Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What type of spotting scope for finding mule deer

I posted yesterday concerning the combination of rifle, scope and ammunition and receive excellent advice from many people. Most suggested that in order to increase my chances during the hunt, I would need to get a spotting scope. After talking to everyone I could find at work who had an opinion about spotting scope optics, I thought I would ask for opinions concerning what the people at work said. Some suggested a large 20 x 60 x 80 scope (such as the Vortex Viper series). Others suggested that I wouldn't need such a big scope nor do I need the weight to carry it (suggesting a 20 x 40 x 60 model). Another person (an older gentleman) suggested that I don't need a variable scope and that a fixed scope (and he suggested a Leopold Gold ring 25 or 30). I am new to the state of Utah and have had three days of experience hunting mule deer so any advice will be very appreciated. Thank you.

I think the answer depends on how you intend to use it. If you plan to drive up to a ridge top walk no more than 150 yards to the point and glass miles away for long periods of time then you want the biggest baddest scope you can afford. If you plan to carry it with you miles from the trailhead in your pack to spot ridges 1000 yards away compact and lightweight are more important.

I found last year I needed more power at only 400 yards in thick brush a few miles uphill from the truck to determine that a bull was legal or not. For that I picked up the little Leupold compact 15-30 spotter. If I was planning to spot the ridge 2 miles away it would be better than binoculars but probably not the right tool. After lugging it around on practice hikes it isn't bad but I won't carry it every day and will probably use it scouting in the truck more than walking but some guys use them more effectively than I do with my style of hunting which is hiking to different draws and glassing a while then moving. On a more vehicle centered hunt I feel you get a better chance to take advantage and I'd rather get away from roads most days.

I use 20-60x82 angled scope

15X big eyes to find them.

You're going to get about 50 different opinions. I would find someone on here that hunts the same way, in similar terrain and that has lots of experience being successful using a variety of glass. JGRaider, Huntsonora, Scenar shooter, etc.

I will say that I have been less than impressed with the Vortex Viper spotters.

I've been very happy with my swaro 65mm (with 25-50 WW eyepiece) spotter.

Very happy with the Razor 20-60x85 here!

Vortex represents a good value in about anything they make. I use the smallest Razor and love it.

really like the older Leupold fixed powers, but the 20X is THE one to get...and I've used them all.

Dave

As stated it really depends on your style of hunting. In one area that I hunt in Wyoming the idea is to glass likely areas-usually pretty vast sage flats and pockets and you're basically just looking for an antler or tip of one above the sage. And you wait and hope a buck will stand and stretch for a moment and show you where he is. Usually doing it from at least a mile away and it takes a really good spotter to do the job. I have made a Leupold 12-40 HD work but now I'm using a Swaro 20-60x65 HD and it serves me much better for most of my hunting and scouting.

I have found that for most of the rest of my style of hunting-moving and glassing a lot-I rely on my binocular more than anything. The extra weight of a spotter, even my small Leupold, is not worth the carry.

Stretching the view



This elk was 2 1/2 miles away, on the bench below the trees in the upper right of the first picture

The Razors, especially the little one, are very solid. The 50mm is right up there with the Nikon ED to my eyes.


Jordan,

Have you been able to do a side by side with any others?

to the OP , this is the worst advice so far. if you are moving to Utah most glassing distances will be long and it is a huge advantage to have binos, spotter, and rifle scope on the same plane. leave the angled to the bird and sky watchers.

btw: also good for range work

Not with anything comparable. Just with an older Bushnell, the 50mm Razor, and a couple other apple/orange comparisons. I will say that the 30x MRAD eye piece has even slightly better contrast and resolution than the 20-60x EP to my eyes, though...

I have a couple of the Vortex spotters, the Razor HD 20-60x85 straight, a Razor HD 11-33x50, and a Diamondback 20-60x60 in both straight and angled... and have been impressed by all of them at their respective price points. I have looked through the Vipers enough to know they are a lot of glass for the money.

The big Vortex Razor coupled with a Razor 12x bino kicked my ass spotting Kodiak bears in May of this year. My Zeiss tucked tail for the duration...

We spotted 66 bears in 11 days and I got beat by at least 2:1...

I'd get GOOD binoculars before I'd worry about a spotting scope. IIRC you mentioned you had some binos on this years hunt, but I don't recall the make/model.

Appreciate it. The 80mm Viper I have may just be a bad sample, but side by side with a 60mm Bushnell Tactical spotter it sucks, and the Bushnell is noticeably less bright and has less contrast and resolution than the average Leupold Mark4 60mm spotter.




Jordan,

makes sense on the eye piece- re. Fixed versus variable. Have you ever been able to compare the 50mm HD Razor with the 50mm Nikon HD?

make mine swaro 65HD....

No, but my bud who owns the 50mm Razor, and is a very level-headed and unbiased type of fella, has compared it side-by-side with the Nikon, and says it's extremely close, but in his mind the Razor edges out the Nikon ever so slightly. The coarse/fine focus on the Razor is a big part of that.

I hunt with several spotting scopes, but aside from a couple of Nikons and a Swarovski probably my favorite when after mule deer is my Meopta TGA 75 draw-tube scope. It's 75mm objective provides a fine image even in dim light, yet it fits inside a daypack reasonably easily.

After looking at and checking out a few scopes the last few years I have settled on a combo that works for me. First of all I knew I did not want to spend a bunch of money on a spotter- I just do not use one enough or have a big need for one. But I still wanted one to use for those times that warranted one. And mule deer hunting in open country is one of those times.

I have Swaro binoculars, and if I wanted to have money not be an object- I would have just got a Swaro spotter. But I for one decided that I would have a max budget of $1200 and I also limited myself to 65mm and below. As great as the big spotters are, I knew that I would not want one to lug around the mountains.

So after a little research and spending a little bit of $$ ( and even returning a couple) - I bought a Nikon 60 mm ED III Fieldscope. And I am thrilled with it.

I also bought a fixed WA ( 24x) EP for it to go along with the 20-60 zoom that came with it. The zoom for hunting gets used the most, but for general use and scouting the WA fixed gets used a ton. The view through the WA 24x fixed is simply superb.

I then picked up a Nikon 50 ED Fieldscope body for a very reasonable price. The 50 mm one uses the same EP as the other and the zoom EP makes the 50mm one a 13-40x. IMO that zoom is a much better one than the one that usually comes with the 50 ED.

So all told I have $1200 invested in these 2 spotters and they cover all ( and more really) I need. I could have easily just gotten by with the 60mm EDIII Fieldscope, but the extra $350 that I have in the ED 50 scope that uses the same EP's is worth it to me.

Nikon has discontinued the Fieldscopes as of last year ( that is when I got mine)- but you can pick them up used for a good price.

IMO these Nikon ED Fieldscopes are alpha quality and compete well with all the others. In my testing the one I have more than held its own with a Swarovski 65 ED; and to my eyes was optically quite a bit better all around compared to a Leupold 12-40x60 HD spotter.

Here is one on ebay right now ( same model that I have) for a very good price. It is the 20-60x60 ED III Nikon Fieldscope and asking price is $699 ( OBO).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181570879859?redirect=mobile