Is a 55mm a big enough spotting scope for sheep hunting Rockies?

[CMF]

This particular hunt is an Archery Hunt in August in Colorado. I don't have a lot of money to invest in a scope this year since I'm building a house.
I'm leaning towards a used Kowa 55. Should I go bigger?
I'm typically a fan of packing light, and I prefer to do most glassing with binos, so I'm not sure a bigger one makes sense?

 

[chasewild]

Buy the best you can afford. The Kowa 55 is a great scope and a 65 would be a marginal upgrade. I've used all and I settled on the 77 as my "i want to do as much as possible but not pack an 85-95 (although every time I look through an 85 or 95 swaro I reevaluate my life choices). Classifieds are your friend. Put up a WTB/WTT thread and you'll find something good.

 

[hereinaz]

A couple of recent threads on this topic to check out.

I like the Kowa 553/4 a lot. I have heard more than once listening to stories and podcasts that to count rings you really gotta get close enough that a 55 or 65 work.

Distance, physics, and atmospherics make it difficult to get magnification that gets detail the further away you go.

 

[Dos Perros]

You're not going to find sheep with the Kowa 55, you're going to find them with your binos. Then you're going to use the Kowa to look them over. IMO there is not a better optic for that use case.

 

[mlevimadden]

It's all tradeoffs. If I had a ram tag, I'd be packing my Kowa 77 to be able to get a better idea on animal size from a further distance to save some walking in sheep country that isn't easy walking, but it's a personal call.

The Kowa 55 is a great little spotter and really clear. Biggest drawback is FOV which doesn't matter if you're glassing with your binos to find sheep.

Depending on fire season and weather, the high elevation can get hazy in late August especially combined with mirage from the mid-day heat when you can still find bedded rams above timberline. The bigger objective lens spotting scopes do a better job cutting through those environmental issues better than the smaller spotters.

That being said it was pretty easy to tell what general caliber a ram was or if I was looking at a group of ewes with my 12x binos from a 1/2 to 1 mile away, so if you're just trying for any legal ram with archery tackle the spotter definitely isn't needed.

 

[Blockcaver]

Experience tells me that a quality 55 or 56 mm scope will be fine. I arrowed two CO rams over the years and missed a few more…pre rangefinder days. Bowhunted them 6 different years back when you could get a ram tag second choice.

Optics for ram #1 in 1984 were Zeiss 10x25 binoculars and a Bushnell ancient 20x50 spotter. (Decent quality old thing).

Optics for ram #2 in 1999 were Zeiss 10x40 binoculars and a Leupold 20x50 spotter…the light fixed power straight tube scope that was optically decent.

I bowhunted and found sheep with that combo. No age restrictions and a 1/2 curl minimum makes it easy to find legal rams!

Today I’d take my Swaro 10x32 NL binoculars and Swaro 17-40x56 ATC and be totally happy.

I would take a phone skope (or one of the other options) to get some digiscope photos as well. Really important here in BC with age/horn restrictions but not crucial for a Colorado hunt.

Good luck!

 

[Marine4life]

I love my Kowa 55. I took it on both my Dall Hunt in AK and my Cali hunt in NV. I did not need the glass to age a ram or make sure he was full curl so that might make a big difference. I also wasn’t as concerned about estimating score. Like previously said, most of the glassing to find sheep (and a griz) was done with my binos. Amazing how much better using a tripod and good head is with binos. I mainly used the spotter for a little closer look and Digiscoping. Congrats on you tag and wish you a great and successful hunt


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[J.B.]

I guess the answer depends on your personal goals for the hunt. If you just want a great hunt, and will be happy with a solid representation type of ram, theres nothing wrong with the 55. If your determined to find the biggest ram in the unit, more glass will be an asset. For rockies here in AB, Ive settled on a swaro ats 65. The compacts just didnt quite give enough in big country, but the 80+ scopes were just too spendy and heavy.
How far do you expect to be glassing? Im regularly looking for and judging sheep 2-3 miles off to see if its worth getting closer. In tight country, the smaller spotter would again be fine.

 

[medvedyt]

while i might send to hell for that but i still enjoy my old elite 12-45x60 of course it is not a zeiss or a kowa but still working for my uses but im still happy with my legend t15-45x60 again working for my uses ...

 

[IanCOLO]

Looking back on what I would do different after my sheep hunt optics-wise would be go with a straight spotter instead of angled. I personally did like my Swaro ATS 65mm. It’s light and the glass is good. I find almost all of my animals with my 15x56 Leicas. I do like having different brands of glass to have different coatings to look through to give me more options with lighting or terrain issues. I think 12 power binos are probably the best one bino kit. I carry smaller binos in my chest rig and 15’s in the pack with the spotter. I didn’t have to do a lot of hiking either so I went heavier. I had a hard enough time going from my 15s on my tripod to my angled spotter that I bought a shorter tripod I could set my angled spotter up on and go back and forth between them. Like I said my hunt didn’t require as much hiking as other hunts did. It was also in November at 13k so the optics were only half the weight and insulation and thermos’ were the other half.

Archery hunting for sheep is not easy. You will want to see good enough to find them and to hopefully tell if they are legal. If those two criteria are met you should probably be planning a stalk. I had a hard time getting under a 100y with them. It was during the rut for me so they were active but the rams were also with ewes and that’s a lot of good eyes to get past. Early season should be a little better depending on how big of a group the rams are in.

A good pair of binos on a tripod and a light, straight spotter to give you a little more legs and to use for digi-scoping will be all you ‘need’ and anything else will just be preference.

Also I had my 3 pin slider set for 30-40-50 to start with and it was pretty quickly apparent 30 yards was never going to happen so I did just start leaving it at 40-50-60. The hardest part for me when they were under 70 yards was the ranging/getting pins set/drawing/staying on right pin.

Good luck and have fun!


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[CMF]

How far do you expect to be glassing?

I think 2 to 3 miles is likely.

Archery hunting for sheep is not easy. You will want to see good enough to find them and to hopefully tell if they are legal. If those two criteria are met you should probably be planning a stalk. I had a hard time getting under a 100y with them. It was during the rut for me so they were active but the rams were also with ewes and that’s a lot of good eyes to get past. Early season should be a little better depending on how big of a group the rams are in.

A good pair of binos on a tripod and a light, straight spotter to give you a little more legs and to use for digi-scoping will be all you ‘need’ and anything else will just be preference.

Also I had my 3 pin slider set for 30-40-50 to start with and it was pretty quickly apparent 30 yards was never going to happen so I did just start leaving it at 40-50-60. The hardest part for me when they were under 70 yards was the ranging/getting pins set/drawing/staying on right pin.

Good luck and have fun!


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Thanks for the archery tips!

 

[kad11]

I think 2 to 3 miles is likely.


Thanks for the archery tips!

Do you have good 15x binos? I've used the heck out of my Meopta 15s sheep hunting in MT and consider them way more critical than my spotter...

 

[CMF]

Do you have good 15x binos? I've used the heck out of my Meopta 15s sheep hunting in MT and consider them way more critical than my spotter...

I have a pair of diamondback 15x56, viper 15x50, and just ordered a used pair of Athlon 15x56's.

 

[Bado20]

On the hunt I took my ram the Kowa 553 and it worked well, my partner took a good goat that trip too, missed the book by half an inch.