10 Glassing Concepts You’ve Never Heard About

[@sheancorvari2172]

As a new hunter I really appreciate the time you take to help spread so much helpful information to us greenhorns.

[@Just_Samson]

I’ve always burned through the brush but have never had a name for it until today. So good. Thanks

[@devinad20]

You’re content is giving me a place to go for a community. Thank you

[@CliffGray]

great to hear! thanks for the support of the channel

[@TheRealJASK1Tattoos]

I think you’re onto something here Cliff. Going through the comments and discussing them in a video. There’s a ton of great info in here. And thanks for the shoutout.

[@CliffGray]

👍

[@andrewlancaster3198]

You happened to pop up in the middle of all my garden videos. Love the humbleness man. Great info all the way around. I'll be watching all your videos.

[@idahotrophyhuntplanners]

I appreciate your content Cliff. I've learned a lot. Something that came to mind when you were talking about the comment regarding looking around with just your eyes in addition to glassing... I have learned that this applies always. I have seen so many people (myself included) travel with the end goal so in focus that they forget to look on the way. I can't tell you how many times I have found game just because I kept my head on a swivel while hiking or driving. And I believe that there are exponentially more times I have missed game because I wasn't looking. Even if I just stop the truck and get out for 5 minutes to glass it can be a game changer. I may only find game 5% of the time I stop to look, maybe less, but by increasing the number of times I look I also increase the number of animals I find. And I try to never get mad at someone because they asked me to stop and look at something only to identify a tree stump or rock. I try to encourage it. Because eventually those rocks and tree stumps will be an animal. And everytime I see something I try to use and save it as data I can use in the future. Hope that makes sense.

[@CliffGray]

Absolutely man! I agree. You bring up another good point on mis-identifying things…. Oh oh stop the truck… then it’s just a stump. I think the fear of “embarrassment” of that really hurts people. Like you, I never bust a guy’s balls for that. Not to mention I can drive people crazy with how often I want to stop and look… “Cliff, we looked at that branch 7 times”… Bwhaha. Thanks for the comment!

[@matthewharris4643]

Your videos are super informative. I listen to em every year before the season starts. Very knowledgeable and articulate. Keep it up dude. I hunt WY, so a lot of this info plays right into my hunts. Thanks man.

[@CascadePacificNW]

Love these videos man. I just found your channel a few days ago and I've been watching them every day since.

[@terryhemmes6210]

Really enjoy your videos boss. Really enjoyed the extra comments and hearing the random skills from multiple guys

[@f16grinch3]

Cliff, I’m new to hunting…at 53yrs old. I’m excited but a little worried about sucking or being “that guy” or not being welcomed because I’m new. Sure hope the folks I meet in this community are as nice as you seem to be in these videos taking the negative comments in stride. Using your videos to help build my knowledge along with others like meateater and some others. Thanks for sharing your passion and knowledge.

[@CliffGray]

Most hunters and outdoorspeople are good folks - you will run into many helpful people. Best of luck on your first hunts!

[@jackdundon2261]

The term is "Sportsmen", jocks have stollen the term. And they usually are not GOOD SPORTS. I have never met a "sportsman", in the woods who wouldn't help you out. A few "city hunters" will drive past, but... Not the Sportsman.

[@Paul-q3m7k]

90 percent of real hunters are going to be very helpful and welcoming .

[@cronkthecrunk]

Well... think I need to step up my game! It's nice to have so many people weighing in much smarter than me. So much learning opportunities

[@DaytonFire16]

Bought the crazy creek chair this spring. Just used it on my August Nevada elk tag, Awesome!

[@RayCogburn-jv9zu]

Cliff, I really enjoy your videos and I think you do an exceptional job explaining tactics. I have been a big game guide for 24 years, and I learn something every year. I'd like to share that I use a trigger stick tripod to glass with and have it fully erected when we are walking. Several times I have walked up on game and had my sticks immediately ready for the client with me and have bagged the animals. I have spotted many animals when I let my eyes rest from the optics. Also I don't always do this but on more than one occasion when we have decided that there is nothing in the canyon we have glassed, I have thought well if there isn't anything then it won't hurt to roll a few large rocks into the canyon. I do this to fully convince myself that we can mark this spot off. It's amazing how many times a big buck or bull will stand up within shooting range. I did this one time after we spotted a big buck earlier in the day but we couldn't find him. I threw a big rock into a deadfall and that joker stood up a cpl hundred yards away. My client made an amazing shot on that 190",buck. He sent me a Xmas card a few months later and he signed it, Rooster, You Rock. Lol

[@benjaminhamm3957]

Thanks for the "shout out". Really appreciate your videos and have learned a lot. Great, practical knowledge for us regular guys. What an age we live in where years of experience can be shared en mass. Be well and good hunting to all.

