Like a previous poster stated, Manufacturers make what sells. It seems todays hunters are not really hunters.... But success oriented. IOW, If they go on a hunt, they want to be successful, and if they are successful, they want bragging rights of the biggest possible rack. Thus: If they can buy an advantage, they will. I knew a hunter once, who took a trip to Wy and shot a Mulie buck that ran down in gully... He went down and found the deer easily enough, but couldn't figure a way to get it out... So: he just cut off the head and brought it back to MI. (I guess you know, I told him what I thought of him...)
Another acquaintance just returned from a Co. Elk hunt. He said he shot a cow with a .30/378 Wby. (At about 70 yds, no less...) But he couldn't find it, and even couldn't find any blood...
If he had been hunting with a .30/06 and a fixed 4x scope, he'd likely have brought meat home. But I'd guess he thinks he's a lot better shot than he actually is...
I have many scopes. Many of them are fixed power. Some are variables. Most are Leupold and most were purchased used. I can only think of 1 or 2 deer I have taken with a variable scope. Any of my variable scopes get turned up to the highest power for load work-up and sighting in. Once I'm done with that, they get turned down to 5x or 6x and left there... Every deer I've shot with a varible scope has been set at 6x... Why? Because I'm an old target shooter and I like the clarity and target acquistion. Last year I took two bucks... A trophy 10 pt'er with a 6x Leupold on a Ruger #1, and a 7 pt with a 9x57 Mauser and a receiver sight. I've been hunting since I was 18 yrs old, and I'm 61, now. That is the 1st game animal I've ever taken with iron sights... I'm more proud of that buck than any I've ever taken before. (Including the one who will soon grace the wall of my den!)
It seems in this day of multitasking, hunters merely want to go out see a buck; twiddle with the adjustments and take a pot-shot... At whatever range the target presents itself. (And, of course, hit the target...) The idea that one could actually hunt for subsistence, is beyond their comprehension.
They just want to WIN! And then move on to the next thing... And chalk up another win. The score is the only thing that's important...
And we wonder why our numbers are dwindling...
How I take a game animal is far more important to me than IF I get one at all... Perhaps that is merely part of the wisdom of age... But I do know it's something that is very hard to convey to much of the younger generation...
I'm stepping down from the soapbox now...
GH
