For a long time, my hunting plan was to walk and sit, hoping I would see something. Walk until something runs, then watch it run. Solid system if you want a really good look at the back half of a deer.
I’m not sure what I thought binoculars were for. Bird guys, probably. Guys in Sitka. My Dad carried a pair for years, and I gave him a hard time about it, right up until he picked out a bull across the drainage I’d been staring at for ten minutes.
So I bought the Vortex Diamondbacks. Not the four-figure stuff. The pair you buy when you’re not sure yet and don’t want to be wrong and spend too much.
That was 7 years ago. They haven’t stayed in camp since.
What changed
I see animals now. Almost every time out. Low bar, I know. Took me years to clear it.
Most of the time, I see them first, which I didn’t see coming. For most of my hunting life, the elk knew I was there before I did. Now I’m on a knob at first light picking apart a timber edge, and there’s a cow feeding at 600 yards with no idea her morning’s being watched. Strange feeling. I could get used to it.
On the first hunt after I bought them, I saw a doe 200 yards out before it ever knew we were there. I watched it for about ten minutes before a buck emerged right behind her. This was on an archery hunt, so we still had to close the gap. But we had a chance we would not have had before. We got about 80 yards away before a broken twig gave us up.
The glass is clear enough that I’ve mostly quit arguing with shapes. Mostly. I did watch a stump for five full minutes last season. In my defense, a bedded elk doesn’t move either.
The harness
Then I bought a bino harness. I’ll be straight about why. I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing.
Fooled nobody. My buddy saw it at the trailhead and asked if I planned on glassing the parking lot.
Here’s what bugs me, though. It’s better. Binos on a neck strap swing into everything: rocks, the rifle, your own chin. In the harness, they just sit on my chest, so I glass more, and when I glass more, I see more. Bought it to look cool. Kept it because it works.
Should you get a pair?
If you’re where I was, hunting with no glass or something from a gas station checkout rack, this is the jump. You’ll notice it the first morning. And Vortex’s warranty covers them even when it’s your fault, which, in my case, will matter.
If you already run Swarovski, you’re not who this is for. You probably figured all this out years before I did.
Check the current price on the Vortex Diamondback HD here
(Affiliate link, so I get a small commission if you buy through it. Costs you nothing extra. And if a pair helps you spot a bull before he spots you, tell me about it. Took me long enough.)
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