Does top of the line Optics = more deer found?

[OpticNerd]

I'm an optic nut! From binos to telescopes I love them all. I'm constantly searching for the perfect all around hunting optical system. Over the years I've realized that the perfect optic can be quite different depending on the hunter. Some like 15s while others prefer 10s or even 20s. The one thing has puzzled me in my quest happened when I bought my first pair of ELs about 8 years ago. Before then I was using 3 pairs of binos 8x32 Steiners, 10x50 Pentax and 9x42 Steiners. I still remember the first time I looked through the ELs. The view through the ELs was crystal clear and I couldn't wait to take them out looking for deer. I was even more excited to see how much more deer I would be able to find with them. I thought for sure I would notice an increase in the number of animals I would glass up.

 

After my first outing using the ELs I was very impressed with the optical quality of these bins but the thing that really shocked me was I didn't find very much game with them. I was very disappointed in my results and just chalked it up to having a bad day. The next time I go out I'll surely do better I told myself trying to re-build my confidence. After my 2nd outing with my new ELs I did a bit better but not as good as I thought I should.

 

Well fast forward two years later. I came to the conclusion that the ELs were not producing more animals when compared to my old less expensive glass. Although the view was very sharp and clear I was disappoint in the number of animals I was finding. In the end this bothered me so much that I ended up selling them. I just couldn't justify keeping them for how much money I spent on them and not seeing an increase in number of animals I was finding. After selling the ELs I bought a $300 pair of Nikons. Even though the Nikons aren't as clear as the ELs I still find just as many deer with these Nikons as I did with the ELs. I remember back before I bought the ELs whenever I had a bad day glassing I would tell myself if I only had a pair of Swaros I would have done better. Now when I have a bad day I tell myself I suck and I just couldn't find anything.

 

This isn't a high end optics bashing thread because I thought the ELs quality was excellent. I'm Just curious as to what others have experienced when switching over to top of the line optics and not just Swaros but all others as well. Were you able to notice an increase in the number of animals found or were you like me and didn't notice a difference when it came down to the number of game found?

[billrquimby]

The best optics made do not necessarily a game-finder make, especially at ranges under 600-700 yards. It's at extremely long distances that quality pays off.

 

Bill Quimby

[COOSEFAN]

Yes. The more clear and crisp your image is, means you'll pick up on more detail, color and movement.

 

What I noticed when I went to the EL's, and all I have are the 8.5x42's, is the drastic improvement in colors and detail. That meant I could distinguish better between whites and off-whites and the throat patch or eye rings of a bedded coues deer became easier for me to pick out. With my EL's on a tripod I could watch a butterfly float around at 800 yards and easily could pick up on an ear flicker at half that distance.

 

If I was using my old Steiners, even on a tripod, there would be much less detail and blurring and I guarantee that decreases your chances of picking up on the often times small clues that your looking for while Coues hunting.

 

One thing to keep in mind, just because your sitting behind a more expensive pair of binos doesn't mean there is automatically more deer on the hill in front of you. It just means you are better equipped to find the ones that are there.

 

If you wanna really blow your mind and really see what your missing, try looking thru a pair of 32x80 Kowa Highlanders!!!! It ruined me, nothing compares and my 15x Swaros now feel like my old Steiners! Yes, better clarity, color and detail means more effective glassing, and if done right, should mean finding more deer than you would have with less quality glass. Just my $.02 JIM>

[youngbuck]

I'll glass with what ever I have. The better glass is a time saver. I spend less time on "deerish" rocks than I would with less clear optics. I'm sure the better glass has made me find less animals, because I can't count the rocks Ive found lots of deer with junk binos and found no deer w/ Swaros. I can decide what I'm looking at sooner with the better glass.

[DesertBull]

I'll glass with what ever I have. The better glass is a time saver. I spend less time on "deerish" rocks than I would with less clear optics. I'm sure the better glass has made me find less animals, because I can't count the rocks Ive found lots of deer with junk binos and found no deer w/ Swaros. I can decide what I'm looking at sooner with the better glass.

 

 

I can glass longer periods of time with better glass without having to take a break.

[BigWave]

I'll glass with what ever I have. The better glass is a time saver. I spend less time on "deerish" rocks than I would with less clear optics. I'm sure the better glass has made me find less animals, because I can't count the rocks Ive found lots of deer with junk binos and found no deer w/ Swaros. I can decide what I'm looking at sooner with the better glass.

 

 

I can glass longer periods of time with better glass without having to take a break.

 

+1

 

Better glass is "easier" to glass with.

