Choosing the right type of binoculars can help to enhance your experience of bow hunting. Modern bow hunting binoculars can gather light even when it is virtually dark allowing you the advantage of improved vision in the early mornings and as the light starts to fade in the evenings – the best time for getting in on the bow hunting action.
It doesn’t really matter whether the majority of your time is taken up hunting on the open prairie or in thick woods – an excellent set of optics can make all the difference to your enjoyment and your success.
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The Magnification
Binoculars are available in different categories of magnification – 8x, 10x and 12x are the most suitable for bow hunting purposes. The number in the description relates to how many times larger the subject is magnified for your eyes.
The way that it works is basically that lower magnifications provide a greater field of view – a larger area is visible through the binoculars. This can be helpful when you are trying to seek out animals that you don’t know are there allowing you a greater expanse of ground cover with less movement. One minor drawback with this is that if you do happen to spot a deer or an elk, for example, you won’t be able to make out as much detail as you would if you were glassing with binoculars of a higher magnification.
Binoculars with higher magnification are advantageous if you need to zoom in on an animal over a longer distance providing more detail including determining the sex of an animal or counting tines. These provide a more limited field of view so are not so useful for glassing and searching for animals if you don’t know where they are.
The Objective Size
This is the second number displayed on all sets of binoculars and might typically be something like 35, 42 or 50. Many bow hunters find that the Vortex Razor HD 10×50 Binocular is about perfect for their needs providing a right balance – the 10 refers to the magnification and the 50 referring to the object size. The larger the object size number, the increased amount of light will be let in allowing improved vision when you are bow hunting in low light. Although it may be tempting to choose the binoculars that have the largest object size it is also worth remembering that the larger numbers mean bigger, bulkier binoculars.
The Price
Binoculars are available in a wide variety of prices; you can expect to pay anything from $100 right up to more than $2500. As with many things in life you get what you pay for and the more money you can afford to spend on binoculars, the more efficient they will be. The most expensive binoculars will generally have higher quality lenses which mean better clarity and improved light gathering properties.
With that in mind, it doesn’t mean that you should rush out and spend way over budget when buying a new set of bow hunting binoculars. Plenty of cheaper makes and models will be perfectly adequate for the majority of bow hunting needs – you should be able to find something suitable for around the $500 dollar mark or less.
However much you spend on your binoculars it’s a great idea to check out the warranties offered by the manufacturer. Some of these companies provide an unconditional warranty for the lifetime of the product that could come in incredibly handy – even at the lower end of the market these optics are certainly not cheap.
The Final Choice
These are the three things that you need to take into consideration when you are choosing the perfect bow hunting binoculars for your needs. Decide how much the magnification, field of view and light transmission is important to you in relation to the terrain you regularly hunt. When it comes to the price of your binoculars, you need to consider your budget but also the amount of use you will realistically get from your binoculars. If you live, breathe and eat for bow hunting then the price may be immaterial for you, but if you only enjoy the occasional hunting trip then it may not be worthwhile to pay thousands of bucks for your glasses.