Spotting Scope Advice - Region 4

[KootenayKiller]

Hello,

I live in region 4, and am looking to get my first spotting scope (on a budget) and looking for some advice. Currently I've got Burris 10x42 binoculars and a Diamondback HP 4-16X42MM rifle scope. I'm looking to hunt mountain goat, elk, and deer primarily. I'm not into trophy hunting; as long as I am able to determine that the animal is legal I am good.

I've heard varying opinions, ranging from "don't worry about it and just invest in good binos" to "spend all your money on the best spotter". I am hoping to spend under $1000 for a spotter and tripod combined, which I know is pretty limiting. Any recommendations would be welcome. Also open to buying used if anyone is looking to offload their old scope at a good price.

Cheers!

[mooseknuckler]

Stretching your budget to get spotter & tripod at $1k, but check out the Athlon Ares 15-45x65. Pic taken at 300 yards with phoneskope and I-phone 12:

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9058&stc=1

[Elk_Valley_Hunter]

If you are planning on hunting goat I would definitely lean towards getting a spotter. You will run into many situations with goats 1km or more away and trying to tell gender with binos alone from far distance is going to be near impossible.

Elk and deer you can get away with just binos... but again - field judging from far away or trying to tell the difference between 5 point/6 point on an elk could save you a lot of walking if you have a spotter.

[Weatherby Fan]

Well before we start in on brands you usually get what you pay for in glass, I would recommend an angled eyepiece and a minimum 65mm objective lens, you will find the the angled eyepiece is just way more versatile and user friendly weather you are using it in steep terrain, at the rifle range or off a truck window mount,

I never believed it and bought a straight scope with a 50mm objective lens to start with and now that I have angled I would never go back.

My brother has a Vortex Viper HD and a Vortex Razor HD, both are variable with a 65mm objective lens, the razor is better optically and mechanically, if you could pick up an used Razor HD in your budget you would be doing well,

Other brands I would look at Minox, Maven, Meopta (Meopta Cabelas ) Leupold, Try and be patient and look for a deal on a better quality used scope.
I’m sure there several other brands that will fit into your budget.

[Darksith]

Hello,

I live in region 4, and am looking to get my first spotting scope (on a budget) and looking for some advice. Currently I've got Burris 10x42 binoculars and a Diamondback HD 4-16X42MM rifle scope. I'm looking to hunt mountain goat, elk, and deer primarily. I'm not into trophy hunting; as long as I am able to determine that the animal is legal I am good.

I've heard varying opinions, ranging from "don't worry about it and just invest in good binos" to "spend all your money on the best spotter". I am hoping to spend under $1000 for a spotter and tripod combined, which I know is pretty limiting. Any recommendations would be welcome. Also open to buying used if anyone is looking to offload their old scope at a good price.

Cheers!

just don't waste your money then. If all you can afford is $1k for a tripod and spotter, just put that under your mattress and save it until you can afford more or invest in better something else. Im confused by the "trophy hunter" comment...when your hunting 6pt elk and you are trying to determine if that sticker is a legal tine or not but you can't tell with your junk glass, or when you make a call and realize you were wrong when you walk up the the animal bc your glass wasn't good enough, then you will realize in hindsight that you ****ed up. Aging an animal or determining legality has nothing to do with trophy hunting but thats where and when you will want glass that does what you need it to do. Be patient, invest wisely and don't have a regret in the future. Good glass holds its value, trying to sell junk is a challenge. I would buy a better set of bino's first, then invest in a spotter second. You look through your bino's way more than a spotter and you probably hunt other critters way more than goats

[dapesche]

I am in the west koots.

10x's for deer, elk and goat will be fine.
I am sure what you have is perfectly fine.

I found 8x's to not be enough for goat.
I bought cheap 8x32 sightron's for elk. I am around nelson, so when I can actually see an elk it's usually very close.


I had a kowa 663. This is a bit of a run down on the rabbithole I went down with spotters:
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/kowa-55-77-88.287081/page-2#post-2873230


Here is the sale ad for my kowa 663 with some pictures:
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/kowa-663ed.244271/#post-2379982
- in the goat photos, that first picture gives you a good idea of the distance. Light was perfect and I could zoom right in on the billie up top.
- there was another goat that showed up on a different day, that was more overcast. Down of the ridge, in the timber was where it was bedded. At full mag, the image was too dark to make out size. The kowa 773 would've been better. Kowa 883 would have been the best. Really curious to see what the 883 with 1.6extender would've produced.


Here is a posting of pics with my kowa 883 at twilight:
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/kowa-55-77-88.287081/page-3#post-3065694

[Weatherby Fan]

Sound Advice from Darksith, I started with a straight eyepiece on Leupold Gold Ring with a 50mm objective lens, I hated using the scope, it was not user friendly in any way, I now use a Leica 25-50x65 and it’s awesome, also have a 1.8x doubler to use in a pinch

If you can take take Darksith’s advice and save your money for a better quality scope as he says you will have no regrets going forward.

[wallz]

My take on things would be to save up a bit more and buy once.

I started with the swaro 65 mm ATS system. Then went to Kowa 773 and have recently stepped up to the kowa 883. I did not get a good chance to do a head to head with the 883 and 773, but I am glad I made the switch to the kowa from the swaro 65mm.

