Short range optic for heavy woods whitetail

[Choupique]

I painted the front post on all my rifles with some shitty craft store glow paint. Gotta redo it every season, but it helps a lot. Holds just the right amount of brightness late in the evening. In the morning, you have to hit it with your flashlight and be quick about it, because if you leave it on it turns the sight into a glow plug and you can't see shit

 

[Wolfshead]

We hunted Thursday afternoon with snow in the forecast.
The property we were at is very close woods with “long distance” being 50 yards. The plan was to still hunt around a point into the swamp and meet my Brother In-law and Father In-law at end of shooting light.
I chose my Model 94 with a Williams peep sight and a .125 apreature on it. With all the snow in the forecast, and what we actually hunted in had I brought my scoped rifle I would have spent a majority of time cleaning out my lenses to be able to see.
My Father in-law shot a Doe around four-ish, and with him being 84 we decided to forgo our last few minutes to go help him with his deer.
We located the deer and my Brother In-law went back to the truck to get the four wheeler to get the deer and my Father In-law out of the woods. I decided to wait it out on the trail the Doe came in on in hopes that maybe a Buck might be following her from where she came.
With about ten minutes of legal shooting time left I see movement from the trail and see another Doe coming along. Without a Doe tag I just watch her, but knowing that it is really low light I wanted to see about my sight picture and to see what it looked like in under the circumstances.
I was able to see well enough with the .125 aperture and the low light conditions that I could have taken a shot had it been a Buck.

 

[Macintosh]

^^For sure. With all of this I highly doubt there is any “correct answer”. Everything is a compromise to at least a degree, just have to make the most educated choice and try it, and adjust as needed for the conditions that are normal for you…eyesight, light, vegetation, range, familiarity, etc. And outright preference.

 

[jbwright]

I'm the same. If it was always good light, the NX8 1-8 would be a good fit, but the 1.5-6x42 are noticeably better in low light to me. I really like the S&B 1.5-6x42, reliable, good glass, and light.

@JCMCUBIC are you running your S&B on a long or short action? Just picked up the zenith 1.5-6x42 fd7 and it seems like it'd fit on my LA (30-06) but wondering if you have input here.

 

[mtfallon]

What do you think of the zenith 1.5-6? Is the reticle bold enough without the red dot and how bright is the dot? Debating that scope for for my whitetail rig as well!

 

[Archerichards]

Double click on Leupold 1 to 5X. Just put it on 2x and leave it.

And 308 plus 6.5PRC allows you to cover the full range of requirements. Smart.

And I know it's not responsive to your question, but for short range shooting I would opt for a short barrel-suppressed rifle over a conventional barrel length.

 

[jbwright]

What do you think of the zenith 1.5-6? Is the reticle bold enough without the red dot and how bright is the dot? Debating that scope for for my whitetail rig as well!

Haven’t mounted but initial impression is it’s awesome. Love the 1.5x. It has 11 brightness settings and in daylight you can’t really pick up the dot til about 7. The firedot makes up for the lighter reticle on lower power, but again, just from first impressions

 

[gatorfish]

For hunting hogs and deer in the Florida swamps with my 308, I was looking for something similar. I wanted a good 1x with some zoom and a simple fast illuminated reticle. I settled on the Leupold VX6HD 1-6x24 with the duplex firedot. It's been great. the simple uncluttered reticle is perfect for fast shots. I like the ZL turrets, although capped would be fine, I can quickly check they are zeroed, after pushing thru palmettos etc. I know the rep Leupold has here but mine have all been good.

 

[StupidLightweight]

Iron sights < red dot < magnified scope

While there’s no right answers, there are wrong ones.

Iron sights will reduce your success. That’s a fact. This is why some states are irons-only for muzzleloader seasons.

Red dots are better due to a few reasons, but they don’t make the target easier to see in low light. Strike two.

A magnified scope is the only choice. The question is size, weight, and magnification.

I hate the weight and size of most LPVOs when a fixed 2X or 1.5-4.5X or 2-7X is half the weight. For me, Leupy’s 2.5x20 would be hard to beat for 100 yards or closer.