[@CliffGray]

For sure man! thank you.

[@jackdundon2261]

I have a impressive photo album, of OTC kills, but, I am learning A LOT, and Honing some old skills watching your videos. - I would love to spend an evening drinking coffee with you at a camp fire. -- GREAT VIDEOS. - Jack

[@waltweaver7297]

I have dry eyes and it helps me to put some eye drops in as needed, it really helps my vision.

[@sandygap1]

White spots....with pronghorn you can tell what animals are doing by spoting both sides of their butts. If they are nervous, you can tell they are ready to run as they flair-out their butts to make the white patches larger thus alerting the herd to danger. This enlarged patch continues as they run until they settle down.

[@chadclayburg1410]

Great video. This last season I started to use a small folding stool for glassing. Made a world of difference. Over the years I have found that I spot a lot of bedded down Blacktail deer bedded right at the base of stumps in a clear-cut and they like to bed in the fallen bark off those stumps.

[@CliffGray]

great tip Chad! I notice a similar thing with mule deer... dead fall aspen groves, they will lay right against large deadfall.

[@jackdundon2261]

I have glasses a FEW BIG bucks mule and blacktail, "sunning" themselves at Dusk laying on a large rock. - though, always blew the "stock" as went too fast trying to beat the sun...

[@noahbyrne2402]

Thank you for the tips I had to pause and take notes I learn more on this channel Thanks Cliff

[@CliffGray]

That’s awesome to hear Noah! Thanks

[@rockymountainpreparedness3357]

I think keeping a set of binoculars in the truck is the best way to ensure you'll actually get practice. I've kept mine in my center console for a little over a year, and have been surprised how often I end up using them. I pull them out to look at climbing and snowboarding lines, watch guys at other job sites, and sometimes just looking around to kill time. It's helped me get really familiar with them.

[@CliffGray]

totally agree - great tip for folks

[@JacopoSkydweller]

14:59 Edit to this otherwise great advice: Scan right to left. The reason being we read from left to right, and that usually means our brains skips over specific details and basically "fills in the gaps" to reduce to the amount of energy needed. When glassing, specific details is *exactly* what we're after, so scanning the opposite direction of daily life helps to keep you from interpolating stuff you're not actually seeing.

[@CliffGray]

Great tip. Thanks

[@Indiancreekgunsmithing]

I like to get the spotting scope out to look at stars. Trying to pick one star out of the bunch helps me get onto something I want to check out quickly. kids love it too.

[@Alberta_MTN_Bear]

Did the burn through the brush technique on a Prarie mule deer hunt. Sage brush and Alders are very difficult to spot mule deer in. Very easy to use this technique to find animals

[@CliffGray]

nice!

[@w8coach]

Awesome content , Cliff. I continue to build my toolbox through your videos. One thing I’ve noticed during glassing is if I start out glasses areas that I know have or can contain animals and I don’t see them on my first scans I will often sit and wait as the sun changes angles and animals will often appear in places I hadn’t seen them initially.

[@CliffGray]

For sure, this is a great tip. Some species, bighorn sheep in particular, will change beds a couple times based on the sun… so not only does angle give you a different look, it also makes game move sometimes! Good stuff! Thanks

[@robfred2713]

I think the term for the 'burning through the brush' part is 'depth of view' (not field of view), and as I understand it for short range glassing and still hunting, lower power binos have a deeper depth (while staying in focus) without having to be continuously focusing. Try still hunting with your 8X 10X 12X binos the 8X is the way to go for short range. Even 6X would be great for real close dense woods.

[@jaredford002]

I like to watch videos of others hunting the animals I will be hunting, for that season. If I do a KZbin search for Oregon Elk in November, because that's what I got tags for that year, I'll watch those videos months before the hunt and leading up to it. Every season has changing colors of animals and landscape, so this technique helps me train my eyes to look for what I'm hunting in the environment/season I would be looking for them.

