Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 15x Binoculars for Alaska

A lot has been said for 15x (or 12’s or 18’s) on a tripod to find game in the Western US hunts. Does anyone find these equally useful in Alaska? I haven’t found caribou, moose or sheep to be very difficult to locate with 8’s or 10’s, but then again, I don’t know about the animals I didn’t find . . .

Im not admittedly an expert game finder via optics. I have however used optics while hunting and with precision shooting (a lot with shooting). IMO, it you're going to go with a tripod, then you're already 99% to having a dedicated spotting scope. (in other words, if you're packing a tripod, why not bring a spotting scope?)

IMO, an 8-10x bino is the right mix with a 40-80x spotting scope.

If JUST using binos with no tripod, anything more than 10X is superfluous given the jitter.

Pretty much agree with LC for Alaska. If you can't FIND them with 10X they are probably out of stalking range anyway given our conditions up here

Assessing legality/size may be a different matter.

My record for finding game was estimated at over 15 miles. Maybe up to 20. Estimated because my map ran out at 11... Herd of about 200 -300 caribou, milling around on a big snowfield, fighting bugs. Using 15-45 scope set at 30 highest due to heat waves and blue haze.

Ants....

My experience is that anything over 30X isn't that useful, but then I've never used any really good ones. Heat waves and haze generally has limited the usefulness of using over 30X with my scopes. Not sure this would improve any with a Swarv, Zeiss, or whatever except under very good clear conditions. 40-80 I have my doubts about. Plus all that time feeding the mule...

30X was sufficient to let me know that that group of rams 3.5 miles away by map had a legal - much more than legal! - one in it.

They were watching me back, and didn't need no stinking optics themselves.

Admittedly, I haven't used spotting scopes all that much, just some.

If someone with 40-80 experience would chime in? I can be educated. Not easily, but....

For Brown bear spotting high-power bins are not bad, but they are extra. They are not good for walk-around glass and they do not replace a true spotter. Once seated and looking they are effective from a tripod.

I would only use them if circumstances included scanning a lot of tight cover and the binocular aspect made a difference.

I have been wondering about the image stabilizing version of higher powered binocs. Canon makes some that seem very good......but pricey.
I have a long history of avoiding hunting stuff that requires batteries. Have enough trouble keeping a flash light going.

fwiw fishdog:

have used Canon 10x42 15x50, and 18x50

Meh. To save carrying a tripod, yes. Quick looks beyond what a 10x will show you, definitely for the 15x & 18x. Moons of Jupiter, yes, particularly with the 18.

When you really need a quality image at distance at a rack? Nay.

They have moving elements. Occasionally you see the 15 & 18x re-focusing on the target. Looking over water can fool them. I think they are more sensitive to mirage.

I would imagine larger glass is always more prone to breakage, as in comparing the likelihood of damaging a 56mm objective to a 42mm of the same ilk via mishap. Add in moving electronic parts and you sure don't want to drop them... Neither the 15x or the 18x are fully waterproof. They suck down alkaline batteries. Lithium work well.

The 10x42 are in a class by themselves regarding image quality and ease/speed of operation. But weight and durability reduce it to a specialty glass. My wife uses nothing else. She does not hunt Alaska...:)

For spotting bears, I want a nice pair of 15x binos. I'd even use them for moose or caribou in places I am wheeling into, not a fly in drop off hunt. Up until about 3-4 years ago, I would go and work in the ATC Tower at Ft. Richardson and observe the weather to keep my currency so I could inspect the Air Force contractors at the LRRS throughout the state. Anyways, the controllers at the time had gotten two new pairs of Swarovski 15x binos. Myself, the other observer and the tower guys, we would challenge each other to find bear or moose on the other side of the Glenn towards Eagle River up in the mountains. Those things were awesome, but they were bulky. For something I could pull out and look through quickly I think they have their place in AK. Now if I am sitting and glassing for long periods, spotting scope it is. For my hunting, I currently use 10x42 Nikon binos.

Thanks for the replies. This all sounds similar to my current line of thinking. I picked up some Meopta 15's for a while from Cabela's. They were awesome to play with, but as I tried to reason a niche for them in Alaska, it's just so hard to beat traditional power binoculars and a good spotter. So, I returned them.

