Do I need the spotting scope?

[wbpowers06]

I was in the same position as you this year... 1st time western hunter for 2nd rifle elk. I have a spotter that I primarily use at the range to spot for friends. I brought it with me to CO thinking it was better to have it and not need it vs. need it and not have it. It stayed at camp a couple days until we glassed up a heard of elk over a mile away. With 8's and 10's we could not tell if any in the heard were bulls. I brought out the spotter (15-45x65) and quickly confirmed that there were 2 legal bulls. So in the end I'll always at the very least have a spotter in the truck. You can decide based on the scenario wether it's worth carrying or not.

 

[EvanG17]

Just finishing up a 2nd season elk hunt. No you do not need a spotter. When they come out and you want to glass them it is pretty obvious. I only used one to make sure they were legal at very far distances

 

[Dewsie]

Post is a bit old, but I know I didn’t. All depends on the area, but we didn’t have any good glassing points you could see far enough for it to matter. Good ole 10x42s were more than enough

 

[ElkBro]

Post is a bit old, but I know I didn’t. All depends on the area, but we didn’t have any good glassing points you could see far enough for it to matter. Good ole 10x42s were more than enough

Yup. 10x42s are great! A spotting scope is nice for what it is, but the extra weight considerations and terrain determine whether I need to pack it out or not. Open terrain, it's coming with me.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Depends on where you’re hunting. Half the years, my spotter didn’t leave the case. The years it did was still pretty minimal. Only once did I need it to confirm a brown spot was an elk at like two miles.

I say leave it the truck for spotting near the road.

 

[TedorAlive]

Probably don’t need it but if it’s a drop camp I’d say bring it in case you decide you want it

This

 

[rogerdoger]

Glad I came across this post, was thinking of dropping some cash and now think I will go without spotter.

 

[Ross]

This would very close to the last thing on your list that you need for elk hunting. Spend your money wisely this is not it

 

[Mike 338]

Nope.

 

[Dewsie]

Yup. 10x42s are great! A spotting scope is nice for what it is, but the extra weight considerations and terrain determine whether I need to pack it out or not. Open terrain, it's coming in

Depends on where you’re hunting. Half the years, my spotter didn’t leave the case. The years it did was still pretty minimal. Only once did I need it to confirm a brown spot was an elk at like two miles.

I say leave it the truck for spotting near the road.

I picked up a NF 4-32 to let me see a little more def than Binos, without having to carry an extra spotting scope. Doesn’t get me 2 mi, but it is useful

 

[nm.otter]

I'm 62 and need readers for close work, but my distance vision is still sharp. For general purpose use, I prefer the FOV and low light performance of 8x32s.

Trying 15x56 binos with tripod this season.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I picked up a NF 4-32 to let me see a little more def than Binos, without having to carry an extra spotting scope. Doesn’t get me 2 mi, but it is useful

Hopefully you are only using the NF scope to look at something that you have already confirmed to be a legal target species and not "what is that?" and putting your crosshairs on another hunter. See that BS multiple times a year.

 

[Dewsie]

Hopefully you are only using the NF scope to look at something that you have already confirmed to be a legal target species and not "what is that?" and putting your crosshairs on another hunter. See that BS multiple times a year.

No, I am saying I spot an elk with Binos, if it is far enough that I don’t have good definition, I can zoom way in to get a good look, then zoom back out to like 20-25x if I want to take the shot.