Teamwork and spotting/guiding a shooter in on a buck

[LonePineOutdoors_AZ]

Hi All,

This was a hard one to research prior to posting. Plenty of people touch on guiding a hunter in as a spotter and the teamwork it requires. From having a dedicated, reliable glasser, to good communication, there's a lot of kinks to iron out. 

I'm still new to archery hunting, and hunting in general, but this last archery deer season, I had a the most chances yet to stalk bucks with spotter and radio to guide me in. I blew each one, for one reason or another. The learning curve is/was steep, but there seems to be a lot of good information from Jay Scott, this forum, and a few other locations, to help me capitalize on my failures.

One thing I haven't seen covered, which I had to experience and deal with, is how to effectively communicate distances and the direction from the spotter to the hunter. On a few of the stalks, there was a gross difference between the spotter's distance judgments, and my reality on the ground near the deer. For instance,

Situation: spotter is approx. 1300yds away, looking through a Swaro 15x56's, Swaro BTX 30x, or a Swaro STS 20-60x80 HD

issue 1: we have phone skope images that support the spotter telling me I was 35-45 yds from a buck. In reality, I ranged him at 85 when he popped up unexpectedly. 

Issue 2: The spotters perception of the buck's position relative to the direction he perceived I was facing, was about 45 degrees difference from how I perceived it. He also couldn't account for the slight incline I was on, at least from the photos.

I'm not trying to bag on my spotter, the photo's all support why he made the calls he did. Has anyone experienced this? How do we work out those gaps in communication/perception?

 

[CatfishKev]

When being guided in assume a wide margin of error. It's just part of the game.  It's a much easier task with rifle then a bow. 

[elkhunter]

Lol, it’s one of those things you’ll get better at but never master. Keep going, 100 more stalks with a spotter and ya’ll get a little better 

 

It’s best to talk landmarks before going on the stalk.

When I’m stalking I always think in perspective of the spotter, you can interpret information yourself in the field and you know exactly where your spotter is and the angle they are looking at.

[BOWUNTR]

Soooo.... using radios is now challenging? Asking for a friend. Ed F

[azelkhunter2]

The more you do it the better you will get. It helps if you and your spotter talk about land marks... what is north-south-East and west. What the difference is between above and beyond.... and have the understanding that EVERYTHING looks and is different from what the spotter is seeing. What looks like grass is actually 6 foot brush...What looks like nice easy rolling hills and cuts are anything but....The list goes on and on.... It helps greatly if you use the same guy on a regular basis....and yelling in into the radio he’s right f####ing in front of you how in the f###k can you not see him is of no help....

[elkhunter]

1 minute ago, BOWUNTR said:

Soooo.... using radios is now challenging? Asking for a friend. Ed F

Funny you brought that up, half my family including me, are deaf, no radios here and can still get it done 👍👍👍

 

we keep winning radios at sporting/raffle events, we have the worst luck 

[lancetkenyon]

If I am not mistaken, any use of radios disqualifies game from record books.  B&C and P&Y anyway.

 

[LonePineOutdoors_AZ]

@CatfishKev  Thanks, I don't feel so bad.
@BOWUNTR I am a stalking-challenged individual, so I'll take what I can get to reduce the learning curve. I'm not proud of it, but if it decreases the time between now and when I can not use radios, I'll use em.

@lancetkenyon I believe you're right. Believe me, none of these deer were record worthy, as I'm still trying to get my first buck.

@azelkhunter2 Those are all really good points. I'll take more time to look at landmarks and keep that in mind when considering the spotter's perspective. And I thought yelling into the radio was SOP?

[trphyhntr]

32 minutes ago, BOWUNTR said:

Soooo.... using radios is now challenging? Asking for a friend. Ed F

What’s more challenging you think, making a stalk with a radio or shooting a buck off water?

[BOWUNTR]

16 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

What’s more challenging you think, making a stalk with a radio or shooting a buck off water?

I wouldn't know... never used radios. Ed F

[trphyhntr]

1 hour ago, BOWUNTR said:

Soooo.... using radios is now challenging? Asking for a friend. Ed F

 

49 minutes ago, BOWUNTR said:

I wouldn't know... never used radios. Ed F

then why did you make the above comment. 

[firstcoueswas80]

19 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

 

then why did you make the above comment. 

To tell us hes better than the rest of us. Duh.

[bigorange]

1 hour ago, trphyhntr said:

What’s more challenging you think, making a stalk with a radio or shooting a buck off water?

I’ve used radios while sitting water in sight of a road...and it was still challenging. 

[azelkhunter2]

We use radios almost every time we’re in the field....

[KoosCrazy]

The distance difference will always happen.  It will look closer to the spotter than the guy in the field.  So realize that going into it.  Also instead of saying distance have the spotter describe what’s around the target, trees, rocks something the guy in the field can find.  That will help, plus just getting use to a how your hunting buddies work takes time and some messed up stalks too