Once again. Rifle scope is NOT a bino!

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Kingcreek

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My gawd, I thought everyone had got the word by now. Apparently not.
Last night I was sitting on an east facing hillside overlooking a ravine and timber edge, waiting for the deer destined to fill tag #2 when I heard brush and branches breaking 150 yards away. Hm, really big deer maybe? Not this time, an orange clad hunter bulls through the brush and into the clear and looks across at me as I sit quietly in some grass about mid chest high.
I watch him to see what he would do next and sure enough, he shoulders his rifle and looks at me through the scope. Now I am obviously an orange sporting human. Maybe he wanted to see if he recognized me, I dunno, but my rifle was across my lap. I was far enough below the rim that the setting sun would not have blinded me to him.
I didn't move until he lowered his rifle, but then I got up and walked straight to him. I even left my rifle behind, I'm not sure why. He stayed put as I walked up to him and I see he is probably about 15 years old. Too young for an a$$ kicking from me.
I said to him, "I am going to give you the benefit of doubt that nobody ever told you different, but if you ever point a rifle at me again, for any reason, I'm going to assume it is a hostile act and I'm going to react accordingly. In other words, its not going to end well for you. You want to get a good look at something, you carry a pair of binoculars."
A rifle scope is for AIMING. Binocs and spotting scopes are for VIEWING.
I didn't really think this stuff happened anymore but I was wrong. I never asked him who he was and he mumbled an apology of some kind as I walked back to retrieve my rifle and head home. There was less than 30 minutes of shooting time left anyway but I was so mad I just wanted to get out of there before I did something that would get me in trouble.
I hope and pray that nobody on this forum does this.
 
I agree 100%! It should be rather obvious but some people, including several on this forum, are completely lost in this regard. It's stupid beyond words but some folks just don't get it. Luckily, I get to hunt on my own property and if someone is looking at me through their riflescope, I get to send them packing. Still unnerving.
 
Same reason I've never mounted a flashlight to any of my pistols... I don't want to have have to POINT a gun at someone to find out if I SHOULD be. 'Course, I don't scope my rifles, either....
 
Same reason I've never mounted a flashlight to any of my pistols...
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If I get up in the middle of the night with my pistol, I KNOW that anyone I find in the house needs a pistol pointed at them. ;)
 
It's a completely different issue. The gun-mounted light *IS* a safety device to ensure the shadowy form isn't the drunk neighbor. It permits you to follow the core rule of knowing your target and what is behind it. And it has the benefit of enhancing your ability to hit the target at night. It is of course not to be used as a general purpose flashlight.
 
This has happened to me. I think it has happened to many hunters who hunt on public land or land that people feel is open to their use without permission. I applaud your restraint. I hope he learned a very important lesson....

Scopes are for sighting... binoculars are for looking.....
 
Wow, that would have been tough to resist looking back at him through MY scope. See how he likes them apples.
 
You want to get a good look at something, you carry a pair of binoculars."
A rifle scope is for AIMING. Binocs and spotting scopes are for VIEWING.
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This a HUGE deal I've seen guys who should know better do it. DO NOT USE YOUR RIFLE SCOPE FOR SPOTTING,GLASSING OR VIEWING. It's stupid at best and down right deadly dangerous at worst.
 
I still have friends who see a deer and check it out with their scope rather than wih binos. Just plain dumb.
 
yup, the game warden made damn sure he told us that during my hunters education class when i was 15. he told us to "think about the idea of someone 200yds away staring at you through a rifle scope....now how does that make you feel? it makes me feel like im about to get shot and ive got every right to shoot back or even shoot first"

i carry 2 pairs of binos, a large pair stay in the truck for when im going to hunt bean or corn fields the small ones go in my pack.

