I'm looking into doing a spring bear hunt next season. Would likely be Idaho, in the panhandle. I'll have 8x and 12x binos, and plan on hiking out every day from a basecamp. I'm wondering if I should carry 8x and a spotter, or just roll with 12x binos? Do you guys who bear hunt up there generally carry a spotter, or not?
I'm considering compact/lightweight options like the Kowa 501 (maybe the 553), Nikon ED50, or Opticron MM4. I'm not nuts about ponying up for the 553 with the limited use this would get, but I'm not totally opposed to it either. I'm concerned that these 50-55mm scopes wouldn't gather enough light to do me much good late evening when more bears would presumably be out. The Opticron might be a better option because of that with its 60mm objective. I'm also wondering if the panhandle is (in general) so thick that I'd be fine with just binos?
I've got a lightweight tripod with a RRS BPC-16 micro ball head on it (has pan) - good enough for a small spotter, or should I go ahead grab an Outdoorsman micro pan head too?
I'm considering compact/lightweight options like the Kowa 501 (maybe the 553), Nikon ED50, or Opticron MM4. I'm not nuts about ponying up for the 553 with the limited use this would get, but I'm not totally opposed to it either. I'm concerned that these 50-55mm scopes wouldn't gather enough light to do me much good late evening when more bears would presumably be out. The Opticron might be a better option because of that with its 60mm objective. I'm also wondering if the panhandle is (in general) so thick that I'd be fine with just binos?
I've got a lightweight tripod with a RRS BPC-16 micro ball head on it (has pan) - good enough for a small spotter, or should I go ahead grab an Outdoorsman micro pan head too?