headache. Literally. Investing in quality glass will dramatically increase how much game you find if you put the time in and follow these other tips. When you go to buy optics allot plenty of time at the counter to look through them. Everybody is different.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

bullsnot said:


> Spend some money on glass!! I'd rather have a mediocre rifle and great quality optics then the other way around. Fatigue from glassing can be very discouraging and just give you a headache. Literally. Investing in quality glass will dramatically increase how much game you find if you put the time in and follow these other tips. When you go to buy optics allot plenty of time at the counter to look through them. Everybody is different.


+1

-DallanC


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## Charina (Aug 16, 2011)

I must be missing something. Where I find most of the elk I find, there is no amount of glassing that would spot them. 

Were I move to sage/sparse vegetation, or areas with valleys and opposing sides to view, I could see glassing. Otherwise, I'm looking at less than 1/10th of their feeding areas, none of their watering, and certainly not seeing into security cover. Of the 11 elk I saw this last week, only 3 could have been glassed up (from about 1500 yards away - the closest spot the hillside can be observed from). All the others had all the feed, security, and water they could want without ever stepping out in an opening where they could be viewed from afar.

It just seems to me there are units that don't lend themselves well to glassing, or if you do, you are only looking at a very small subset of the animals available.

Plus, those bulls I am able to glass up are mighty hard to approach with a bow. If they bed where I can see them in order to start moving in, then they are going to see me long before I'm in range. 

What am I missing?


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## bullsnot (Aug 10, 2010)

Charina said:


> I must be missing something. Where I find most of the elk I find, there is no amount of glassing that would spot them.
> 
> What am I missing?


I'm not sure. Some areas might be really tough to glass but glassing is used for several purposes.

For example if you know where the elk are, how to hunt them, and the hunt is on you may not need to glass. But if you are scouting or trying to locate animals because your area is dead then glassing becomes my go to tool. Glassing is a great tool that will put you on more game IMHO. The purpose is just to figure out where critters are at times. You may only see 1 out of 20 that are there but you know there are some there.

I know some areas are tough to glass but I've been lucky enough to be around guys that really had glassing down to an art. They taught me a lot. You'd be surprised what some patience, good quality optics, and some time will dig up. Really surprised.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

Until the past year or two I never even carried bino's or optics (except for my rifle scope) into the field. Figured if I couldn't see them without, then I couldn't shoot them that far anyways.

Fast forward to now days...my terrain has changed and I wouldn't step foot out of camp without my 10x42's in my harness. Not just having optics, but having GOOD optics has dramatically changed my hunting and I feel has increased my success rate.

I still have a hard time finding Deer at a distance but can usually pick Elk out pretty quickly. I think it's their two tone neck and body fur that attracts my eye. Not many shrubs or rocks that are half dark and half light.

I personally look for the contrasting fur colors or any movement to give away locations.


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## JC HUNTER (May 18, 2015)

This is a great topic ridge! I appreciate everyone's insight and opinions. I broke down and purchased the vortex razor 20-60x85 spotter this year. I had a cheap Simmons spotter that I used before and I can honestly say that having quality glass makes a HUGE difference in the animals that you see. I think the biggest difference is being able to see better in low light situations when most of the animals are moving. 

With that being said.... I'm a very poor spotter...unless I'm driving. (which makes my wife insane!! )


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Even with elk in tight terrain I have needed optics. This is especially true trying to find spike. Once I have found a herd I have spent hours glassing them to find specific animals and understand their behavior.

I used a cheap scope once. Never again. I bought the compact Razor as it was the best optics I could afford in a backpack friendly size. I bought last years Leupold Mojaves and they are phenomenal. They were 60% off. Could have found better glass but not for my price point.

Some of the areas I hope to target deer will be best approached strategically after glassing from.a distance. Other locations on 25C just aren't great locations for that technique but glassing from close-yo-mid distances in ideal habitat.

I also bought quick release mounts for binoculars and tripod. I can swap out my binocs for scope in seconds as they are each set up with adapters. Well worth the few extra dollars and a couple extra ounces.


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## Steve G (Nov 29, 2016)

AF CYN said:


> . Also, best to have the sun behind or off to your side when you glass.


The above is easily overlooked by the beginner. If you don't keep this in mind you may find a great place in the evening to glass and plan to return in the morning only to find that you can't see against the angle of the sun. This occurred to me and I lost a morning of glassing.

Also, draping a shirt, jacket, etc. over your head to reduce peripheral light sharpens the image and is easier on the eyes.