Can’t imagine using them for hunting the way I’ve hunted here. 10x40 Zeiss classics for me, and a spotter, usually Leupold 12x40

I’m with las, higher mag scopes call for ideal conditions that I’ve rarely experienced in the field.


That said I’m gonna buy some 15 power binocs for the first time. We’ve a cabin that sets on a lake and is waterfowl abundant, with the odd moose or bear passing through. Think both the wife and I will enjoy the 15’s mounted on a tripod on the screened in porch.

Well until we start fighting over them

Sheep hunting I use to use a pirate eyepatch to cut down on eye strain from having to squint an eye closed w out the patch.

Get me stable outa the wind and I could pick apart some country using that spotter set on 12 and dial up when I saw something unusual. Cause I used 10x25 binocs on sheep hunts to save weight and have those lil binocs in shirt pocket for a quick glance to determine white rock or Dalls sheep.

Speaking of sheep, got a text the other day from a pard, sheep horns mounted on the form, no cape yet, that’s INCREDIBLE sent a pic of a 44” ram on skull plate, makes the 44” look meh 😳🤦🏼‍♂️

For anything above 8X, I need support to hold things stable and see fine detail. It that means a tripod, then a spotter is coming along. For big country elk down here, I pack 7X pocket sized Leupolds,and have a 6.5 to 20X scope on the rifle.

I have and use a set of 10-15 x50 Leica duovids for spring bear hunting on the Alaska peninsular, but they are heavier and less versatile than my 8x30 Swarovski CL' s and Leupold 12-40 GR spotter. Which I prefer all other times.

My best glass is the old Zeiss 10x40 Classic binoculars my wonderful wife gifted me for Christmas long ago. At the time we truly could not afford them and I only kept them because I know how much she loved giving them to me. Anyway, I like them very much and they are a good all around binocular for me.

A friend of mine who assisted a guide with brown bear hunts bought a pair of 15 power Swarovski binoculars after a pair of clients showed up with some and started finding bears before he did. He said they were experienced international hunters, but it was still embarrassing. But, when he looked through their big glass he could see what they were seeing. When I looked through his I could see a use for them and my moose hunts when on an ATV.

My wife and me are around 70 and our hunting which is mainly moose and once in a while caribou has slowly changed. We no longer live out of a back pack and I am just fine if I never have to pack a moose very far again. So we are spending more times with the ATV's, sitting on water holes, watching meadows and creeping down good game or ATV trails. More then one moose has walked away because we could not determine if it had the required brow tines.

Gone are the days of my youth when any moose that had antlers was legal, those regs made many of us great moose hunters! But, the hunt has changed forever. With the antler restrictions and brow tine requirements a good pair of binoculars is more important then ever. As good as my old Zeiss are I am aware there are "more better" optics out there. So every once in a while I look for a bargain on a good pair of 15 power binoculars that might give me and edge when looking at brow tines several hundred yards away. My spotter is and old 20-45 Bausch & Lomb that ain't great by today's standards and the field of view is lacking.

I hear some of those hard core trophy Coues deer hunters use Big Eyes.

A friend used them alongside myself with my 10X binos for elk on Afognak and caribou in the Talkeetna Range. We looked at plenty of dall sheep and moose while on the caribou hunt.

I thought they were an advantage, no doubt. They are heavier than normal binos though.

Not for AK but I have high intentions of a pair in the deer blind in TX eventually. Would help a bit on the longer range deer ID and save having to carry a spotting scope and leaving it in the blind.

Just have not found used for reasonable or new either. LOL

I have run 15x56 Swaros successfully a couple of times on Kodiak and will use them a 3rd time in October. Just the way I hunt and I can find a LOT of game with them. Wore them out this week antelope hunting. Need a day off to rest my eyes!!

A couple of times hunters have shown up with 15X bino's, I've used them a bit and tried to make them work,,I couldn't do it! They are for a special kind of of hunt where you glass from a calm spot and don't have to sneak around in the alders trying to see a patch of hair or an antler tip at 30 yards. Good bino's are gifted to guides regurlaly so I've had most but have settled on 8X32 for moose hunting and 8X42 for on the Penisula brown bear hunting, always a 12X40 Leupold spotter in the pack. Jim