Glassing or Searching ?

Ticks N Tines · Mar 9, 2010

I would like to know what your best methods are for finding sheds. I have glassed a few sheds, but I have stumbled across most of them.
Here's my dilemma:
I can sit on a ridge for an hour and glass and who knows how many sheds I could have picked up if I had walked around. Or I can walk around and probably pass a shed by 20 yards that I might have seen through the spotter.

I'm Torn!

What do you guys do?

tedcrf450 · Mar 9, 2010

Walk, walk, walk, and walk. I carry bino's with me, but have never found anything but stick sheds. I don't have the patience to sit and glass.

Ungulate · Mar 9, 2010

I rarely glass up a shed. Usually my optics only confirm that what my naked lasik eyes have spotted are infact antlers or sticks. Last time I thought that I had spotted a shed from across a hillside and it ended up being a stick and a huge waste of energy.
Optics are a must for shed hunting but just for identifing game and confirming potential antlers. It is a huge rush once you know for a fact that what you have spotted is an antler but rarely do I spot them using my optics.

YELUM · Mar 9, 2010

I am the opposite. I have spotted 6 sheds while driving, 36 by glassing, and 1 strolling through the sage.

Yelum

Ticks N Tines · Mar 9, 2010

I found this set while glassing. They were lodged in a sage brush bush on a side hill that not many people would hike around on.

I think glassing can be very effective, but sometimes I think I'm just wasting precious hiking time. It's really a toss up! I usually just hike and then When I sit down for lunch or a break I'll glass for a while.
I know Doyle Moss always uses optics to find antlers.

UTmonsterslayer · Mar 9, 2010

Why not do both? Hike around looking for sheds and when you get to a spot where you can see some open stuff, then glass. If you don't spot anything, keep hiking. I have found quite a few sheds glassing, but most from hiking. I love the hike over to a shed I have just glassed up-wondering how big it is. If brownies are what you are looking for though, I think you would be wasting your time glassing.
Good luck to you whatever you decide.

bonepicker · Mar 9, 2010

I rarely glass up sheds. I have found a few honey holes that are worth taking the time to sit and glass, especially if there is tall sage. It's much easier to spot sheds from the opposite hilside than it is while walking throught 3'-4' sagebrush. Primarily though, I just use glassing when I am pondering whether it's worth it to cross a huge draw to hunt an unproven hillside. If I can glass up a shed or two, I know it's worth it, but if I don't see anything after glassing for half an hour or so, I usually don't go there. In the area I hunt, footwork is by far the most effective.

On the other hand, glassing is absolutely essential when scouting, especially to keep from disturbing the animals. I'll sometimes spend 2-4 hours in one place glassing an enourmous area when I'm scouting in Jan-Feb. I rarely walk more than a mile when scouting, it's just a matter of finding a good vantage point and breaking out the thermos.

Ticks N Tines · Mar 9, 2010

Great info!

ARCHERYBUG · Mar 9, 2010

I DO BOTH. I USUALLY FIND AROUND 12 A YEAR GLASSING. I HAVE FOUND A COUPLE DECENT DEADHEADS GLASSING.

bayside · Mar 9, 2010

I like to get in it and walk around. I did find a great set this year while I was glassing though. I would much rather just walk.

Epointer · Mar 9, 2010

It just matters what the terain is like, I find alot of sheds glassing. If the terain is right you can cover alot more ground.

bonepicker · Mar 9, 2010

So true! You've really got to adapt your hunting methods to the terrain.

scopeitout · Mar 9, 2010

woke up this morning and headed out to find two bull elk on one ridge six bighorns on another and 13 cow elk on another so hopefully i'll be able to watch and wait for the elk to drop theirs

DakotaSage · Mar 9, 2010

I learned from going shed hunting with yelum, just how important glassing can be. Every year I find more and more sheds by glassing. I glassed this shed from one mile away, from a main road. After a long hike into it, I glassed up the other horn that my son is holding. I ended up with five elk horns and one deer horn from glassing up the first shed. Three of the five elk horns I found with my binoculars and spotting scope. So I agree with an earlier post that said when you are in a good location that you can see alot of country sit down and glass for a while. If you don't glass anything after a while, it probably isn't worth hiking into that area.

zekers · Mar 9, 2010

Glassing is my favorite way of shed hunting. I love being able to find a point from long distances. I put on tons of miles hiking, looking for sheds, but mostly to scout and learn an area for a future hunt. It takes patience, but is very rewarding.

everbrownshed · Mar 9, 2010

I probably glass alot more for elk, mainly because they are on steep slopes, but if you can get some elevation above sage flats for deer, glassing will work too.

