Do you ever turn up the power on your variable scope to shoot a deer?

[Bushman]

I've got 1.5-6x42 scopes on my two primary deer rifles and I'm contemplating switching one of those to a 2.5-10x42 scope that I have on another rifle that I don't use much. Most of my deer hunting is 100 yards and under but in areas that put the "thick" in thicket. I have dialed up scopes to that 6x to shoot and in another case to 9x when I needed to magnify some deer. I don't carry my binoculars when I post for fear that I'll have them in my hands instead of my rifle when Mr. Big shows up and movement and seconds count. Do you mess with the power settings with a variable scope to maybe see a hole through the brush better, or set it and forget it when you get on stand?

[purple heart]

Hey Bushman,
Most of my deer rifles wear a 3-9 power scope. Because most of my shots
are in the woods and under 75 yards and quite a few in the 40 yard range
I tend to keep my scopes set on 5 power. Occasionally when I'm hunting a
field I'll crank it up to 9 power. It could be a 200 yard shot and the small
racks we have need so looking at before shooting. I always make it a point
to turn the power down after because I've seen it happen where a guy has
his scope turned up and then misses a 30 yard shot because he couldn't see
what he was doing because he had such a narrow field of view with his
scope on 9 power. this happened to my hunting buddy a couple of years ago.
I wouldn't want to be stuck with just a 4 or 5 straight power because of that
1 in a 100 chance I'll need the 9 power.

[DancesWithKnives]

Bushman,

Like you, I usually run a 1.5-6 x 42mm. In brushy conditions, I usually leave it set on about 2x while spot & stalk hunting. A couple seasons ago I saw a buck at about 150 yds, through a bunch of vegetation. He was standing still, hanging out with a bunch of does. I figured I had enough time, so I zoomed up to 6x and it helped.

If I'm walking in more open country, I might re-set the scope to 3x or 4x as my base setting.

I have a 3.5-10 x 50mm Leupold in the safe but don't feel the need for 10x for my kind of hunting. I'd rather have the low magnification capability of the other scope. Of course, if you're rich enough you can buy a 2-12x Swarovski and handle both ends of the spectrum!

DWK

[rimrock]

I usually use a strait 4x on occasion a 2x-7x, I usually hunt with it on the lower range, and rarely has it been useful or necessary to dial it up, but I can think of twice when it was an benefit to do so, but keep in mind I hunt ELK in dense timber about 80% -90% of the time and ranges rarely exceed 200 yards

[Renegade]

Mines usually on 3.5 or 4x because it's usually thick. But if I have the time when I'm on an unsuspecting deer then I may zoom in some for that more precise shot. Sighting in is about the only time it gets up to 9x.

[dave-t.]

I have 3x9's on my rifles, and the scope is set at 3x, if I need to bump it up, it goes straight to 9x. Mostly, the inbetween settings are ignored.

When hunting in big open farm fields, I have probably shot 30-40% of my deer at 9x, past 100yds. If shots are 100yds or less, I leave it at 3x. Heck I head shot a doe at over 100yds at 3x once, and never thought about upping the power in the heat of the moment.

An interesting tidbit is that at 7x, the bottom post of the duplex is smack on at 425yds with my 300wm. That info is nice to know, and it works on targets, but knowing that hasn't done me a lick of good while hunting.


For hunting I think the lower end of power settings is more usefull than the higher end, even when hunting wide open spaces.

[pepaw]

I keep my scopes at 5 or 6 while on the deerstand. If I see a coyote or pig way out there, I will crank it to 9.
When I get out of my stand, it goes to 3.

pepaw

[Bushman]

I'm just wondering how much is too much? I don't remember ever running much under 2.5 power even when my variables go down to 1.5. This year I was at 4x at 60 yards and I didn't see the twig that I ended up hitting. I still could have gone to 6x because I had the time, but then I was thinking about a running follow up shot if needed and I do prefer lower magnification for those. I do like more magnification at the range for testing loads, but a variable scope out hunting just gives a guy one more thing to mess with when the chips are down and I'm not sure that is always a good thing. Herne would say fixed 6 or 8 power high end scope and make the first shot count. Eyes don't usually improve with age either, so maybe what was good enough 20 years ago needs more magnifying today. That 2.5-10x42 is a Swarovski PH so it wouldn't be giving up anything quality wise. If memory serves though, I think the power ring moves opposite rotation to the 1.5-6x42 scopes and there might be something to scope familiarity between guns #1 and #2.

