Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 2 Good Reasons For Higher (Variable) X Scopes

Wow good job. That one needed out of the gene pool really badly.

Don't know about you Bob, but I do know that you've hunted whitetails quite a bit here and in Alberta too and what I've found is that the big boys don't get big by being stupid meaning they don't generally enter into open areas (say like crossing from one thicket to another) and offer you much time at getting a shot off. That's been my experience when hunting in Sask as well as with most other areas I've hunted big whitetails which also includes Maine, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and NYS as well. Not saying that I glass with the scope, but I am saying that when you see one it's time to start shooting and stop star gazing. Otherwise, it's usually an empty season gone by. It's one thing to "glass" areas to locate/spot deer and yet another once you see them and have to decide whether or not to shoot. One thing about Sask whitetail's (and Maine and Nova Scotia) that I've rarely seen a whitetail buck who's rack had to be evaluated to see if it's big enough legally to shoot. I think those northern bucks are born with visible antlers...........

Come on folks. I have seen where bow hunters killed hunters and am sure shotgunners have done it too. Guys writing on this forum talking about taking shots at multiple football lengths, and producing proof they pull it off are the least of my worries in the woods.

On the subject of simplicity I have kept to close shots, fixed x and #4 reticles as a rule but as stated I am liking my new variable a lot. Just applying it a little differently.


One serious question- because I don't have any 20x scopes. I get why you may not have time or need for binos (pics made it clear) but has anyone lost any deer dickin' around with parallax settings? An honest question form one with extremely limited long range pull time.

Speaking only for myself--- no because I set the P A at 200 yds and leave it there.

Bear in mind that 400 yds is the longest opportunities I've had and the difference is close enuff for Deer Hunting.

So I don't mess with PA WITHIN the distances I hunt. At extreme range it probably makes a real diff. but I haven't needed to experiment beyond 400 yds.

An honest answer.

2muchgun -


Good job! Great Punch line!

What's the 200 yd trajectory?

I don't use binoc's for horn or sex determination on a deer I can see is a deer, I put my scope on the thing cause I might want to shoot it.

It takes less time to "dick around" with a scope than to switch from binoculars to a scope.

If they "should have been shooting", they shouldn't be "dicking around" with binoculars

Oh I guess they should have been spotting the countryside with their rifles then.

What part of......

..."IF THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHOOTING"...don't you understand??

NO ONE but YOU say anything about 'glassing the countryside with a scope' !!

Are you naturally adamant or have you gone to school in 'hardheadedness'?

Are you so tunnel visioned that you can't see the difference?

Maybe you are naturally 'anal'!!

Someone tell him that he made my day.

You had to know you'd get some flack making this thread..Lots of us dont fret dinks getting away, and more X's aint gonna factor into the "shoot that fugger now" type bucks.

I do prefer variables,but it aint to judge antlers with..Of course your needs are different..Two totally different approaches as lots of guys aint scrutinizing a dinks antler points and salivating over putting a bullet in the first legal buck they see..Not that theres anything wrong with that, but hardly a reason for a call out thread.

Antler restrictions + woods hunting = variable

Although my 3-9 mostly stays on 3, the 9 is there if I need it.

To be technical not that much time really. Its getting the gun up that takes the time. If you have the gun ready, but are glassing, dropping binocs, I use a harness, and looking into scope doesn't take much time.

I often feel that the ability to see even with a few X less on the binocs is better since they have two tubes.

There is an area there though where about 14-16X starts to trump my 10X binocs.
Generally at that point I reach for my 25X spotting scope though.

Rosco - - ( upper case type used for emphasis only)

I totally agree that BOTH of those bucks are 'dinks' in that they had small racks for their age. That's another part of the subject that I did not use the time nor space in discussing.

I don't object to discussing it either. It is IMPORTANT to me to CULL these inferior 'breeders'. They were 'legal' and NOT trophies in most considerations.
OTOH - Both were not young and were breeding. IMO they were worthy of being removed. I used my legal tags to CULL them.

The one this year WAS using my Uncle's place and surrounding property and breeding as much as he could. Therefore he was spreading his inferior genetics.

The second buck pictured was a mature buck weighing 176-178 lbs and had a 17 1/2" INSIDE spread. He was breeding, I watched him pushing a doe and actually there were 2 or 3 does. Also I had killed 2-3 younger, legal bucks with the SAME frame structure from the same stand AND on less than 40 acres for all 3.

So, no. 1 I wanted them removed from the gene pool.

And no. 2 to the point of this thread, OP, without the ability to determine 3 points on 1 side, I would have HAD to pass on them, therefore allowing them to continue spreading their inferior genetics.

As mentioned earlier, there are most of the time other aspects (tangents) to our threads and it's impossible to cover all of them w/o writing a book.

jwall

I have had issues too, with glassing up a legal or trash buck, that was barely legal, in a gropu of bucks, and then have them meander in and out while trying to shoot, and realized that if I didn't have 8X on the one gun I couldn't pick it out..

Don't sweat all this...

I still glass with binocs, as if i miss killing a deer its not that big a deal.

But as I've indicated there has always, at least for me, been a use for higher X.

Its why I won't anymore use a fixed 1 or 2 or 2.5x scope or a non mag red dot. I even like to see tall grass thats in the way.

And since some of the holes I shoot through are 2-3 deer wide, and over 300 and up to 400 yards away, its nice to be able to see if you can thread it or not.

I still wont' glass for deer with a scope but thats not at all what you did.

I don't envy folks who don't have long to look at deer though, its just not fun if you have to make a quick decision and shoot the first legal one you see so to speak. At least thats not why I hunt, simply to shoot one. ITs a byproduct of what I enjoy.

Of course there is still the 23-24 inch wide 8 I let walk opener here, thats been haunting me.... I don't know why I didn't shoot, and now I have looked for him for the last 6 weeks or so...but I digress... I looked at him with binocs for probably 2-3 minutes at 50 yards and never picked the rilfe up deciding he was not what I thought he was...

+1

That puts it about as simply as possible! It seems this is breaking down into an East vs. West thing. What many don't realize is that in the places and at the ranges WE hunt, when you see a deer, it is already OBVIOUS that it is a deer. It's just a matter of deciding if it's legal and making the shot before it disappears. Based on observations in nearly 40 years of hunting, I doubt if 1 hunter in a 100 in PA carries binoculars.

When people may only get 1 or 2 days to hunt, they might only get one chance at a legal deer and aren't trophy hunting. To the point of the OP, variables can help decide if a marginal deer is legal when there isn't time for binoculars.

In places like PA, a 3-9 is about perfect. 3x can be used in brush and when following up shots. 9x can be used from stands. I wouldn't want anything much larger than a 3-9 though as they aren't wide enough at the low end and make the rifle heavy and unwieldy.

Fixed 6 would be pretty good for all.

If you are going to shoot it the rifle has to be pointed at it. As soon as a "deer" is located I get in the scope.

Not in my experience. I used a Leupold 2-7 Compact for 30 years and thought it was the perfect scope. But, with antler restrictions, a little extra magnification enables me to see a lot more detail in antlers. With the 2-7, I had to let some big bucks go in low light. I knew they were big and almost certainly legal. But, unless you can count the points you don't dare shoot.