Binocs for African Plains Game hunting?

[CoElkHunter]

I have always carried a pair of older Bushnell (mid '70s made by Bushnell) 7x35 binocs for hunting elk, deer and pronghorn here, mainly DIY public land hunting. They are quite clear and enough magnification for the distances I have hunted. For my first African PG hunt this past June, I bought a pair of lower end 10x40 Leupold BX-1 binocs as I figured the distances for spotting African game would be much further and the increased magnification would be helpful. On both accounts, this proved correct. HOWEVER, I found both the PH and tracker spotting the game at great distances in the rocks and brush WAY before I could see anything! Not only could they see the game, they could tell me if "it was a good bull or ram", etc. The PH had a ragged pair of Vortex 8x32s and the tracker 8x32 Athlon binocs. After the first two days, I left my binocs in the truck and never used them again. I had never hunted with a guide before and in this circumstance, having my own binocs wasn't necessary at least for spotting a potential game animal to subsequently make a stalk on. At the end of the hunt, I gave my binocs to the PH. Next time I'll just bring my Bushnells for surveying the landscape. LOL

 

[Flipper Dude]

For me, the binos stay in the truck on the high rack. Don’t need that distraction on the track or stalking. I figure my job is to get ready to make the shot when it’s time, and be quick about it. I make sure the PH knows what I want.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I appreciate what folks say about letting the professionals do what they do. That said I would feel naked without binoculars on me. I'd love to someday own some high end pocket sized binos. My current pair (not pocket sized) is a lightweight pair of 8x32 Sigs. And there were a handful of occasions I was first to spot things over there.

 

[LWPhunt]

All preference what to buy and what to carry.
I won’t go in the woods without my bino’s in their harness on me. Don’t care if rifle or bow. Bino’s come with. I use them non stop.
When I did plains game spent 40% of my time behind them checking out the bush or the sizing. When you elk hunt 90% of the time behind the glass.
My favorite glass whether in thick bush in SA or in northern WI. Maven c 11x45

But I have advance so In SA leica geovid B range finder 10x42

I never feel over powered

all personal. Or what you train your own eyes and hunting style around. I wear a kuiu bino harness.
Good luck and throw up a lot of glass and pick what turns you on.

 

[JimP]

I will always have a pair of binoculars with me. On both of my hunts we quite often sat down to glass a area and if you feel like letting your PH and tracker do all the glassing you can leave them at home.

There is no doubt that the PH and tracker will quite often spot animals before you do but I have spotted them before either of them when glassing the thick stuff.

On my recent trip I did leave my Swarovskis at home and took some Leopold 10x42 BX 2's

 

[fourfive8]

I have always carried a pair of older Bushnell (mid '70s made by Bushnell) 7x35 binocs for hunting elk, deer and pronghorn here, mainly DIY public land hunting. They are quite clear and enough magnification for the distances I have hunted. For my first African PG hunt this past June, I bought a pair of lower end 10x40 Leupold BX-1 binocs as I figured the distances for spotting African game would be much further and the increased magnification would be helpful. On both accounts, this proved correct. HOWEVER, I found both the PH and tracker spotting the game at great distances in the rocks and brush WAY before I could see anything! Not only could they see the game, they could tell me if "it was a good bull or ram", etc. The PH had a ragged pair of Vortex 8x32s and the tracker 8x32 Athlon binocs. After the first two days, I left my binocs in the truck and never used them again. I had never hunted with a guide before and in this circumstance, having my own binocs wasn't necessary at least for spotting a potential game animal to subsequently make a stalk on. At the end of the hunt, I gave my binocs to the PH. Next time I'll just bring my Bushnells for surveying the landscape. LOL

I've hunted with and without, but really prefer to carry mine. In Africa, it never has made any difference in whether I shoot or not because I'm looking at animals at distance- not 50 yards away I just like to see what the PHs or trackers are looking at and talking about when viewing game with binocs. Sitting and glassing, just like here for deer or elk or sheep or whatever, you're just as likely to pick something up at distance as they are. But you are so right, some of those trackers I swear have 8x eyeballs... with resolution! In Botswana I remember carefully listening to a couple of the guys, clicking away in their language, spotting and accurately calling, in broken English, the sizes of red hartebeest without binocs at 3/4 mile or more! We were not hunting hartebeest and they were nonchalantly calling out the sizes as we poked along in the cruiser. Occasionally we would stop to take a close look in case some other PG was in the company of the hartebeest. I would check with the binocs and it was truly uncanny how accurate they were.

