The Advantage of Glassing with a Tripod

I have been fortunate enough to spend time glassing with some of (in my opinion) the most proficient game spotters in the business. As I write this, a few of them are in the building. One of my favorite things about glassing with different people, especially people who are very good at it, is observing the way they go about it. In my experience, the best hunters are the best glassers. Experience and knowledge are the two main factors in making someone a “pro” optics hunter, but there are a few key ideas that even a dork like me can borrow and implement immediately.

Watching a good glasser find game in difficult conditions from difficult angles is nothing short of mesmerizing. There are some differences in tactics among these mystical hunters, but there are also some key common denominators. Each time I get the opportunity to spend time with someone who really gets it, I try to take note of their gear, tactics, and practices, and implement them on my own hunts.

I used to believe the regular success of most die-hard hunters was largely aided by access to higher-end gear. “I could spot that too if I had a pair of Swarovskis.” We’ve all had these thoughts at one point or another. While quality optics do provide an advantage to a skilled hunter, in my experience, the best hunters I have encountered had different preferences when it came to the make/model of their binoculars, spotting scopes, and other gear. However, every great hunter/glasser/guide I have EVER come across has one thing in common; they all mount their optics on a tripod.

…and most of them are customers of ours.

Advantages of a Tripod

One of the most important differences between hand-holding and glassing is the amount of time you can spend doing it. If I try to freehand a pair of 12x or 15x binoculars, you can count me out after about 10 minutes without something to rest them on. Conversely, I have spent many entire days, sunup to sundown, looking through binoculars that were mounted on a tripod. Better optics make that easier, more comfortable, and maybe more effective, but the tripod is the key.

Another subtle difference is the way that you can use your binoculars when you’re not concerned with holding them up. When freehanding, most people move their head and neck to aim the center of the optic at various targets. Worse, the farther you are looking, the more those slight movements are exaggerated, and you can find yourself drawing circles the size of a football field or more with just the motion of your breath. 

Imagine a cone shape that extends from your ocular lens to the hillside you’re looking at. At 100 yards, maybe you can see pretty clearly. Get to 1000 yards, and the size of that “cone” of movement increases exponentially.

This can get tiresome and is drastically less effective than the alternative. When your optics are firmly mounted on a tripod, you can glass from farther away and utilize a larger field of view. Your eyes are free to roam around the image without moving your head. You can spend half an hour scanning one spot before you have to pan or tilt.

Also, without the subtle motions of your body, you can much more easily pick up small movements such as the flick of an ear or tail. Those things are nearly impossible to catch otherwise and are often the difference between finding game and getting skunked, especially with Coues deer or mule deer in areas where they are not plentiful or in hot, sunny weather. 

Even with a tripod, I often wonder how many deer I look over or miss because I wasn’t staring intently when they moved just slightly. Not having a tripod and being forced to freehand is now a recurring nightmare for me! A spotting scope is a paperweight without a tripod, so I wouldn’t bother having one without a solid platform for it.

Digiscoping

One of the greatest advantages of packing a tripod is the ability to record photos and video of what you see through your optics. With just a relatively affordable adapter case, you can mount your cell phone camera on your optic and use it as an extreme telephoto lens. Digiscoping has become one of the most important tools for guides and outfitters looking to offer trophy hunts to clients. It has also spread to the “enthusiast” side of the community and the setup is very simple.

With the recent changes involving trail cameras in Arizona, being able to keep track of and document game is more important than ever. Besides the tactical advantages, my favorite benefit of digiscoping is never having to tell “big buck” stories again without proof.

Many companies make digiscoping adapters. Although we carry some of our own, we have conceded to Ollin for making a superior product. If you want to get into digiscoping with a smaller upfront investment, our original digiscoping gear is currently on blowout status!

Although I work for a glassing tripod manufacturer and I may get fired for saying this, this is the point I want to make. The most important thing is not what tripod you are using, but the fact that you are using one. We make gear that’s meant to last forever, and that’s part of why it costs more. If you’re not that serious about hunting or enjoy the feeling of finding and buying a new one every few years, there are lots of options for you.

If you are not already, find somewhere to buy or borrow one (I know where I’d go), and see just how much more success (and game) you find while using it. Any binocular can be mounted on a tripod, and a cheap optic on a good tripod is MUCH more valuable than the best optic on the market, handheld.