Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics 300 yrd or less deer scope

I know the trend is more, more, more. But if you’re only shooting out to 300 yards with most shots 150 or less, do you ever really need more than a 3-9x40 scope?

Nope, but it's amazing how many years it took me to figure out that all the folks on here saying exactly that weren't crazy.

Nope, 3-9x is just fine. The much younger me thought different, but the older me sees telescopes on rifles as being unattractive

I’m tending to agree as I’ve gotten older, even though I sometimes catch myself.

There is something to be said for field of view and clarity.

3-9 is fine for that distance. I tend to set mine at 6 and leave it there. Up close to 300 and I’m good.

Give me a 3-9 and I feel claustrophobic. I tend to favor a 1.5-6x40 for most of my coyote hunting out to 300 yards, I do have 1-4x20's on combo guns that are comfortable out to 300 yards and my open country coyote rig wears a 2-12x40 and can go to 500 with that if needed. At 1.5x there is twice the FOV as there is at 3x.

My scopes stay on the lowest power/largest FOV, when you need the FOV(close in, hard charger, fast target acquisition) there is never enough time to turn the scope down, when you need the X's the critter is out there a ways and there is plenty of time to turn the scope up.

The higher the power the more you wobble....

The more you see the wobble.

IME no. If you're looking to kill a deer at those ranges 4x works fine. If you want a better idea of what kind of rack it's got or if there's the possibility of bullet deflection 3-9x40 should be enough. YMMV.

I'd say 9X is plenty, for 150 yard hunting I prefer a 2-7X.

Somehow for many years we killed a lot of game with a fixed 4. Remember a fixed 4 at 300 gives you the equivalent of irons at 75 which almost anyone would consider a doable shot.

Some people wobble way more than others too..

It's hard to beat a good 3-9x for hunting at ranges under 300 yards. You can leave it on 3x and dial the magnification up when needed. Works well in both the thick stuff and in more open country.

1-4x, 4x, 6x, 2.5-8, 3x9, 2-10. Pick your poison. They will all work just fine. My preference would be the 2-10 for an all rounder.

High ends of 8, 9, and 10 are handy at the range and for occasional use on chucks, etc, but I don’t remember ever shooting a deer at over 4x. The longest poke I ever took was only something over 200, and I can’t even remember what scope was on the old M70, but it was no more than a 4 because that’s as much as I ever had at that time.

I did crank up the FFII on my ML last season to 9, trying to find a hole to shoot through at a doe, but couldn’t find one. After about an hour, somebody else bumped her, so no cigar. That’s one reason for more Xs here in the Wild East.

I'm 49 now but have always liked the magnification side of it since I started about 8 years old. In south Louisiana we hunt box stands or ladder stands with shooting rails so a steady shot is 95% of the time. I was always brought up aim small, miss small. 90% of my shots, the deer is either standing still browsing or just a simple walk at 150yrds and it. I currently have a 4x16-56 S&B Polar that I'm running on my Tikka 308 and I'll zoom in on an occasional doe to make a clean head shot to preserve the meat if the shot allows it. Now, especially in hardwoods, you can have too much zoom and the animal can get lost in the background. I think its personal preference.

I have 3.5x10’s and 4.5x14’s. I think the 3.5x10’s are just as good, maybe better.

Need and want are 2 different things. You only need a Prius to drive across country, but wouldn't a luxury car be better? You only need a spear to hunt game, but wouldn't your rifle be better. Be thankful there is still a choice.... for now.

3-9 is plenty. We had fun shooting a 223 with a fixed 4x awhile back at 300yards, I finally realized more magnification is just not needed for hunting purposes. My first 5 shot group at 300 with the 4x on an ar was about 5inches. I can live with that.

The longest shot I've ever made on a deer was with a K4 Weaver on a .30/06, hardly today's choice, but it worked just fine back then. The deer didn't care. I DID practice a lot before that shot, like we all should, all the time.