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## hondodawg (Mar 13, 2013)

I'm a bit embarrassed by this but maybe someone will learn from my "cheapness". Last year opening morning on the muzzleloader hunt I glassed a very nice 4pt with in range just at early light. I have decent binos vortex fury 10x40. I choose to put an old fixed 6x on the muzzleloader. Just in the short amount of time he slowly walked out of range. All because I couldn't see my target clear enough through my muzzleloader scope. It was just too old and didn't gather enough light in that short amount of time as compared to my binos. 
Lesson learned


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Charina said:


> I must be missing something. Where I find most of the elk I find, there is no amount of glassing that would spot them.
> 
> Were I move to sage/sparse vegetation, or areas with valleys and opposing sides to view, I could see glassing. Otherwise, I'm looking at less than 1/10th of their feeding areas, none of their watering, and certainly not seeing into security cover. Of the 11 elk I saw this last week, only 3 could have been glassed up (from about 1500 yards away - the closest spot the hillside can be observed from). All the others had all the feed, security, and water they could want without ever stepping out in an opening where they could be viewed from afar.
> 
> ...


Sometimes but not always, when you can get that better glassing angle(with the grain of the trees) things do open up a little more. Even still hunting slowly through the thick stuff can produce if your glassing ahead and around you as you move slowly into the wind.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Steve G said:


> The above is easily overlooked by the beginner. If you don't keep this in mind you may find a great place in the evening to glass and plan to return in the morning only to find that you can't see against the angle of the sun. This occurred to me and I lost a morning of glassing.
> 
> Also, draping a shirt, jacket, etc. over your head to reduce peripheral light sharpens the image and is easier on the eyes.


Although it's a lot easier to glass with the sun at your back and better for digiscoping, you won't see near as many animals as opposed glassing into the sun. This is when higher quality glass pays for itself. You can glass through the haze and find those bucks feeding in the shade of the mountain or trees. If you do glass with the sun to your back, be on constant lookout for moving bucks trying to stay out of the sun and moving from one shade spot to another.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

All good info...

Hydrate, yes hydrate... one of the first things to go when you are low on fluid is your sight acuity and mental focus.

Spotters... After many years of glassing through a spotting scope and suffering the eye fatigue that go's with the squint, I elected to get a pair of 15x56 Binos, Minox specifically and coupled it with a solid manfrotto tripod. Yes the setup is a bit heavy esp for mountain hunting but its the BEST thing for my glassing that I have ever done! Coupled with always shading my spotting location however I can, beit just from a shaded location under a tree or beside a large rock or covering myself with a portion of an old burlap bag I keep for the occasion, finding shade to glass from has become paramount if I intend to be in an area for a little while. Change angles as the sun changes angles, look for the subtleties in things. Be aware, don't just look at the hillside, SEE the hillside for what it is, what does it offer? Then pick it apart.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Bump


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Do you get an adapter specific to your brand of binocs to put on your binos? I have the cabela's Euros 12x50 and love them, certainly a bit heavy to where I can see benefit of mounting. However, I dont see that CAbelas has anything past vortex and $120 swarovski -_O--_O--_O-

I now see that Meopta (manufacturer of the Euros) does make an adapter for $120, but looks nearly identical to the Vortex for $20, are they compatible, anyone know? Is the base universal just like a spotting scope base presumably?
Which power of binocs are you using on the tripod?


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## WillowCreekMan (Dec 17, 2014)

While looking for deer I usually look for patches of white (this works for elk as well) The white rump of a deer stands out it most cases whether the deer is standing or bedded. During the general rifle the grey coat of a deer is very much the same color as all the aspen and oak branches and grey twigs of the undergrowth. The white however will give you a hint, as long as it is not vertical....don't waste time sneaking up on an aspen tree


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Huge29 said:


> Is the base universal just like a spotting scope base presumably?


Yep. 1/4-20 threads is pretty universal. I use a $3 universal adapter I got off ebay from a china seller. Its made of very beefy aluminum and suits my needs just great. I dont see what a $120 or heck, even a $20 adaptor gets you over a cheap one. The all use the same stud, same design etc. As long as its not plastic, you are GTG.

-DallanC


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

The best mule deer hunter I know is also the best glasser I know. He hunts the same unit in a nearby state that you can draw every year and he sits all day for over 7 days watching certain canyons, all day long, some days he doesn't even see a deer. But his patience pays off, the last 2 years he has killed bucks in the 200" range and before that in the 180" range.


It's funny--> usually the mundane but hard monotonous things in life done regularly over long periods of time end up paying off big results-> whether that be killing big deer, bird hunting, hunting research, weight loss, education, job training, etc.


