Rangefinders for mountain hunting???

[Quiet Hunter]

So ive seen a lot of great photos on here showing beautiful mountain shots, valleys, downed elk (my dream havnt been out elk hunting yet...maybe this season if I get a chance)

But my question is this. What type of RANGEFINDER are you guys using up there if any? Im still trying to eye distances but I like to know exact range when im pushing past about 200y

[rocksteady]

Go to amazon.ca you can get a 650 yard finder for $99

[steve-r]

Nikon Laserforce rangefinding binocs

[RyoTHC]

Vortex furry 5000’s for me for this time around, tired of carrying a dozen different t pieces of kit on me.

[srupp]

Hmmmm its often tricky in the mountains to gauge distance accuratly..at least I find it so.most often tending to overestimate the range..having said that most misses ive seen have been shooting over the animal .
I have used the Leica 1200 for many years successfully.
On my big stone sheep..all the time..effort.. $$$..when I first looked at the ram..I thought 425 yards..used the Leica 1200 rangefinder which told me repeatadly the big ram was only 318 yards.i ranged him 3x..then shot. Took out his heart.
Yes to rangefinder
Yes to Leica
Cheers
Srupp

[rocksteady]

Pick one within your shooting abilities? Is your gun/ammo combo up to a 1000 yard shot.. not me.. i am willing tk push 500 if conditions are perfect..so i bought a 500 yard finder..

[DeepJeep]

Vortex ranger 1000

Get urself a used one

[Bugle M In]

I know someone was selling a Leica I believe.
If interested, let me know.
He may have sold it already however.

Buy what you can afford.
As for shooting ability, I don't look at it that way.
I can tell how far something away is at least.
So, even if I know it 900 yards away, I have my work cut out for me.
Just get one with true incline/decline distance imo.
A lot of shots get missed because of that.
Also, alpine hunting can be a little hard to judge distance as it just becomes "distorted" as to what the actual distances are for those that
don't do much of that type of hunting.
(things are way closer than they appear up there for me anyways)

[srupp]

Pick one within your shooting abilities? Is your gun/ammo combo up to a 1000 yard shot.. not me.. i am willing tk push 500 if conditions are perfect..so i bought a 500 yard finder..

Hmmm absolutely..my shots are never more than 400..on a moose..
However I never buy a 500 pound winch for my 500 pound ATV..I made sure the tool will do the job.3500 #

I often/always use the advantage of 1200 yards to gauge how close im getting to the animal..
I often play games with the rangefinder..guessing the distances to treelines, cuts, rocks etc..then ranging them..how did I do?
Practice..practice..practice..
I guess I was thinking..buying a 400 yard or 500 yard rangefinder it was being used to its max..loss of accuracy at end of its limits?
Where the 1200 yard still has 60 % more to give ?
But by glassing everything out to 1200 yards..playing guess the distance. .confirm the distance..helps me instantly know how far tge game is in relation to certain rocks, trees etc are..and how far I need to go to close the distance to the animal
Yes 500 yards is sufficient.
Cheers Bro
Steven

[DeepJeep]

Playing around with a ranger finder while in the bush will also make u better at judging distance when u may not have time to use a ranger finder

[MichelD]

Met a fellow goat hunting a couple weeks ago who had a Leica bino/rangefinder combo. Holy Smoke! So Clear! We ranged a prominent rock on the mountainside from camp determining it to be almost exactly a kilometere away. Beautiful. That's how we determined that a three-point buck was 2 km away on the next scree over, out in the open in the blazing sun at mid--morning.

[srupp]

Met a fellow goat hunting a couple weeks ago who had a Leica bino/rangefinder combo. Holy Smoke! So Clear! We ranged a prominent rock on the mountainside from camp determining it to be almost exactly a kilometere away. Beautiful. That's how we determined that a three-point buck was 2 km away on the next scree over, out in the open in the blazing sun at mid--morning.

I am leery of bino/rangefinder combos..if the electronics malfuntion you must send away the binoculars too..
But yes they are an amazing items of kit.
Cheers
Srupp

[emerson]

Most rangefinder"s ratings need to be cut in half if you want to range a non-reflective target (animal) reliably. As a cheap guy, I can tell you, the money you save on inexpensive optics is a false economy. Buy a bone stock 300WM Savage at Cdn Tire, mount a scope worth 2X the rifle's cost and spend the same on a rangefinder. Will leave you much better off than a $2500 rifle, results wise.

