Glassing for mule deer for the newbie: what's your preferred method?

[Drhorsepower]

Packer brings up an awesome point, when I'm glassing, I look for white butts, ears, pieces of antler. I don't look for a deer body, those are easy to see.

[Ikeepitcold]

Totally agree with Packer as well. It's crazy when u finally find a deer your eyes just seem to GET IT and then there will be deer standing bedded all over where your looking. They just pop up. I always look for any deer just to get my eyes to see the different colors of the deer. It really helps. I'm better at finding movement or what looks outta place.

[Six-Gun]

Six-Gun, you are getting some very good and valuable advice for western hunting. From my own personal experience hunting the west for 40 + years is when i'm scouting a new area " which you will be ", i personally prefer the run & gun method untill i find the game and then i will slow way down and pick it apart. It's very important to keep in mind that not all areas will hold deer. You only have so many hours of prime time early and late so make the most of it. The other thing that frustrates the new guys or young hunters is the ability to accually see the deer, unless the deer is standing in the wide open with a contrasting background you are most likely going to be looking for deer parts and pieces. After a while and after spotting a few deer your eyes will start to "notice" things that don't belong or just don't fit...........That's when it gets really fun.

Best of luck......You'll have a ball !!!!!!

Thanks a bunch. Good stuff here. It really does seem that with almost any game, until your eyes sort out what to look for, you have the darndest time simply identifying your quarry. It was like that in South Africa when I hunted there in 2010. Until you SEE an impala, you don't really know what you're looking for. Once you finally get eyes on one, they appear everyhwere. I have a feeling I'll have the same growing pains here, but that's just how it is. Gotta view it as merely another exciting challenge.

What are you flying Six-Gun? I work in aerospace defense and your avatar peeks my interest.

The avatar is me in the F-16D. I fly as a WSO in it these days in a very limited opportunity gig that I found out this way. Definitely a good time and, hey, the job ultimately led to me getting this tag! No complaints.

[packer58]

[QUOTE=Six-Gun;28193]Thanks a bunch. Good stuff here. It really does seem that with almost any game, until your eyes sort out what to look for, you have the darndest time simply identifying your quarry. It was like that in South Africa when I hunted there in 2010. Until you SEE an impala, you don't really know what you're looking for. Once you finally get eyes on one, they appear everyhwere. I have a feeling I'll have the same growing pains here, but that's just how it is. Gotta view it as merely another exciting challenge.

Your very welcome Six-Gun.

[Rock 2.0]

I never look for "deer" when I glass, just patterns. Your mind will let you know if what your seeing is part of a deer, in fact I find myself most often locating animals due to an ear that flicks, or a leg that is showing through the timber that is just too straight to be a stick, and if I get a little voice in my head saying "sweep over that area again, and maybe again after that" I always listen to it, its usually right!

[Ikeepitcold]

I never look for "deer" when I glass, just patterns. Your mind will let you know if what your seeing is part of a deer, in fact I find myself most often locating animals due to an ear that flicks, or a leg that is showing through the timber that is just too straight to be a stick, and if I get a little voice in my head saying "sweep over that area again, and maybe again after that" I always listen to it, its usually right!

Great addition Rock!

[Rock 2.0]

Thanks Ikic

[Six-Gun]

Asbolutely - great info, Rock.

[NDHunter]

If I were you, there's no way I would go hunting without reading Public Land Mulies by David Long. Also like what IKeepitcold said, Mike Eastmans book is also really good. Underline everything that is useful info to you and then go back and spend some time re-reading and studying what you learned and use that knowledge to guide you on your hunt. I've never hunted high country mulies but I feel like I'd at least know the general idea of how to hunt them now. Good luck!!!!!!

[Jon Boy]

As mentioned before, David Longs section on phase glassing really helped. I would invest in a spotting scope also. This weekend we were hunting for bear and I had done several phases along a hill side and switched to the spotter to really slow down. With in 30 seconds I picked up a bachelor group of 5 bucks bedded together, they werent really well hidden, I just needed a little extra zoom and to slow down to pick them up.