Commitment to glassing

[TradLife406]

For late season hunting for big bulls I hear guys talk about glassing for days. Picking an area they know the elk use. And sit there and glass for several days. Knowing a big bull will likely pass through.

Is this a good tactic for big bulls in November?

I generally hate hiking. I'd rather sit my butt all day and work the glass. Only hike as needed. I've got ADD but I grew up hunting whitetails on the Montana Hi Line. I know how hunting the same spot can seem like insanity but can pay off.

So hypothetically how many days do you glass an area before moving?

 

[wyosam]

For late season hunting for big bulls I hear guys talk about glassing for days. Picking an area they know the elk use. And sit there and glass for several days. Knowing a big bull will likely pass through.

Is this a good tactic for big bulls in November?

I generally hate hiking. I'd rather sit my butt all day and work the glass. Only hike as needed. I've got ADD but I grew up hunting whitetails on the Montana Hi Line. I know how hunting the same spot can seem like insanity but can pay off.

So hypothetically how many days do you glass an area before moving?

Depends on how big of an area you can see, what you’re seeing, and if there is something likely to trigger movement towards the area you can see (snow up high pushing elk down etc.). I can’t sit still that long, so I always spent the late season moving through different locations to glass from that gave me broader coverage.


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[Indian Summer]

With elk the first thing you have to do is locate them. You might cover a lot of ground to do that before you can hunt them. I love glassing. I carefully choose my areas to make sure that they will be at least semi-open. After that, I find the high humps that faced the areas I want to look at.

Not every area has great vantage points. I hunt one area that is 3 miles by 3 miles. In 9 square miles there are 3 prime glassing spots. Another 2 or 3 that aren’t too bad but not as big of views. Of all those there is one spot where I could honestly say I could sit there all day every day. I have thought to myself…. when I’m too old to be hunting all over Hell’s half acre I’m going to have a couple young guys pack me up there and I’ll be content and confident.

To answer your question yes glassing the right spot for days is a good way to locate bulls. The hard part is finding that spot so you don’t lose faith even after a week. It’s probably not going to be an easy spot to get to. Being there at first and last light can be tough. To me a spot like that is probably going to require a spike camp unless you’re riding horses all week. It’ll be easy they said. Lol

 

[Ross]

All depends on your experience with the area, type of terrain your glassing into and how deep the snow is and temps. Glassing can pay big big dividends, but there are some variables.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Post rut is one of the hardest times to find bulls unless your hunt is on the winter range. Glassing can either be the best strategy or the worst/laziest strategy - all depends on the country you’re hunting. Without some specifics it’s pretty hard to say how much time you should put in behind the glass.

If I have the misfortune of a late tag I usually use the snow to track them to their beds and kill them there or sit an ambush point until hypothermia sets in. But since you said you hate hiking, either glass or stay home and watch football

 

[silver15tacoma]

Yes it works. I give a spot one morning and one evening. More if the spot looks really "elky"

 

[180ls1]

Depends how bad your disorder is and how bad you hate hiking. I would suggest a mix of everything.

 

[TradLife406]

Area is pretty open. I learned the area very well through the spring and summer and know all the good glassing spots. I can also bounce around a glassing "knob" and see for miles in any direction on most spots.

So basically if there's a bull or a buck and he's out of cover I'd be able to see him.

Let me correct myself. I don't mind hiking to an objective. I just don't like dorrah the explorer type stuff outside of summer scouting. Gaining and losing elevation needlessly.

 

[180ls1]

Area is pretty open. I learned the area very well through the spring and summer and know all the good glassing spots. I can also bounce around a glassing "knob" and see for miles in any direction on most spots.

So basically if there's a bull or a buck and he's out of cover I'd be able to see him.

Let me correct myself. I don't mind hiking to an objective. I just don't like dorrah the explorer type stuff outside of summer scouting. Gaining and losing elevation needlessly.

Sounds like you should just get up there and have fun.

I too have thought about "if I just sat water for 8 days I would kill a good one" but I don't want to do that so I just end up doing what I want, which is a mix of everything.

 

[TradLife406]

Sounds like you should just get up there and have fun.

I too have thought about "if I just sat water for 8 days I would kill a good one" but I don't want to do that so I just end up doing what I want, which is a mix of everything.

Yeah, also a lot of public private boundaries with a few hundred head crossing back and forth. Or a few from the main herd will cross over.

Figure to sitting back and using the glass will keep me from dragging scent and pressure through the area.