Optics for a Kodiak blacktail hunt

[Brightwhite]

For those of you that have been to Kodiak on a deer hunt, what optics did you end up using the most? From watching some of the shows on TV it looks like just a pair of 8's or 10's will be plenty. I have 8's, 10's and a spotter right now, thinking the spotter can be left behind and just carry a pair of the bino's?

 

[Brightwhite]

Any one that's hunted Kodiak have an opinion?

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

I hunted Deer/goats out of deadmans bay in 2015, I had my swaro 10x42's and was perfectly fine. However, if were going back I'd take a light weight spotter & binos

 

[Brightwhite]

I hunted Deer/goats out of deadmans bay in 2015, I had my swaro 10x42's and was perfectly fine. However, if were going back I'd take a light weight spotter & binos

Well I was thinking of just my 8's, glad I asked the question. Would you have felt under powered spotting deer off a tripod with 8's? I tend to hand hold those better, but will have a tripod with me.

 

[Augustus46]

This really depends on what you're looking for and how much time you have (ie, looking for trophy animals or just to fill tags). I went up last year and shot two good sized bucks. The only optics I brought up were the Vortex Viper 10x42. If you have a lot of time to spend up there, I would take a good spotter if you have access to one just so you know exactly what size animal you're looking at before burning yourself out climbing through those alders. Otherwise, a decent set of binos will get your by just fine.

 

[weaver]

I wouldn't go back without my spotter.
Im sure guys kill a bunch of deer without one but I used mine a lot.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

 

[luke moffat]

I have been using 12x50s for everything since 2013. This includes our deer hunt on kodiak this past week. My wife and my buddy had 10x42s. I find spotting the deer at distance easy. It's just that I am very glad to have a spotter to verify the buck I spot 1-2 miles away is worth the walk to go try to get him. The 75x zoom is super nice to determine that. Hope that helps.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

Well I was thinking of just my 8's, glad I asked the question. Would you have felt under powered spotting deer off a tripod with 8's? I tend to hand hold those better, but will have a tripod with me.

I couldn't answer that as I have no experience with 8x binos. But my brother in law had 8x binos on that trip and had no issues spotting dear - but it was gnarly weather days 3-8 so visibility at great distances wasn't good and the bucks he killed were (until I beat him) world record smallest bucks ever. IMHO if you take the 8x binos and a spotter I think you'll ultimately be quite happy.

 

[Daniel_M]

I use both binos and a spotter. 10x42 Binos to find them, spotter to see if it's worth crawling 1-2 miles after him.

8X binos wouldn't have been enough in my situation as they were ~1.5+ mile out, and at ~1500ft elevation.

 

[Steve O]

I use both binos and a spotter. 10x42 Binos to find them, spotter to see if it's worth crawling 1-2 miles after him.

8X binos wouldn't have been enough in my situation as they were ~1.5+ mile out, and at ~1500ft elevation.

Yep, this is my rig as well for the same reason. Plus I love digiscoping with the spotter. Went early last year and got some great bear and goat footage.

 

[bowhnter7]

I'm taking my 10x42's and a tripod.

 

[Beendare]

I think a 10x is hard to beat with a spotter. I mostly hike and glass... not using the spotter all that much. If its Aug, you will see them easily feeding camel color against emerald green... but if bedded the veg is so high you can have a hard time seeing them bedded at long range

My buddy is stuck on Kodiak right now as a matter of fact