Ep. 9: The Best Spot I’ve Ever Made and How to Be More Efficient at Glassing

being successful. Now, if you ask me, I would say it's your binoculars. While they don't shoot the animal you're chasing, more often than not, they're responsible for my success. I'd venture to say that for Western hunting, one of the most successful tactics you can employ is glassing. I define glassing as the act of finding game at far off distances through a set of optics. This week, I want to tell you the story of the best spot I ever made, and it was just in the nick of time.

I also want to go over ways to get the most out of your optics, how to get steady, and what you should be looking for while you're glassing. It's mid November in Montana, and I'm guiding an elk hunt. Now, you gotta get into my mindset. When I'm guiding. I want my hunters to be as successful as if I were the one with the tag. You know, it's everything

to me to give them a good hunt. But there are those times when the person I'm guiding I actually almost want them to get it even more than had I had the tag, because they're just such cool people. So I think in order to really explained this story, I have to first talk about the guy I took out. Now, his name was Mark Larson. He'd never harvested a knlk before. Now.

When Mark showed up, I was hoping for a fairly easy elk hunt because he told me a story of what had happened to him before he had come on this trip. Now it had been a few years prior. But although this isn't my story, I just gotta share it because it gives you the mindset of the kind of awesome dude this guy was, and how bad I wanted to get him his first bull. Now, Mark was I would consider him a cowboy um, but also he

was just an all around good dude. Now, years earlier, he was breaking a horse, and this new horse he'd put a saddle on that was too small for this horse. The horse takes off. When he gets on, his foot gets caught in the stirrup. Is the horse runs around a fence, Mark's leg gets caught in the fence. With the other foot caught in the stirrup, he falls off with the foot cot and the horse pulls. As it pulls,

it essentially rips his pelvis in half, snapping it. Now you got to know what kind of a tough guy Mark is, because when he got up, he held his hips together, forced on his hands, walked back to his truck, and got himself to the hospital. I mean, it's just an incredibly tough guy. They ended up having to put his pelvis back together with a bunch of metal rods through his pelvis. So at this point, now he's worked up, done his pt and he can hike, and he's gonna

hunt Montana elk. A few of the things that are working against him is when it's cold, that cold from the metal in his body, he feels it the whole time. Now, Mark was wanting an elk more than anybody's wanted an elk before, and He was ready to put in the work, and that's what I respect. He shows up, he's got his boots and his jeans, and he is just ready to go. The unfortunate part is I am doing everything in my power to find an elk, and it is just a really, really tough week. I don't know where

the bulls went. We're seeing plenty of cows, but we just cannot turn up a bull. So what's that mean? We just got a hunt harder and he's right there with me. I'm not joking. We were putting in twenty mile days for five days hiking is like we couldn't find the elk. We end up hiking further, glassing longer, hunting harder, leaving way before sun up and getting back way after dark. I'm not gonna lie. I was war out,

and I generally don't get war out. We were hunting hard and he was right there every step of the way. I always like to think the harder you hunt, you're often rewarded. And now it's the last day of his hunt, and I was worried that it wasn't going to pan out for him. I mean, he had put in the time getting to the position where he could even hike like that. He hunted harder than of the people I'd ever guided, and yet we were still struggling to find

a bull. It's the last day, and I just have the pressure on me because I want him to get a bull more than I ever wanted anybody to need to get a bull before or hiking up the ridge. I'm hiking, stopping glassing, hiking, stopping glassing, get to this new base, and we're we've pushed in further than we did the days before, into this big burn area. I'm sitting down, locked off, and then I've got my head rested on my pack. I'm glassing I think probably a mile and a half away, and I all of a

sudden spot something that just looks out of place. I'm starting to get a little windy, so I grabbed my tripod out, put my binoculars on my tripod, just start staring at the spot, like, gosh, is it? It says little? Just the shine of this stick is just a little bit off. So I decided to grab my spotting scope out, zoomed into sixty power, and sure enough, it's the back tind of a bull. That's all I can see. And it's a mile and a half away. Okay, this is it.

