Ep. 11: Finding the Grey Ghost and Winning the “He Who Spots it Stalks It” Game
17:35 Share

Check engine light on? Take the guesswork out of your check engine light with O'Reilly Veriscan. It's free and provides a report with solutions based on over 650 million vehicle scans verified by ASE certified master technicians. And if you need help, we can recommend a shop for you. Ask for O'Reilly Veriscan today. O, O, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to land.com. They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.

Market House has the cleanest, leanest, juiciest meat and seafood shipped to your home overnight. Expect the service of a local butcher and the convenience of a large supplier. Unlike many online butchers, you can grab just one meal's worth or lock in for a subscription box. Choose from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, American Wagyu, free-range poultry, grass-fed lamb, wild-caught king crab, seafood, and more.

and more. For 15% off your first order, use code COUNTRY at checkout. Just visit markethouse.com. That's M-A-R-K-E-T-H-O-U-S-E dot com. And use the code COUNTRY.

As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance. You're on a glassing knob. The sun's just about to crack. You and your buddy are getting ready for the day. You're excited. You're geared up for this hunt. Now, out west, there's this rule.

It's pretty much the rule of the land. And it goes like this. He who spots it, stalks it. Or at least gets the first right of refusal. What's that mean for you? That means that you want to spot something before the guy next to you. How do you do that? This week, I want to teach you how to spot animals fast with high percentage scanning. Where to look, when to look, and how to focus in and pick apart the landscape.

I think the best way to go about it is to tell you a story about a trip I took with four friends down to southern Arizona to hunt Coos Deer. This hunt takes place down in Arizona, right on the Mexico border. It's the southwest desert. We're hunting an area where we got these over-the-counter pretty much tags, leftover rifle tags for Coos Deer, which can be some of the hardest deer to spot, especially in early October.

The reason is they're really, really well adapted to their environment. You got to picture it. It's big cactus country. There's a lot of these bushes we call ocotillo, which is essentially a spiny pile of branches that almost looks like you can look through, yet everything behind it can hide. The coosdeer's coat, I would consider it very close to digital camo.

it blends in, it's gray, they call them the gray ghost for a reason because they can just blend into the gray rock without having to try. In October, they aren't moving around much, they aren't rutting, they're just sitting in their hidey holes off away from roads and other things, making them very difficult to find. You might have a little bit of movement in the morning, little bit in the evening, but for 90% of the day,

You are just glassing, hoping to turn up and pick up the slightest piece of an animal at a long distance. This hunt starts out on a glassing. I'm there with three of my best friends. We got John, Mike, and Joe. Now my buddy John moved down to Arizona and that's kind of what spurred our whole coos deer or my coos deer fascination, pretty much all of ours,

because we figured out we don't get to hunt much anymore. So we'll make a trip, a pilgrimage down to Arizona. We'll go hunt the coos deer and it'll be a great camp, great trip. So John had yet to shoot a coos buck, but he'd been living down there for a little while. So I really wanted John to get a buck almost more than myself because I'd taken one years earlier with my bow. So we're all out there. We're starting the morning out.

And the rule is simple. It's the same rule we have lived by when other people have a tag. If you spot it, you stalk it. Or you at least get the first right of refusal. And why is that? Well, it's because you're the one that found it. Once you spot it, you own that animal. So we're up on the knob, all four of us. We've got our tripods out. We've got our binoculars out. It's dark. We actually hiked in three miles to this perfect little knob away from the roads and

It's got a good basin and background. The sun's going to be rising behind us. It should just be lit up perfect. I think that basin, the term this is lit was referring to that basin because it just glows. So we're sitting there. The sun's coming up. We start scanning for bucks, four of us. Somebody spot some does. Wasn't me, but you know what? I wasn't looking for does. I was looking for bucks.

While everybody was distracted with the does that they'd spotted off to the left, I focused in on a spot that looked bucky to me and sure enough turned up two bucks. Now I have the option. I can stock or I can pass. Having been the spotter, I decided to give John the first crack at it. He set the whole thing up. I knew that he wanted a buck as bad as anybody's ever wanted a buck.

