So you are going on your first Antelope hunt and you have two binos to choose from

[rclouse79]

The lower magnification. They stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I have hunted and guided for antelope for 30+ years. A few things to consider;

An antelope 2000 yards away will appear like it is 166 yards away with 12x magnification. At the same distance, it will appear like it is 250 yards away with 8x. That is a big difference when trying to determine trophy quality.

Spotting scopes can be helpful during cooler periods of the day but heat mirage makes them useless on any setting higher than about 15x through a good portion of the day during normal antelope weather.

Talk to a group of antelope guides and you will find 90% of them use a good pair of 12x binos as their number one tool.

Just my 2 cents.

What "good" pair of binoculars are your guides running? More than likely they are running alpha glass and not lower tier glass.

 

[ChrisAU]

If you are taking a spotter, get the 8’s. Goats are easy to see. You’ll need to use your spotter to really judge one, if you care about score.

Dont care about score, just want a representative of the species. It’ll get a shoulder mount and no one will ever see it at my house and it not be the biggest one they’ve ever seen lol

 

[FLS]

If you’re not trying to judge them all you need are binos. They’re really easy to see. I hear you on the shoulder mount, mine is the only one anyone in my neck of the woods has ever seen. Done well they’re a beautiful trophy.

 

[SomeJackassOnAForum]

I spotted my antelope with NL 8x42s. Honestly it came over a ridge at 300 yds on the last afternoon of our hunt and it was immediately apparent what I was looking at.

If they're milling around close enough that you can't get your spotter out you'll see them in a set of 8s. If they're far enough away that you can't see if you want to shoot it or not, you're breaking out your spotter anyway. On top of that you probably have a 15-20x telescope attached to the stick you're going to shoot them with if you're in a rush and want to make a last-minute decision.

 

[Laramie]

What "good" pair of binoculars are your guides running? More than likely they are running alpha glass and not lower tier glass.

You do realize most guides don't have a lot of money. You don't exactly get rich guiding antelope hunts. Vortex and middle of the road Leupold are common. The two guys I know that have better received them as a tip.