Stone Sheep bino magnification?

[Steve O]

The older I get the more I lean to more magnification; I stick with my 10x ELs 95% of the time and got rid of my 8x32 Ultravids to stay out of this conundrum. I don’t even want to look thru 12ELs!

10 ELs work great for everything until I need to break out the 15s. Add in that you are going unguided I think it is an excellent idea to take the 12s.

 

[akpredator]

I use 10x42 and a spotter for sheep. The 10 power is a little heavy but I use them so often that it doesn’t bug me. Like others have said, If you are bringing the spotter, the 8 power should be good to go.


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[Jimbob]

I have been on one stone hunt so I don't have the experience as others.

Weight was a huge concern for a 10-day solo hunt. I was also in deep, I killed my ram 25 km from the trailhead, packing that thing out was the hardest thing I ever did. Cutting weight everywhere is crucial. However, there is always some room for the odd luxury item.

I found the sheep easy to glass with my 10x Leicas. It's not hard spotting sheep out in the wide open. there was no brush for them to be bedded down and hiding in. The real trick was aging the sheep and that has nothing to do with binos. I would have no problem hunting with 8x binos, they would not hinder me one bit where I hunt. Saving a pound there may be a wise choice.

The spotter though is worth its weight in gold. I would carry a heavier better spotter for sure.

I'm pretty sure I spotted every sheep on my trip with my bare eyes. Bino's confirmed it and spotter told me the details.

 

[HankBC]

I used my 10 x 42's in conjunction with an ATX 65 the last 2 years. It's not easy spotting bedded grey sheep on a grey landscape.. I used the 65 spotter to grid after scanning with the nockers, spotter would turn up more.

Each to their own, but I'd love to try those EL 12's on my tripod / chest for a difference.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I have a spotter so I use 8x42s.

I just hunt Dall sheep though so they are (in my experience) pretty easy to spot.

 

[RedStag]

If you are bringing a spotter, I would absolutely take the small binos with less weight. Glass grids with the binos fairly quickly at distance and then put the spotter to work.

small light binos are nice when climbing and using all day

 

[tdot]

Just a quick report back on this subject. Just home from a quick 7 day sheep hunt. I took the 12x, but in the end I wish I'd taken the 8's. I was primarily using the bino's to quickly scan new terrain as it opened up to me as I was hiking. This was typically sub 500 yards and often sub 200 yards. The 8's would have excelled at that task. When they were setup on a tripod, or handheld and scanning more distant area's, I was realistically only looking for movement, so again, the 8's would have sufficed. Now don't get me wrong, the 12's were amazing and 2 groups of rams were spotted at 5km+ with them. Part of what made my decide in favour of this was how wide the FOV is on my Swaro ATX 65 set at 25x, previously I'd used a Kowa 663 and the useable FOV simply cant compare.