My promaster 525c tripod got here yesterday, the day after the Benro S2 pan head got here and I got the KDC bino tower, so I finally had the whole system ready to go. I took a hike this morning with my new toys and my 8x Maven B1's. Just wanted to test out the system in "live fire" environment.
Climbed up and over a ridge and set up facing a big slope where I didn't see anything with the naked eye. Set up the tripod and got everything ready to go. I have to practice that as I'm sure I looked like a comedy skit trying to get everything set up around my helinox zero chair (not sure that I love the chair) for the first time... But once set up, I can see why Roksliders talk about glassing from a tripod as being such a revolutionary change in hunting/glassing technique.
Long story shortish, I found 11 cow elk on that slope that I likely wouldn't have even spent much time on if I were working freehand. Was able to watch them move and feed across the face for quite a while. They were 800-900 yards away during this time, all done with 8x as I haven't decided which piece to add to my glassing quiver next. What a difference! I was even able to take some photos through the binos using my phone.
Saw a couple muley bucks, one good 4x4+ and even saw a coyote (no rifle). Can't wait to do more scouting now that its actually productive vs my previous technique of wandering around the mountains for way too many miles and wondering why I didn't see anything.
Regardless of what glass I add (15's or a spotter???), the tripod is absolutely staying in the pack, even if I'm only carrying the 8x B1's.
Climbed up and over a ridge and set up facing a big slope where I didn't see anything with the naked eye. Set up the tripod and got everything ready to go. I have to practice that as I'm sure I looked like a comedy skit trying to get everything set up around my helinox zero chair (not sure that I love the chair) for the first time... But once set up, I can see why Roksliders talk about glassing from a tripod as being such a revolutionary change in hunting/glassing technique.
Long story shortish, I found 11 cow elk on that slope that I likely wouldn't have even spent much time on if I were working freehand. Was able to watch them move and feed across the face for quite a while. They were 800-900 yards away during this time, all done with 8x as I haven't decided which piece to add to my glassing quiver next. What a difference! I was even able to take some photos through the binos using my phone.
Saw a couple muley bucks, one good 4x4+ and even saw a coyote (no rifle). Can't wait to do more scouting now that its actually productive vs my previous technique of wandering around the mountains for way too many miles and wondering why I didn't see anything.
Regardless of what glass I add (15's or a spotter???), the tripod is absolutely staying in the pack, even if I'm only carrying the 8x B1's.
