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Binoculars

How many of you use binoculars while hunting? As my eyes age I depend on them. Good glass is not cheap but worth the expense. I'm amazed that not too many folks know how to use them properly. Learned some tips from an Army Ranger friend who was a scout. Focus comes first. Everyone's eyes are different. Get a good focus with both eyes first. Then adjust the separate adjustment (usually right eye) until you get a clear sight picture with both eyes. Use a grid search technique to look for deer and movement. Start by glassing horizontally. Then vertically. Search small sections at a time. Youll be surprised at what you can pick up if you do this right. Hope this helps.

Do you scan left to right or do you scan right to left? Do you scan down up or up down?

Usually left to right but always down to up. I always want to see anything close before looking farther away.

I never did. Had zero use to look at a deer that was too far away to kill with a bow. A deer was a deer was a deer and I didn't need to look at it up close. Then I tried them, but they never helped me kill a deer while sitting in my tree. So now I never take them. I can't see any benefit to aid in killing a deer with a bow while sitting in a tree.

Now, I have used them out west and they are invaluable out there when you can see forever and you have to stalk on the ground.

My rangefinder is 4X magnification, I use it instead of Bino's

I feel naked without them. However, they really are of little practical use if you;re sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to walk close enough for a shot.

I have a pair of Zeiss 10x25 for ct....I am buying some expensive glass for out west

I use to carry them, but, only to satisfy my curiosity on distant things. Using them requires movement that may be picked up from other directions where I'm not looking, and maybe closer.

When hunting from a tree - no. But when still hunting they are required. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a piece of a deer in the distance that I would never see with the naked eye. Huge advantage with still hunting and hunting out west for elk.

Always have them on when deer and turkey hunting.

A young bbb with new fangled vision lookers

I have a small pair of steiner 8x that go out in the woods with me all the time. I feel naked without them. There have been many times I see movement or something out of place way off through the brush and the binocs help me pick off a deer sneaking through an area I otherwise would have overlooked that may be a better place to set up. A definite must have in my arsenal of hunting tools.

Awwww lil BBB is so cute.....kinda like a puppy

I use Leapold’s. Even in Ct I feel they are very useful. The older I get the crappier my eyes get. I can pick up movement easily enough out a ways, but with the bino’s I can tell exactly what it is and how I want to go about and get him or her in closer calling. To each is own I guess. I use them all deer season and turkey season.

I use Zeiss Jena 7x42's. So bright you can see in the dark. The east germans used to use them to watch for people trying to go over the wall, well before "night vision" technology. I had a pair, gave them to my brother and then missed them, bought a new/reconditioned pair. Minox 6.5x30 are also good for east coast hunting. For out west, its Swarovski all the way. Vortex is a good, more affordable option.

“ I can't see any benefit to aid in killing a deer with a bow while sitting in a tree.”

“However, they really are of little practical use if you;re sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to walk close enough for a shot.”

Just the opposite for me. Setting up down-wind of a likely area and spending a whole day picking it apart with binocs is a great way to scout it without tromping all over the place and stinking it up.

I’ve spotted deer 100 yards out, relocated, and scored on the next hunt a couple of times. One year I moved twice and scored on the third attempt; other times I just figured out where they’d be coming from and shifted the stand around for better concealment/shot angle...

And yeah, Out West, you’re an idiot if you don’t use them constantly... If you’re not glassing as you go, you’re just out for a walk in the woods.

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