What's the correct way to glass an area?

[libertyman777]

Near to far? Are you looking for eyes? Body parts, movement, etc.? Or horizontal features?

Do you have a grid method? Take notes?
There's a right way to do this, I assume.

Paul

 

[toddc]

Near to far? Are you looking for eyes? Body parts, movement, etc.? Or horizontal features?

Do you have a grid method? Take notes?
There's a right way to do this, I assume.

Paul

I think that you are over analyzing this. Of course where Im at if you see an eye then you are really close even with big glass. I start near and then go to far....10 miles +. I dont use any system I could explain, just start on one side and pick everything apart till youre done and then start over.

I think the main issue I have seen with guys glassing isnt the technique its the length of time they spend glassing. Where I am it doesnt take 1 minute to look with your eyes and yet with glass you can spend a whole day looking. Most guys glass something quickly and think its over.

One other thing I do is switch up the glass. Something looks very different with 8x as opposed to 30x. So I'll hit something quick with the little glass looking for a whole animal in the relative open and then hit it with 15x binos and finally 20-30x scope.

 

[Sako7STW]

I use a grid pattern where I go in a up and down pattern moving from left to right. when I go as far out as I can I move, say a tree, from the right side of my view to left side. Then I go down (or as close) as possible and go back up to that tree agin. Find a new object that is now on my right side and move it left. And on and on.

I too like Toddc said use different glass. When gridding like in my example I almost aways am using a tripod or car window mount. so every once in a while I stop and eyeball it over then glass it with my 8x Bins then on to my 15X Canons or back to my Spotter. I will also switch things around and grid in different ways and directions.

The big mistake I see most make is giving up mid day. When the sun is on one side of the tree the deer is laying under is now on the other side, the deer will often stand up and walk around the tree to either stay in the sun or stay out of it. Sometimes this will cause them to move to a second bed as well and you might spot them in transition. I spot more elk at 11 A.M. than just about any other time of the day.

 

[libertyman777]

I think that you are over analyzing this. Of course where Im at if you see an eye then you are really close even with big glass. I start near and then go to far....10 miles +. I dont use any system I could explain, just start on one side and pick everything apart till youre done and then start over.

I think the main issue I have seen with guys glassing isnt the technique its the length of time they spend glassing. Where I am it doesnt take 1 minute to look with your eyes and yet with glass you can spend a whole day looking. Most guys glass something quickly and think its over.

One other thing I do is switch up the glass. Something looks very different with 8x as opposed to 30x. So I'll hit something quick with the little glass looking for a whole animal in the relative open and then hit it with 15x binos and finally 20-30x scope.

I think you're speaking of what I'm trying to discover and that's what to look for. A round rabbit's eye really stands out inside of 40 yards to the naked eye.

I haven't done any glassing. Scopes were barely needed where I hunted as a kid. Swampy, flatland. Anything horizintal would give pause.

I guess I know what to do, I'm just trying not to reinvent the wheel. There's lots of guides and former military guys here that have some proven methods, I'm sure of that.

Thanks for your help.

Paul

 

[BearDog]

I've found the best way to glass a hillside is to start in one corner and work to the opposite. If I am going to be spending a lot of time glassing a large area, I will set up my spotting scope, and work from left to right, drop down and go right to left, making sure there is overlap in what I am glassing. I like using a spotting scope for that because if your eyes get tired, you don't have to worry about losing your spot. I'll do that a couple times. Usually what catches my eye is their *** end or ears. You can use binos as well. You will get a wider field of view, and you aren't having to lug around a spotting scope. I just prefer the scope because your arms wont get fatigued and I think you do a more thorough job.

 

[D.ID]

Progressivly.......Naked eye nearest to farthest over the whole terrain looking for movement or distinct profile characteristics. Then set up spotter and go over everything again with 8x binoculars stopping to zoom in with spotter on anything questionable, possible or out of place. An extra pass back over high interest areas like trail head from timber or ridgeline, treeline etc. Then I scan horizontally from farthest to nearest........and repeat. If you think your done with an area and going to move on......move fifty feet from your original view point and repeat this before you leave, It has worked for me many times.

 

[bruce_ventura]

In addition to hunting, I do a lot of glassing as a Range Safety Officer. My company does long range ballistics work on private land that is bordered by BLM land. I'm usually the RSO and shooter. In this case, I'm looking for any type of mammal that could wander onto the range. In addition to looking down range, I also check my six o'clock periodically Distance varies up to about 1.5 miles I use a bino, spotting scope and rifle scope.

I use a straight eyepiece spotting scope and raise it up off the ground to reduce turbulence-induced blur and to get a comfortable viewing position. I divide the field of fire into reasonable size scan areas, usually only ~15 degrees wide. I use a step scan method to scan each area, shifting the scope 1/2 of the field of view at a time. I scan left to right like reading text, which minimizes focus changes

I find that taking frequent rests helps a lot. Terrain starts to look like wallpaper after 10-15 min of study. That's a good time to take a break, get some water, check my six, switch optics, etc.

If you want to know how effective your glassing is, go over the area once using a visual scope, and then repeat using a thermal scope. I am often stunned at what I missed the first time. I use the highest contrast glass I can find to improve my chances of detecting visually.

 

[Bullet bumper]

In the Military I was taught to glass side to side at one focus then move in or out range , refocus and side to side again .
This way you cover the area with the least amount of refocusing .
I guess there is no right or wrong way but that works for me.

 

[Sako7STW]

I forgot to add. To me the most important thing in glassing is get the best glass you can get your hands on. My arsenal is Theron Wapiti APO 8x40 bins, Canon Image Stabilizing 15x50 bins, and a Kowa Prominar TSN-884 with 3 different eyepieces. Some serious money in that list but it has changed the way I hunt and increased our success by leaps and bounds.

I glass from way up high, up to 8 miles out. The side to side method for less focusing is probably the better way to do it but I look so far out that there is not much adjusting if any on the scope, that again is where top notch glass makes a difference. I also use an eye patch on my off eye when using my spotter. Helps the fatigue factor huge! Takes one second to flip the patch out of the way and a few more for my eye to adujst if it needs to.