Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How important is alpha scope glass for your hunts ?

I go back and forth concerning a spotter, unless we're talking about needing to call out legal animals with very specific criteria such as age classes of rams, full curls, point restrictions, etc.

I am not a numbers guy though and usually need just a cursory look at a critter before deciding to go for it or not. I have never once tried to mentally count inches and total an animal's score before deciding if I would be happy with him or not.

I carry a spotter a lot, but honestly can't ever remember thinking it was a necessity. Maybe it is just me, though it has told me whether a herd had a bull/buck in it or not, from afar.

I look like chit no matter what scope i buy.

The last 10 years, the unit has exploded with hunters. There was a time when the Coast bull hunt was a plan B for dudes that didn’t draw an Eastside hunt.

They would typically roll in Friday night and pray for an elk sighting over the next 4 days...Over time, these hunters started learning from coming back and talking to other non-local hunters about the areas and how our elk move.

Today, if you’re trying to hunt by truck on logging roads, you’re going to have crowds where the elk herds are easily seen.

Last season, we were down two hunters. I elected to puss out and go to a few honey holes by truck where I had put eyes on bulls.

Didn’t matter that we arrived at 3:30AM opening day, hunters were already there sleeping in rigs where we needed to head in before light...They ended up missing a decent 4 point, I had hoped we’d hunt up.

Day 3, I got on a small spike. I passed on him, but hailed my pard on the radio to come to my spot to get take the shot if he wanted...By the time he’d made his way to me the spike and cow moved into a deep ravine. We had a big storm crushing us, neither of us wanted to dive into the steep timber with 60 mph wind gusts hammering into trees.

Last season brought back the bad memories of too many hunters running amuck in drivable areas. I’m going back to the hike in behind locked gates, no vehicles hunting. That 2, 3, and 4 mile up hill trek cuts the hunting pressure by 90 plus %.

SLM I have only ever carried 10x43s. I have looked at bigger binoculars but the weight always seems a bit much.

I like my Leica geovid HDs and I have a VX 5 Leupold that tracks pretty good does that count?

The weight is well worth it to me.

8’s as chest glass and the 12/15X are in the pack.

Bipod for the 15x ?

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Never needed a spotlight. After reading these types of discussions on here for years I think some of you fuggers are blind as a bat and few could use iron sights effectively if their lives depended on it. And btw scopes do work much better than iron sights at night with a light. I know that from years of coon hunting and predator hunting. I started out deer hunting with an iron sighted Mossberg 500 slug gun when I was a kid. A few years later got a Winchester 94 .30-30 as my first deer rifle. I killed deer every season for years with those two before I ever used a scoped rifle. Anybody who really needs a scoped rifle to kill deer and seriously can't get the job done with irons either ain't much of a hunter/shooter or is blind enough they should stay the hell out of the woods for everyones safety..

Many have recommended 6x scopes with at least 30 mm objective lenses as the solution to low light. This combination provides a 5mm exit pupil which is widely accepted as the required amount of light to work with the human eye. The rule of 5x works with any variable scope just as well as a fixed power scope. A 3x9-32mm scope set at 6x also provides the same 5mm exit pupil. The old 3x9 -40 works as well up to 8x and costs much less than the fixed 6x scopes. 3x9's are the bread and butter of each major scope manufacturer. The lower price and similar quality makes them the best buy.

But don't listen to me. Get yourself a 10x fixed power with a 50mm objective so you have more confidence to shoot at shadows in the woods 30 minutes after sunset. Just don't shoot your buddies by accident.

So would a Nightforce SHV be considered alpha glass?
Looks like doug has em under a K ( 3-10x ).

Was looking at Steiner GS or maybe something from Zeiss.

Thinking $700 ish but could go a bit higher.
Slap it on a .243 win or a .30-06.
500 yd and less.