Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Elk binos

Brad, you never posted that picture of your wife I requested from you to see which one of you had the larger Adams Apple.

Please provide that information, so I can reply to your obfuscating comment here.

You’re as lame as you are uninformed.

Probably best for you to avoid the whole picture thing.

You can take anything poor ol' ElkSlayer posts and divide by 10 to get closer to the truth. 3500+ posts to date and he hasn't offered anything of value yet.

For most of my hunting I use Steiner 8x42's. For sitting and glassing I use Zeiss 12x45 and a Leupold 15x45 spotting scope.

Thanks guys for suggestions.

As elk are creatures of low light conditions - I would want a higher exit pupil number to gather more light. That is more important than just magnification. Certainly $1000 or less will get you want you want. Go to a well stocked (if even possible anymore) shop and try out different brands to sort out egos and clarity.
Low light conditions will be difficult to duplicate but at least you can try out a variety and make your decision. Good luck.

I use 8x30 CL's in the timber and heavier cover areas and 10x42 SLC's in the open country where you are looking 2-3 miles at times. I can't hold anything over 10X steady without a support and I'm sure not carrying anything I don't absolutely need up and down the mountains where the elk live.

This is hilarious from a guy who has never posted a single picture on the website.

Thanks for the information on Binoculars. Some of you guys really know your stuff.

Casey, anyone who has to reassure themselves with their signature line is skating on thin ice emotionally. I can't claim exceptional intelligence, but I generally have a solid grasp of the obvious

I stopped at Sportsman's Whorehouse in Missoula a couple hours ago to get a few things for the mule deer opener tomorrow in Idaho.

They had 12x42 Pures there for $3,099. No sales tax, no shipping and I get a 5% veteran discount.

Evil thoughts crossed my mind. We'll see how drunk I get when I get back to my Mom's house in the Bitterroot after deer and elk hunting in Idaho. I have done dumber things.....

That glass would have to be magical to surpass my EL's and especially at that price point... but I would be tempted too if I could find a way my wife would never find out....

Then I recommend not spending any time with them....

Was it a religious experience? Mine kinda was...

My favorite is the Leica Noctivid 10x42. It’s brighter than it should be, and has a great view and color rendition (at least to my eyes). I have a Swarovski EL 8x32 specifically for the timber, and it’s fine glass as well. But overall, the 10x42 Noctivid gets top grade foe my elk hunting.

I’ve not used the super high end binoculars, so I defer on them. I can say that a bunch of mid priced ones have passed through my hands. I still almost always take my older Swarovski SLC 8x30’s. For me, they give the best combination of portability and “lookability”. If someday one of the kids fails to return them (quite possible), I’ll scrounge up another somewhere and keep on going.

I love my Swarovski’s 10x42. I purchased them used here on the fire a few years ago. A buddy of mine just purchased a new pair of Vortex razor 12x binos from cabelas. He was expecting to spend about $1k but with the promo and his points he ended up only spending about $500. They looked very clear viewing them in the store. That may be a reasonable option for you.

For (anyone), considering using binoculars for finding game while hunting, especially when longer distances might be involved, there are 2 excellent articles right here in the Campfire archives that should read before any decisions about purchase is made.
In order to find the articles do the following.
Click onto the Campfire logo on top of the page and that will bring up the home page.
Look for the (archives) section heading and click onto that.
Then scroll thru the articles to the second page, and find 2 articles on glasses and using them for glassing.
The one entitled (Big Eyes) is especially good for the glassing part.

In Pa, all long range hunting is done by using tripod mounted binoculars.
The vast majority of hunters, myself included, primarily use 2 spotting scopes in machined adjustable brackets for that purpose. Scopes like Kowa and Swarovski have become very common for that purpose.
After reading the big eyes article now more than 10 years ago, i decided to order a pair of the 15x58 Minox Doug was selling at a close out price due to a model change.
They are for lack of a better description awsome.
We even conducted our own comparison test using the Minox 15x58s, 15x56 Swaros, and 15x56 Leica Geovids from the yard of our N/C Pa camp at various distances side by side.
Only the Swaro owner felt that his were just a slight bit better than the others, but even he said that for the major price difference, he wouldnt make the same decision about buying them again.
You absolutely need to compare to compare them side by side on the same day to find out.
And of coarse for average Joe thats not easy to do.
But articles like these can be a big help.
By all means compare if you can, rather than take the (buy one like mine) advise.

I like the Meopta 10x42’s, haven’t looked through the Tract Torics yet, I was in the same boat 8 years ago after not being able to determine if a bull was legal bedded in the brush for 40 minutes. My better than average Zeiss Terra 10x42 could not resolve it. Finally from a different angle the Leica rangefinder determined -Yes legal 5x5. Small Leupold 15-30 spotter wasn’t the right solution. I got lucky & got a great deal on 10x42 Swarovski SLC’s and have since spotted & killed elk I would never have seen.

Local archery & football Binoculars for me are little 8x32 Sightron’s for $200 do the job nicely and are generally useful. But they are not the right tool for an elk hunt where a little more objective & the best glass you can get pays dividends.

Keep watching the classifieds for Swarovski SLC 10x42's.