John makes a stock, makes a play. We're all sitting there on the knob watching. Him and Mike went over to do the stock. While they're doing the stock, I just continue glassing. John ends up getting too close to him, takes his shoes off like a true bow hunter would, even though we're rifle hunting, sneaks in within range and shoots the buck pretty much within bow range. One buck down. While they are cutting that buck up, I turn up another buck over on the other side of the range.

Well, I decide I can either stalk it or pass. Nah, I might as well keep looking. It's the first morning, so my buddy Mike's up to bat. He sneaks in, makes a perfect shot, buck down. We've got two deer down, and it's the first day. Now, we're continuing hunting. The next day, we go to a different knob, glassing. It's just me and Joe left at this point. Glassing, I turn up yet another buck.

Ooh, I'm in a good position. This is a wider buck, a better buck, but I've already shot a deer in the past. So I wasn't too concerned. Nobody else had taken a coos deer buck at this point yet. So I was like, yeah, Joe, you can take it if you want. Joe sneaks in, gets set up. Boom. Perfect shot. Third buck down. This is on a hunt that has very low success for coos deer spotting or for coming home with a buck because of the time of year. Now it's the next day.

Joe and I decided to go on a mission. I'm looking for a better deer. We go on a big hike, get to the top of the mountain. That evening, we're sitting glassing side by side, and there I go again. Spot the fourth buck of the trip, which happens to be the biggest buck. I decide I'm going to take it, move down, get the rifle set up, make the shot. Buck falls, just tagged out. Out of that entire trip, I ended up spotting every buck first.

Now, you might think that's a coincidence, but I think there's a few tips that I do that allow me to spot things before other people. And I'm going to share those with you. O'Reilly Auto Parts are in the business of keeping your car on the road. I love O'Reilly. In fact, the other day, I'm not kidding you. The other day, I went into an O'Reilly Auto Parts looking for a part. I needed a different thing that wasn't really in there, you know, only like tangentially related to what they carry.

They did not have it, and the dude told me specifically where I would go down the road to find it is how nice they are. They offer friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs. Thousands of parts and accessories in stock, in-store, or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam.

They'll test your battery for free. If you need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed, or quick service, they'll help you find the right part or point you to a local repair shop for help. Whether you're a car aficionado or an auto novice, you'll find the employees at O'Reilly Auto Parts are knowledgeable, helpful, best of all, friendly. These guys are your one-stop shop for all things auto, do-it-yourself,

You can find what you need in store or online. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit them at OReillyAuto.com slash meat eater. That's OReillyAuto.com slash meat eater. We've all seen plenty of gadgets and fads come and go, but here's one product that stood the test of time. Seafoam motor treatment. Lots of hunters and anglers know that seafoam helps engines run better and last longer.

It's really simple. When you pour it in your gas tank, seafoam cleans harmful fuel deposits that cause engine problems. I'm talking common stuff like hard starts, rough engine performance, or lost fuel economy. Seafoam is an easy way to prevent or overcome these problems. Just pour a can in your gas tank and let it clean your fuel system. You probably know someone who has used a can of seafoam to get their truck or boat going again. People everywhere rely on seafoam to keep their trucks, boats, and small engines running the way that they should the entire season.

Help your engine run better and last longer. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more. Fishing Booker is the number one platform for booking fishing charges worldwide. Search and compare over 36,000 fishing trips at your fingertips when you download the Fishing Booker app today.

We'll be right back.

Fishing Booker will match that price by refunding you the difference. If you're a captain and want to create a listing, Fishing Booker will advertise your business on the world's largest online service for fishing trips absolutely free.

They'll write an SEO-friendly description, make sure your photos look as good as possible, and promote your business to their customers all over the world. They'll also advertise your listings on Google, Bing, Instagram, Facebook, and other online platforms to help maximize your exposure and to get you bookings. And they provide 24-7 captain support.

