One of my pards and I were running and gunning coyotes on some cranberry bogs last Friday. It was my turn to do the scoping while he did the calling and shooting. We were set up in a prone position on top of a dike with an excellent view of some bogs. Three deer broke out across a dike about 250 yards out. Shortly after I noticed movement along the edge of a bog. Swung the spotting scope over to the object and there was a guy standing in some shoulder high brush looking at me with binoculars. He melted back into the brush and I whispered to my pard not to shoot left of high noon in that direction.

A few minutes went by and were about to move our set when a warden came up behind us and another one further off to our left. The first warden finished checking our licenses and the second one arrived cussing at us for pointing a loaded rifle at him. When he finished his tirade I reached down into the grass beside me and showed them my mounted spotting scope. There was a pause then the warden lectured me about pointing the mounted scope at a hunter or another person.

I could see his point because at a distance the scope set resembles a gun with scope. I told him, first of all, I do not make it a practice to scope another person because of the perception and secondly, I will continue to use the setup for varmint hunting and wildlife observation. End of discussion.

Do you think I should discontinue the use of my set up?

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