Best Scope Magnification for Stalking

I've just got a Zeiss Conquest DL ASV 3-12x50 after using a fixed 10x Leupold for ages. For me it is perfect for my needs covering all bases. I can shot in dark woodla d on low mag or when I'm foxing and one sneaks up close or take longer shots out to 200m and dial in and also have a play on steel gongs using the turrets too. If you only ever shoot one type or style of shooting then maybe a fixed is great but if you want or can only afford one scope then I'd choose a variable again and again.
 
3-12x56 for me. Pretty much shoot on 6x magnification. It is nice to have the option to increase magnification for whatever reason.
 
Using a scope on a rifle to spot your deer with has always been considered to be a dangerous / bad practice and should not be condoned.
Messing around twiddling with a rifle mounted scope with a bullet in the breech is asking for an accident to happen!
If you can't see to identify your quary properly with your binoculars, you should use a spotting scope.
Whatever rifle scope you use, its purpose is to aid placing your bullet correctly. Not for scanning / spotting.

Ian
 
you'd be surprised by the amount of mustard good wee scopes can cut ;)

'proper' stalker definition, yes, a thread that would probably go on a few pages:lol:

as for long range shooting in dark woods 1 minute before legal closing time,,well, one might argue if you've left it to that requirement/need, you're not really up to managing the cull job properly in the first place, and less time spent turret twiddling and zeroing the 'black guns' on the range might just have given you enough time to get the cull done in daylight hours at ethical shoot distances....but there's a whole 'nother contentious thread too:popcorn:

You've clearly not got problems with nocturnally transient Fallow or a constant immigration of Muntjac! There is no cull plan other than 'shoot on sight in season' and it will NEVER be complete. Next you'll be telling us you've got the old 4 x 32 mounted on a .243!:rolleyes:
MS:lol:
 
Using a scope on a rifle to spot your deer with has always been considered to be a dangerous / bad practice and should not be condoned.
Messing around twiddling with a rifle mounted scope with a bullet in the breech is asking for an accident to happen!
If you can't see to identify your quary properly with your binoculars, you should use a spotting scope.
Whatever rifle scope you use, its purpose is to aid placing your bullet correctly. Not for scanning / spotting.

Ian
spotting with your rifle would be bad practive but once the deer is selected, using a high mag rifle scope to evaluate the deer you are considering shooting is perfectly acceptable.
 
If you are doing it recreationally, then why not make it as difficult as you can? However, if you are doing it as a job of work to achieve a cull, then you need to do the best and most efficient job you can, or you can expect them to find someone else that will! I somehow don't think that an old 4 x 32 would quite 'cut the mustard' in a dark wood at a long range fallow at about 59 minutes after sunset ???!!! I'm not quite sure what a 'proper stalker' is by definition? Is it someone who refuses to move with the times and get the latest equipment, or is it someone that gets the job done? Maybe there's another thread in itself?
MS

Actually MS it had been suggested on more than one occasion that as I don't have some of this new wonderful gear plus the must have certificates that I am not a proper stalker.................................. and no I do not know what they mean by "Proper Stalker" .

The post was tongue in cheek or at least supposed to be.

I do wonder at modern peoples eyesight as many need massive amounts of magnification, huge TV's etc which people only a few years ago really did not need to see things. ................................... tha was not said "tongue in cheek"
 
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When I get home, I will post a photo of my vintage .270, with a Redfield aperture sight zeroed at 200 yards, and a QD side mount scope on a rail zeroed at 325 yards, and it is 2.5X.
 
Fixed Zeiss Diatal 7 x 50. Never needed anything else.

all that fancy dan stuff is purely to keep the market alive
 
I'm still using an old zeiss 4x32 for both fox, roe and hill shots up to 300yds. haven't found it lacking as of yet. nice and light too. since I got rid of the heavy bipod, moderator, thick leather sling, and the heavy scope, I've come to a whole new enjoyment of stalking I forgot existed!

+1
4 x 32 on the 8 x 60 6 x 42 on the .243
 
On my .270 I went with a zoom scope (Leupold VXII 3-9x50) but I leave it on 7x most of the time, and 4x when I'm pootling about in the woods.

As the light fades you can wind it down or if I want to play on the range at longer distance I can zoom in a bit, if I want to.

