|
Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > Hunting Articles Archives > Scouting and Glassing Are Keys to Success
Scouting and Glassing Are Keys to Success
Brian Kirksey - JHO ProStaff
- SF Bay Area, CA
July 04, 2006
Deer season is around the corner and our longed-for tags are showing up in the mail. Now is the time we should be studying the areas we plan to hunt to develop some sort of a plan. Depending on the location and availability of the land we plan to hunt, start scouting, preparing, and getting familiar with our projected hunting grounds. This increases the probability of fulfilling our goal and filling our tag during bowhunting season.
Scout early for your buck
Get out before the season to find the big one this year. This is a great opportunity to take a second look at your optics too. |
It is quite a luxury to have done all our homework before hunting season opens. Imagine the buck you have been watching, patterning, and the one you created a game plan for, putting a well placed arrow through his vitals in the first day or two out. To have him do exactly what you have watched him do many times before season and to be right there waiting for him. Amazing! Do you have a plan? Do you even have an area that you know holds bucks?
Getting out there early and scouting out the potential honey-hole lets us get a better picture of how the deer move in an area. We can witness first hand where they might feed, bed, and transition from one locale to another. This will help us formulate travel routes that will bring us right up to those beds when the season opens.
Pre-season preparation includes breaking in your boots, getting familiar with your topo maps, and getting used to your equipment in the field. It gives you the opportunity to discover where to camp, where your water sources are, and good vantage points where you can take advantage of the rising and setting sun as you glass the area. (Dwight Schuh, the famous bowhunting author, recommends having the sun behind you if possible while spotting. This will help you avoid having to look into every little dark shadow created by the sun looking for hard to see bucks.)
Speaking of glassing, how prepared are you in this department for the upcoming season? If you’re planning to purchase new optics for the season, the pre-season is the perfect time to try out new glass, and new techniques for using it. Proper selection and use of quality optics can be as critical to a successful hunt as the choice of guns and ammo. This is especially true in the open country of the western states.
Speaking of quality, many hunters have asked, “Why do some hunters purchase the most expensive optics money can buy? Aren’t the $200 glasses comparable to the $1,200 dollar glasses?”
Well, the answers to those to questions are generally, no and no.
Is this a contradiction? Not really. When it comes to optics, you generally pay for quality. Most professional hunters and guides recommend that you buy the most expensive glass you can afford. I believe 100% they need to be of the highest quality, built with lightweight and strong materials, beyond comfortable, and have crystal clear lenses.
Looking back, I wish I could have saved all the money through the years I spent every couple of years while I graduated from one glass to another. I remember the nights I spent outside of a local pro shop with my mid-range optics and the owner’s high-end, 10-year-old optics, waiting for low light conditions to test them on chimneys, roof tiles, TV antennas, etc. This low light environment is where the higher quality optics stand out over the lower priced glass.
On a trip early on in my bowhunting life, I remember that my guide told me to look at the other ridge, through the tree canopy, at some bucks bedded down by a huge boulder. My lesser quality optics stopped at the tree cover and couldn’t penetrate through the shadows. After several frustrating minutes, the guide handed me his quality optics and I could see right through to the bucks. It was like the quality optics turned on the lights to another world. They added a whole new dimension under the trees. It was a great lesson for me about the potential that quality optics offer. After that trip I saved for a whole year till I could afford my own high quality glass.
I encourage you to invest the time to do some scouting as your bowhunting season rolls around. I am positive you’ll observe something you didn’t know about the area before you left that will aid you in your hunt. And while you’re out there, consider your optics too. Is it time to move up?
|