[porthunter]

Have a set of Leica Geovid HD-B binoculars with the range finder and absolutely love them.. the glass is amazing and the rangefinder is even better, make sure to buy a rangefinder that compensates for angle.

As Srupp said, the one downside to the combo, is if there is service needed, you loose 2 items. Have been dealing with this in a friends pair of Geovids, luckily Leica turned them around in under a week.. pretty great service.

[Quiet Hunter]

Wow a lot of great info and tips. Thanks to all of you. I ordered a Nikon monarch 2000 laser range finder. found it on the cabelas site on sale. I was thinking like a lot of you. Take a guess at the range and then range find it, to get better at rangeing. Now It just needs to come in the mail (I hate waiting for stuff) Then out to the field. Again thanks for all your input I love to soak up knowledge. Hopefully my first elk will be in range for a perfect shot. :)

On a side note I read a good book from vortex on how to range with your scope. just incase electronics fail. (Vortex the ultimate guide to rifle shooting) Great read.

[DeepJeep]

Congrats. Nikon makes good stuff

[montec assassin]

I use a Leopold 1000i TBR. FANTASTIC rangefinder. The downside is that the display is red. Great in low light conditions, terrible mid day.

[RugDoctor]

I disagree with buying a rangefinder limited to the distance you’ll shoot. As with anything, get the best one you can afford and with the greatest accuracy/distance. I find that ranging distances farther than you intend to shoot tells you how much ground you need to close before you’re comfortable shooting, and can tell you how far you’ll have to travel to ‘get to that tree’ so you can stay behind the hogs back so the animal doesn’t detect you....etc. Ranging farther than you shoot has many uses.

[Quiet Hunter]

I disagree with buying a rangefinder limited to the distance you’ll shoot. As with anything, get the best one you can afford and with the greatest accuracy/distance. I find that ranging distances farther than you intend to shoot tells you how much ground you need to close before you’re comfortable shooting, and can tell you how far you’ll have to travel to ‘get to that tree’ so you can stay behind the hogs back so the animal doesn’t detect you....etc. Ranging farther than you shoot has many uses.

I like the way you think. It can help in a lot of scenarios

[Redthies]

I use a Leopold 1000i TBR. FANTASTIC rangefinder. The downside is that the display is red. Great in low light conditions, terrible mid day.

Thats interesting to hear. I bought a Sig Saur rangefinder and it has a black display, which a lot of reviews complain about. I guess you have to pick your poison. Probably more shots taken in early/late light, than midday? Someone needs to make a rangefinder with selectable lcd color. I have a scope with an illuminated reticle that you can have off (black) or illuminated in either red or green. It’s pretty dang cool. It’s not a Nikon or Leica, so the glass is average at best, but the technology is out there.

I also agree that buying a rf that only ranges out to your maximum comfortable shooting distance is a pretty dumb idea. I won’t shoot past 400 yards unless conditions are absolutely perfect, so if I’m at 700, knowing how far to move is key.

[Ride Red]

I use a Leopold 1000i TBR. FANTASTIC rangefinder. The downside is that the display is red. Great in low light conditions, terrible mid day.

It’s not perfect for mid day, but still works fine. I’ve had mine since inception and love the angle compensation which can really screw you on yardage. Flat ground is way different than shooting extreme ups or downs.


I disagree with buying a rangefinder limited to the distance you’ll shoot. As with anything, get the best one you can afford and with the greatest accuracy/distance. I find that ranging distances farther than you intend to shoot tells you how much ground you need to close before you’re comfortable shooting, and can tell you how far you’ll have to travel to ‘get to that tree’ so you can stay behind the hogs back so the animal doesn’t detect you....etc. Ranging farther than you shoot has many uses.

Valid points. Knowing your shooting ability and then putting that to practice with a proper range not only will make you a better hunter, but a more ethical one at that. Too many guys throw lead at what they presume is the correct yardage only to walk it and find out they were way off their guess. Or worst case, wound an animal that goes off and dies while they carry on.

