Glassing vs. Stalking

crookedarrow · Jun 10, 2010

I am returning to try my hand at mule deer this year on a backpack high country hunt the opening week of archery season (have been chasing bugles the last decade). I want to pick the brains of the hard core guys regarding their daily hunt routines and what they are doing at certain times of the day and how much ground are they covering vs. just sitting on one basin and waiting for the right opportunity? Do you glass all day from one vantage point or move along a spine and try to glass a couple basins in a morning or one in the morning and one in the afternoon? When I watch the EBJ guys on TV it seems like they glass for 3-5 days before they attempt their first stalk. I consider myself patient and I hunt hard all day (most of our elk kills have been during the middle part of the day so it has paid off big time with elk), but I'm not sure I can glass bucks for 4 days before attempting a single stalk and I know I am inexperienced at sorting the good opportunities from the bad ones. Also, what fine points do you hard core guys look for in a stalkable buck vs. one where you choose to sit back and try at a later time? I have David Long's Public Land Muleys book which touches on it, but on my previous mule deer hunt we would try to stalk every buck that had the right size head gear we were after.

Just trying to minimize the inevitable mistakes I know I will make.

fatrooster · Jun 10, 2010

You could glass one area for a day or two and if you do not see something you like, then move on. Moving along a spine is a good way to travel but try not to sky line yourself. Stay down on one side of the spine. I like to travel in the middle of the day on a sky line looking for bedded bucks but you really can't discount an area unless you sit it in the very eary morning hours glassing when all the bucks are out feeding. You just won't find them all in the middle of the day while they're bedded.
Stalkable bucks? Of course the wind has got to be blowing in your face and not towards the buck. It must be a steady wind and not a fickled wind that constantly changes direction. I like to be above the buck and stalk down to him. I prefer to have a buck bedded under a rocky ledge but will stalk a buck in the trees if I know exactly where he is and only if I can see him and only if I can approach from his blind side. I like to get close and then wait for him to stand up out of his bed and then try to shoot him. I don't like crunchy undergrowth so the surrounding area must be something you can slither or crawl through. These are the things I like in a stalk and from the mind of a bow hunter. fatrooster.

gb22 · Jun 10, 2010

Ditto.

The best thing to add would be to (hopefully) be able to spend enough pre-season time in the general area to make sure there is actually a mature deer in the general area.....don't know where you live but if you have that option, I'd spend a LOT of time looking.

Within the shadows, go quietly.

AyA · Jun 11, 2010

If Eastmuns are doing it it must be the right way...errr, i mean, the eastmun way. Make sure you know how to rack bracket a buck properly, lots of guys on this site are proficient at it.

nice post/thanks for sharring

dillon · Jun 11, 2010

I believe that glassing is a great way to find bucks, but I don't sit on my butt for days waiting until Bambi's Dad comes along my way. I get up high and move slow keeping myself off the skyline. I sit in the trees on different ridges and glass down. I see a lot of deer and can generally have an idea of where they are headed long before they get there, and if you move right and don't bump unseen deer or elk you can get ahead of them on there way to water. I love spot and stock.

"the best way to kill a big buck is to shoot it when you see it."
(a wise farmer)

justr_86 · Jun 11, 2010

The eastmans sit back until ideal stalking conditions come up. The big boys won't stick around after 1 or 2 blown stalks. I move around a little during the day looking for better vantage points or different views of the basin. During scouting I move a lot more looking for the basin with a buck I want then I will stick with him as best as I can.

NVBighorn · Jun 11, 2010

+1 what fatrooster said. He could have saved a lot of guys the price of a couple books with that one post. More good advice in that post than in five hundred others I've read.

jims · Jun 12, 2010

I guess I would have to ask the question where are you planning on hunting and what is the density of deer/bucks? It may be possible to wait 4 days in a bowl/drainage w/a high concentration of deer/bucks like region G/H in Wyo but if you did the same thing in Colo you may only see 0 to 5 bucks in a week!

I would probably use 2 different scouting/hunting scenerios. 1....for locating a particular big buck you are willing to shoot and 2...figuring out a strategy for getting a particular buck once you have found him. I would use 2 completely different techniques for each.

You may have to look over 10 alpine bowls before you find 1 deer here in Colo! Most high alpine areas in Colo have extremely low densities of deer and you likely won't see much if you spend many days sitting in 1 bowl! Obviously if you know a particular buck is living in a particular area it would be to your advantage to learn his daily routine. If you have plenty of time it will definitely be worth slowing down, watching, and waiting for the right moment to attempt a stalk. If a buck makes a mistake and beds in an area with the right wind or is feeding in an area that offers a stalk....by all means take advantage of it! If wind or something else doesn't look good...back up and wait for another try! If you spook a group of bucks you may not find another keeper buck for a few days!