I am in Ringman's camp, and I don't think that Ringman is a novice at this stuff. CMG, your rules apply to novice hunters, and you have a very special circumstances on drive hunts. Rifles and drive hunts make me very nervous, I prefer a shotgun with buckshot...too easy for someone to get shot. I never would allow drive hunts on my deer leases due to the fact that too many button bucks get shot.
For the guy that walks around with is scope set on 14x, he is a novice with that equipment. Walking around with a variable scope set on the upper power settings is what novices do. I am sure that your friend has learned better. The proper use of the 4-14 scope for walking purposes is to turn it down to it's lowest or close to lowest power, the higher power is for taking long shots, usually at grazing animals.
The whole idea that if a 2-8 or a 3-9 is not enough scope, you need to get closer may apply to close in shooting but not hunting in the open plains of the West or hunting Power lines or gas lines in the South...you CAN NOT get closer!
Not all scopes will apply to all hunting situations, you have to match your equipment to your particular hunting situation, not to mention your likes and dislikes.
If all your shots are under 125 yards, especally in thicker cover, then low powered scopes are the ticket or a variable on it's lowest setting. If you are in Kansas sitting on the edge of a CRP field seeing deer move from 300-700 yards, you need power on your scope. These deer fight, broken racks are normal. Also, a doe or yearling fawn may be on the off side of the buck. I killed two bucks in one shot with a 270 with Factory Remington 150g Core Locts...lucky it was legal to take 2 per day.
Everytime a topic on scope power comes up, it always boils down to people that know how to use a variable scope and people that do not. There used to be an argument that variables were not reliable, not anymore. Another argument is that an expensive low power scope will allow you to see better than a cheaper higher power scope. For those of you that firmly believe this, can you see 7mm or 30 cal bullet holes in the target at 400 yards, I can on my bushnell 4200 4-16 in the 40mm and 50mm(most consider this a cheap scope). I have had top of the line bushnell and Baush and Lomb scopes since 1990, not one has ever been back to the shop.
One thing that should be a rule with novice shooters and variable scopes:
low power is for hunting-walking around
high power is for target shooting-turn your power up from low
to high on grazing animals.
Yesterday, I worked up a load for my brother in law's BAR in 7 Mag with the new Bushnell 2.5-16x42mm. This scope is fantastic to say the least. I expect that you will see many more companies coming out with this spread in magnification.
Terrain, folage, and distances that hunters use their optics in vary so much, it is hard to say that one type of power or scope will do it all. This is just a hobby, part of the fun is doing it the way you like adjusting to your hunting circumstances.
I hunt deer, elk, coyotes, and varmints...my likes/dislikes apply to the way I hunt and in the terrain that I hunt...yours may be different.
I have noticed over the years that folks that shoot with 1.5-5's, 2-7's,2-8's, and fixed powers of 6x and down, seem to limit their shooting to 200 yards, and most never shoot past 100 yards. I suspect that for their type of hunting, 200 yards is an extremely long shot. This does not make them less of a hunter or shooter, it just says that their hunting circumstances is for close in shooting.
The following is an example of the type of shooting that Ringman and I do.
I was deer hunting in Kansas. There was an old house place out in a CRP field where the farmer had his wind mill and water trough for his cows. This old house place probably covered 5 acres, long strip, scattered saplings through out the 5 acres, no clear spots. I had spotted this monster white tail the first day of the hunt, figured he went 180 in score or a little better. I set my ladder stand up 300 yards from the old house place, with nothing but a field between me and the old house place. We considered sitting up in the little patch of trees, but the does would bust us for sure...lots of deer coming in there to bed down. 5 days into the hunt, I spot the large buck coming to the old house place out at 700 yards or so. He comes down a draw and finally I see him behind the old house place with nothing but scattered saplings between the two of us. I waited and waited, he was simply not going to come out to drink until it got dark. He fought other bucks, and I never could get a shot through the trees. Finally, in the last 30 minutes of light, I have the chance to shoot through the trees with a clear line of sight no larger than a dinner plate. 154g Hornady SST out of my 7 Mag through both shoulders, he never even kicked. Leica range finder said 357 yards. I had a Bushnell 4200 in 4-16x 40mm. If I had even been using my Leupold 4-14, the shot would have been marginal. We scored the rack at 185.
In my younger years, I used 4x, 1.5-5's,2-7's, 6x, and 2-8's, they are not for me. I shot on the skeet leage for many years. Perhaps that training has lead me to be able to develop the hand and eye coordination to use the higher powered scopes...who knows...it's just a hobby...the only right or wrong is what is right or wrong for you!
