Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Who caries binos while rifle hunting

Your safest bet is to pack the binos, not only will you become a better hunter by using them but you'll see a lot more game, and be safe around others while in the field. As for a harness id say an fhf would be hard to beat, however the old crooked horn elastic bra has served me well for a lot of years. Just don't jump up and down to celebrate a kill, it's a good way to get a fat lip or worse.
 
I don't have bino's worth carrying. That said, I still don't point my rifle at anything I don't plan to kill. Since I mostly hunt with a bow out of tree stands I haven't felt the need to get good glass. Now that I am planning an elk hunt, I am looking for a decent pair of bino's. Unfortunately I don't have the budget at this time for a good pair. Thinking about some entry level Vortex bino's.
 
I have never once said to use a scope as a spotter.

To say it is unsafe to hunt with a rifle and not have Binos with you is just not true. We have a group of 10 to 20 guys that have hunted deer in WI for years and non of us bring Binos. No one has been shot because of this unsafe practice.
 
I don't have bino's worth carrying. That said, I still don't point my rifle at anything I don't plan to kill. Since I mostly hunt with a bow out of tree stands I haven't felt the need to get good glass. Now that I am planning an elk hunt, I am looking for a decent pair of bino's. Unfortunately I don't have the budget at this time for a good pair. Thinking about some entry level Vortex bino's.

Check out the Theron brand from Predator Optics. Great glass at an honest price.
 
I'd just about rather forget my gun than my binos and I do most of my hunting in the east...
 
east coast hunter, never had the need for binos (even if you CAN'T believe it and i was missing every last chipmunk that walked under a lot 50 yards away) but now PA has antler restrictions so need to distinguish legal vs illegal buck. Last year I had one that I just couldn't make out the brow tine one side, through a scope (debate all you want, safety was on and if rifle discharged it woudln't be the absolute end of the world just a mistake with no human injury except to my ego so I felt it was an acceptable thing to check this fellow out through the rifle scope)

my question: will binos even of the general same power as the scope allow you to see better detail because of the larger field of view? assuming the bino glass is of equal or better quality than the scope, or should I really step up a magnification or two in the bino department?
 
east coast hunter, never had the need for binos (even if you CAN'T believe it and i was missing every last chipmunk that walked under a lot 50 yards away) but now PA has antler restrictions so need to distinguish legal vs illegal buck. Last year I had one that I just couldn't make out the brow tine one side, through a scope (debate all you want, safety was on and if rifle discharged it woudln't be the absolute end of the world just a mistake with no human injury except to my ego so I felt it was an acceptable thing to check this fellow out through the rifle scope)

my question: will binos even of the general same power as the scope allow you to see better detail because of the larger field of view? assuming the bino glass is of equal or better quality than the scope, or should I really step up a magnification or two in the bino department?

I personally think they will help even at equivalent magnifications. The big thing for me is that the movement associated with raising and lowering binos is so much less noticable than a gun. I'm east coast guy too, and I promise you, if you get descent binos and a harness of some kind, you will be shocked at how much more game you will see.
 
I personally think they will help even at equivalent magnifications.

Yep. Looking through Binos vs a monocular scope gives us a much larger field of view which gives us a much bigger chance at detecting any small details or movements. We also have binocular vision. When we use both eyes in harmony (stereopsis) we are able to appreciate little details that we would otherwise not see if only looking through one eye. Look at something across the room and cover one eye vs the other. Now look at it with both eyes. Doesn't it look better? We always see clearer, sharper, and more stable with both eyes open. It is also creates a much more stable situation for the vision system. When we look through a monocular scope our eyes tend to not stay focused at the same position and this leads to eyestrain after prolonged viewing (instrument accommodation). When looking through a spotting scope it may be beneficial to keep both eyes open (even though we are only looking at the image in the spotting scope) as this will help to relax focus and reduce eyestrain. Especially if we plan on using it for a long period of time. One final thing to reduce eyestrain (beside getting the best glass you can afford) is to make sure that you align the focus of the binos so that both eyes are focused at the same point and working together. If the two oculars are not "balanced" then it will quickly lead to that aching feeling across your forehead or feel like your eyes are pulling or strained.
 
Use binos, not a rifle scope. Refer back to number one rule of gun safety- don't point your gun at anything you don't plan on shooting.
 
I bow and gun hunt in timbered swamps here at home. I wouldn't go hunting without my binos. I use them deer and turkey hunting. I use them to spot game through the limbs and other obstructions.
 
I am 38 years old and I have been hunting for 26 years and I can honestly say I have never put my gun up on someone else while I was hunting. I am not hunting big areas I can see pretty dam good.

Come hunt WI rifle season. You will not see a single person with a pair of bino's while hunting. In the 26 years of hunting WI rifle season I have never seen a person out in the woods not deer hunting and not wearing orange. I wouldn't leave my truck to piss without orange on during WI rifle season at a gas station in town.

In Iowa I hunt early muzzy season. There isn't a lot of people out in the woods at the time. Also I am hunting small tracts where I cannot see very far. Under 100 yards I can tell if there is a person or a deer standing there.

I hear you about the Wisconsin hunters not using binoculars. I went to Wisconsin a few years back to hunt deer on a hunting lease that my son-in-law has along with friends & relatives. I was the only one with binoculars, out of 7 hunters on opening day we took 9 deer....I shot 4. My son-in-law uses binoculars now.
 
To the OP. All questions of firearms safety aside, you will be amazed at how much more you will see with binoculars. Once I started carrying binoculars I became much more dedicated to checking out everything that I couldn't completely identify in the woods. I can't tell you how many times that odd looking patch of brown that caught my eye turned out to be a deer or an elk once I looked at it through binoculars. Previously, I would have just walked closer to identify it and would have almost certainly spooked the animal.

Successful hunting is as much about seeing the animal before it sees you as anything. Being able to identify what you are looking at and getting prepared for a shot before any animal clears thick brush is invaluable, probably even more so in the thick brush back east as in more open country out west.

The guys making comments about always taking binoculars even if they forget their rifle are only halfway joking. Binoculars are the one thing in my pack that I always double and triple confirm are there before I leave the truck.
 
Sounds like some need to take a basic hunter safety or basic firearm handling course.
The last guy that I caught scoping me was very,very sorry he did.
 
To the OP. All questions of firearms safety aside, you will be amazed at how much more you will see with binoculars. Once I started carrying binoculars I became much more dedicated to checking out everything that I couldn't completely identify in the woods. I can't tell you how many times that odd looking patch of brown that caught my eye turned out to be a deer or an elk once I looked at it through binoculars. Previously, I would have just walked closer to identify it and would have almost certainly spooked the animal.

Successful hunting is as much about seeing the animal before it sees you as anything. Being able to identify what you are looking at and getting prepared for a shot before any animal clears thick brush is invaluable, probably even more so in the thick brush back east as in more open country out west.

The guys making comments about always taking binoculars even if they forget their rifle are only halfway joking. Binoculars are the one thing in my pack that I always double and triple confirm are there before I leave the truck.

This. Especially when hunting dark timber, an ear twitch, a flash of a brow time, sweep of a leg under the trees, the advantage provided is incredible. Elk can eerily silent in the trees, until it's too late.
 
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