This bulls bedded. We move in. I arranged the ridge in front of this bull. We get set up three yards away. We wait for the bull to stand. Mark steady, he takes a perfect shot and drops the bull. On the last day of his hunt, he gets a bull. And I believe that that was the best spot I've ever made When you look back at that. When I showed him what I had seen through the spotting scope, we thought no way could anyone have spotted that animal.

And I think it was just because of a few little things that I like to do and the ways that I get steady, that we were successful that week and Mark was able to get his bull. Now, growing up, we always have this adage, by the best glass you can afford, and there's a reason for that. It's because binoculars and optics are such a great tool, but the quality varies, and it's pretty much directly attached to the price.

It's because a lot more goes into making optics that are a little bit clearer, a little bit easier to look through. They've got crisper focus and more definition. So I could go into optics and everything that makes up a good pair of binoculars. But that adage is just the easiest way to explain it. By the best you can afford. The higher the price, the better the binocular.

You know, you know what your budget is. But I would start creeping up toward that top end binocular if you can do it, because out of your whole kit of gear that you can have, and honestly, I get asked more gear questions than any other questions, I don't that whole kit. I honestly believe that your binoculars are probably the most important. Your binoculars are really what gets you game in open country and western type hunting. Now,

let's say that you've got that good pair of binoculars. Okay, having a great pair of binoculars does not necessarily mean you're gonna spot more stuff in the wrong hands. A two thousand dollar pair of binoculars is just a worthless neckpiece. It's a flavor flavor clock around your neck. It's just a time piece that costs you a lot of money. That means absolutely no more success in the field. And I think the first step to using your binoculars correctly

is knowing how to get steady. Now that might seem intuitive, but I see it all the time. The way people glass is just they freehold, they throw their binoculars up. They're just moving around and they aren't able to pick out the things that a guy or girl that has

the skills to get steady and do quality looking has. Now, you could take somebody that knows how to glass and give them a cheap pair of binoculars and somebody that doesn't know how to get steady and give them the best pair of binoculars, and the person with the cheap binoculars will probably outglass them every time. It's because steady glass is good glass. Now, I hunt with people all the time that rarely spot things, and there's a reason for that. The first step to using your optics, and

this is the most basic of steps. You gotta put the damn things to your face. Okay, now that seems like of course, but you be surprised how many times people go out out hunting and they rarely look through their binoculars. They're looking with their eyes, they're scanning around, and then they throw their binoculars up when they think they see something. When I'm in the field hunting, I'm looking through my binoculars probably eight percent of the day.

The other times I'm just walking around. Even when I'm in cover, I'm using my binoculars to scroll the focus to check even through or behind thicker cover, because I know the advantage that my binoculars give me. It allows me to see the world closer, clearer, and pick up the slightest things in more detail. People are always amazed at the things that I see, and I think I really attributed it to the time that I spend looking through the binoculars because I'm looking at the world through

more magnified, better view than just with my eyes. Now, I do catch a lot of things with my naked eye, as I would call it, but I'm looking through my optics probably more than i am just scanning with my bare eyes. Now, I think the best way to understand the way that I hunt with binoculars is to just kind of go through a hunt. So there's a lot of things involved in hunting. Glassing is a huge portion of it, but there's a lot of walking and moving

to different spots, checking out different areas. So I would say for my naked eye, I use it to preview an area and to catch movement. You can catch a lot of movement through your peripheral vision, but as soon as it comes time to look through the binoculars, the key is to get steady, and to do that is what I call locking off. So you'll see the guys they're just freeholders. They are just walking around, free handing

their binoculars, throwing it up to their face. Now you might see something like that, but with a little bit of shake in your optics, what you're doing is you're stressing your eye because it's it has to follow with the bounce and you aren't gonna be able to pick out as much a detail. Just locking off and getting slightly steadier will allow you to pick out more and more details. So the more steady the glasses, the more detail you're gonna pick up later on. Let's go as standing.