[@CliffGray]

good tip. thanks

[@chriscrady5702]

Recently found you on here and love your videos and tips. Thank you

[@CliffGray]

Thanks Chris. Glad they are helpful

[@MiddleOutdoorsman]

Tip on the wiser precision quick clip. I recently learned to NOT leave it attached to the 3rd leg. Somehow the locking lever got snagged on a pack strap, came undone , and fell off. I was pretty upset when I sat down to glass, until I found it laying on my packs meat shelf - thankfully. Now I detach the puppy and stick it in my pack. As glassing goes, others have mentioned it, and i'll reiterate it, don't forget to glass near yourself. You don't expect them to be right next to you, but they can be often enough. About 3 weeks ago, i was glassing in a burn around 5PM, and was fixated on larger unburned patchs of aspens on pines figuring they'd be coming out of their beds soon if they were around. What I didn't see was the 15 cows and 2 spikes that were already out and grazing on the ridge right next to me until around 7 or so. I was close enough, I could see a cow sneeze through my binos. Now, I knew to glass near me, but I often forget, and felt pretty dumb cause i was about to give up on the area and move on.

[@CliffGray]

Thanks man! Some more great tips. 👍

[@alansorensen7712]

Great content Cliff I sure wish that I could pick your brain about a couple of units and tips for a non resident guy and his pregnant wife new to hunting Colorado this year!

[@CliffGray]

Shoot me an email. 👍

[@AKRAM78]

Great content. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I would appreciate if you cover the topic of locating elk relatively to time of the day and direction of glassing. For example in the morning checking the north facing and in the evening the west facing etc. thank you Cliff

[@CliffGray]

I’ll hit on this topic in the future. Thanks man!

[@gregmurphy5014]

got my first bear this spring from glassing! learned some hard lessons about comfort on that one… felt like a soup sandwich. had use an eyepatch because after about 10 minutes with my spotting scope i couldn’t even close the other eye, just the worst eye fatigue. Any tips about how to minimize that? as always excellent video man!

[@gregmurphy5014]

looks like this kind of got answered in another comment on here…looking forward to that video

[@CliffGray]

Maybe you ran into my thoughts on it. Learn to glass in your spotter with both eyes open or with eye open but with hand over it. Squinting is impossible to keep up with after a half hour or so. Hope that helps!

[@averagedoes5715]

Check out Field Optics Research tripods. Two legs of the tripod can be removed and converted into trekking poles or shooting sticks, so a 3-in-1 item. They are a smaller company so you might have to backorder your kit.

[@Alexb_1775]

“Gotta assume I’m gonna talk the whole time guy!”😂

[@sheerwillsurvival2064]

Always good tips and information

[@CliffGray]

👍thanks man

[@kentrush4519]

Great info. With a spotting scope do you use some kind of hood so the only light you see is through the scope?

[@CliffGray]

I don’t. The objective on my big scor does have a pull out shade but I rarely use it unless I’m glassing at an angle where the sun is really bad. I will cup my eye piece sometime if sun is quartering over my shoulder into it. I’ll cover this in another video but I also use my spotter, typically with both eyes open or with both open and my hand laid over one eye. For long glassing sessions closing or squinting an eye causes a lot of facial/eye fatigue. I hope that helps Kent! Thanks for the comment.

[@everythingnerd7168]

One of the reasons for the white backend of many game animals is called a flash behavior. That color combined with the bounding behavior when spooked is an evolution to disorient predators on. I have not read anything on this also being used to find other members of the same species. That is an interesting theory that seems plausible. It would be interesting to research it further.

[@perryfrazeoutdoors8019]

I enjoy your videos, thanks for all the tips. What advice do you have for hunting early season archery elk during mid day when they aren’t talking? Thanks

[@CliffGray]

It varies a bit on area. In some areas, even early rut, elk will go to water a few times a day while they are rutting. getting where you can glass thick country that is a path to water can be productive midday. If you catch sign near water - tracks, shit, etc… even though they may mostly come to that source at night they maybe swinging in midday also… particularly if they can get to it by staying in cover. You can also do blind calling setups - pretty effective on smaller bulls. Hope that helps!

