Binos VS Spotting Scope or Both?

[Lone Star Outdoors Show]

Wanted your thoughts on whether or not it's necessary to carry both when packing into the mountains for a week. Weight/Space is going to be at a premium since our spike camp will likely be around 11,500 for our New Mexico mule deer hunt.

I have a nice pair of Nikon 10 x 42 binos. The unit I am hunting is extremely thick and rugged and glassing for hundreds and hundreds of yards is probably not going to a real possibility anyway. But maybe a good spotting scope is still a must...Just going over the list and seeing what I can get rid of to shed some weight. Thanks!

 

[Bambistew]

If you don't take it you'll wish you had it. I make that mistake from time to time, thinking its going to be too thick to use. Matter of fact I did this just a few weekends ago. I hate packing the spotter, but miss it when I don't have it.

I wouldn't even consider leaving it at home on a deer hunt, back pack or otherwise. I'd leave the bino's before the spotter if weight is really an issue.

Good luck on your hunt.

 

[Lone Star Outdoors Show]

Thanks for the feedback. Sincerely appreciate it.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Ive recently sold my Swaro 85mm spotting scope as it wasn't getting much use at all. No matter where i hunt or how far i pack in, if the country is at all conducive to glassing i will take my 10 x 42 Geovids and also the 15 x 56 Swaro's, i find out past 900-1km mark the 15's really come into their own and if you can't find em you can't shoot em. As for working on the fine detail of any animals at long range a quality spotter has the edge, but if you look at enough, you should be able to work them out in a good pair of binos.
Best of luck.

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Agree with above. If you can't pack a spotter you might as well just stay home.

 

[awapiti]

It depends on what you are using the scope for. In my opinion binoculars are essential in finding game and are going to be better at that than the spotting scope. If you are trying to judge the trophy potential of an animal at distance then the spotting scope is going to outperform the binoculars. If you have not mounted binoculars on a tripod, try it sometime and you will be amazed at how many animals you can find even at distance. You can then move in closer and re-evaluate the animal for trophy potential with your binoculars.