The swaro was a great small footprint, but the glass clarity gained by the 773 was noticeable. I just needed to jump up to the 883 prominar flourite glass in the 883, and should have just done that right away and skipped the 773.

My take, go collect bottles, or cut back your coffee/beverage intake to save the extra pennies to upgrade to the better glass. What ever it takes, as it should be a once in a life time purchase, and learn from others, buy and sell to get what you should have in the first place experience.

[Muledeercrazy2]

I would agree that it would be best to wait. If you can find a good deal on a used spotter with European glass that might make sense. With a rifle scope and binoculars you can get reasonable quality (not comparable to high end glass) for less than 1k, but you really notice the difference in low light conditions with a spotter. You don’t want what you can afford now. Personally I might consider a good tripod and mount for your binoculars?

[Muledeercrazy2]

Omer from precision optics has 3 podcast episodes linked to his site. Well worth the listen if you won’t get upset about your current optics being somewhat wanting.

[stoneramhunter]

check out carson optics they have excellent binos and spotting scopes at affordable price

[mod7rem]

Buy what you can afford and go use it.
I started with a 50mm Bushnell Trophy with a cheap(affordable at the time) tripod, and killed Stone sheep, goats and 6pt elk. Then upgraded to a Pentax PF-65 and killed some more animals using it. Then upgraded to a Kowa 663 and a Slik tripod, more dead animals. Then switched to a Kowa 773 with same tripod, more dead animals. I still use the 773 but now also have a Kowa 554 that Ive used so far on antelope. It’s so light and compact that it doesn’t make sense to not carry it even when I don’t expect to use it much.
I could never have afforded what I have now when I first started out and having the spotting scopes I had was better than nothing.
“Buy once, cry once” doesn’t make sense to me. There are always going to be different brands or new models that will temp you in the future.
Every spotting scope I’ve used and then sold, has either been a full recoup of original cost, or a minor loss of money. A spotting scope is probably the cheapest piece of gear you can own if you compare original cost with what you eventually sell it for.
It’s not hard to find Alpha Spotting scopes for sale because it’s common for people to be switching/upgrading, or they can’t justify the cost compared to the amount of use they get out of it.

[Ron.C]

OP, I've been in you shoes where I was on a budget and either purchased what I could afford or went without (for seasons). Some luxury items for some people simply don't make sence to buy no matter how long you save. If buy once cry once applied to me, I would have been without a spotter for about 18 years of hunting and without bino's for probably 10.

Anyway........

I've used hand me down cheap bushnell spotters and they are useless. I was given a vortex nomad spotter and once again not a great scope. But we were able to sex a goat with it at about 1200m. I still would not recommend it.

I now use a Gen 1 Vortex Razor 65mm spotter I picked up at a steep discount when the newer models came out. Had it for a number of years now and it's been with me on many deer, bear, elk and goat hunts. Not a swaro, but somehow managed to use it sucessfully to sex animals, count points, and pick apart cover to find game at great distance.

If you can find one within your budget, you won't be disappointed.

Angled/straight its a personal preference.

Whichever spotter you chose, you can negate its effectiveness by mounting it on a cheap wobbly tripod. Pay attention to the tripod head. The smoother is moves, the better.

Pick up a tripod foot and adapter for your binos. I now spend most of my time glassing open intermediate range with my bino's on a tripod and the amount of game I see has drastically increased.

[GetLethal]

I have a 65mm Razor HD (old style) for sale, also in region 4. Asking 1300 but im open to wiggle.

[high horse Hal]

nailed it. even a cheap scope will find use when you need to count tines, like most all of BC hunting. A lesser scope will not cause problems or create issues with wrong tine count, those are judgement errors by over-anxious hunters
check out a birder site to see what is popular and maybe a 'best' list, far more optics are sold to bird watchers than to hunters
Buy used to start, then the regret of loosing the tax portion upon resale doesn't add to the bite.

Buy what you can afford and go use it.
I started with a 50mm Bushnell Trophy with a cheap(affordable at the time) tripod, and killed Stone sheep, goats and 6pt elk. Then upgraded to a Pentax PF-65 and killed some more animals using it. Then upgraded to a Kowa 663 and a Slik tripod, more dead animals. Then switched to a Kowa 773 with same tripod, more dead animals. I still use the 773 but now also have a Kowa 554 that Ive used so far on antelope. It’s so light and compact that it doesn’t make sense to not carry it even when I don’t expect to use it much.
I could never have afforded what I have now when I first started out and having the spotting scopes I had was better than nothing.
“Buy once, cry once” doesn’t make sense to me. There are always going to be different brands or new models that will temp you in the future.
Every spotting scope I’ve used and then sold, has either been a full recoup of original cost, or a minor loss of money. A spotting scope is probably the cheapest piece of gear you can own if you compare original cost with what you eventually sell it for.
It’s not hard to find Alpha Spotting scopes for sale because it’s common for people to be switching/upgrading, or they can’t justify the cost compared to the amount of use they get out of it.

[RackStar]

I’d grab that razor offered to you. I own the same one it’s great. I got it for 1100 when the new ones came out.

if it breaks they will send you a new model