[@perryfrazeoutdoors8019]

@@CliffGray thanks, been hunting elk several years with traditional archery equipment. Came very close several times but haven’t connected yet. Hopefully this will be the year

[@BranNew1]

Have you tried that Ollin digi-scoping system yet with yer glassing?

[@CliffGray]

I haven’t tried it yet. I know several past clients and friends that are huge fans.

[@slikknapp8767]

Cliff sir , on glassing you want to glass from right to left not left to right (like reading a book)because our mind will "auto fill, " similar to speed reading, if you go from right to left there is no "auto fill"

[@jpkoepse]

This might be weird but I'll ask anyways... Do you ever get itchy ass cheeks from sitting on your glassing pad? (Cheeks specifically)... I can't figure it out. It usually happens more in the heat after about 30 minutes but it gets crazy itchy. Only relief is to let cheeks breathe or sit in a mesh chair. Thought it might be the material in my boxers but I switched to mostly merino boxer and had same issue

[@CliffGray]

Ha! No idea. I don’t have that issue but I do wear lighter weight pants than most guys. I do know many sheep guides that shave their balls before long backpack trips, they have less chaffing and constant itching that way. So this has gone down hill… guess I’m saying try shaving your ass… Bwhaha

[@jpkoepse]

@@CliffGray haha haven't tried shaving my ass... I'll do that next

[@CliffGray]

@@jpkoepse Bwhaha well it’s worth a try. Good luck

[@echofoxtrotwhiskey1595]

Hey Cliff I have a question, I’ve heard from another prevalent KZbinr that most elk bed down in the upper 1/3 of the ridge on a slope of 20 degrees or less. Have you seen that trend in the field?

[@CliffGray]

I think that’s a decent generalization. But it varies a bunch on terrain and area. The slope deal, that seems to be pretty universal - elk don’t bed on steep stuff in general. I personally think that is due to the wind - in the mountains, little benches are typically at the confluences of chutes… so the wind swirls there. In my old area, a lot of the time you would find late season bulls after getting hunted for months, in timber bottoms, just above water. Just secluded, rough winds, etc… Elk are crazy hard to generalize - I just know they respond to hunting and some of them are hunted for 3-5months a year, while others get hunted for two weeks. Almost two different species…

[@echofoxtrotwhiskey1595]

@@CliffGray Thanks for the help and for all the great content, you’re the best 👍

[@jwjenkins421]

I believe the animals do use white to identify each other. One time I was in the woods with a white shirt on, and I got close to some deer, they heard me and the white shirt must've peaked their interest because rather than scattering or doing some other evasive action, they turned and came toward me trying to figure out what I was.

[@CliffGray]

Yeah. It’s interesting. I know guys that “flag in” antelope with a white flag. Guess it’s same concept with the flapping duck decoys that give off a white shimmer. A bug in the metaverse? Haha

[@andrewmckinney3302]

Do you work for A1 Autos

[@TheModernDayMountainMan]

Wow I got a shoutout, LOL. I hope my tip helps guys out!

[@CliffGray]

Thanks again for the additional tips Gary!

[@TheModernDayMountainMan]

@@CliffGray absolutely!

[@BranNew1]

Would you spend much time archery elk hunting an area if there is free range cattle/sheep around? Or go find an area void of those bastards?

[@CliffGray]

I have hunted areas with both - I find sheep far more disruptive. Elk don’t seem that bothered, particularly in areas that are seasonally cattle grazed for decades. My experience with sheep herds is that they are usually high intensity grazing them… lots of sheep in one basin for a short period of time. That sucks for the hunting but is short lived

[@IsaacSchultz]

At 5:50 this guy wants you to fill your video with a bunch of crap intro music that is offensively louder than your spoken audio. I hate inefficient education... Keep talking, also keep talking at this speed, you are one of the few people i dont listen to at 1.5 speed or faster.

[@squatch2461]

🍻

[@paulgandy8400]

Depth of field

[@CliffGray]

That’s right! I knew I was looking for a term there… thought I had it. Appreciate the correction. Thanks

[@averagedoes5715]

I didn't describing it well in my comment on the short range glassing video, but that difference in focus (depth of field) is exactly what I was talking about.

[@drmann15]

Okay cliff, how was that an awesome comment?? Who just sits back and watches an animal take an hour to die??? It only went 20 yards? You have to humanely and swiftly dispatch wounded game