How much game are you NOT seeing

[antlercarver]

I live beside a narrow lake where we sometimes see moose across the lake. For several years we had a year round, full body moose decoy in our yard by the lake. Last winter I moved the decoy across the lake, so we could see it from the house. Even though I know exactly where it is, in some light conditions, we don`t see it. I don`t mention it when people come here, we are visiting and they look over the lake, but none say look at the moose. It is about 300 yds from the house. We do a lot of wildlife photography so I wonder how many pictures we have missed out on.

[Smoky buck]

Tons of wildlife is going unseen even when it’s under 50yards away. As soon as you put an animal in the bush or even a back drop they blend in more then most realize if they don’t move

Any time I get asked by other hunters if there is any nice bucks in an area when I am out checking cams or traveling to/from a location my response is always the same.

Yes and there is probably one watching us right now but we can’t see him

[Stinky Buffalo]

That's for sure - often, you'll be watching a moose, elk, deer, bear, etc., and then in a flash, they stroll into the bushes and you'd have no clue that they ever were there at all.



When the kids were little, we would often make a game of counting how many creatures we saw during long drives.

I'd often comment that we were passing by many more animals that we couldn't see.

Now they're getting better than me at spotting them. I love it!

[Bushrat]

When hunting in the bush I'd say you would be lucky to see 5% of the deer that are within 400 yds of you.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Good friend bow hunter would tell me about All the black bears he seen while hunting elk. " Walk slow and carry a big stick"

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Bushrat

When hunting in the bush I'd say you would be lucky to see 5% of the deer that are within 400 yds of you.

I would agree

The locations I set up tree stands in the bush I will hear way more deer than I see and they are closer than 100yards.

[BorealBucks]

I quadded by a herd of 5 moose 1:30 pm in November. in the bush about 40 yards from the trail. If I didnt look I would of not seen them at all. I barely saw them when I quadded by.

[wildwoods]

What’s also surprising is the number of hunters without binoculars strapped to their chest. I’m guessing those guys are missing 98% of the game nearby LOL.

Signed- a guy frustrated at getting nearly scoped by two dudes from 30 yards away

[mryimmers]

Worst one for me was a few years ago deer hunting, walking along one of my skidder trails.
I cut lots of stumps nice and flat so I can sit on them when I walk these trails.
So I sat on one for close to an hour. When I got up, stretched a bit and looked around and a deer jumped up and ran, all I saw was a blur out the corner of my eye and a white flag disappeared into the bush.
It had been bedded down right in front of me, 75' away, I didn't see a thing.

[silvertip]

Heck I agree ,we miss a fair bit.

We are losing our senses by spending too much time in the concert jungle
Trying to carve out a living.

Too focused on our day in day out activities.

But its what we end up do.

[OL_JR]

A lot goes unseen, but I also think that with experience you get better at spotting, and some people just simply have better eyes for game than others.

[calgarychef]

Good post! We have a grey cat, it sits in the yard on a rope and so he doesn’t have too many spots to pick from. I’m amazed how well that little critter blends in. I’d also mention, different people seem to have different eyes. One hunting buddy sees easily 4x more animals than I do, my eyes just aren’t “tuned in” like his are.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

A lot goes unseen, but I also think that with experience you get better at spotting, and some people just simply have better eyes for game than others.

Experience definitely plays a role when looking for animals. I have watched lots of rookies go from having a hard time spotting game to picking out animals really well

Every hunter has different things they look for that help them spot game. Myself I look for horizontal line, flickers(ears and tail movements), round shapes, and of course colors of the animal I am hunting. Hunting timber I find ear/head movement is something I catch easiest.

Some people just have amazing eyes though. I have one buddy that catches things before me 99% of the time and has spotted animals I know I would never see. If we are hunting open county spot&stalk I honestly get lazy and rely on him more lol

When I comes to hunting thick timber I personally find my ears more valuable then my eyes. It is very common for me to hear animals and key in on their location that way before seeing them. Often staring at the bush for what seems like a long time before getting a visual.

[Puma]

How many times have I been sitting long & glassing a hillside and maybe see a few animals, then another, and another.

