You'll likely be able to find an ear, white rump, antler in brush with a quality full sized spotter. You won't be able to do that with binos at long range. Obviously not all spotting scopes are equal. You will likely have problems finding these with low quality spotter in low light conditions.
I just returned from a whitetail hunt in Nebraska. I sometimes had trouble finding deer in tall grass and cedar trees with my 10x binos but when I went over the same areas with swaro spotting scope I found many deer (antlers, ears, etc stood out). The closer deer I could have found with 15x binos but wouldn't have had a clue how big they were. 15x on a tripod would have worked great for locating deer on that hunt....where I was spending hours and hours on one hillside. 15x would have been a little more powerful than my 10x binos and easier on my eyes than a spotter. It would have been a pain in the rear switching back and forth between 15x and spotting scope if I only had 1 tripod. With 2 tripods it would have worked well but a lot of weight hiking in and out. My 10x binos worked fine for spotting many of the deer but most of the time I couldn't tell how big they were until I zoomed in with my scope. It was also possible to hand hold my 10x when still hunting through the cedars and tall grass.....which is impossible with 15x.
For game such as antelope, whitetails, mtn goat, sheep, etc where inches matter a spotting scope definitely helps with field judging! If size doesn't matter 15x is likely fine for spotting game at long range but you won't be able to spot an ear, tine, or rump like you can with a spotter.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and $..... buy the best glass available the first time! If you take your time you can find almost new Swaro or Leica spotter in the classified section of this and other websites, ebay, Craigslist, etc. In fact, I just bought a Swaro spotter with 20 x 60 lense that is almost new for over $1,000 off.
I just returned from a whitetail hunt in Nebraska. I sometimes had trouble finding deer in tall grass and cedar trees with my 10x binos but when I went over the same areas with swaro spotting scope I found many deer (antlers, ears, etc stood out). The closer deer I could have found with 15x binos but wouldn't have had a clue how big they were. 15x on a tripod would have worked great for locating deer on that hunt....where I was spending hours and hours on one hillside. 15x would have been a little more powerful than my 10x binos and easier on my eyes than a spotter. It would have been a pain in the rear switching back and forth between 15x and spotting scope if I only had 1 tripod. With 2 tripods it would have worked well but a lot of weight hiking in and out. My 10x binos worked fine for spotting many of the deer but most of the time I couldn't tell how big they were until I zoomed in with my scope. It was also possible to hand hold my 10x when still hunting through the cedars and tall grass.....which is impossible with 15x.
For game such as antelope, whitetails, mtn goat, sheep, etc where inches matter a spotting scope definitely helps with field judging! If size doesn't matter 15x is likely fine for spotting game at long range but you won't be able to spot an ear, tine, or rump like you can with a spotter.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and $..... buy the best glass available the first time! If you take your time you can find almost new Swaro or Leica spotter in the classified section of this and other websites, ebay, Craigslist, etc. In fact, I just bought a Swaro spotter with 20 x 60 lense that is almost new for over $1,000 off.
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