BLooDTRaCKeR · Mar 9, 2010

I do a little of both. I will hike an area until I want to take a break, then I will find an area where I can glass while I eat lunch or rest my legs. The sheds ain't going anywhere, might as well utilize your instinct and do what feels best.

ElkSniper · Mar 9, 2010

LAST EDITED ON Mar-09-10 AT 09:07PM (MST)[p]What I do is I look at the bottom of fences. When they jump them the antlers fall off. I have found about 30% of all my antlers off a fence. Another one is look off highways. In the spring it rains pretty good and all the water trickles onto the side of the road therfore all the elk/deer feed on the greener grass. I have seen antlers found many times off the highways. But I have found about 50% of all my antlers walking/glassing while turkey hunting.

fatrooster · Mar 9, 2010

I do both. Glassing is a big part of my shed hunting and I've found my best deer antler and elk antler by glassing. I also hike many miles. fatrooster.

mozey · Mar 9, 2010

I spot a shed while glassing the opposite hill side, and then I step on one or two more on my way over to pick up the first one...

one_dryboot · Mar 9, 2010

I find alot of sheds glassing. I spend alot of time walking but I always take the time to glass across canyons to the opposite side. then I work my way to the other side and when I get to the other side I look back with the optics. If you dont glass you will miss alot of sheds. Even if it is just a quick glance over a sidehill you will pick up parts of an antler if you have a trained eye.

Ridge_Walker · Mar 10, 2010

I beleive i find as many glassing as i do just hiking. thats also early when i am after the horns in the open once i am timber bound its all about the miles. My bino sure save alot of miles by letting me know that a stick on a distant ridge is a stick not a horn though. I would say glassing is priceless in the right area.

Ticks N Tines · Mar 10, 2010

Thanks everybody, this is good info. I may have to start spending more time behind the glass.

BCBOY · Mar 10, 2010

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-10 AT 06:16PM (MST)[p]I don't have any open country to shed hunt. All my ground is heavy timber, so pounding the leather is the only way to get er done. I do use the binos constantly though. It saves a lot of leg work glassing up a stick 20 yards from ya and being confident it is indeed a stick instead of walking over to it. Heck I'll even use the glass on stuff under 10 yards. Still have sticks fool me even with the binos.
A few of my moose areas are covered in knee deep false box. Most of the time you don't find a shed until you hear your boot clunk against the paddle. Gridding the area is a must.

massNtrash · Mar 11, 2010

I completely agree with you. I find quite a few shed by glassing but when i'm walking over to get them i always take my time and don't get rushed because i have noticed that doing so tends to result in many antlers that i walked by. I walk a lot to don't get me wrong but i do like to sit and glass when i come to a good vantage point. This year i have glassed up all but one shed that i have found.

HiMtnHntr · Mar 11, 2010

I use the binos/spotter a lot. Some of the areas I hike I don't go to until later in the spring. By then, all the critters have dropped. In a few productive areas that contain a lot of open parks (ie: not a lot of brush), I can sit up high and glass up sheds. I'll never forget the time I found a good packload of elk sheds by just getting up high and glassing the valley. I have found a few this way from very long distances. I have also been lucky enough to find few from the road (elk, mule deer, whitetail, and moose), and on a few of these occassions scared the crap out of my wife. Skidding to a stop yelling obcenities will do that. In many areas I won't walk too far unless I have glassed pretty thoroughly. In some cases, I have glassed a shed only to find the other side on the way to pick up the shed I spotted. It's tempting to just get out and stretch the legs but it can definitely be productive and easier on the legs if you slow it down and glass. Most times in more open country you will find more sheds by using the glass in addition to the legs. Now I'm depressed because it will be a while before I get to go glass up a shed!