What's enough magnification for a spotting scope?

[repins05]

I have a 20x60 spotter and am thinking about dropping down in magnification somewhere around a 35 to 45 power to reduce size and potentially weight. I am looking at the swaro atc/stc or maybe the swaro balance. I like the 60 power for field judging. I am planning for a diy once in my lifetime elk hunt coming up in a few years and also hopefully a bighorn at some point. I am thinking 35 is not enough? 45 enough? would like to hear some feedback.

 

[huntsman22]

Heck, I use a fixed 30x......

 

[Blockcaver]

A Swaro ATC 17-40X is fine for my use….coupled with an Ollin Mag base digiscope adaptor to the IPhone 14+. I can zoom the phone up to 10X and take photos…that can be further enlarged.

I assume that is 10X times 40X or 400X? Not perfect resolution at that power but good for my purposes judging animals, etc. Of course clarity/resolution is much better at lower IPhone magnification.

Bottom line is the the Compact Swaro is a dandy optic for my use.

 

[repins05]

Good point with the ollin. Wasn't thinking about the zoom giving some more. I need to check my setup again. My 15 premax blacks out at a certain zoom magnification because of the three cameras on it.

 

[sndmn11]

I usually end up 25X plus or minus a scoosh on my ATC. Digiscope from there, ESPECIALLY, if you are playing inches it's nice to record video and then play it back in the shade.

 

[jrotter06]

Something in that 40ish range with a 60 or 65 mil objective is my preference. In my experience 40 is enough. Even a 30 with a 56 objective could be money

 

[StopMakingSense]

I mean you talk about a bighorn and OIL elk hunt. What are your goals on these hunts though? Different goals mean different decisions on what scope to purchase. The guy solo sheep backpack hunting in AK who just wants a legal ram is much different then the guy on a desert bighorn tag in NM with 5 buddies and an ATV.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Also, what scope are you coming from?

 

[doverpack12]

I’ve found generally under 40x you can’t see enough. Only recently got a good digiscope setup that might change my thoughts if I can see with two eyes.

Have Swaro STC and can’t really complain too much. It generally does pretty good. Had a mountain goat hunt last year that it wasn’t quite enough power for on the goat my dad ended up taking. 1200-1400 yards just couldn’t see enough. Continued hunting and ended up coming back later and closing to 500 before shooting. At 500 I could see what I needed to. Wasn’t much or any opportunity between those distances to judge.

Same unit several years prior when my friend had the tag. Small vortex razor that tops at 36x I believe was more or less a joke at any amount of distance. 400-500 it was serviceable barely.

A good clear 40 will probably work, higher chance with digiscope setup offering more zoom.

 

[Legend]

I have a 20x60 spotter and am thinking about dropping down in magnification somewhere around a 35 to 45 power to reduce size and potentially weight. I am looking at the swaro atc/stc or maybe the swaro balance. I like the 60 power for field judging. I am planning for a diy once in my lifetime elk hunt coming up in a few years and also hopefully a bighorn at some point. I am thinking 35 is not enough? 45 enough? would like to hear some feedback.

The only reason to have a high magnification spotting scope for elk is trophy scoring. I can tell if it's a shooter bull with my 8x binos from a long ways out.

 

[5MilesBack]

I'd take 1000x if it was crystal clear, but even 60x isn't great most the time.

 

[grfox92]

The most high end spotting scopes are underwhelming at 60x.

Some of the cheaper spotting scopes are perfectly serviceable at 25x.

I would go max 45x for hunting use.

 

[doverpack12]

The only reason to have a high magnification spotting scope for elk is trophy scoring. I can tell if it's a shooter bull with my 8x binos from a long ways out.

My friend and I thought that same thing when he drew a special tag. Early November, single digits with plenty of snow and we had to camp 12 miles in packed on foot so we were cutting weight. Chose to leave out the spotter thinking each having nice 10x binos and a 20x rifle scope would work. Come to find out even judging a frame was very very difficult on most bulls we saw. Out of 1000 elk or cover 4 days we couldn’t see enough detail to even judge if a bull was over the bountiful 300-320 size range. It didn’t take crazy distance for us to regret not having higher magnification to inform if it was worth the effort and time to close distance on a group of elk.

 

[repins05]

I am using a swarovski sts 65 (20-60x) with an ollin. I would be nice to clearly identify points on a muley (adding that to the mix) and identify length of tines for a 350+ elk. My concern is what overpack just posted. Glassing will be 1000+ yards for a bull. Probably more like 2000+ on average.

Bighorn....I have a little experience with and just want a good ram.

All 3 will be DIY. I will have buddies helping for a Bull. Will have some help with Bighorn however the friends for that hunt will be limited help with glassing. Not quad accessible where I will be hunting.