Light and small or heavy and far for sheep.

[Remps17]

There are so many different thoughts on optics for sheep. Some guys say go with light weight small spotters and others say go biggest you can get.

I am in the market for my first spotting scope and have found some decent used spotters. There is a kowa 553 for 1600CAD that I found as well as a kowa 883 for 3000CAD. I am not stuck on kowa but these were two of the best deals I have found in my brief search.

Not wanting to buy two spotters and fairly new to sheep hunting, I don’t know what option to go with. Not looking for what spotter but what size and why.

I also do some mule deer hunting where I would use it off my window of my truck.

Thanks everyone for the help.

Cheers.

 

[thrash907]

I was recently in the same boat as you looking at the Kowa 553 and comparable quality 80mm objective scopes. I ended up going with the Meopta Meostar S2 20-70 for the extra power (currently $1800 at cameraland).

On a recent solo sheep hunt, I saw tons rams far up near ridge tops, but had to determine legality using my 10x42 binos. So, after doing this a few times and eating up most of the daylight chasing after the guys only to find they weren't quite legal, I came to the realization that I want the biggest/best glass I can afford.

You'll really need to think about how much that extra power means to you and how much weight you're willing to carry. I can carry a good amount of weight comfortably over steep/rough terrain, so the heavier scope is worth it to me.

 

[Outdoorsman12b]

If your going solo I would be looking at something like a 10-30 X 50 for weight. If with a partner than you can divide the weight up or weight is not a concern to you definitely something up in the 60X range is warranted. The caveat for high power spotters for me is the glass needs to be good enough quality to use at the higher magnification.

 

[Wapiti1]

Look at a 65mm scope for an all around option. The 50mm size is great for backpacking, but will fall short early morning and late evening. Not usually an issue with sheep, but a problem for deer and elk. A 65mm will get you into the wee hours pretty well. Not as well as an 80mm, but good enough for most hunting.

It's a compromise. Bigger will always give you a better view, but carrying it becomes the issue. I think the 65mm is the sweet spot for a one size fits all scope.

Jeremy

 

[wildwilderness]

I would not go smaller than 65mm.( I have a swaro) The older I get I prefer to hike less, glass more. My eyes aren’t as good as they once were either. I will probably upgrade to a bigger spotter soon.

the other reason is video quality. Counting rings is easier for me if I can pause a video at the right angle and review, since rams usually don’t want to cooperate and pose in profile. Quality glass is important !