Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Stumped on scope choice

Ask Will about his deer scouting drone.

i dont need hunting lessons or did i remember asking for them.i only asked if there was a low light difference between a swarvo z3 and z5.in most of my hunting applications i dont have time to check a buck with binos than grab gun than shoot.when i see brown i wanna grab my gun size him.up and shoot if hes a shooter.the last buck i killed this year was at 300 yards in a cutover.
didnt realize so many people was so sensitive to there specific name brand.i have killed some good deer with the terra i just want something a little better.sorry for asking you guys for an opinion.

Tatsoul,

Keep in mind that a lot of guys on this forum are western and midwest hunters that don't hunt in similar situations to those from the deep south that hunt nocturnal deer over food plots. They're giving you advice from their point of view and can't figure out why a decent scope like the terra wouldn't be good enough for anyone.

I hunt in Mississippi in a similar manner. I've got a couple of original zeiss conquests (similar to the terra), a swarovski AV 3-10x42 (similar to the Z3) and several leupolds, and have had one of the FX-3 6x42's that everyone keeps touting. They don't sit on the rifles I hunt mississippi whitetails with though, Those rifles have a meopta meostar 3-12x56 and a swarovski PV 2.5-10x56 on them, both with german #4 reticles. They're the "hubbles" that everyone likes to laugh about.

Thing is though, the hubbles work and work well. There is a difference you can tell at last light and I've killed deer with them that I wouldn't have killed with a lesser scope. Not many, most I could have killed with any other scope, but enough to make them worthwhile. A FX-3 leupold might work fine at last light for a 300 yd shot on a buck in an open field in Iowa, but stick that same deer 200 yds. away standing 20' into the edge of a pine thicket scent checking a food plot at last light and that scope might as well be a cardboard tube. Situations like that are where a higher powered big objective scope with good glass shine.

The terra has good glass, the Z3 & Z5 a little better but frankly they're not enough better to really make any difference. If you want a significant increase in low light performance you'll have to go to one of the big objective scopes from Swarovski, S&B, Zeiss, or Meopta with either heavy reticle like the German #4 or an illuminated reticle. All of those except the meopta are going to be over your $1600 budget, the Meopta 3-12x56 can be had for around $900 without an illuminated reticle and a couple hundred more than that for illumination.

Not sure how one could recognize how good a deer was, with the naked eye, and NOT see it much better (at last legal), with almost ANY decent scope these days. Leupold, Burris, Sightron, Vortex, Nikon, Minox, Zeiss, even Bushnell......all work to well AFTER legal, and I'm sure spending another $1k-$1500 will make a difference. ??? The optometrist comment might be worth taking seriously, and the crow dinner might be cheaper than a Swaro or 789mm objective, that doesn't work, either.

Fact is, hubbles haven't done anything any better in low light than any scope with a smaller objective, in 20 years. Hell, if I had $ to burn, I might splurge wantonly, but I'd rather shoot up a grand, if I gotta choose. Either way, I wouldn't deal with much over 40mm

Tatsoul,

Keep in mind that a lot of guys on this forum are western and midwest hunters that don't hunt in similar situations to those from the deep south that hunt nocturnal deer over food plots. They're giving you advice from their point of view and can't figure out why a decent scope like the terra wouldn't be good enough for anyone.

I hunt in Mississippi in a similar manner. I've got a couple of original zeiss conquests (similar to the terra), a swarovski AV 3-10x42 (similar to the Z3) and several leupolds, and have had one of the FX-3 6x42's that everyone keeps touting. They don't sit on the rifles I hunt mississippi whitetails with though, Those rifles have a meopta meostar 3-12x56 and a swarovski PV 2.5-10x56 on them, both with german #4 reticles. They're the "hubbles" that everyone likes to laugh about.

Thing is though, the hubbles work and work well. There is a difference you can tell at last light and I've killed deer with them that I wouldn't have killed with a lesser scope. Not many, most I could have killed with any other scope, but enough to make them worthwhile. A FX-3 leupold might work fine at last light for a 300 yd shot on a buck in an open field in Iowa, but stick that same deer 200 yds. away standing 20' into the edge of a pine thicket scent checking a food plot at last light and that scope might as well be a cardboard tube. Situations like that are where a higher powered big objective scope with good glass shine.

The terra has good glass, the Z3 & Z5 a little better but frankly they're not enough better to really make any difference. If you want a significant increase in low light performance you'll have to go to one of the big objective scopes from Swarovski, S&B, Zeiss, or Meopta with either heavy reticle like the German #4 or an illuminated reticle. All of those except the meopta are going to be over your $1600 budget, the Meopta 3-12x56 can be had for around $900 without an illuminated reticle and a couple hundred more than that for illumination.