My Pet Peeve. using a riflescope as "binoculars"..

[boom]

as a teenager, i did this. i was too poor to buy binos. then it clicked..everything i was looking at with the riflescope to evaluate, i was essentially aiming a rifle at. it clicked..what i was doing violated a gun-safety law. i dropped big money, and bought a $40 pair of used Bushnells. i was golden! (little did i know, this was going to start a long lasting addiction to all things binoculars..and i would spend thousands of dollars )

i still see this!! yesterday, channel surfing i came across that ALASKA-the last frontier show. they were using their riflescopes to evaluate blackbears. loaded guns or not, is not the point. they were aiming a rifle at a target they had no intention of shooting. these are supposedly, harden, wisen, mountain men..( i ranted at the television with a definate "get off my lawn" tone of an old man )

i once had a hunter "glass" us with a high powered rifle. he waved after aiming his deer rifle at us. i started hiking towards him..my brother was "where are we going?"..i went up there and politely told the guy i didnt appreciate him aiming his rifle at us. he apologized..i like to think he went binocular shopping when he got home.

disclaimer: i suppose a trained military sniper gets a pass..right? they dont pull out binos, do they? too much movement?

 

[Sagittarius]

I once read where Jack O'Connor stated "it scares the hell out of me to see a guy looking at me through his rifle scope".
I admit, I do take a good look at a deer's antlers through my rifle scope before pulling the trigger just to make sure he is worthy of the wall but I don't have my finger on the trigger while checking him out.
I have never and will never check out a fellow hunter through my rifle scope though.

 

[Buster]

I think this was one of the first, and most highly stressed, rule my dad ever taught me. Glad to see it is still getting taught by some, but also sad to hear it's not being portrayed on TV to the masses.

 

[LitenFast]

In 2010, I shot a beautiful 150" whitetail here in WI, after field dressing it and loading it in the truck, I was driving out of the property I hunt and past another hunter who hunts the line between our property and his dad's. I looked back knowing he would be looking at me as I was heading out after only an hour in the stand, and to my horror, he was looking at the buck through his riflescope, which I am sure was loaded as he was actively hunting, as I was driving away from him. Having a loaded rifle aimed anywhere near me or my vehicle is not something I would like to have happen again anytime soon.

 

[marc]

I am the same way, scope on a sporting rifle is for shooting, not looking.

On a M24 it is for everything but that is a whole different story!

 

[jarheadhunter]

I agree to a point, but while I am in thick timber and have seconds to see if an elk has antlers or not I don't have time to grab my binos look through them and then get back on it with my rifles scope. Any other time I don't do it. Also I fully intend to shoot the animal "if it has antlers".

 

[Elkmasterwyo]

My buddy and I were on top of a ridge watching a meadow one evening, I was scanning it with my binocs and saw a hunter sneaking through the trees to the meadows edge. When he got to the edge, up comes the rifle, he scans the meadow then something on the ridge catches his eye(I'm assuming my buddy's and my orange vests!) he snaps his head up, looks our way, then up comes the rifle! Talk about scare the shiz out of a guy, very unnerving! He probably looked at us through the scope for close to 30seconds, then he saw a bird(not the feathered kind!) instantly he dropped the rifle to his side, turned back the way he came never to be seen again!