Where is the future of optics headed?

[Shō[t]gun]

I'd bet very few people would pay the asking price for a contraption like that. I just looked at the Image stabilized Zulu 6 at Cabelas and it's got the be some of the worst optics I've ever seen at any price. The blue hue was horrendous.

I knew the Kilos were super blue because of the display layer, I’m curious why the zulus are that way too.

 

[307]

Glass will become plastic with even better optics at a fraction of the weight.

Image stabilization will become ubiquitous.

I think those two things will evade any new rules about technology in hunting.

AI binos that highlight/identify would be a step too far for most people and will likely be up against some new rules at some point.

 

[Shō[t]gun]

I’ll bet optics will continue to be used as a tool to support app based tech. They can already connect and drop waypoints every time you range an object but it won’t be long until it’s adapted to the new blue force tracker style group hunting apps like spartan forge came up with. I don’t see there being a HUD with all your pins and waypoints in the picture but it would be pretty easy to add an arrow to the display to walk you into a direction and elevation where someone else lazed a target(animal).

Not sure what I think about all that if it happens but my knee jerk reaction is it’s a bit much.

 

[KMW831]

There's also the cost/barrier to entry aspect. I don't like seeing sports/hobbies go the way of NASCAR, where $$ thrown at it is such a huge aspect of success, and rural families that actually need the meat financially can't hardly do it anymore. Maybe hunting is a long ways from that, but I just got back into the hobby in the last couple of years, after a long time off since hunting all through JH and HS in the 90's. I was pretty surprised to see that it wasn't an old pair of jeans w/ thermals, sorrels, a flannel and whatever regular rifle you had in your beater truck....anymore. Was weird for me to be working my way in closer to game only to have some yahoo on a ridge 700yds away lob shots from his 2k rifle w/ uber scope while the deer scattered because he couldn't shoot.

Progress is great, tech is cool and I love gear, but at what point is hunting no longer primal? At what point are we totally divorced from the animal, the land and the root skills that make a goods woodsman? It already feels like it's becoming the new golf.

Ok now that I've vented some recently acquired, I agree with most above. Cool features, but not for hunting.

 

[JGRaider]

I'm old school and know that all that high tech stuff isn't necessary in the field.........

 

[UpTop]

We’ve got to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I get some of the people pointing out that it’s kind of hypocritical at this point to want to ban/limit thing while allowing all the others. But at what point are we washing away the fair chase aspect all together? I think we already have for the most part. It’s getting kind of silly

 

[JFK]

It would be good if we could get a large hunting based conservation org to oppose this stuff, lobby state game agencies to get out in front of it. Would be a lot easier to
squash it now than to have it become available and wardens are now forced to check guy’s binos.

 

[z987k]

The only electronic I own an use on a hunt is a rangefinder. I'd rather not have to get rid of that, as it's what lets me go down in cartridge significantly with easy accurate ranging. Without, I'd need to get into something really fast to make up for inaccurate range, which means lots more recoil.