 

[Lungshot202]

I have both the 8 power Leica trinovids and the b2 11 x45 maven's, can't bet the maven's for the price but a tad on the heavy side. Incredible glass for the money.

 

[dailordasailor]

I’m relatively a cheap guy. First decent binoculars I bought were vortex 8x. A couple years later got a pair of vortex 10x. Think were $300. In africa my wife had the 8x on a Boyd sling and I had my 10x on a FHf bino harness. They were never in the way and we used them constantly. I couldn’t tell a good vs bad impala or whichever but I could tell there was an impala then point and let the PH decide if we’re going after them or not. I think even with Walmart binoculars your PH will out spot you. It’s the 300 days a year in the Field, not the quality of glass.

I would never go back without binoculars. We spent so much time looking through them I’d feel lost without them.

 

[Mike B.]

I have always taken my binos, swaro 10x42. I am a firm believer that you should buy the best glass you can afford and if you can't afford Leica or swaro, try and save some more until you can. I did carry my binos with me on my last buffalo hunt but I didn't on my previous one. I didn't see any advantage of taking them this last time but it was cool to be able to try and pick out a good bull versus all the cows. But ultimately I was no help to the PH in finding a bull to shoot.

On my plains game hunts, I've always taken my binos. Last year I was in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and the terrain made it almost a necessity to have good binos. Really similar hunting styles to being in the western US. Our eyes are trained to see elk, deer and typical game we find here so when we go to Africa and try and spot stuff that we don't see everyday, it's difficult to pick them out and know quickly if they are good. There is such a wide variety of colors of the game animals that it takes looking at a lot of animals to get used to it. I am getting better at it the more I've gone but honestly, I still suck I was hunting auodad in the stormberg mountains with Marius at KMG and he kept pointing out herds of auodad. I absolutely struggled finding them. Marius would spend 5 minutes just trying to explain to me where they were at. Binos in that situation was absolutely worthless to me

Like the post above, I always take them because I personally want to be able to learn about the animals I'm being told are good animals to shoot. In some instances, you can look them over long enough to get a sense of their trophy potential. Other times, things happen too fast and you just have to trust your PH. I am not a numbers guy for needing the biggest animal, but I still like to learn about judging animals so I can understand the reasoning behind the PH giving you an informed decision about shooting or not.

 

[GuttormG]

I am using a Zeiss Terra 8x25 (older, made in Japan). Fits in a pocket and exellent optics.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

You are going to be walking far, it will be hot, your rifle will be heavy. You don't need to see for miles, it is all close work. You may have to run. The less you have attached to you and clumping around the better. So I use Swarovski 7x21 pocket binos, tiny, light, crisp as gin. Perfect.

 

[shootist~]

I stayed on the semi compact side to save weight with a set Swarovski 8x30 Companions + Rick Young harness. Really enjoyed them for lookie-looing, but my tracker did 90% of the spotting and the PH the rest. All Mark I eyeball, IIRC, alhough Sammy did a fair amount of glassing with his Vortex binos.

I got a brief look at my kudu thru the Swaro 8x30s at ~250 Yds (classic Gray Ghost in deep shade) , but everything else was naked eye (then scope). Pretty normal for hunting in the bush, I suppose.

 

[spike.t]

I would say you will miss out on a lot if you don't have binos with you....

