Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What happened to Leupold?

Agreed, I just used some of that technology to spin a Leupold up for a 556 yard shot at a wild sow in the rain not two hours ago, she died where she stood, to the OP, in the case of this old 30mm 6.5-20x50mm long range Leupold, nothing, it's still a hell of a true tracking scope.

I haven't taken a shot farther than 120 yards in the past 20 years. There have been alot of deer killed in that time and the average distance would probably be between 40 and 50 yards with probably 30 percent at less than 30 yards. Deer are certainly far more likely to detect your presence at those distances than at 400 yards plus. I do use scoped rifles sometimes but they certainly aren't critical to my success and I have in fact taken more deer with iron sughted rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders than with scoped. My most used and trusted pair for deer since the 1980's have been a Marlin 336 .30-30 wearing a Weaver K-2.5 and a Winchester M94 ,30-30 wearing a Williams reciever sight in the rear and a lyman ivory bead up front. I've killed more with those two over the years than any others by far. Next in line for most deer killed would be my smoothbore12 gauge Ithaca 37 Deerslayer and my fully rifled 12 gauge Mossberg 500. Both wore irons for the vast majority of deer killed though both did wear Weaver K 2.5's for a time. Currently my 336 wears a 1-4x20 Leupold vx-2. My 94 still wears irons and always will. I've never carried a rangefinder or dialed a scope while deer hunting in my life. Lat year I filled my tags with a Howa 1500 chambered 6.5 Creedmoor and scoped with a 3-9x40Leupold VX-1 just because I wanted t try the new cartridge, One kill was 120 yards and the other was 10 yards on the run. I could have easily killed both my my old 94 . Certainly my equipment is a far cry from the Nightforce/SWFA scoped, turret twisting bolt guns shooting high BC bullets at deer in the next zip code after they've been ranged with a lazer rangefinder. Truth be told, I probably coud have killed 95% of all the deer I've taken in my life with my iron sighted 94 or my iron sighted T/C Hawken.

[My Leupolds work fine. So do my Weavers, Nikons, Bushnells, Redfields and Bausch and Lombs. I have had several Tasco's a couple Bushnells a Simmons and a Sightron fail in one way or another but none on a hunt yet.]

Gee, you mean a scope that doesn't hold zero will either miss an animal, or hit it exactly right? Good to know.

Also good to know that because you've "hiked" so much of West, you also know all about hunting out here. Did you hike during hunting season, with a firearm in your hands? I've done that not just in New York, but in several other states east of the Mississippi, on public land, and killed game from ruffed grouse to turkeys to deer. Have you done the same in the West, with any kind of game?

Have also hunted the Bob Marshall and other really wild country in the West. Unlike whitetails, elk (and even mule deer), do not hang out in the same small area after they start getting hunted. Have hunted far bigger country than your "mountains" for several days before even finding fresh elk sign--and in an area where the longest shot possible might have been at most 200 yards.

I said in my first post to you that I respected your experience. Have changed my mind. You're one of those provincial nitwits who cannot imagine anything except their "exceptional" experience.

You always know more than anybody John. I know damn good and well what the terrain is like out there and that's all I claimed about it. Probably just as much as you know about the terrain here, as I'm sure you haven't hunted anywhere near all of NYS. No it wasn't hunting season while I was there. Yes I carried a rifle while out hiking. Yes I saw lots of game while out there. I'm real proud and happy for you that you were able to carry a rifle and hunt in NY. I have heard that about elk before. It's still just hunting and nobody's likely to die if they don't kill an elk today or this season. Geezus, you'd think the world spins and the sun comes up in the morning depending on whether game is bagged or not and therefore I anything goes as long as a kill is made. Does anybody just hunt for fun, recreation and sport anymore or does all fame and fortune, life and death and lots of good young pussy ride on the outcome of a hunt ?

I’ve had antelope spook from a mile and a half...... does that mean as long as I’m inside that range, it’s “fair chase”?

How about Black Bears winding us from 3/4 mile and blowing off the mountain?

I once watched a mule deer buck, get out of his bed at well over a mile, and calmly saunter over the hill..... because he heard the car door shut.

Tell us Blackheart, oh wise one, at what range does it not become “fair chase”? Seriously, you seem to have it all figured out..... so let’s have a hard number where it goes from “fair chase hunting” to “shooting”.

Careful here..... because the animals and terrain varies greatly.

PS.... out here in the West, particularly on public land, the critters act a whole lot different during hunting season(s)..... than they do during “hiking” season.

Blackheart, I disagree and you missed my point entirely. Which is not surprising, since you seem to be much more interested in expounding on your own exploits than listening to what anyone else has to say including people who have much more diverse experience than you.

Your equipment is not "a far cry" from what others use, some of it includes scoped modern centerfire rifles, and you use the technology to defeat the animal's senses whether you want to admit it or not.

What you do is incrementally different than "long range hunting," not fundamentally different and certainly not the difference between "sporting" and "not fair chase ."

Wait till he sees pressured coues deer!

Take a bath once in awhile and watch the wind. At what range does it cease to be fair chase is my question. Or aren't there any limits as to what constitutes fair chase ? Should there be limits on the technology employed or not ? If not, why not hunt from aircraft ? Chase them down with snow machines ?

Not very many people see Coues deer a all..... let alone pressured ones.

The first one I ever saw was 40 yards away out in the preserve, just off the back porch in Tucson.... I had been on the porch for 20 minutes, and didn’t even see him until he stood-up and walked away. Ghostly little bastards.

Way to dodge the question.....

Blackheart,

No, I don't know more than anybody else. No human does. But I do have more experience than most hunters, so can appreciate (and learn) from other hunters' experience.

You, on the other hand, think YOUR experience is the ONLY experience that counts. This isn't unusual among humans, but most aren't as insistent about it. In fact, you're one of the perfect examples of what a good friend of mine calls "aggressive ignorance."

One day come see me...

Yeah, surprisingly they do the same here.

One of these days Amigo.... Coues are the only deer I haven’t hunted.... I have hiked in Coues country though.... it’s the same thing.... laffin.

I'm trying to get an answer to whether there are or shoud be limits to what constitutes fair chase. We used to call certain things "unsporting" if they left little chance for survival to the game. Things like shotgunning birds on the ground or jacklighting deer were considerd not to be fair chase or sporting. Seems like anything goes now so long as something gets killed. If rangefinders and dialing scopes for 1000 yard shots is ok, why not just use spotlights and hunt at night ?

But if you packed a rifle while you hunted (even though the season wasn't open) it[s the same thing....

Funny..... I’ve been trying to get an answer too..... you been ducking and dodging like Slick Willie.

Slick willie!!! Haha 🤣🤣

I don't know the answer. That's why I'm asking you. I know baiting isn't considered fair chase here and certainly jacklighting isn't either but to me shooting something 1000 yards away doesn't seem too sporting either.