3-9x40 enough for medium range antelope?

Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
1,780
Location
San Antonio
My eyes are aging a bit, wondering who's using a 9 power for antelope. I don't have a problem with larger bodies animals but them lopes blend in quite well sometimes. I'll belly crawl to 500 where I'm very confident but in the perfect situation may consider stretching a little bit more but I'll never fling anything beyond 600. I haven't chased them for about 5 years, last time my eyes were considerably sharper and had a good clear 12 power scope.
 

Luis

FNG
Joined
Apr 25, 2022
Messages
14
Location
Big Sky Country
I have been using the same Leupold 2-8X for over forty-five years on my same old 30-06. I have always taken an antelope when I had a tag with that combo. It's my only big game set up all these years.

I have never been suckered into getting the newest rifle/scope/spotting scope/binos marketing ploys.
 

OXN939

WKR
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Messages
1,792
Location
VA
My eyes are aging a bit, wondering who's using a 9 power for antelope. I don't have a problem with larger bodies animals but them lopes blend in quite well sometimes. I'll belly crawl to 500 where I'm very confident but in the perfect situation may consider stretching a little bit more but I'll never fling anything beyond 600. I haven't chased them for about 5 years, last time my eyes were considerably sharper and had a good clear 12 power scope.

A lot of factors come into play before magnification when shooting 500-600 yards. If you haven't shot a series of drills recently, give these a try. Then try them at 600 yards. For probably 95% of the hunting population, magnification is way down the list of problems to solve.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
1,975
The only situation I’d find 9x not enough is when goats are bunched up and it’s hard to tell if the animal is clear of the others - of course binoculars can also help answer that question.

On a paper target I don’t see a difference in accuracy between 9x and 12x, prairie dogs yes, paper no, antelope no.
 

buffybr

FNG
Joined
Feb 3, 2024
Messages
94
Location
Bozangles, MT
For over 45 years I've drawn antelope tags here in Montana plus a couple of tags in Colorado and Wyoming. Most of those years I shot one or two antelope. A couple of my rifles had 3-9x40 scopes, and my main antelope rifle had a Leupold straight 6x scope. I don't think that I ever took a shot at any antelope at over 350 yards.

I shoot a 2-12x @ 57yo , no turret dials, they are worthless when hunting
wind , altitude ect , seeing people wound game and try impossible shots
is a bummer
At 78 yo, I've gone to Leupold turret dials on 5 of my hunting rifles from .223 to .375 RUM. I practice almost every week at the gongs at our range at 200 to 430 yds. I have marks on the top of the range turret on each scope, and it's almost too easy to lay down, set the turret to the range, shoot and hit the gong.

When hunting, I almost always have the power of my scope set down to the lowest setting, and unless I'm hunting in timber, I have the turret set at 200 yds. I live at 5200' and even hunting sheep and goats at or above timberline, I've never adjusted for altitude, but I'm not trying 800 to 1,000 yd shots.

People have been guessing their Kentucky Windage holdovers for years trying imossible shots and wounding or missing the animals. At least a laser rangefinder and range turrets will take that part of the guess work out of the shot.
 
OP
ScreamingPotato
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
1,780
Location
San Antonio
The only situation I’d find 9x not enough is when goats are bunched up and it’s hard to tell if the animal is clear of the others - of course binoculars can also help answer that question.

On a paper target I don’t see a difference in accuracy between 9x and 12x, prairie dogs yes, paper no, antelope no.
That's kind of what I'm curious about, likely I'm overthinking it but they can really blend in with the contour and grasses as well at distance so figured I'd throw it out there and see what others' experiences were. 9 is certainly plenty for paper and plates and larger animals. Seems like the consensus is it's fine here as well. I'm debating a new scope purchase and the 9 power is half a pound lighter than the 10 or 12 of the same scope so that's attractive to me.
 

johnnycake

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 3, 2017
Messages
272
Location
Anchorage, AK
Despite what you might read online, it's very doable to get within 200 yards of antelope. Just use the terrain to your advantage

I've killed all my antelope with 3-9x scopes.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
1,975
That's kind of what I'm curious about, likely I'm overthinking it but they can really blend in with the contour and grasses as well at distance so figured I'd throw it out there and see what others' experiences were. 9 is certainly plenty for paper and plates and larger animals. Seems like the consensus is it's fine here as well. I'm debating a new scope purchase and the 9 power is half a pound lighter than the 10 or 12 of the same scope so that's attractive to me.
Over the years I’ve met people with a wide variation in vision as we age - it’s funny how when we were young the assumption was we all see things the same, but age really changes that.

Worst case for me is looking into a setting sun with antelope in the shadows bunched up close together, but every year I have to pay closer attention and things get missed that didn’t the year before. Lol
 

Overdrive

WKR
Joined
Aug 10, 2018
Messages
496
Location
Earth
I personally prefer higher magnification, all my big game rifles are 4-16 or 5-20 with paralax adjustment. Antelope aren't big so I like to zoom in and get a good picture of where to place the crosshairs, I also like a fine crosshair. But to each their own.
 
OP
ScreamingPotato
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
1,780
Location
San Antonio
Despite what you might read online, it's very doable to get within 200 yards of antelope. Just use the terrain to your advantage

I've killed all my antelope with 3-9x scopes.
I've killed them from 50ish yards to 587. We always hunt late season to avoid the crowds, but by that time those lopes know where they can't be reached so there's been a few that just had to be longer shots. If there's a hump or any kind of contour around I'll definitely take advantage of it, it's amazing what just a little crease in terrain can provide for concealment if you can just get to it.
I personally prefer higher magnification, all my big game rifles are 4-16 or 5-20 with paralax adjustment. Antelope aren't big so I like to zoom in and get a good picture of where to place the crosshairs, I also like a fine crosshair. But to each their own.
I can't do the fine crosshair, my eye sees 3 vertical lines overlapping a large shadow instead of 1. The horizontal line is fine but faded a little as well. I've injured my right eye twice, stabbed it directly with brush building a duck blind in the moonlight and slashed it with wooden stick from a pack of bottle rockets sticking out of a bag. A good thick duplex seems to be the best way to go, but I'm gonna try one of the Trijicon dots on an Accupoint and see how that looks.
 

EdP

WKR
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
Messages
1,164
Location
Southwest Va
There are more factors to consider than just magnification and which factors are most important depends on the scope and how you use it. If using a ffp scope you can use any power you want. The following applies to sfp scopes:

If you dial you can use any power you want to set your scope to that gives you the sight picture and field of view you are willing to accept. Same for hold over by guesstimate. If you hold over using a BDC reticle, you will need to be at the max power when shooting beyond point blank range or things get too complicated. This is where the higher magnifications have an inherent down side due to reduced field of view at increased magnifications. It can become hard to locate an animal especially for a follow up shot if needed.

I use BDC reticles and my preference for big game is a max in the 9 to 12 range. 9 is plenty for my 30-06 because I won't shoot it over 500 yds. On a rifle that I would use out a little further a 9 is OK but I like a 12. I have a 16 on one but don't like the loss of field of view.
 

jakeg

FNG
Joined
Mar 3, 2024
Messages
14
Location
Michigan
Depends on the quality of your scope and distance you plan to shoot. I have hunted antelope with an old 3-9 Bushnell scope successfully in the past but had hunted the unit before and knew I could get within 200 yards for a shot there. Units where shots extend out to 3-400 yards or more I tend to favor a 12-14 power on the top end. I don't feel comfortable in antelope country shooting over 500 yards when I factor wind drift but up to that point 12 power works well for me
 
Top