Now I'm walking, I'm looking at this hillside or other things as I move along, Let's say within the out max a four yard range. This is great for just standing and giving it a scan. But when I'm standing, the way I hold my binoculars is I've got my binoculars up to my face and instead of just holding them out with my elbows out, the binoculars get heavy and it causes bounce. So what I do is I bring my elbows down into my body or my chest.

I have my hands around the binoculars, and then I grab and pinch the binoculars between the bill of my hat. What that does is my hat is on my head, which is a straight line to the ground down my legs. So as I'm standing, I'm locking my elbows into my body or my trunk, and then my binoculars onto my hat. It's like a grounded effect. It's straight to the ground and is way more stable than just throwing binoculars up

and freeholding it. Now, let's say we've moved through and we get to this bigger basin and we're now looking at what I would say, maybe that four hundred to thousand yard range, maybe out to a mile or just under a mile, maybe that fifteen s d yard range. For that, I want to be even more locked off. Now it's it might not be an area that I want to spend all day looking at, but it's something

that needs some investigating. So for that, I'm going to do what would be sitting down getting rounded by getting grounded. I'm adding even more stability to my entire setup. I'm gonna be able to spot more. I'm gonna be able to see more detail. So when I'm on the ground, I've got my pack on. I'm sitting on my butt with the pack as a backrest, so that's gonna stabilize my upper torso. Then I've got my feet planted on the ground with my knees up. I've got my elbows

locked to my knees. So what that's doing is putting everything that's holding the binocular more points of contact on the ground. It's just a lot more stable. Now I'm locking my hands to the bill of my hat and I'm glassing and scanning. This is great when you're moving and checking new areas because you're sitting down and you're able to pick out even more detail. You can even take that a step further and almost what looks like you're taking a nap. Lay down, get your head rested

on something, because you want to be stable. If I'm walking and i come over a ridge into a new base and it's almost like I'm laying down, I'm on the ground, I'm locked off, and I'm looking. I'm just covering it and getting a better source of information. Of what's over there by taking a steady look at it before I move on. So many times that's how I've spotted animals that I probably would have otherwise glanced past by just standing there, scanning while standing up and then

moving on. That bowl that I spotted for Mark, just picking out that one time was because I was practically laying down. Got that get glass so steady that I was able to see the slightest shine off the back tie of a bullet almost a mile away. So there's a lot to be said for being steady. Now, what if you're overlooking an area, Let's say you've got to what I would call a glassing tit or a glassing knob.

That's an area where you've got a great vantage and your primary function for the day is just looking over that country. At that point, I'm gonna get even more stable. I'm gonna break out the tripod. Now. I write for a Western hunter magazine and I've worked a lot with the company called Outdoors, and they make adapters for tripods for glassing. And that's kind of how I got into using a tripe odd with my binoculars, Because in the Southwest,

those guys just trying to spot CU's dear. It's over huge expanse of open country, very hard to see, dear, and just that little bit of stability. What it does is when the binoculars are stationary without you moving while on that tripod, it allows your eyes to scan what's in the field of view of the binocular. Because of that, you're able to pick out things at further distances than

you can while holding it because of the shake. So just that tripod action allows you to move your eyes and focus inside what's in the binocular, and then move the binocular on the tripod and then scan that new area. You'd be surprised. I mean I can spot with my binoculars two and a half miles or more depending on the game when it's on a tripod, So you go from a para binoculars. A lot of guys have trouble spotting stuff four hundred yards away with because they're just

standing there. To now be able to use the same piece of equipment to reach three four miles out. I mean I've hunted in Nevada for LK, sat five miles away with my twelve power binoculars on a tripod and started picking out bulls in the timber. It's because of the steady nature of putting it on the tripod allows you to pick out so many more details than if you're just free holding it. Now. Just because you might not be in big, open country also doesn't mean you