Other scopes may be better (and others may be a lot worse) but, as an all rounder, this one seems to tick the boxes I need it to so far and it didn't break the bank.

So far I've not encountered a reason to jump to a different product.

A mate of mine is an excellent shot but he doesn't have much thanks to a vicious harpy ex-wife. He kills a lot of deer every year with an old Parker Hale bolt action and a Hawke scope on top.

I think a lot of people forget that many folks have one rig, not cabinets full of guns, and they may use their rig for leisure range shooting as well as stalking.

Personally, my eyes don't seem to get along very well with Zeiss scopes. Imagine how pipped I'd be if I bought without trying first, which so many of us end up doing due to lack of local product stockists.

Ho hum...

Whatever works is good.
 
I'm still using an old zeiss 4x32 for both fox, roe and hill shots up to 300yds. haven't found it lacking as of yet. nice and light too. since I got rid of the heavy bipod, moderator, thick leather sling, and the heavy scope, I've come to a whole new enjoyment of stalking I forgot existed!
I agree.
I use a 4x on my 300 Win Mag. Don't be that fox standing there at 400 yards, sniggering at my 4x scope, or you'll get flattened.
 
lets all go back to using open sights, no mods, no bibods,think how much money you,d save. bs.
 
You've clearly not got problems with nocturnally transient Fallow or a constant immigration of Muntjac! There is no cull plan other than 'shoot on sight in season' and it will NEVER be complete. Next you'll be telling us you've got the old 4 x 32 mounted on a .243!:rolleyes:
MS:lol:
MS I agree with you on transient Fallow last light as I am writing a management plan for one of my grounds to coupe with just this issue. Big woods either side of the estate but arable on my ground and nothing to hold them.... yet but leave the 243 out of it as its a capable tool in the right hands.
 
lets all go back to using open sights, no mods, no bibods,think how much money you,d save. bs.
I still hunt all my summer roe bucks with iron sights, always get to within 50yds, wonderful experiences and brings back true stalking and field craft. In 2018 I shot one at 8 yd’s, one at 12, one at 25 and a number in between. All perfect shots and died instantly. Probably, since going back to iron sight as, I’ve had more joy out of stalking than I ever did.

Scopes are great, yes, but if you NEED them for general (exclude culling, professional and hill) stalking, then you need to rethink your actual skill sets and abilities.

If you haven’t hunted with irons and speak against it, it’s as good as David Cameron saying Brexit was a good idea
 
This one, whilst I’d normally let him grow, had been fraying hard on a new plantation so the farmer asked to take him out. With a few careful steps and some good shooting, job was done! There was no need for any sticks, bipods, mods, scopes, etc. This was from approx 30yds with a 1947 Brno zg47 30-06.

Clearly I am outdated and have no clue to to hunt deer in this modern age ;)
1EA169E8-9010-4572-A3FC-EB93D37EC1FE.jpeg
 
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Love it when the talk is about flattening deer at 300m with 4 mag scope etc. At the range none of them dare shoot at the 300m target to see where they actually impact. Sometimes even at 200yds the results are shocking, thankfully nobody is watching when out after deer. I know there are many so so shots even with good gear but they'd probably be worse with worse gear. What would the failure rate be at a DSC1 shooting test if all get an open sight rifle handed? Better or worse? Of course some are good with open sights to a certain range but would guaranteed have better accuracy and shot placement with a good scope..... why would one sacrifice accuracy and shot placement, for the "ego"?
edi
 
I use a 3-12x50 ( Zeiss ) with an illuminated centre dot. It's a very versatile mag range, you can go down to 3 mag for really close shots in woodland for example and zoom up for longer distance. 12 mag is also very useful for zeroing off a rest at 100-200yards. With your budget you could even go for a high quality scope with a higher mag, something like a Swarovski 3-18x50 which has been mentioned.
 
If you are doing it recreationally, then why not make it as difficult as you can? However, if you are doing it as a job of work to achieve a cull, then you need to do the best and most efficient job you can, or you can expect them to find someone else that will! I somehow don't think that an old 4 x 32 would quite 'cut the mustard' in a dark wood at a long range fallow at about 59 minutes after sunset ???!!! I'm not quite sure what a 'proper stalker' is by definition? Is it someone who refuses to move with the times and get the latest equipment, or is it someone that gets the job done? Maybe there's another thread in itself?
MS

Wise words and I can see you are experienced
 
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