[OpticNerd]

Thanks for the replies. So far all the positive things people have posted about high end glass is exactly why I thought the ELs should have helped me find more game. The only thing I could come up with is that maybe when I use the lower end glass I tend to glass slower because I spend more time looking at things that could be a piece of a deer. I find majority of animals by catching movement and to my eyes I can see an animals movement just as easy through lower end glass then I can with top of the line glass. It might have to do with my technique more then the quality of the glass but I pretty thorough when it comes to glassing.

 

Maybe I wasn't glassing far enough with the ELs to see an improvement because when I'd glass anything further then 1200 yards I'd use a Zeiss spotting scope instead of my binos. Eventually I sold the Zeiss for the same reasons I sold my ELs and ended up getting a $500 nikon spotter which I love and use all the time with a fixed 16x eye piece. I feel I find more animals with this scope then I did with the Zeiss spotter.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that the ELs and Zeiss scope are optically better then my Nikon glass I use now. I must not be good enough to take advantage of the optical quality of the top of the line glass.

[Coach]

I think it follows the same pattern as most skills. You could compare it to long range shooting, even golf. Just buying the best equipment out there won't make you good. However, once you have acquired a certain skill level through hard work and practice, you can reach a point where mediocre equipment can be a hindrance.

 

I can think of several examples of amazing "spots" while glassing where there was so little of the animal visible and/or the range was so long there is no way they would have been visible without really good glass. However, the guys behind the glass in those situations had the patience and skill to pick the details apart carefully enough make the best of the optics.

[Chef]

Desertbull gave the response I had.

I can literally sit behind quality glass all day long.

There is nothing worse that getting that headache and having to take an extended break before you can get back to finding game.

[azslim]

as I upgraded I found more game and at farther distances

[bonecollector]

I didn't buy a top dollar glass but a better glass than I had before and it seems I find more deer. Probably due to the fact That I can look through them a lot longer than the pair I had before.

[billrquimby]

So far, no one has mentioned experience as being a factor. The more deer and other game you see, the more you will see.

 

Incidentally, I use 20-year-old 10x50 Swarovski binoculars and an ancient multi-lens Leitz spotting scope with the 20X lens attached. Any member of the Mattausch family, of which bullwideon on this forum is one, can out-spot me any day of the week with 15X Zeiss binoculars.

 

Bill Quimby

[OpticNerd]

Thanks for the responses! I think I figuared out why I wasn't seeing an increase in the number of deer when I switch over to the ELs. It's because I'm such a good glasser it doesn't matter which bino I use I'm going to find every findable deer in the area. It's the only thing that makes sense

[elkhunter]

I learned that cheaper optics can help out with finding more critters because of the smaller field of view, it's easier to find a deer at 1000 yards in a small field of view than a larger field of view.

 

When I glass things closely with the swaros, I put the eye caps all the way down, when I glass farther out, 1 mile or more, I put the eye cups up to reduce the field of view.

 

EL's have a huge field of view, that may be what happened to you.

 

I used a pentax 16's back in the old days then switched to Zeiss conquest 15's then switched to swaro 15's and in that process the amount of critters I've found went significantly up, not because I was finding them but because I could find them at longer ranges.

[OpticNerd]

I learned that cheaper optics can help out with finding more critters because of the smaller field of view, it's easier to find a deer at 1000 yards in a small field of view than a larger field of view.

 

When I glass things closely with the swaros, I put the eye caps all the way down, when I glass farther out, 1 mile or more, I put the eye cups up to reduce the field of view.

 

EL's have a huge field of view, that may be what happened to you.

 

I used a pentax 16's back in the old days then switched to Zeiss conquest 15's then switched to swaro 15's and in that process the amount of critters I've found went significantly up, not because I was finding them but because I could find them at longer ranges.

 

Wow this proves that while one thing may work for one guy it might not work for the next. I'm the exact opposite the more FOV the better for me. This is the one feature I can say has helped me find more game. For me the more area I can see in the binos at one time the better chance I have to catch movement. I remember when I first switched over to a wide field eye piece to use with my spotting scope. I couldn't believe how much nicer it was then the narrow FOV of the zoom and I seem to be finding more game with the wider FOV.

 

Thanks for the replies. The one thing that has came up a couple times is distance. This is probably one of the main reasons I didn't see an increase of animals found when I switched to top of the line glass because I rarely used the binos for anything past 1200 yards. It seems that most guys say this is where they see a huge improvement when using top of the line optics.

 

I will say I've done a side by side comparison between my $500 Nikon spotter with a 16x eye piece, the Swaro 15s and the Kiabab 15s. No matter what the distance I preferred the view through the Nikon spotter over both the Swaro and Kiabab 15s. I get a wider FOV with the Nikon spotter and just a tiny bit more magnification to boot. So far this $500 Nikon spotting scope has helped me find more game then any other piece of optical equipment I've ever used.

 

Thanks again for the replies!