Down here in the southwest desert that I call home, glassing efficiently is the key to success. It’s a wide-open landscape that will eat through its fair share of boots in a hurry. Not to mention animals tend to be more spread out, due to the overall vastness of the landscape. So, in terms of efficiency sitting high on a vantage point and surveying the surrounding country with high-powered optics on a tripod is about as good as it gets.
In doing so, there can be a lot of switching between binoculars and spotting scopes. I prefer to glass with a smaller more general magnification like a 10×42 binocular. When I do find something I want a closer look at, I’ll pop those off and mount up a 65mm spotting scope. It sounds much easier than it is, and I’m mainly referring to target acquisition when switching between the two. There’s a trick to it that will save you time and time is money.
In a nutshell, I used to be a tripod-leg guy. What I mean by that is I used to set my tripod legs for the height I wanted my binoculars at right from the rip. I would never touch my center post. This posed a problem when trying to switch to an angled spotting scope.
The problem was target acquisition. I’d find a deer, pop on my spotter, and then wouldn’t be able to find him quickly, due to me having to lower the tripod legs and set them for my spotting scope. Not an efficient way to stay in the game.
This doesn’t apply to straight spotting scopes. Because they’re straight, there is no tripod adjustment that needs to happen.
Nowadays, after countless hunts, I’ve come up with a strategy that I feel is the most efficient way to switch between binoculars and angled spotting scopes on the tripod. First, instead of setting the legs to the preferred height for my binoculars, I now set them for the height of the spotting scope. I do this before attaching my binoculars.
After that, I’ll raise my center post up to the height I want my binoculars at and start glassing with them. Once I find something I want a closer look at, I’ll simply lower the center post and mount my spotting scope. Done. Simple and quick without playing with tripod legs while that deer is slinking away.
I wasted a whole lot of time in my early years of glassing fumbling around with tripod legs. The fact of the matter is though, we only get so many opportunities at this thing. I dream of hunting season throughout the entire year, and in the end, a little goes a long way. These little tips that aid in efficiency close the gap on success and make for a smoother ride along the way. And this is one that I wish I knew sooner than later.
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