 

[375Fox]

@CoElkHunter where was your hunt at? Most areas I’ve left my binoculars in truck, but eastern cape I saw a lot of value in having them with me. Your PH will usually see animals first, but I think it’s because he knows where to look first and what he is looking for. You are looking at unfamiliar landscape and animals, so your eyes aren’t trained to find the animals as fast as he can, but you can still see things they don’t occasionally. In Zimbabwe in thick brush, my PH said binoculars can be very helpful to older clients trying to pick up on buffalo in thick brush they can’t find initially in their riflescope.

 

[IvW]

8x something....

 

[meigsbucks]

On my first safari, I took a pair of sub-compact Zeiss 8x20 (these have been on every hunt I’ve ever been on since the late 70’s) and Swarovski 10x30. My PH told me that on stalks, he’d spot the game and I should concentrate on shooting. I still carried the 8x20’s in my shirt pocket. I think I maybe used them twice the whole hunt. I did use the 10x30’s just looking at stuff from the truck or at the PH’s direction from the truck.

 

[Hank2211]

The reality of hunting Africa with a PH is that you don't need binos (and in some areas, like the jungle, the PH doesn't need binos either). On my first hunt I was amazed by what my PH and trackers could see that I couldn't. Much to the frustration, at times, of my PH!

Having said that, hunters who are constantly looking through binos when they should be getting ready to shoot is high on any PH's list of frustrations. Some animals in some circumstances will give you time, but many (most) won't, and if you didn't need the binos to find them, admiring them when you should be shooting them will annoy not only your PH but, almost as importantly, your trackers.

I would say, on balance, that you should have a good pair of binos with you, but you don't need to be, and in fact shouldn't be, using them all or even much of the time while actively hunting. If the PH points out an animal that he thinks you may wish to shoot though, and if you're having a hard time making it out, it's much easier to find an animal through binos than it is through a scope.

 

[Rick HOlbert]

I have always carried a pair of older Bushnell (mid '70s made by Bushnell) 7x35 binocs for hunting elk, deer and pronghorn here, mainly DIY public land hunting. They are quite clear and enough magnification for the distances I have hunted. For my first African PG hunt this past June, I bought a pair of lower end 10x40 Leupold BX-1 binocs as I figured the distances for spotting African game would be much further and the increased magnification would be helpful. On both accounts, this proved correct. HOWEVER, I found both the PH and tracker spotting the game at great distances in the rocks and brush WAY before I could see anything! Not only could they see the game, they could tell me if "it was a good bull or ram", etc. The PH had a ragged pair of Vortex 8x32s and the tracker 8x32 Athlon binocs. After the first two days, I left my binocs in the truck and never used them again. I had never hunted with a guide before and in this circumstance, having my own binocs wasn't necessary at least for spotting a potential game animal to subsequently make a stalk on. At the end of the hunt, I gave my binocs to the PH. Next time I'll just bring my Bushnells for surveying the landscape. LOL

For all of my trips to Namibia and hunting here at home I use a pair of Kahles 8X30 compacts. a little heavy for the size but crystal clear and I wouldn't be without them.

 

[Andrew62]

I just took a pair of Vortex 8x32 on a safari, it was the first time in 15 safaris I took binos. I did enjoy having them along, but when it was time to hunt, I had no use for them. All I want to hear is the guide say 'shoot' and I'm ready to shoot. I tell him ahead of time what I am looking for, I trust him. I personally do not need to be looking at the animal prior to shooting it, but others do, and that is fine too.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Spotting game is part of the hunting for me. Trying to see game before skilled trackers and PH's is part of the challenge. It allows me to feel like I'm actually hunting.
Trophy judging is also part of it for me. No binos, its a little hard to do.
Depends on the game species and terrain as well. I had to learn that one. Vaalies require spotting, Bongo in the jungle, not so much.

The humbling hard lessons the very first day in Africa started with an Elephant on the side of a mountain. The tracker just said; "There is an Elephant." I stared and stared and stared. After my fruitless search, I asked for the location. Once it was pointed out it was "obvious". The next one was a Zebra. Another, Where's Waldo? Who'd have thought grey and black and white stripes would both be such effective camo.

If you decide to carry and use Bino's when you are hunting in Africa, you better be ready to shoot when the opportunity arises. If not, expect that "look" from the team.