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## brendo (Sep 10, 2013)

Huge29 said:


> Do you get an adapter specific to your brand of binocs to put on your binos? I have the cabela's Euros 12x50 and love them, certainly a bit heavy to where I can see benefit of mounting. However, I dont see that CAbelas has anything past vortex and $120 swarovski
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Get this one. I really like it. I tried the cheaper vortex one but was not a fan it just was more of a hassle to set up and take down.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Vort...Vi6J-Ch3mEQ5lEAQYBCABEgLykPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


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## captain68 (Dec 20, 2016)

whenever I take new hunters out that have never glassed before the thing I need to remind them of is patience. Lots of people will spend an hour glassing a basin and get up and say, "whelp, there's nothing here", and move on. I tell them that they need to be patient, take your time carefully scanning the area. Once you've scanned it all, start over again. Sometimes all an animal has to do is take one step, and you can see it, where you couldn't see it before. Sometimes they just need to stand up. Don't abandon your plan or location just because you haven't glassed something in the first hour.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

brendo said:


> Get this one. I really like it. I tried the cheaper vortex one but was not a fan it just was more of a hassle to set up and take down.
> http://www.cabelas.com/product/Vort...Vi6J-Ch3mEQ5lEAQYBCABEgLykPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


I have that one and it makes me nervous I'm going to knock them off it. Two small pins in a U notch that's not very deep does not give me confidence.
I've been thinking (not very hard) of a way to tether them better.

I like the idea of a platform with a strap over the top.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

One thing you can do to help be better at glassing. After you spot a deer/elk feeding in the mornings, keep watching it until it beds. Then look away for a while and every now and then, go back and find it bedded again. You can do this with deer feeding in the shadows too. Just keep going back and looking at the deer you have already spotted. This will get your eyes trained on looking for deer or elk while feeding and or bedded.


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## JC HUNTER (May 18, 2015)

BUMP

What tips do you guys have for reducing eye strain? I seen a guy on youtube using an eye patch. Anyone else on here use an eye patch or anything else to reduce eye strain?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

JC HUNTER said:


> What tips do you guys have for reducing eye strain? I seen a guy on youtube using an eye patch. Anyone else on here use an eye patch or anything else to reduce eye strain?


For me, I try to get in the most comfortable position possible, then move the scope to fit that position and just relax. Typically, I do most my glassing standing up straight with a tall tripod and scope at eye height (I use a straight scope not angled). I've never felt like I needed a eye patch, but will move the brim of my hat to block sun from hitting my scope eye. I also don't glass for long periods of time without a break.

Look forward to hearing other peoples tips.

-DallanC


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

JC HUNTER said:


> BUMP
> 
> What tips do you guys have for reducing eye strain? I seen a guy on youtube using an eye patch. Anyone else on here use an eye patch or anything else to reduce eye strain?


I think it's been said but the best way to avoid eye strain is to use quality glass like Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss.

The best spotters I know put Swarovski 10x42 binoculars on a tripod that way they are using both eyes. When they pick up an animal or something that needs further examination they switch over to the Swarovski spotting scope for the detailed work.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

This last December on my coues deer hunt it Arizona my partner was using a pair of Swarovski 15x56 on a tripod until a animal was found, he then switched to a Swarovski spotter to figure out what it was. While doing this we would glass for up to 3-4 hours at a time with no problems. However if he was watching a buck through the spotter he would put a eye patch onto the eye that he wasn't using.

I was using some Swarovski 10x42's and during those long glassing times I never did feel any strain on the old eyeballs.


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## JC HUNTER (May 18, 2015)

Airborne said:


> I think it's been said but the best way to avoid eye strain is to use quality glass like Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss.
> 
> The best spotters I know put Swarovski 10x42 binoculars on a tripod that way they are using both eyes. When they pick up an animal or something that needs further examination they switch over to the Swarovski spotting scope for the detailed work.


My spotter is the vortex razor. Obviously not as good as the big three you mentioned but better than most. Like you mentioned, I usually glass with binos and then switch to the spotter once I find and animal. But if I look at that animal for 20-30 minutes then my eyes really start to feel it.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

If you are looking at that one animal for 20-30 minutes I would suggest phone scoping them. Much easier to see what you are looking at on your phone screen. Plus you can take intermittent pictures and then study them until the cows come home.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

JC HUNTER said:


> My spotter is the vortex razor. Obviously not as good as the big three you mentioned but better than most. Like you mentioned, I usually glass with binos and then switch to the spotter once I find and animal. But if I look at that animal for 20-30 minutes then my eyes really start to feel it.


I have a Vortex viper and don't seem to have a problem.
Maybe your eye muscles need to be exercised more.
I have heard the eye patch thing works and it does make sense to me.
Maybe I'll try it sometime.


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