Range Finder

[StoneChaser]

Todd, I use a Bushnell Yardage Pro Legend, and love it. IMHO it is the best bang for the buck on the market. It is very light and compact, it is waterproof, and it floats. Furthermore, it is reliable. I have ranged deer out past 600yds, and rocks and trees over 700yds. It will hit a reflective target over 900yds (haven't tried it though). They are $427 from Higginson powder, a great value. I have packed numerous other models, but never owned one before due to the cumbersome nature of the others. This one is small enough that you WILL pack it.

StoneChaser

[Nails]

Thanks StoneChaser, I have been leaning towards bushnells. I know there a trade-offs with each manufactors models. I want to be able to use one in the rain and not have to worry about it.

[Foxer]

A rangefinder is a great thing - but to be honest with you it's still important to learn to rely and use your max point blank calculations to your advantage.

On a deer, you can strike about three inches high or three inches low and it's going to still be a fatal shot. For most guns, that means out to about 300 yards you just point and shoot. That elminates a lot of guess work.

Take the 30-06, with a 165 grain bullet at a leisurly 2800 fps. You're max point blank is about 273 yards. That takes care of 95 percent of your shooting - IF you learn to trust it and don't try to compensate for distance. If you think the animal is way out there - say between 300 and 400 yards - you simply shift your aimpoint to just above the shoulder The drop is such that even if you've screwed up your distances badly, it's still a fatal shot. At 400 yards that bullet is going to still strike the lower lung area and possibly the heart, if you screwed up and its actually 275 yards its' going to hit the shoulder area (sure, a little meat loss but not much at all, and that's only if you screw up by a fair bit.).

Rangefinders are Awesome for training the eye - and they're great for those times when you have lots of time to zap a few 'landmarks' in a feild so that you've got a better idea of distances.

The vast majority of game in bc is still taken under 200 yards, and 300 yards is a long shot in the bush under hunting conditions even if you have a pretty decent rest. Learning to work with and trust point blank zero calculations and specific aimpoints will do more than anything to help guarantee the hit is a kill in the field. If you're shooting more that 300 yards in the woods - you'd better be a pretty practiced shot a rangefinder would be invaluable then, but you'll need a lot of skill to take advantage of that info.

[bone-collector]

haha ok I have to ask Warren do you actualy think all that out when getting ready to shoot a critter? or just throw the rifle up and drop the hammer ?

Warrens modern hunting methods-BORE the moose to death with theory

j/k bud

[Foxer]

haha ok I have to ask Warren do you actualy think all that out when getting ready to shoot a critter? or just throw the rifle up and drop the hammer ?

Haha indeed you ole gastro-intestinal anomaly

I do all the thinking long before i go out - the whole point is to not have to think at all in the field - just point and shoot and let your rifle do it's job.

I don't doubt you've seen the 'range' syndrome in the feild with a newbie suffering from a good case of buck fever - they dial up the scope and try to compensate for range with their gun and either go way over or way under. I just have to decide if it's under 300 or between 3 and 4 hundred. I know the gun will be within 3 inches plus or minus out to 3, and if i put it on the shoulder i'm good to 4 and change.

And it's hardly a modern idea as you well know

And i do NOT bore the animial to death .. i just bore it to the point where it realizes it's just easier to let me shoot it. There's a difference.

[bone-collector]

hmm actualy no I just throw it up and shoot , never thought of it before

[todbartell]

I got a Bushnell Yardage PRO500, it works out in the field to about 350 yards on trees and deer. I've tagged highly reflectable signs out to 800 yards. But 400 is about max under good conditions in the field on big trees.

It's a big clumsy thing, weighs 16 ozs with the battery. I'd much prefer the more compact, and powerful Bushnell Legend.

[416]

l own a bushnell yardage pro-800 and besides being 1st genereation read (read big) l have no complaints. Infact because of its reliability l haven't changed it out. My partner has a Lecia and yeah, if l was doing it over again l would buy the smaller more powerful units, but mine has given me distances right out to 999 yards!!! Its as fast to aquire as any of the more modern ones l had it up against and other then its size l can't justify buying a new one.
Between the range finder and a properly decked out hunting rig you can cover alot of area from one posistion.

[GoatGuy]

Now that I'm using my second bushnell, first one crapped out after two years, I wouldn't buy anything other than a leica. Had a couple hunter's with them and wow am I impressed. Clearer, picks up targets much quicker and picks up targets way farther. I've had days where my rangefinder wouldn't work any farther than 300yrds. If a range finder only goes to 300 yrds. what good is it to you? You can shoot that far with most rifles nowadays without having your bullet drop much more than 6-8".

[rock]

Has any one of you had any experience with range finders for rifle hunting? I’m originally from out east and was blessed with the opportunity to move to BC. This mountain hunting in BC is throwing me off for distances. We could never see that far back home. If I’m going to make a shot I want to make sure that my rifle is going to be on target. I don’t want to make a bad judgment and hit him high or low. 8O Has anyone used a range finder and what are your comments on any certain type I should or shouldn’t get.

Thanks.

Marc.

Dont leave camp without one, Bone collector right , Bushnell is reasonably priced, and simple to use and if your borrowing grizz Im sure you will be buying one in the future....