"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.

If the max you can see or shoot is 300 yards, you don't need a hubble on you rifle. Unless you're Elmer Fudd.

Apparently I am. The deer with four points on both sides was only 88 yards away. It was still a little dark at 8:15 AM because I hunt the west side of the hill. Also there was total overcast with just a hint of fog. But I have discovered from many side by side comparisons with other guys that I usually need as much as a third more magnification to see the same thing through optics. And yet the optometrists tests my corrected vision at 20/15.

As recently as yesterday my son-in-law said,
"There's a deer." In about three seconds I said,
"I see it." Then he told me,
"There are only two guys who can find what I am talking about that fast. You and cousin Rick."

I think "cousin Rick" is in a game spotting league above son-John and me, though. He is more like Shannon who uses 7X binos to judge antlers 2 miles away.

Didn't see that coming?

Couldn't agree more

20/15 and need a Hubble for 300 yards and in, got it.

I agree. Most folks do.

If someone has me in there rifle scope I take that as a major threat and I will proceed to defend my life.

The good news is if you accidentally shoot me you won't go to prison for a hunting accident.

The other good news is if I shoot you for glassing me it was nothing more than an accidental discharge.

Carry On

Shod

I wonder if I'm the only one that has tried to give the benefit of the doubt - and this thread removed all?

Lots of folks here are like the good people of Ferguson, Mo. They make up their minds and then look at the facts of the case. miles

After reading some of the responses on this forum on this topic it has given me a complete understanding of why people feel the need to buy clothing like this.



CR

Wow! I too slip behind trees and rocks when walking out of the woods. Seen animals shot over a hunter stalking same animal. If I saw the stalking hunter the shooter had to have seen the same. Being between an animal and a shooter can be very scary. Scopes narrow FOV adds to the problem.
Never had a problem identifing a game animal and its quality with my binos and try to take notice of other hunters in or about my hunting area. With most hunters wearing cammo during rifle season makes this even harder. JMO

Bare eyeballs for these are plenty good:

Kanbk2012 by Sharps45 2 7/8, on Flickr

Nice.....

Once, I mounted my rifle to my shoulder to look down the barrel and get a better look at a buck's horns. But then I realized that with iron sights, the view didn't improve any.

Happy New Year!!!

Ringman, perhaps I'm confused as to what you are getting at. I thought in another thread you made the claim that you used neither bino's or a spotting scope.....just the Hubble on the rifle.

Now it appears in this thread sometimes you use bino's but I'm under the impression that sometimes you pack only the rifle with scope to do all glass work.

Could you please clarify.

Thanks
Shod

To be fair to Ringman, here is what he said to open the thread:



Seems that if you have a decent set of binos, and you're already on the animal, the need to use a rifle scope to see if you want to shoot would be minimized.

You have read many posts by internet bullies who have posted that about me. I figure they have some kind of problem. Either with reading or some kind of mental disorder.

There are times when the only thing I carry is the binos. I find it very much fun to find game before I am discovered by them. That means I often have to search the nearby woods with the binos.

This post will not change their minds.

Thank you for the clarification Ringman....

I have absolutely zero problem with what one uses for a scope if its not used to verify what one sees which may or may not be another hunter.

Hope you have a great new year.

Sincerely
Shod

smokepole,



You are correct for most of hunting. If you don't mind, read the three examples I gave. No matter how good your 7X or 8X binos they would not work in the scenarios. I compared a $2,340 Swarovski 8.5X binoculars with a 10X Tasco scope and the Tasco won for showing the most detail. When something reaches its limit, it has reached its limit. When something is good enough it is good enough.

In two of the examples above I was using a Swarovski z5 scope and still needed to turn it to 12X in the first case and 25X in the second case. Minimization doesn't work there.

As far as the beautiful buck pictured above, and it is spectacular, almost no one with even 10X binos would have been able to see if it had a broken eye guard or maybe a tip broken off. Give the same person a 16X or 18X or 20X or in my case a 24X scope and they would have a much better chance of seeing the defect.

When I was young I carried neither binos or a spotter. I didn't own any. My father never used them so I knew nothing of their utility. My eyesight was good enough that I never found myself surprised when the scope fell on the target.

Later I started using binos and realized that my eyesight had started to change and indeed I could see better and judge better. Still more time has passed and I now need higher quality and higher magnification to see the same things.

I rarely used a spotter in the field except when hunting very open areas. Where I live now it's so thick you rarely find shots far enough to justify a scope at all. Unless of course you are shooting across canyons; that's a whole different subject.

Use a spotting scope.

When you put your rifle scope on game, you should already have decided it was going to die and not be looking for "defects".

At least you use binoculars. Can't tell you how many times I've seen a hunter pointing his gun at me only to look up and wave. Granted, that was PA.

I'm with Rich. If he's identified something as a game animal, go ahead and study the heck out of it with the scope. What's the issue??? It's already been identified, it's NOT a hunter, it's game. If his style of hunting doesn't want the extra 57 ounces, tripod, and time it takes to use, (mine doesn't either) then use the scope.

Seems like half these threads on the fire end up in a pissing match because people have pretty piss poor reading comprehension.

No pissing match here, from me anyway.

I use binos to identify targets, not just game. As said, carry on as you see fit.

Thank you.

Interesting never have hunted on public land so I had never given it much thought when walking I just use my rifle optics sitting on the side of a canyon binos are handy

While i normally wouldnt jump into a thread about optics, in this case, i have a different opinion that reflects that we are all different with how our eyes see things.

I was at a local sporting goods store and got to compare some Vortex 8x42 binos and a Vortex Diamondback HP 4-16x42. I was looking at a binocular chart with pictures of animals and terrain features on it. With the binos, i was able to see more. Just a better FOV i guess, and the scope, while good, took more magnification to see the same things.

I will openly say that i dont know what caused that, but i am convinced i need a set of binos now.

My Swarovski z5 5-25X52 has to be on 14X to show me the same detail my Alpen 10X50 binos do. The Alpens cost $450 the Swarovski cost $1,500.

Well, they don't it "binocular vision" for nothing.

Four legs - good.
Two legs - Bad.

dave

I bet that on most hunts that I do, I spend less than 15 seconds looking through the rifle scope, if not considerably less than that.

If I didn't kill a critter, I probably didn't look through the scope once.

Tanner

Agreed.

Just yesterday, I walked out to a call stand, probably a mile from the truck in deep snow. When I got to my stand, I realized I'd left my binoculars in the pickup. Without hesitation, I walked back and got them....and it paid off.

I've had people ask why I wear so much orange when I am bird hunting, and why I have my son do the same.

Now you know....




Travis

I left my binocs in the truck on a Mule deer hunt once.... once. Grin...


Tanner

^^^^^^^


This



I would literally rather hunt without my rifle than without my binocs.

Don't you normally use binos to confirm dink status before pulling the trigger?

I went out one day antelope hunting on the prairie with a little snow on the ground. I forgot my normal use binos and had an old pair in the truck. Even with old dim binos it was a waste of time even going hunting ,could not tell antelope from prairie... Was a short frustrating ride and just a waste of gas.
There is no legitimate excuse for not carrying binos. Anyone claiming there is no time or that are just making excuses. Safety and knowing ones target trump pointing your gun at someone every time.

I say this all the time people look at me like I am crazy. I cant remember the last Deer or Elk I shot that I didnt look over with Bino's first.

I forgot my binos once also. Rather than go back to the truck, I used the range finder as a monocular. The 7X21 Leica is quite good as a substitute.

lol