Hunting & Fishing Do you carry a Range Finder, Binoculars, or Both when hunting?

I carry a Kilo 1250 and its awesome for my application. Spots well over 500 yards and the settings are adjustable. Its nothing fancy, but does the job for not that much coin. I wont be upgrading unless this thing just breaks and its still going strong after 3 years.
 
I carry a Kilo 1250 and its awesome for my application. Spots well over 500 yards and the settings are adjustable. Its nothing fancy, but does the job for not that much coin. I wont be upgrading unless this thing just breaks and its still going strong after 3 years.
When stalking long range targets, would you benefit from having your rangefinder send your target’s GPS location to your smartphone for mapping?
 
When stalking long range targets, would you benefit from having your rangefinder send your target’s GPS location to your smartphone for mapping?
It’s hunting. You’re not using track gates or calling in a 10 digit grids. If recovering game is an issue, you can use most garmin gps’s like a compass by locking a heading. In general you already know the distance more or less depending where the top over.

If you’re tracking animals for long periods...then your shot placement is an issue, your bullet design or terminal ballistics are problematic and you should probably not being shooting animals anywhere near or around 500y IMO.

The only mapping that’s useful is if what your hunting is patternable. In my experience most western game don’t pattern well, you’d be better off mapping the water sources, the food sources and the cover and trying to determine the traversing portals.
 
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It’s hunting. You’re not using track gates or calling in a 10 digit grids. If recovering game is an issue, you can use most garmin gps’s like a compass by locking a heading. In general you already know the distance more or less depending where the top over.

If you’re tracking animals for long periods...then your shot placement is an issue, your bullet design or terminal ballistics are problematic and you should probably not being shooting animals anywhere near or around 500y IMO.
If you were glassing a bear, elk, or moose at 3Km and then need to find where you last saw it, you may find those coordinates handy.
 
This is why I carry both. It’s about that cost that I’m not sure about. No one close to me has the Sig or others that I can look at. I do see that one people get them they don’t look back.


I carry both. I hunt on the prairie and in the hills. I would love to have some rangefinder binoculars but I haven't made the leap yet, mostly due to cost.
 
I rarely use LRF. My scope shall suffice.
A pair of binos sometimes.
Usually print out a topomap of area I'm going to, and use a compass if required.
 

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I carry the Sig Kilo2400Abs; and it does a good job. I'll be upgrading to the Vortex Fury HD 5000 10x42mm Rangefinding Binoculars soon; and I'll be passing the Sig KILO2400ABS on to my son. There are things I can do with the Vortex that I can't do with the Sig.
 
I was pretty set on grabbing the Sig 3000 LRF Binos but the new Vortex LRF Binos now have the features the previous gen was missing. It’ll come down to pricing now but I imagine the Sig is still a lot cheaper for a while.
 
I carry a Leupold 1600 model range finder and Minox 8x56 binoculars. Hunt the west. In Europe I never had a range finder, just never bought one.

I can't see how I'd get along with out both.

I'd like to get a pair of Leica 3200 8x56 some day. My binoculars are a 75% solution. I have very poor vision 20-450 and need a lot of eye relief to make it work.
 
I carry the EL12x50's and the G7BR2. And a couple of spare batteries. Usually, when I plan to remain very stationary, I also take the Kestrel and the ATX95 spotter...I don't like to carry this thing much so I set up where I can see a bunch of country, look around, find what I'm after, put it away and move closer.
 
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Tell me more about the thermal monocular please?

Check out the Nightvision threads in the observation section, there is discussion on several options.

Its a game changer for hunting. Day or night, if it’s alive it can’t hide. Pulsar currently has some of the best entry level line up on the market without selling your kidneys. Mine has a detection range of approx 1k yards and fits perfect in my small badlands bino pouch.

There have been countless times I would have missed seeing animals if I’d been using my regular binos.
 
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Check out the Nightvision threads in the observation section, there is discussion on several options.

Its a game changer for hunting. Day or night, if it’s alive it can’t hide. Pulsar currently has some of the best entry level line up on the market without selling your kidneys. Mine has a detection range of approx 1k yards and fits perfect in my small badlands bino pouch.

There have been countless times I would have missed seeing animals if I’d been using my regular binos.

