What amuses me is that I know a couple of top guys within some of the top optics brands, and have spoken with them about optics developments.
They all hunt with smaller optics and fully do not believe their own optical ranges are of any need not benefit..
I recall one exec from XYZ brand stating “yes, we’ve well and truly pulled the wool over peoples eyes, so these days it’s all about baiting them with the newest biggest and fanciest”....goes on to say “I’d personally never touch such modern optics, it’s overkill and just a commercial phenomenon”
Shooting a big stag at 200+ with a 4x is very simple and effective indeed..in fact I recall listening to a presentation by a highly regarded special forces sniper who argued that for practical purposes, there is no need for anything over 6x for shots out to about 800yds.
EJG - thing is a scope at under 50 yds isn’t more accurate than irons..With practice, groups off sticks or field conditions are no better or worse. In fact I have shot several touching 5 round groups off bags at 100yd practice sessions with my hunting rifle and iron sights, sometimes better groups than I could produce with a scope.
A lot of people speak out for moder commercialised goods because they either don’t know better/otherwise, haven’t got experiences or practice of other simpler tools, or simply
Cannot cope with the idea all the money on fancy gear they’ve spent really was a waste of money.
Some of the very wise hunters across the globe, from Alaska, the US to Africa, know full well practical effectiveness of smaller lighter scopes,
Simpler rifles that due to lighter weight without mods, bipods and big scopes provide the Hunter with much more physical stamina to focus on covering ground or stalking carefully without tiring.
A good field rest is as effective as a bipod, a shot unmoderated is better than a hedge cutter clanking for 2hrs!
If you cannot hit a bulls eye with a 4x scope from 200yds with a solid rest,
You need to go back to the basics and NOT move up to bigger scopes that will overaccentuate the problem of poor shooting skills.
The trouble is these days people are sold on the latest fad and do not put the effort into honing field skills; worse, the art of stalking in really close is being slowly replaced by a desire to just shoot and kill; the actual element and excitement of the hunt is for many disappearing, and they have no idea what they are missing out on.
I took a client out stalking a few years ago,,with all the fancy stuff!! Skills were terrible, shooting worse! I eventually before the last outing handed him my rifle with iron sights; said “have 5 shots at 25 yd’s, then we go hunting”.
We stalked into a buck at approx 20yds that night, client was ready to shoot with the irons but buck fever was so bad he couldn’t.
Afterwards he said it was the best stall of his life, the excitement, The skills
Needed and the feeling of being so close. He then took up hunting with iron sights since
Sadly he passed a year ago from cancer, but he remains someone special in my memories