Glassing in timber

[Erussell01]

Hey everybody- I'm hoping to learn a little bit about glassing.
I've elk hunted exclusively in another state but this year I'll be in Colorado with everybody and their brother in law...

The unit I'm going to is not like where I've hunted before. Where I'm used to going is more mosaic/high dessert type of terrain and makes for really pretty easy glassing in the morning and evening. I usually post up on a big rocky nob and just pick apart the openings with my binos. Once I find the elk, I mark them on on x and then I try to see where they are going to bed or feed depending on the time of day.

Since I'm going to Colorado and from what I can tell on the map it appears to be much more timber... is glassing worth it? With no experience in Colorado I'm not sure what to expect as far as the ability to pick apart the country and find elk.

I could be totally wrong, and maybe it'll be open enough to glass effectively. I'm not by any means an expert at glassing, but I try to use it to confirm that there are elk and get a feel of where they are at so I can improve my odds of being in elk.


Anybody got any tips on how to glass when it's more timbered?

 

[Warmsy]

I live in redwood Forest, and flashing didn't seem effective for a long time. What I've been doing lately is finding sorts in the summer that deer have been using to narrow down my efforts, and then still hunt those areas. Take one or more steps, glass everything you can see and couldn't see before.

 

[sodaksooner]

We glass all the time. Don't have a need for spotters but depending on where you are at, you can spot elk moving in the trees and above timberline. Some spots more conducive than others but we have caught elk in woodlots and gone after them. Any time we get to open areas where we can see different stands of timber we glass.

 

[Erussell01]

Are you guys looking for high spots or just glassing fro wherever?

 

[sodaksooner]

Are you guys looking for high spots or just glassing fro wherever?

Everything, depending on terrain, plus I am fat so I take every opportunity to stop that I can....lol.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Are you guys looking for high spots or just glassing fro wherever?

Tall vantage points are my preference but anywhere that provides a good view of a lot of country will work.

Assuming you are talking rifle season? Even in predominantly wooded places your best bet will probably be finding the largest possible expanses for glassing. Walking around the woods with a rifle looking for elk is a great recipe for tag soup, as is setting up on a great looking meadow hoping elk will come through. Those strategies require a great deal of luck or chance in my opinion. Especially if you don't know the area well.

 

[Hnthrdr]

This is where a pair of 8x binos shine. I hunt a lot of timber, actually this year I’ll have a lot more open/ alpineto hunt, but 8x are great for still hunting/ heavily timbered spots where you may get a little opening or be able to glass across a drainage

 

[Warmsy]

Are you guys looking for high spots or just glassing fro wherever?

Kind of depends on the terrain, on what you have learned, what you're expecting. That might sound like a BS answer, but that's what I've found. I'll hunt with my buddy and I think he has a better understanding of animal behavior and nature in general. He glasses in different places and different times than I do.

 

[pumaa7]

What season are you hunting and what elevations you looking at?

 

[Mojave]

Where legal day time use of a thermal camera is pretty game changing. It is or was legal in New Mexico as long as you don't use it during legal darkness.

 

[Indian Summer]

Not the answer you’re looking for but…. I don’t pick an area and then try to figure out how to hunt it. Instead, I pick areas that fit my style of hunting. That would certainly not be in endless timber.

 

[Erussell01]

What season are you hunting and what elevations you looking at?

Archery. Tops of the range are like 11 and 12, but I'm not sure if the elk will be there or lower in the timber. I've never been there but I've been e scouting like a mad man

 

[BDRam16]

Archery. Tops of the range are like 11 and 12, but I'm not sure if the elk will be there or lower in the timber. I've never been there but I've been e scouting like a mad man

I would not bring a spotter for archery elk in Colorado. At least not in the unit I will be at which is also very timber heavy. I would be prepared for a lot more slow moving and picking apart timber with your binos than sitting on a rock seeing vast open country.

 

[Erussell01]

I would not bring a spotter for archery elk in Colorado. At least not in the unit I will be at which is also very timber heavy. I would be prepared for a lot more slow moving and picking apart timber with your binos than sitting on a rock seeing vast open country.

I never bring my spotter but keep it in the truck. I can glass well enough with my maven 8x42s to figure out if there are elk or not. I've never glassed from within the timber for elk, but I do spot and stalk deer in the pines here in northern mn so I'd guess it's kind of the same. Although if I'm being honest the deer win more than I do at that game.

I've never had to worry about point restrictions before.... so that's new. I'm. Wondering how easy it is to tell that a bull is legal from 400+ with binos only and 8s at that. I usually go try my hand at just about any elk that makes sense for me to go after in the hopes that one will stand still and me ninja my way in to range. I'll kill any legal elk that I can on this hunt. I'm too fat to be a good trophy hunter and I'm too new to elk hunting to not take every opportunity given to me

 

[TaperPin]

Jim Zumbo used to be the author I associated with rifle hunting thick timber - he glasses a lot while still hunting. Loved all his magazine articles and bought a few of his elk hunting books. There were a lot of thickly timbered areas I didn’t know how to hunt during the day and his still hunting techniques seemed perfect. Turns out it just doesn’t match my rhythm - painful going that slow all day.

