Talk me out of compact spotter (mountain goat hunt)

[MThuntr]

I'm strongly leaning toward either a Kowa 55a or Swarovski ATC for a Montana Mountain Goat hunt. A couple friends seemed to suggest a bump to the Kowa 66.

Experienced hunters in the unit suggest that some glassing could be as far as 3 miles but getting closer wouldn't be too terrible. The caveat is the hunt started out with 4 camp assistants is now down to just me and 1 other so weight savings is going to be important.

Do save 20 oz with a compact spotter or should I opt for bigger glass?

 

[hereinaz]

As a bona fide pansy, I say leave it. If you take one make it the lighter Kowa.

My Kowa 554 was always solid for hunts (never goat though), and I never really used except for confirmation. Eventually I stopped carrying it because I didn’t use it very often. The vast majority of time is in binos. I could always spot deer better with binos, and they are not white, even miles away.

Everything I have read about goat and sheep hunts is that spotting is done with binos. Aging is for the spotter after you get closer to really look at the horn and for sheep count rings.

https://rokslide.com/forums/search/11214551/?q=Compact+spotter+for+mountain+goat+hunts&o=relevance

 

[bushpilot]

Bigger glass all day long. When you are judging goats little details really add up, not just for trophy quality but also for identifying sex.

I hunted goats with a compact spotter for the first couple years, until a buddy with a swaro showed me the difference in detail a full size spotter can make. Never looked back after that. Goats are not hard to spot, but tough to judge.

 

[Jake Larsen]

I’d go for the 66 Kowa, although the 55 might be be fine. Just remember that a clear look will sometimes save you a LOT of walking, and also allow for additional opportunity. Chasing an animal you don’t actually end up wanting to shoot has an extremely high opportunity cost on a hunt like this. It’s not just the energy, it’s the time, focus, and attention not looking for an animal you DO want.

Sidenote, Here’s some screenshots from video I took with a 66 last week while bear hunting. Line distance on Onx is just over 7 miles. I’ve spent significant time with Swaro ATS and ATX glass next to Kowa, and I’ll take the Kowa every time.

Edit to add: I’ve had the ATX 85 next to my 66 in a bunch of light conditions, and I’ll take the 66. The Kowa 88 is incredible, definitely a little more resolution in the last few minutes of light, but the juice isn’t worth the squeeze IMO for the weight and bulk. Sweet spot is the 66 for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I'm strongly leaning toward either a Kowa 55a or Swarovski ATC for a Montana Mountain Goat hunt. A couple friends seemed to suggest a bump to the Kowa 66.

Experienced hunters in the unit suggest that some glassing could be as far as 3 miles but getting closer wouldn't be too terrible. The caveat is the hunt started out with 4 camp assistants is now down to just me and 1 other so weight savings is going to be important.

Do save 20 oz with a compact spotter or should I opt for bigger glass?

You absolutely need a spotter and an ATC or 55a were basically made for this. I have zero hesitation of using my ATC over my 66a for a mountain goat hunt.

 

[RockAndSage]

Kowa uses a couple of different eyepieces. Not sure what the newest ones use, but for my 664 there's a 30X for wide-angle glassing, and a 20-60x eyepiece I keep in a pouch for really far-off stuff. It's a goldilocks middleground that won't touch 18x binos for mule deer, or a big 88ish of some kind for truck glassing or really long range stuff, but it's a great little setup if I'm trying to not have a lot of weight with me.

 

[nphunter]

I’d go bigger if it were me. Sold my ATC, always wished I took my Meostar S2 each time i took the ATC because the S2 blew it out of the water in every way. I’d easily take the weight and size penalty for any hunt where I need a spotter or am being picky.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

Bought an ATC to help with a MT goat hunt. It was awesome. I’ve used it a lot to film goats, and help with identification since then, even took it on a backpack goat hunt out of state. It’s light and compact enough that including it isn’t near as big of a deal as a full size spotter is.

Would highly recommend getting a digiscoping setup to film goats with and review/ID them.

 

[eaglemountainman]

I have a Kowa 554, 66s and 884. I truly love the little 554. It rides in my pack the vast majority of the time, while hunting for antelope, deer and elk, though the 66s has been seeing more and use the last couple of years.
If I still had young legs and a tag for a goat/sheep hunt in my pocket, I'd opt for the 66s and look to save weight elsewhere. Its a hell of a scope...

 

[Blockcaver]

Swaro ATC with an Ollin mag base digiscope adaptor and decent tripod is excellent! With the iPhone 14plus zoomed up to 10X magnification and 40X on the ATC you have a lot of capability!

Most goat hunting I've done is done during broad daylight hours and the ATC (or STC) will work fine. In fact my ATC did not give up anything in low light testing vs my old well used Swaro ATM 20-60x65HD that got sold for what I paid for it 14 years earlier.

 

[MThuntr]

Thanks for the input guys. I have been saving up Scheels gift cards for a bit and used them to get an orange Swaro ATC. Capital Once shopping gave me an extra 7% rebate. I'll get an Ollin digiscoping set up ordered too.

A friend says he's got a Kowa 66 to compare for me to compare but it'll be awhile before we can link up and compare

 

[waspocrew]

Thanks for the input guys. I have been saving up Scheels gift cards for a bit and used them to get an orange Swaro ATC. Capital Once shopping gave me an extra 7% rebate. I'll get an Ollin digiscoping set up ordered too.

A friend says he's got a Kowa 66 to compare for me to compare but it'll be awhile before we can link up and compare

You’ll enjoy it - I recently picked up an ATC for my sheep hunt in Aug. So much smaller in my pack compared to my 85mm ATX. I’m really liking it so far.

 

[bluemaroon]

Following. Got extremely lucky with a Montana goat tag for this year and trying to decide whether to bring my big Maven S1 spotter or borrow/buy a more compact spotter like the ATC or Kowa.

I really regretted not having my own spotter on my Dall sheep hunt in order to save weight even with the guide bringing his Swaro. A lot of the fun of the hunt is glassing so I fully intend to have my own spotter for this hunt (still debating on finding a guide or recruiting friends for this once in a lifetime tag).

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

I've got a kowa 55, and it is absolutely one of my favorite gear items. The glass is amazing, and it's so compact and lightweight. I took it on a sheep hunt and it got used a ton, and I looked over a lot of goats with it also. I've also got a kowa 99 spotter, but opted to leave it behind and avoid the weight penalty, and because I felt like the 55 was very sufficient.