[ncboman]

Mostly close range hunting, I usually keep scopes on the lowest setting although I generally like 4-5x when up a tree. Very seldom will I zoom up on a deer. Usually one I might zoom on, I can sneak closer to.

I do like to go to higher power shooting crows but over 4x, I really need a good rest.

[Bill Gunn]

For big game hunting I like the 2 - 7, or the 1.5 - 5.
I shot 2 deer over 400, and one just over 300 with 7 power and all were perfect lung hits, so I don't see the need for bigger.
VERY SELDOM are they off the lowest setting.

[GF.]

My .22 has a fixed 6. Never had any trouble getting onto a .22 cal critter with it, but maybe the 5 or 6 bricks of ammo I've run through it has something to do with that...:D

My 7-08 has a 2-7, whereas the old 7 Mag wore a 2.5-8.

8X was enough magnification to aim at the cap on a water-filled milk jug at 300 yards, so I've never felt underpowered keeping the 2-7 at 2X. I do recall one time dialing it all the way up for a pin-point, 60-70 yard shot on a nice-ish buck that hadn't seen me slip into glassing position, so it's not as if I really regret having the option; I'm just not convinced that I need it much.

Higher magnification is better in low light, but lower magnification seems to be better in brush because you don't focus right past obstructions without even seeing them. Light permitting.

Now that I think of it, I do recall one situation in which I had it at 2 and wished I would have been at 7; I was watching an Alabama food plot one evening - at least 10-15 minutes after sunset - when a buck cruised the far edge of it, just about 200 yards out. With the target much smaller and dimmer than it had to be, I didn't have a chance to determine if the rack met my host's QDM-minimum of 6 points and he didn't stick around long enough for me to crank things up. Back then, I mistakenly thought that I was better off with the larger exit pupil of 2X than I would have been with the much better twilight factor of the 7X mode, and it cost me a chance to decide if I was willing to take that shot or not.

But that's the only time I've hunted a food plot, I really don't get excoted at long-distance shooting, and in CT, I'm required to quit at sundown - not 30 mins after -anyway. If I shot farther regularly or if I could shoot 'til an hour later, I'd no doubt want something very much like Herne uses so I could see way on over yonder in the dark, but the higher mags would be for light-gathering, not because I need to see the target 'bigger'. I figure if I was happily aiming at those milk-jug caps at 300 yards on 8X, that has to equate to about a quarter mile H/L shot on a deer without budging the power off of two!:eek:

[Bushman]

It is kind of surprising that a lot of guys don't use those middle settings more than they do. I always liked scopes that provided the largest exit pupil diameter because those always were faster. As the power on my variables is decreased, the size of the exit pupil increased. That was an advantage for a quick shot I thought, but kind of a moot point for a guy on a stand that usually has more time. Some scopes have a larger exit pupil than others. It is the reason that I sold all my Leupold compact scopes. I bought a very nice 4.5-14x42 AO Leupold from Postoak a couple of years back for my varmint rifle because he wanted the larger exit pupil that a 3-9 power scope gave him for his .270. Seeing the crosshair in dim light at high power with a second plane reticle scope was usually more of a problem than picking out detail through the scope itself.

[Twanger]

I used 9x alot this year. 4 of the 5 deer I shot this year were at max power on the scope.

One was shot on 3x because they got in real close before I saw them.
Second deer I shot on 9x because it was over 100 yds.
The last 3 I was looking over to make sure they were REALLY does before dropping the hammer on them.

Usually the ML sits on 3x, even in the tree. Deer have a habit of sneaking in close on me before I see them, and 3x is plenty most of the time.

