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Ranging whitetails.

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huff143 View Drop Down
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    Posted: December/02/2009 at 00:30
I've been using a Nikon Buckmaster 800 yd rangefinder since around 2002.  It has served me well, but I've done a great deal of work at the range out to 800 yds and the ol' Nikon won't give a reading on a deer past 475 yards.  I can range leafy trees to around 600 and barns to 800, but I'm not hunting barns.
Will the Bushnell Elite 1500 or others do the trick?  And, no I'm not cutting loose of Swaro-type money on a rangefinder.
Thanks.



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jonoMT View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 11:01
Personally, I'd want to get closer for a shot than 400 yards...and I do have the Swaro. It's fun to see how far out it can range (1978 yards in once case), but I only range on non-game objects (i.e. targets) out past 400.

Just out of curiousity, where can a guy go and range past 500 yards anywhere in Missouri where it would be safe to shoot? We drive from KC to Lake of the Ozarks every summer and it just gets hillier and more tree-covered the farther east you go.
Reaction time is a factor...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 11:16
I have ranged mule deer over 800 with my Leica.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote huff143 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 11:51
Originally posted by jonoMT jonoMT wrote:

Personally, I'd want to get closer for a shot than 400 yards...and I do have the Swaro. It's fun to see how far out it can range (1978 yards in once case), but I only range on non-game objects (i.e. targets) out past 400.

Just out of curiousity, where can a guy go and range past 500 yards anywhere in Missouri where it would be safe to shoot? We drive from KC to Lake of the Ozarks every summer and it just gets hillier and more tree-covered the farther east you go.


The Lake of the Ozarks is at the foothills of the Ozark Mountain Range, and yes, even 500 yards would be quite long there.

My family's land is in the north central part of the state.  The field (this year it was in soybeans) that my favorite stand overlooks is .75 mi wide and 1.5 mi long in the Thompson River bottoms.  It's situated next to a highway-like deer run from 640 acres of big timber into the field.  Wide open, long range shots present themselves regularly.

Even though this dude (I'm on the left) was put to rest at a whopping 76 yards.  I'll take those short ones on a trophy deer any day!  Also, for what it's worth, I found the 10x42SS to be no hindrance at all while hunting from a stand.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote huff143 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 11:53
ST, which Leica do you have?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote trigger29 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 14:12
Ranged a whitetail at 1056 with a Leica lrf 1200. My Leica Geovid will do it as well.

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huff143 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote huff143 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 15:05
That's good to know, Trigger.  Thanks.  It's nice to hear from people who have actual experience with them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote huff143 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 15:06
What about Newcon Optik?  I just noticed them on SWFA for the first time.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/02/2009 at 15:15
  crf 1200.  And the 800 is as far as I have tried a deer at.  I got an elk at just over 900 as well.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/03/2009 at 15:05
Nice deer. I don't think I've ever been up in the north-central part of the state. Didn't realize it could be that open. We lived in KC when I was a kid (big George Brett fan back then) but all I remember is going down to the Ozarks and getting sick on those windy roads...just like my daughter does now.
Reaction time is a factor...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote huff143 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/05/2009 at 22:51
Thanks much.  The taxidermist thinks he'll score 165-ish.  I've never gotten into the scoring thing myself.  I figure if the person who takes it thinks it's a trophy, then it's a trophy.

Indeed, the roads in the Ozarks are enough to turn anybody green!
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