Go to fishingbooker.com today. That's fishingbooker.com. So when I talk about glassing, you have to first understand that 90% of the game animals are really only in about 10% of good-looking country. So what's that mean? That means that you have to know the places to pick out within that good-looking country. That's the where. Now, when we're talking about fast glassing or spotting something before someone else,

This whole tactic can be used when you're by yourself or with other people. It's because there are certain times of the day when you need to glass fast. Think about most game animals we chase. They're pretty crepuscular. They move in the, or at least move in the open, the hours of dawn and dusk. So what that means is you have to really focus your attention on the places they are while they're there. The key to spotting things before other people is reading the situation and critically thinking.

There is what I would consider a formula to finding animals, especially finding animals fast. And that's what we're going to talk about. To outglass the guy next to you, you really just have to read the situation, then adjust your glassing based on the where, what, and when. You got to break down the critical thinking of where you're glassing and where your effort should be. So you also have to keep in mind, you want to target high percentage spots. And that's the key.

While other people might be wasting their time looking over all that country, the 90%, you're going to focus on the 10% based on a database of information you have on places you've seen deer previous times. But also, it's the way that you glass, the places you look first. When we talk about glassing, if somebody is going to give you a glassing article or glassing seminar, one of the things that they're going to throw out there is this idea of gridding.

Now what gridding is, I'll just define it real quick is it's where you would take your binoculars, say on a tripod and you go, whatever's in front of you, you create like a grid pattern. So you go, you start at the top and you go left to right and you cover that. And you drop down slightly to where you couldn't cover last and then go right to left and then back and you cover the whole mountain. Now, while there is a time and a place to glass for that,

Let's say the mornings and the evenings are not that time or place. Or when you're trying to glass faster than the guy next to you, that might not be the time and place. Now there's also this other term, shotgun glassing. That's where you've got the binoculars up and you're just ping-ponging around. You're just throwing them here, throwing them there, and you're hoping that something lands in your view. Now that's not a very effective way to glass if you're comparing it to gridding, right? Because you're just kind of hoping to get lucky.

So what I'm going to tell you is my personal secret. I don't even know if I should be giving these secrets out. You guys are very lucky. You probably won't even, this will be the one episode that doesn't get shared because you aren't going to want your buddies to know this information. Now, while there are a lot of different tactics to gridding and really picking apart the country, when it comes to what we're talking about here, spotting something before someone else,

My tactic I like to call strategic shotgun glassing. So what that is, is I'm quickly scanning the high percentage areas where deer or elk or whatever I'm looking for are most likely to be. And by doing that, I'm covering that 10% of good country while someone else is looking over the whole 90% of stuff that looks great. So let's break it down into a simple strategic way for you to start your approach.

So let's start the glassing out like this. We're going to execute on the knowledge that we have about how animals move, where animals prefer to be. Okay? We're going to start by looking for the easy animals to find. Now that seems simple, but you can fast scan those areas and there are a lot of high percentage areas where if something's there, you'll see it right away.

This includes glassing ridgelines, skylines, major openings. What you're looking for here is you're able to move fast over these spots and look for the animals that stand out like a sore thumb. The one that you go, yep, should have seen that. The one that everybody should see, but they're too busy focusing in on other places. These are areas that you can cover quickly,

yet high percentage of seeing something because they are not necessarily hiding that well. Think about first thing in the morning. Some of the first places I look when I sit down would be on that skyline because whatever's up there sticks out like a sore thumb. You don't have to spend a lot of time on it, but you can continually keep scanning these areas.

Ridge lines, another great travel corridor or bedding area where animals like to be, is on finger ridges or other ridges coming down These are often easier to see, as well as like meadows, openings, mornings and evenings, places where deer or elk or other animals would frequent those times of day

Got to think about what an animal is doing. Mornings and evenings are generally feeding. So I hit up those open areas first, scanning areas where I'm expecting animals to be, yet they're also fairly easy to see in those places. Now, as the day moves on, right, that's not going to work all the time. So you're going to have to move your gaze to a closer look and look into areas where the animals will move from to the areas that they'll prefer.