[Rich]

Bushman,

On one occation I could barely see a deer feeding through the trees. By cranking the scope up and checking I discovered it was a fork. That is mimimum in Oregon. I was holding the scope on it and realized the crosshair was on the neck so pulled the trigger. Then I looked at the power to discover how much magnification on my 4-16X Tasco was required to see: 10X.

[Bushman]

I think that a lot of smaller bucks have gotten a pass for being a doe, or not legal before scopes have become pretty much universal. It is about resolving power too. Eyes change over a lifetime, but how many of us have ever loosened that retaining ring on the ocular lens of our scopes and readjusted it years after we installed the scope? I know that I haven't.

I shoot most of my groups at the range at maximum power to be the most precise. Maybe it just stands to reason that I dial in a few more x's within reason to be more precise out hunting too. While certainly not an issue deer hunting in WI., heat mirage off the barrel and off the landscape at high magnification must drive the prairie dog and target shooters a little batty.

Twanger used 9x most of the time this year.:eek: The year that I shot the buck on the run through the tree, I was at 9x because I was looking at a group of does crossing way down a railroad right of way. All I remember seeing was hair in the scope on the much closer buck. I bet all of us have heard the story about the guy who used the high x setting to check his rifle at the range, then forgot to turn it back down when he had to shoot out hunting.

[Sabre]

I think that a lot of smaller bucks have gotten a pass for being a doe, or not legal before scopes have become pretty much universal. It is about resolving power too. Eyes change over a lifetime, but how many of us have ever loosened that retaining ring on the ocular lens of our scopes and readjusted it years after we installed the scope? I know that I haven't.

I've found I have to re-adjust my focus settings nearly every year over the past 10 years or so.:eek:

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I usually keep them set on 3x - 4x when hunting. When I want to look more closely at an animal I'll crank it up to 9x but seldom shoot at that magnification. I like to see what's going on and at the higher powers I lose everything in the recoil.

Alan

[LE]

Most of my shots have been at a medium to far range. So I tend to set my 3X9's at around 6x. This way I am not caught with it being to far off in either direction & if time allows I can crank it up for the long shot.

[Crockettnj]

I used to keep my 1.5- 4x scope on 1.5 all the time in the even t I jumped something for ease of finding it in the FOV. I'd then dial it up on stands or while posting.

However, for the past couple years I have it pretty much on 4 all the time, and its served me fine. I think that as you go up in scope /galss quality you can also go up in magnification and get the same "ease of finding things in the FOV" factor

I am wondering if a nice quality fixed 6x wouldnt really serve my purposes just as well. I bet it would.

[Rock Chuck]

I hunt mostly in open country, lots of sagebrush. While most shots are still under 100 yds, an occasional 300+ shot isn't unusual. 4 to 6x is still good for most shots, but 9x is VERY useful sometimes for a tricky one. It requires a good rest, though. I usually carry with the scope at 3 to 4x because a fast shot normally requires a lower setting. If I need 9X, I will have time to crank it up.

[pepaw]

"It requires a good rest, though."
The shot should require the same rest. The high manification only allows you to see how much you are moving, I think.

pepaw

[kjjm4]

I've turned up the magnification for a shot on several occasions. The most common occurence has been when I'm still hunting, and walk out into a field or onto a gasline right-of-way and spot a deer. I have my scopes on 3x in the thick woods, and I turn them up all the way to 9x when a longer shot presents itself.

[Chuck S]

3x9 scope and it's stays on 3 for light gathering and field of view for quicker shots, unless more power is needed and there's time to be had, and then adjusted up for desired results. Higher mag lets me pick up on possible deflecting twigs, animals behind in the shadows, etc that might be missed using the scope at lower power.

[Rich]

I have dialed up at times. Variables are very nice.

[Altjaeger]

Mine sit at about 3X most most of the time and goes to 6X when hunting the more open hill country. A good 2X7 covers all my needs. My .30-30 wears a k2.5 and the 8x57 a k3.

[Smokey]

Mine is normally set at 3 or 4X when hunting. Although when sighting in I do take a test shot now and then at a higher power but my rifles are sighted in on 4x. I don't remember ever moving my scope to a higher power when shooting at any game. I just never think about moviing it up.