[decker9]

Take a gander at the thread “the 400 yard curse” on here, it will help realize the importance of a range finder lol. Like others have mentioned, it will help a guy learn a lot on judging distance.... for when you forget your range finder in the truck, lol.

Good luck on the elk!!

[Astepanuk]

I Personally really like having the Combo Range Finder Bino's one less thing to Carry I have a Pair of Leica HD-B I range pretty well every time I look through my glass I'm always observant to my distance not only to an animal but also how far it is across the valley or to the top of the mountain. I pretty comfortable shooting long range weather and wind pending. I wouldn't go into the mountains or on any hunt without my range finder but having them all in one is a big plus I believe.

[RyoTHC]

I am leery of bino/rangefinder combos..if the electronics malfuntion you must send away the binoculars too..
But yes they are an amazing items of kit.
Cheers
Srupp


i guess that’s the perk of most people upgrading to range finder Binos, if they ever need to send it for warranty they still have their old pair if their smart. Always good to have a backup and not put all your eggs in one basket.

[corywilson13]

Most rangefinder"s ratings need to be cut in half if you want to range a non-reflective target (animal) reliably. As a cheap guy, I can tell you, the money you save on inexpensive optics is a false economy. Buy a bone stock 300WM Savage at Cdn Tire, mount a scope worth 2X the rifle's cost and spend the same on a rangefinder. Will leave you much better off than a $2500 rifle, results wise.

agreed, I have the same motto. (30.06)

[huntingfamily]

This is what I have. Amazing optics.
https://www.precisionoptics.net/Leica_CRF_Rangemaster_2400_R_Rangefinder_40546_p/40546.htm

[Redthies]

Take a gander at the thread “the 400 yard curse” on here, it will help realize the importance of a range finder lol. Like others have mentioned, it will help a guy learn a lot on judging distance.... for when you forget your range finder in the truck, lol.

Great thread Decker! Congrats on sticking with it! If I went 9/0 on a hunt, I’d be considering taking up crocheting!

[finngun]

Playing around with a ranger finder while in the bush will also make u better at judging distance when u may not have time to use a ranger finder

very very hard a judging distance correct esp. over 300 ya.. including angle calculation sometimes impossib. over water,,etc..way better to have R F...most cases..

[Astepanuk]

Totally agree with the above Last sheep hunt I took a few Rooks out and asked them all the time what they thought the distance was, 9 times out of 10 they were off by over 300 Yards mountains really make it touch to judge I would never send a round without verifying distance.

[Quiet Hunter]

Totally agree with the above Last sheep hunt I took a few Rooks out and asked them all the time what they thought the distance was, 9 times out of 10 they were off by over 300 Yards mountains really make it touch to judge I would never send a round without verifying distance.



I feel the same. I know what range im comfortable shooting at beyond that knowing exacts helps a great deal IMO.

[Camp Cook]

My first rangefinder was a Bushnell Ranging 600 it still works just lent it to friends to use for their hunt.

My next was a Bushnell ARC 1300 yard rangefinder it was stolen soon after I purchased it.

I now use a Swarovski Laser Guide 1600 8x30 rangefinder paid $500 used for it then found another one my brother scored it for $500 as well.

[Rattler]

Had a couple bushnell 850’s and they we’re lucky to range 500yards on a good day. Buddies had Leupold 800’s and they too had lots of troubles beyond 500. Picked up a Leica 1200 and all I can say is wow...ranges to 1200 and fast. Highly recommend Leica.

[Bugle M In]

Well, I have one of the old Bushnells, and I can tell you this, it was big, somewhat clunky to haul around, but it "worked"!!
It could read out to 900 yards, no problem!!
But like anything, when new technology comes out, they tend to "build it with better components"!
Later, as they try to make things smaller. lighter and "cheaper" is when they don't perform like before.
Yes, you get the fancy incline features etc, and that's great.
They are small and compact now, also a bonus.
But I already noticed that this new Nikon I have does have a harder time "picking stuff out" to measure from.

One other thing, I like the range finders with higher "magnification", like 6x over 5x etc.
I think the higher priced, big brands like Leica will always perform better than Nikons/Bushnell, but how much can you afford??