Whitetail Timber (Mostly) Scope

[ResearchinStuff]

light gathering, a few times i wanted/needed more magnification. One LPVO had a reticle that was too fine, the other didn't track right. Eye relief was poor on one.

All in all, there were no pro's for the LPVO when compared to a swfa 3-9 for whitetail hunting in brush/timber inside 300 yards.

 

[dneaster3]

You’ve already received many good opinions, though I think most people overdo the objective lens size requirements. Nothing wrong with 24mm objectives, and even the high quality 20mm tubes are quite good.

For the kind of hunting you describe, though—woods whitetails out to 150ish—the perfect scope is the 2-7x32.
2x gives plenty of field of view while still hunting.
4x is all you need out to 200 in most cases.
Zooming in to 6x or 7x is a nice truck to have when picking an opening between tree branches.
And all of that in a much more svelt package than most of the Hubble telescopes I see on deer rifles nowadays.

Most people are over scoped and under practiced… confusing the visible size of the target in the viewfinder with the ability to hit that target.

 

[Boarmaster]

I use leupold VX3 (or variant) 2.5-8x36 for woods scopes. I do have one in 1.5-5x20 on a 444 Lever action but if I had to do it over I would pick the 2.5-8x36. The 2.5-8 is a scope that will work in a wide range of situations and works for me in the darker timber or if I end up on a field. Its a smaller package than my VX3 3.5-10x40s. If you can find one of the last generation vx2 2-7x33s they are really good woods scopes for the money.

 

[EdP]

I put a Trijicon Huron 2.5-10x40 on my woods rifle, a .444 Marlin, and like it a lot. I think the 2.5 is plenty low and the top end of 10 makes it suitable for use on a much longer range rifle if I wanted it for that use.

 

[eaglemountainman]

The VX3 1-5X20, with or without the Firedot, would be (is) my first choice for a strictly deep timber/thick woods rifle.
For a bit more versatility, in case longer shots were a possibility, a Leupold 2-7X33 or 2.5-8X36, in various iterations of VX2s and VX3s, is what I have on about 40 rifles. They're trim and lightweight, won't break the bank, and I've never had a hiccup out of any of them, going back to the early '70s.

 

[dneaster3]

@Boarmaster and @eaglemountainman, you sound like my kind of people!

 

[InGobwetrust]

light gathering, a few times i wanted/needed more magnification. One LPVO had a reticle that was too fine, the other didn't track right. Eye relief was poor on one.

All in all, there were no pro's for the LPVO when compared to a swfa 3-9 for whitetail hunting in brush/timber inside 300 yards.

My experience is pretty much the exact opposite of yours. I’ve been using 1.5x6 scopes, mostly Weaver Grand Slams or Nikon Monarchs, for many years in some of the thickest, darkest woods in the country. I’ve shot deer from 10 to 60 yards in literally the last minute of legal shooting light. The eye relief is fine and the field of view is more important to me. In the thick stuff I consider my periphery more important than possibly needing to see a couple hundred yards downrange.

I’m not saying 3-9 won’t work. I think it works just fine but where I usually hunt the odds are that I need to quickly acquire a target are much greater than needing to dial up.