shouldn't be using your binoculars. I think one thing that gets overlooked all the time is people that hunt timber or are still hunting through on a way to a glassing area forget to use their optics in that because they think that they can see so close. The trouble is is your eyes focus on the brush and everything in the way when you throw your binoculars up. What I'll do is I'll still hunt through a piece as I'm going to a glassing area, I'll put my binoculars up,

and then I'll just scroll that focus. Because what that focus does is it changes your depth of field that you're looking through and past brush. If there's something, maybe say just behind a big cluster of timber, you'll be zoomed in and you'll be able to focus on each vocal length beyond what your eyes capture. I've caught so many animals that way that have led to a successful hunt just by using my binoculars even in close quarters.

So just because you might not be in an area that is wide open where you can see for miles, doesn't mean you shouldn't also use your binoculars there. Honestly, binoculars are one of the most effective tools we have, and to get good at it you have to practice. Now, people always ask, well, what do I look for? That's a great question because I'm not necessarily looking for the whole animal when I'm glassing. What I'm looking for is a piece of the animal, and that piece of the

animal I'm looking for is something that looks out of place. Now, in that story, when I spotted just the back tind of a bull, what it was was the way that the sun hit that it had a sheen that the other branches didn't have, and because I was steady, I was able to pick up on that. Think about the

shape of an animal. A lot of things that I look for are the flat line is that really kind of stand out in nature, the lateral line of the back, the flat horizontal line of the back, maybe the dark or the or the vertical line of the leg, a piece or the round shape of the ear, the shine or bifurcation of an antler branch for mule deer, say, or the way that the beam grows on an elk with times coming straight out of it. Things that look slightly out of place for the terrain or the background

around them. If you've got an area that has very little white, the white patch on a mule deer stands out. But if it's really white, maybe the dark colors stand out. It's things that look different than everything else you're looking at. I rarely look for the whole animal. Most oftentimes I'm just looking for something that looks out of place. You create these mental pictures as you get used to glassing and start finding things. What did you pick out on that?

Was it an ear? Was it a movement? Now, moving animals are are easy to see, but what about the stationary animals When it's tough, when you haven't seen much. What do you look for then? Well, that's when you really have the key into the specific little pieces that just don't look right, the pieces that identify that's an animal, but I don't know why that's an animal at this point. It needs a closer look, and that's where your spotting scope comes in. When I'm glassing. It's the time through

my binoculars. I rarely will just sit and scan an area with my spotting scope because it caused a lot of eyestrain to close one eye. You'd be better off putting your binoculars on a tripod covering an area and then using your spotting scope to get it just a closer look and identify maybe some things that looked out of place, or some areas that you think, well, maybe an animal be hiding in there. But overall, the key to glassing is getting steady and creating a mental search

note for things that just look out of place. I have a saying, if you were to go out with me hunting generally in the morning, what I'm gonna tell you is, let's put our balls all over this hill. And what I mean is your eyeballs. You just gotta remember that, right there is the trick of the trade. And I talked about glassing this week because I got so many questions on glassing. And I know last week we did a little Q and A. There's just a pile of emails and messages about how do I find stuff?

What should I be doing when I'm out there looking? Glassing was the number one thing that I got questions about. I think rightfully so, because it just probably the most effective tactic. It's kind of hard to talk about. It's a little dry when you're out there glassing. It can get boring, but you just gotta get out there, keep doing it, keep practicing, keep those little tips in mind. The other thing that I got asked about a lot was just gear, and out of all the gear, boots

was probably up there in the top. So next week what I want to talk about is boots selection, foote air. I've even got a great story for you about a guy who got gang green by not following the rules of footcare and boot selection. That's a dangerous thing to get in the elk woods. So we'll cover that, and then I might even after that jump back into just a different avenue of glass ng or spotting game before your friends. I think that'll be cool. So we got those.

Still don't have a good sign up, but until next week, put your balls all over the mountain. Your eyeballs not gender specific audios.