So these are those areas where they're going from feeding now, say in the morning, we started the day out, we're on the now, we're going from this feeding area to now more of a bedding type area. Well, think about where animals like to bed and where they might move to. You got to anticipate and play off animal behavior to start scanning those areas next as the day starts wearing on or scan those areas midday or like evening before they come back out to feed. These would be your bedding areas.

So now logically think about where an animal likes to bed. He's going to want to bed in the shade, right? Oftentimes he's going to want to be comfy while he's bedding and looking downhill. So he's going to want the wind at his back. He's going to want to be in the shade and he's going to be wanting to survey what's down below him because he thinks that he can see that way better. So picture those places that fit that description and start moving your gaze toward those areas.

Another great spot for bedding would be a finger ridge or what that would be is a ridge that comes off of a main ridge. The reason is because an animal has a lot of escape routes. When they bed, safety is their number one concern. So you've gone from feeding to now focusing your gaze on areas or potential areas where they would be bedding. Now they're going to be moving to those areas. So it's a lot higher likelihood that you can pick them up quick while scanning those areas. Now the days we're on, it's midday.

Okay, now we can break out our gridding because you're going to want to take that close in-depth look at animals or try to find animals that are bedded. And the best way, the best use of your time, the best way to spot something before the guy next to you is to start taking that close look into those bedding areas.

This is when I would break out the bigger binoculars or the tripod to really zoom in and look into the shade, look into those areas where they might be bedded. And to effectively cover that, now we're slowing down. We're changing the pace from earlier in the day to now just gridding, going left, right, up, down, back, forth, covering an area, moving on, covering an area, moving on.

The best places to focus would be places that you've seen them bed before or hill orientations or near places where in that same area, whether it's that same exact spot or not, look similar because that's how you can identify the 10% of the country that they like.

Where are they now? And then go find a spot that looks just like that somewhere else in the area or the next day look in similar places where you saw them the day before. It doesn't have to be the same place, but just something that has the same hill orientation, the same wind direction, the same type of shade throughout the day. Maybe it's the same type of food or an area where there's water. Look at the places where they're most likely to be.

Simple, but you can do it more effectively by targeting and scanning those high percentage areas. Using the tactics of not just looking for animals, but looking for the places they are most likely to be, then covering those first eliminates a lot of time scanning a huge area. It will get you on the board faster and make you the one that gets to pass or stalk.

Honestly, you want to be that guy. You want to be the guy that has the option and that's how you do it. Now next week, I think I want to talk about how to find animals before you even step out of your house. We're going to go over looking at topo maps and a little bit of e-scouting because if you've got a hunt coming up, the best place to start is honestly from home.

Based on my schedule and all the hunts that I go on, most of the places I go are general areas that I've never been. And I can pretty much day one walk in and find animals. And the reason is, is because the time I put in understanding and knowing maps. So I'm going to give you, well, I won't give you everything I know about it, but I will give you a darn good place to start. So until next week, outspot your friends.

And don't be a jerk. You should share this with your buddies. They need to know it too, because then if you're out there together, maybe they'll be the guy that spots something that you didn't see and passes it on to you. Or maybe they are the guy that spots it and awesome. You get to go help them be successful. So sharing is caring kids. Sharing is caring till next week.

Hey, we're going to take a little break here and talk about interstate batteries. Now, if you're like me, enjoying the great outdoors, you need gear that is as reliable as it gets. That's why I power my adventures with interstate batteries. I use interstate batteries in my boats. I use interstate batteries in my camper. Great for your truck, too. From Alaska to Montana, they're outrageously dependable.

Battery is essential. With over 150,000 dealer locations, finding one is easy. For all your vehicles, land or sea, choose Interstate. Head to InterstateBatteries.com and find your power today. You ever get that feeling, the walls closing in, the concrete jungle suffocating you? You crave some wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe in a spot all your own. Well, head over to Land.com.

They've got ranches, forests, mountains, streams, you name it. Search by acreage. You can search by location. You can search by the kind of hunting and fishing you're dreaming of. Land.com. It is where the adventure begins.