I tried to find one of those Leupold ones for my elk hunt, but they were sold out.
 
I tried to find one of those Leupold ones for my elk hunt, but they were sold out.

Word of advice on that stuff. Buy the best thing you can afford and the base stuff starts at about $2k. I started with a leupold tracker and it was crap. Then I got a Flir scout and I was still disappointed. Then I got a Pulsar and it’s been great. Trying to save money up front just cost me more in the end.

I’m not saying you have to spend $4k to get a decent unit but I haven’t found anything below $2k yet that’s worth a darn. The lower end units just don’t offer the detection and resolution needed to work well and you end up being frustrated all the time.
 
Word of advice on that stuff. Buy the best thing you can afford and the base stuff starts at about $2k. I started with a leupold tracker and it was crap. Then I got a Flir scout and I was still disappointed. Then I got a Pulsar and it’s been great. Trying to save money up front just cost me more in the end.

I’m not saying you have to spend $4k to get a decent unit but I haven’t found anything below $2k yet that’s worth a darn. The lower end units just don’t offer the detection and resolution needed to work well and you end up being frustrated all the time.
What model are you using and have you ever used it in the West in the mountains for game like elk or bears?
 
I’ve got a Pulsar xq30v. I haven’t been out west to hunt. My AO consists of woods and max of about 700 yard openings with fields and high grass.

The one I use is an entry level model but I’ve had no issue identifying deer at 500 yards with it. The only limit is your budget with this stuff. There are some ridiculously good scanners that can detect and ID animals from a long way off.
 
I’ve got a Pulsar xq30v. I haven’t been out west to hunt. My AO consists of woods and max of about 700 yard openings with fields and high grass.

The one I use is an entry level model but I’ve had no issue identifying deer at 500 yards with it. The only limit is your budget with this stuff. There are some ridiculously good scanners that can detect and ID animals from a long way off.
Thank you, that is what I need. To be able to look at a hillside and know there is something there.

I ran this idea past the NM game and fish and was told day light use of thermal binos was legal.
 
^ Make sure thermal devices are legal in your AO before you drop the coin. Even if you are only using them to scan. They are a "no-no" to have with you during deer season here in OK.
 
I carry a sig 3000bdx in a kuiu bino harness. does everything you need, glasses for animals, ranges them and gives you your data. I ran leica geovids before the sig, the leica had better glass but the Sig blows them away with the laser and the internal ballistics and ability to bluetooth to your phone and kestrel. The kuiu bino harness carries them really well, out of your way but right there whem you need them and no neck strain.
I shoot Deer and fox, always bring them , would turn back for home if I forgot them
this, I like the sig 3000 bdx
 
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Bino in harness and range finder either in pouch or the inside pocket of jacket.

Combining a range finder into the bino’s = dead batteries once it’s cold for any extended length of time.


But it’s pretty ez to stash a rangefinder into an inside pocket and preserve battery life for only very occasional use. I don’t want to limit my use of bino’s. They stand at the ready in the marsupial gear harness
 
Gear gets heavy and expensive. Range Finders and Binoculars somewhat overlap in capability but are not the same.

What do you carry?
Are there times you only carry one?
What kind of hunting do you do?
Both always. I have always found away to use both of them to better understand my surroundings and/or locate new stand locations
 
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I carry a binocular and a rangefinder. I do not use a rang finding binocular because I feel limited in glass selections depending on type of hunting I am doing. Do I need 8x, 10x, 12x possibly 15x. If I chose rang finding binoculars id be limited to 10 or 12 from most brands. The glass in binoculars does not change as fast as a rangefinders technology either.
 
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I upgraded this year. I bought rangefinding binoculars. They are the Sig 3000BDX. I need both.
The biggest issue is if the non-first tier glass doesn't bother you is understanding where the return is actually coming from. They work great for most people, it is just great to make sure you have a good handle on them so you don't blow an animal of a lifetime, by getting a range from something other than your targeting.

We set at least one stage to help test people's awareness of their PLRFS on our Team UKD. Usually, we do a clinic before, but because of COVID we offered an online spin-up last year. Techniques to mapping your laser are one of the topics covered.

The spinup is a sticky now and can be view here:

The PLRF info is like the 6th or 7th topic down
 
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