Hunt smart

[rjthehunter]

Is that one of those soft mount taxidermy pieces? I've been super interested in those since seeing a wolf someone had done.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Just traditional hard mount. Bobcats have a large boxy profile, but are all of about 4” wide - I wonder if the flexibility would cause it revert to the more tube-like proportions of canids.

 

[Nick87]

Enjoy your season updates. I've been trying to be more efficient with my days afield this year as well. Actually stayed home on some days with marginal wind this archery season, when in the past I'd have been out anyway.

Doing the same lately. I think part of it is getting older and more tired though ha.

 

[Hammsolo]

I almost think you can’t hunt too slow. After reading an article about deer’s’ vision, and how they see in “slow motion” in comparison to us I even tried to slow down more.

Another tip I picked up somewhere was “blur.” If you’re glassing or walking and there’s any blur in your vision you’re moving too fast. I have found myself glassing up more critters and spooking less.

Moving slow also accentuates consciousness. Are you staying in tune? Hearing, feeling the wind? It’s hardest on return trips or when I’m tired.

 

[Wvhuntandfish]

I’m often amazed how close I’ve gotten to some deer and never realized they were there till they spooked.

 

[Pucky Freak]

A must watch for anyone who hunts big game. I stumbled on this about a year ago, but I wish I had found it many years prior.

Some of many takeaways:
-What you see is very different from what your eyes perceive - it is what your brain can make sense of and presents to you. The brain provides you with images that are meant to be useful, overruling visual input.
-Visual center of human brain is evolved to rapidly identify close game, especially predators. You have to force it against its defaults to effectively find distant animals, including through magnification.
-Your brain turns distant animals into rocks, logs, and other common inanimate objects.
-Glassing can be more effective through scanning the same landscape for hours on end. Eventually you memorize the landscape, and you’ll notice a new block of color, indicating an animal moving into view.
-You basically have to look right at something to effectively see it. Only 1% of your field of vision is in focus. It seems like it is far more than 1%, but that is just your brain filling in details (that don’t exist) to make blurry images surrounding direct gaze sharper.
-Your brain discards 99% of visual input, curating 1% to your conscious awareness, based on what it thinks you’ll find most useful.
-Glassing for specific shapes, outlines, and contrasts can turn up animals better than looking for the whole animal. If I look for deer ears, I’ll find them. Same with horizontal backs, elk butts, dark nose at the end of the muzzle, etc. When I hunt cottontails in the snow I try to spot the black circle (an eye). My uncle had an uncanny ability to spot ruffed grouse -he only looked for a single shape.

-Critical in glassing to focus your eyes on each subsection of a frame, before moving the optic to a new frame. Staring directly at an animal can make it pop out of the landscape.
-When focusing on scanning for animals, especially at twilight, your brain turns inanimate objects into animals.
-The same thing can happen when spotting another hunter. Your brain can turn a human into an animal - the cause of many shooting accidents. Turkey hunters are notorious for shooting one other. Realistic turkey noises, camo, concealment, and any splash of red, white, or blue can conjure an image of a tom’s head where none exists.
-I now force myself to slowly and deliberately identify my target. I ask, how do I know this is a legal animal? This is usually answered with the animal’s familiar and unmistakable movements.