Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting " I know that scopes are aimers not lookers"

"I know that scopes are aimers not lookers" is political correctness come to the long range forum. I use my binoculars to find things and use my rifle scope to make sure I want to shoot.

A few years ago I found a deer and started turning up the magnification. When I saw it was legal I fired. Then I looked at the magnification: 10X.

Two seasons ago I found a buck with horns wider than the ears with the binos. I didn't decide to fire until I could see four points on both sides. I checked the scope: 12X.

That same year I went to another state and found antlers out in the flats. I could not tell it was legal until the scope was on 25X.

The reason I have a "Hubble" is because I don't carry a spotting scope. This year I plan on a max scope power of 24X. It seems to be barely better than last year's 25X.

Much easier ways to skin that cat but carry on as you see fit.

Substituting a scope for a spotter? What if you "spot" something you thought was game but was another hunter that you scoped?

Hunters don't wear orange during rifle season in Arizona?

Most don't wear orange in Oregon. Plenty of non hunters out and about as well.

Never even heard of anyone wearing brown/tan/black/camo and using shed antlers to rattle with...Or like a few years back, a guy got nuked packing out an bull.

Luckily nobody is ever hurt when shot in a hunting accident.

Depending on the terrain , I would say no spotter is ok. Heavy cover where binos are plenty or wide open prairie where you can see for miles...... But even then once in a while even on open prairie, there are folks out doing things other then hunting during antelope season and do not think it necessary to wear orange. Relying on see orange to tell game from human is not the best course of action.

Get a good spotter and make room for it in your pack.....you'd be surprised how much more game you'll find. I can't imagine scanning difficult glassing terrain with a rifle scope. Zero chance of ever "scoping" someone with a spotter as well.

^This.

Plus, you'll be able to see a lot better through a spotting scope with a larger objective than any rifle scope, because the size of the objective lens plays a major role in resolution.

Being scoped by other hunters is a major reason I no longer hunt in Southwest Oregon.

If I think I need to glass, I'll have a spotting scope along.

You were probably getting scoped by Ringman as he's from SW Oregon.

Do my best to never hunt canyons that can be seen from a road. Tend to slide behind trees or rocks if I hear or see a rig when hiking back to a road. Sad to think we have to hunt like that.

Live there most my life, and get scoped more than I should admit to.

Never point your rifle at something you don't want to kill.

Fixed it for you!
This stuff isn't that hard!!!
Merry Christmas

The following is typical, therefore I will respond to it.



Maybe you boys didn't notice the part were I posted about finding game with the binos and then deciding, first if they were legal and second, if I want to shoot or not by taking a closer look. I even gave three examples.

Maybe I mentioned it here, but it could be at work, but I often use Evander Holyfield as an example of what I would bet on. I always would bet fifty cents against anyone's quarter that Holyfield would win. I would place that same bet here that there is not a poster here who has put his scope on an animal and always fired at it.

Keep handicapping yourself if you wish. Good luck....

You knew the responses you'd get starting a thread about your personal, solitary hunt "strategy" for no apparent reason.

GregW,



I have spotting scopes. But they don't fit in with the place I hunt. Thanks for the good wish.



You flatter me. I honestly thought there would be agreement with me about the PC baloney. I am also convinced when the posters are face to face they would say the same thing about PC.

Some folks shouldn't be allowed to purchase a hunting license!!

How is it that spotting scopes "don't fit in" where you hunt but a hubble on your rifle does?

It is quite simple. It is mostly woods with some open areas. From one ridge to the other is maximum about 300 yards. The Leupold VX-6 4-24X52 rifle scope weighs less than 23 ounces. And it is attached to the rifle. There is no need to carry a tripod on which to install it for use. Two seasons ago if I had taken time to get out a spotting scope to verify the buck had four points on both side, after first seeing it with the binos, it would have been gone. As it was I merely turned up the scope (later discovered to be on 12X at the shot). As soon as I saw it was what I wanted I squeezed the trigger. Even then it went out of sight at the shot. It was in a clearing for about ten to twelve seconds.

The lightest spotting scope I have with small tripod weighs 57 ounces and would be carried in the backpack. I would have to find a rock or log or something else on which to set the small tripod. With that condition I might not be in a place to check out the place I wanted to check. If I was going to hunt wide open spaces I would take a spotting scope; with a tall tripod, not the small one. I have proven beyond a doubt with side by side comparisons that even a cheap low power spotting scope is way better than an expensive high magnification rifle scope.

Regarding viewing optics. In Game in the Desert Revisited, JOC said, and this is in the updated 1977 section, "If he is on horseback he can carry his binoculars in saddlebags, and if he hunts sheep and antelope he can let the guide take care of them. .... When a man hunts on foot and alone, he can depend upon his rifle 'scope."

It is said, it is written, it is so.