but i will say that when i see a deer or a bear i still use my riflescope to judge if its a shooter or not. but thats a time when just a few seconds could mean a missed shot. when im glassing fields or checking out a noise in the woods its 100% binos
 
jrdolall said:
I still have friends who see a deer and check it out with their scope rather than wih binos. Just plain dumb.
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Is it? Why? If you scope has the same magnification as a pair of binos and is just as clear, why is it more intelligent to make the extra effort and movement to look thru binos first before raising your gun.....other than being a TV celebrity trying to sell his sponsor's binos. A scope mounted on a rifle is a stable platform for viewing and as long as your finger is off the trigger and the safety is on, looking at a deer thru it is no more dangerous as carrying the rifle around in the woods. While scoping a human is stupid and illegal in many states(here it is a felony to do it to a warden or LEO), using your scope to judge a deer before shooting it, in many cases makes more sense. Such as when still hunting and the deer is looking at you and extra movement may make the difference between a shot or no shot. Already having the rifle on the deer means all one has to do is flip off the safety and put their finger on the trigger to shoot. Try puttin your binos down and outta the way and raise your rifle on a deer layin' 40 yards away in it's bed starrin' you down sometime. Yes, out west and in areas where you are looking at deer at hundreds or thousands of yards that have no idea you are there and the amount of movement made has no effect whatsoever on the outcome of your hunt, I say go for the binos. But sneak huntin' thru thick cover and you see a shape at 50 yards that looks outta place......you better be lookin' thru your scope when you spot those horns, otherwise you have missed an opportunity. Callin' folks just plain dumb for a practice that can be safe and effective in methods of hunting you have no clue about is just that.....plain dumb.
 
Amen brother. A good friend of mine uses his scope to check things out and thinks that I am foolish for carrying binoculars. He is a good hunter and a good shot and a smart man. However this one action scares me more than a little.
 
It's a completely different issue. The gun-mounted light *IS* a safety device to ensure the shadowy form isn't the drunk neighbor. It permits you to follow the core rule of knowing your target and what is behind it.
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I don't see any difference, it's still a violation of rules 2 and 4 weather you point the pistol at the shadowy form in your house or point your rifle at the shadowy form in the woods.
A handheld flashlight should be used to ID.
I still have friends who see a deer and check it out with their scope rather than wih binos. Just plain dumb.
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Gotta agree with Buck. If your friend has already ID the target as a deer what is dumb about pointing the gun at it?
 
Yes the binos get heavy around the neck but they weigh less than the rifle. It drives me nuts too when I see some glassing a hillside with their rifle. I like to find a stump that overlooks a draw, prop myself up in front of it, and slowly glass everything (with binos). You see a lot more when you are still and quiet.
 
Well, judging what you KNOW is a deer with your riflescope and carelessly spotting in every direction looking for deer with your rifle are two very different things.
 
There is a big difference between scoping a deer or other game animal with your rifle scope after you have identified the animal, as opposed to simply using the rifle and scope to enhance your eye sight to search edges of fields, the woods to identify some odd coloration/angle/reflection, or in other words identify things that just might be the deer or game animal you are hunting for. The second are binocular activities.
 
I agree with 22-rimfire. Binoculars are for looking over the countryside in an effort to identify game--or spot hunters and hikers. If you have already figured out that the deer is a deer and not a person, I see no reason not to look at it through the scope.

If I'm sitting and glassing and see a buck, I'll continue with the binoculars to judge his shootability. Then get the rifle up and shoot him if he's decent.

If I'm just sitting and looking and see a little piddly-diddly buck, I'll use the binoculars to see if his daddy or grand-daddy goosed him out into the open.

If I'm just sitting and looking and Mr. Big sticks his head up, forget about binoculars.

If it's just "something in the brush", that's when the binoculars are important and the riflescope is not.
 
I generally sit in areas with limited visibility where seeing another hunter is unlikely. My land, and good neighbors make my normal hunting environment a pretty safe area. With that said I usually sit in a deer stand with my gun propped nearby for easy access and my binos in my hand. If THE ONE steps out then I know it without ever lifting my binos and I go for my gun. I do not check out a deer through my scope even if I know for a fact it is a deer. Personally I don't pick up my rifle until I am pretty darned sure I intend to shoot the animal. This practice has cost me a couple of nice bucks over the years as I was not ready when they moved through. In virtually every case there is absolutely no doubt that I am going to shoot a deer or just watch the deer. Binos are better for doing that than is a rifle scope.
I understand that looking through a scope at an animal is completely safe as long as you don't touch the trigger but it works best for me the way I do it. To each his own but I see no reason to point a gun at something I don't plan to shoot.
 
Boxhead said:
One has zero business hunting big or small fur bearing game without a pair of binoculars, plain and simple. If one chooses to he/she does not know *** they are doing and should be home watching television.
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Depends on where you are. It would be a little silly to be looking all around with binoculars when the furthest you can see in any direction is 50 or 60 yards.
 
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