[KegRiver]

Some years ago I went hunting Deer on my brother's property up north.

I had seen a couple of bucks in the area and was curios what he and the other land owners, all friends of us both, had been seeing.

Collectively we came to the conclusion that there were four or perhaps five bucks in the area.

Then on day two of the hunt I dropped the biggest buck of my life. It green scored 168.
A buck none of us knew was there, but that was only the beginning.

A few days later my brother decided to put up a game camera overlooking a small pile of spilled grain in his yard.
He had seen a few does come in late each evening to snack on the spilled grain.
He told me that the figured the bucks were too cautious to come into a busy yard, I expected to find only pictures of does on that camera.

Over the next week that camera captured 27 different bucks feeding on the spilled grain. There may have been more. By comparing antlers we could only say that 27 were distinctly different enough to be sure there were at least 27 individuals.

I have never seen a Marten anywhere close to my property but my trail cameras catch one or two a year.

I saw one bear close to my property last year, and it was looking in my window at me.
My cameras saw more, at least four different individuals used a bush trail about two hundred feet from where I sit typing this, and they used it a lot.
That camera had nearly 100 shots of Bear on it when I brought it in last fall.

One of the things I love about wildlife photography is the challenge of getting a clear shot with no blocking vegetation.
When I got my first DSLR I quickly found that most critters are very skilled at keeping at least some screening vegetation between them and any intruder.

[Pathfinder76]

Yesterday. Was standing overlooking a meadow when I hear what sounds like a grazing horse right behind me. So I turn around and 15 yards away a bull elk is filling his belly.

https://imgur.com/a/qsPeQ8s

[RayL42]

Many years ago I must have been 18 or 19 after a hunt my hunting buddy asked if I was trophy hunting. I said no any buck would be prefect. He then asked why I did not shoot the little 4x4 standing 50 yards from me for 15 minnutes. I never saw it had no idea it was there.

I think in general the majority of animals go unseen. Their survival depends on it.

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

A lot goes unseen, but I also think that with experience you get better at spotting, and some people just simply have better eyes for game than others.

Yes. Some people just seem to be able to spot game quicker and easier than others. I'm one of them. Everybody I ever hunted with comments on it at some point. I'm not sure why it is but I'm not complaining either. My eyes used to be 20/20 but then in my 40's I needed to get reading glasses. Now I wear them all the time. So it's not a case of better vision. I think it's a pattern recognition thing to be honest.

As far as spotting game in the bush, movement always attracts the eye. Someone else pointed out, horizontal lines. They're uncommon enough to stand out. As for open country, I seem to just pic out the shapes better.

One thing I have found is that looking directly at something never seems to work as well as looking beside it. For whatever reason, I seem to pick out objects and small movements (ear flick, eye blink) better when looking to the side as compared to directly at. I find that really applies in low light for me as well.

So if I'm sitting in the dark waiting for legal and glassing with my noc's if I spot a blotch that could be an animal, I'll look beside it, past it, in front of it, etc. I seem better able to make out the shape and tell if it is, or isn't an animal than if I looked directly at it.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by CptnBlues63

think it's a pattern recognition thing to be honest.

I think so too! Usually for me, it's a line that's out of place, or a familiar profile, say, a bear, deer, grouse etc.

I hear you when it comes to the eyesight thing! I am now wearing combination contacts (lower power in one eye) so I'm not fiddling with reading glasses all the time, but it comes at a cost - I'm not spotting game as well as I used to.

Gotta get lazered or get grumpy old man bifocals. (shudder). I know, I know, resistance is futile, time to grow up and accept my fate...

[Bushrat]

Not sure what it is but it seems almost subliminal or psychic. Some can look at the same scene others are looking at and pick up the subtle hints that draw their eyes and initiate recognition of an animals presence meanwhile others just see the overall scene and can't see the critter even if it is pointed out to them.

Nobody sees them all but some do seem to have or develop a natural or innate ability to spot game that others don't.

[58thecat]

I guess when your young you miss seeing lots of game cuz your running around like a rabbit...as you age you settle in and see more game but then you become a senior and your eyes/hearing along with other body parts hinder your ability to see game...plus the many naps too.