Even in timbered areas there will openings, semi open ridges, and a number of other areas that hold elk. When hunters start moving them around, it can be a good technique to pay attention to likely travel routes . For some reason long mid elevation benches have been good to me. Places elk slow down on when moving away from someone. Relatively open spots or little meadows on such a bench give you a chance to see elk coming and going from the spot. Partially hidden elk can be hard to make out without binoculars - as big as they are, it’s easy to almost shoot the wrong one.

 

[Erussell01]

Jim Zumbo used to be the author I associated with rifle hunting thick timber - he glasses a lot while still hunting. Loved all his magazine articles and bought a few of his elk hunting books. There were a lot of thickly timbered areas I didn’t know how to hunt during the day and his still hunting techniques seemed perfect. Turns out it just doesn’t match my rhythm - painful going that slow all day.

Even in timbered areas there will openings, semi open ridges, and a number of other areas that hold elk. When hunters start moving them around, it can be a good technique to pay attention to likely travel routes . For some reason long mid elevation benches have been good to me. Places elk slow down on when moving away from someone. Relatively open spots or little meadows on such a bench give you a chance to see elk coming and going from the spot. Partially hidden elk can be hard to make out without binoculars - as big as they are, it’s easy to almost shoot the wrong one.

That's terrific advice man thank you. I'm not great at being patient... that's why I can't sit a wallow. That said if I can move and glass as I go maybe i can go slow enough. I actually had patience last year getting in on a herd bedded on a mid elevation bench out of the wind. Took me almost 3 hours to move in to within 100 and the best bull I've ever seen ended up running around putting on a hell of a show for me from 50 to 80 yards away. I didn't get him killed, but that alone was worth the entire trip. I did not see him coming, I was just sneaking up on a herd of bedded cows and got the surprise of my life.

When you guys are slipping through the timber, are you glassing as you move, or moving some distance to a tree or opening or something to glass from? I've been caught in the open and didn't get a shot because of it so I'm wondering how you approach that

 

[Caseknife]

You should be able to tell if it is a legal bull with binos around 400 yds, minimum 4 pt? I primarily hunt timber, seems that you get away from 50% of the hunters at least. Have never bow hunted for elk, but a very high percentage of the elk that I have killed with a rifle, probably could have been killed with a bow. I walk a few steps and am constantly watching. If I see something out of place or a different color, binos come up. May be a bedded bull at 60 yds like last season. My Dad told me that every step the picture changes when you are hunting timber.

 

[Marble]

When I hunt in the thick timber, I stop and glass all of the timber in front of me a lot. I will scan as close as I can see, to as far as I can, adjusting the focus as needed. I've picked out a lot of animals in the timber and have been very successful killing them like that.

If you can sneak through timber, it can be deadly.

As far as glassing longer distance. I have done that to find another spot to hunt the following day.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Mojave]

You have to do zie Deutcherjager two-step.

Take a step, glass

Take a step, glass

take two steps glass

That is how you hunt heavy timber.

It is that simple.

 

[TaperPin]

When you guys are slipping through the timber, are you glassing as you move, or moving some distance to a tree or opening or something to glass from? I've been caught in the open and didn't get a shot because of it so I'm wondering how you approach that

Still hunting works a lot better if you see them first - constant glassing looking past what you can see with the naked eye for patches of hair, or ear gives you the advantage. If you are only seeing elk butts running away, you’re moving too fast and not stopping to look enough.

The main problem with this is it only works if elk are there. With age I’ve looked back at what many authors have written, and much of the disconnect is what’s not written. In a magazine article or chapter in a book, it’s challenging to describe the nature of the place and how elk interact with it. Often a very elk-ish area should be favored by elk, but they might be found a few draws over 90% of the time. If that area two draws over didn’t exist, yes they would be in the elk-ish area we think they should like.

Given that, in unfamiliar country I’ll move faster than I probably should in the timber until fresh sign crops up, then I’ll aim towards the more likely topography and slow way down. If every day you do nothing but fast walk through bedding areas you’ll see elk butts and that’s it.

What I do enjoy about timber hunting is it uses most of your senses. Elk are big and make a lot of noise when moving - a herd has a barnyard smell that can be picked up a few hundred yards away with a light breeze.

It also helps to figure out a system to not wave your rifle around the shoulder every time glasses are brought up. You have to hunt timber with a rifle ready to go, but don’t use a sling - figure how to rest the rifle without pointing it at yourself. In griz country it might be the pepper spray holster, maybe your rangefinder or water bottle are worn on the belt such that it will hold the muzzle off to the side with butt on the ground. A friend had a holstered pistol spontaneously discharge and went from gut to pelvis to out a butt cheek - don‘t point your gun at anything important.