Do I Really Need Binoculars?

[Philip Glass]

Twice now I have bought nice Binos only to not use them on my 8 safaris ending up giving them to my PHs along with a nice cash tip
Please tell me what I am missing. My PH always uses his to both judge the animal and position me. Given I lean on long walking DG animals I just don’t see the need
Your thoughts?

It is true that on many DG hunts they rarely get used. In some scenarios the client can mess up the hunt insisting on using binos when they just need to be getting ready for the shot. It seems many hunters think they have all day to get ready to shoot. Maybe this comes from hunting from blinds or other scenarios where an animal is glassed from some distance and time is available to set up for a shot. I have always been a quick shooter knowing the opportunity can pass in the blink of an eye. For me I will typically have my compact 10x binos and my Rick Young Ultralight Bino Harness on me. There have been buffalo and elephant hunts where I left them in the truck. There have also been times we have found a vantage point and glassed for DG.
I say take them but don't feel that you will be missing much without them.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Twice now I have bought nice Binos only to not use them on my 8 safaris ending up giving them to my PHs along with a nice cash tip
Please tell me what I am missing. My PH always uses his to both judge the animal and position me. Given I lean on long walking DG animals I just don’t see the need
Your thoughts?

I've spotted animals with my binos my PH didn't see.

 

[steve white]

Well, you probably won't be able to see much detail through her windows without binoculars...wait wrong evaluation! lol I mean IF you want to participate in trophy evaluation.

 

[Altitude sickness]

It is a personal decision. Some people just don’t like using or carrying them.

For me. There are hundreds of times a pair of compact binos can be used on a 10-14 day hunt. I like looking at birds, non target animals, glassing from hilltops.

Of course at crunch time on a final stalk is not a time to be sightseeing.

But there are many stalks that end with there not being a suitable candidate in the herd. So that is a time to learn from the PH. Studying what he is looking for.

Or there may be time to slowly pick apart the thick brush just ahead. When your pH is trying to explain to you where the boss of the Buffalo is and which way he’s pointing, you may have time to determine that first while sitting on your butt waiting for them to stand up. Swinging a 10 pound rifle to use the scope is neither stealthy or enjoyable.

Now, I would never carry them either if I was using the cheap flexing nylon strap versions with them bouncing around and sagging.

Rick Young or traditional strap on the shoulder across the chest wearing the bino under my armpit.

These compacts on a Rick Young harness don’t budge while running or climbing up and over.

 

[Altitude sickness]

However if this was the style I was forced to wear. I would throw them away with my binoculars.

I could see why no one would ever use binoculars wearing these things bouncing and banging all over.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I wish I had better eyes. Then I might be able to make better use of better quality binoculars. But most of the time looking through most binoculars, I'm fighting with double vision. I'm better off looking through 3-9x scope. Many have suggested monocular but little to no advantage over using the scope.

I really don't understand why binocular holsters aren't more popular. Wearing a daypack overheats me. Not enough ventilation. I can't imagine what it would be like wearing a bino harness AND a daypack. I suppose for oversize lunker binoculars a holster might be a bit of annoyance with left arm bumping into it. One might be able to roll the holster around to back side enough to be out of the way. I had to make my own holster and it works great. Flap is tucked inside while on the stalk for quick access.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Here’s the latest trend in chest bino holsters. Every year they add size and storage.
Bino/rangefinder/pistol holster

 

[SFRanger7GP]

I assume that is a joke and I agree with it's message. But that is actually one of the most awesome weapons systems in the US Army, an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper rigged to jump.
Awww, the memories....., and my knees, hips and back!

 

[Hogpatrol]

However if this was the style I was forced to wear. I would throw them away with my binoculars.

I could see why no one would ever use binoculars wearing these things bouncing and banging all over.
View attachment 712210

Ah, but these along with KUIU hunting shorts are African safari haute couture.

Disclaimer: Rick Young rig user.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Ranger, yeah. I was being sarcastic. The chest noon rigs seem to grow every year and are now the size of a World War II paratroopers chest rig

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Here’s the latest trend in chest bino holsters. Every year they add size and storage.
Bino/rangefinder/pistol holster View attachment 712219

Can't make out the shoulder patch but fair to assume he was airborne and the top pack is his reserve chute. Thompson machine gun so I'm guessing Korea at the latest? Big Kabar combat knife strapped to his lower left leg. Once he was deployed on the ground both chutes disposed of and the other pack on front gets switched to his back. Those guys had to be in extreme condition just to climb on the plane!

 

[Flipper Dude]

Twice now I have bought nice Binos only to not use them on my 8 safaris ending up giving them to my PHs along with a nice cash tip
Please tell me what I am missing. My PH always uses his to both judge the animal and position me. Given I lean on long walking DG animals I just don’t see the need
Your thoughts?

Mine stay on the truck. Not needed. Some may want them, but they don’t need them. I have used them in Kwa Zulu Natal when doing a lot of extended glassing, or I suppose
In the east cape or parts of Namibia, but I’ve never hunted there. Miles of tracking buffalo or elephant, nope.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I think these convert to a field chair.

 

[Firebird]

I always have my binos with me. Aside from helping spot during the hunt, they are wonderful for use around camp,
The lodge or doing tourist activities (game park viewing). I own one pair of very good binos and have only had the one pair for two decades now, so that is what is always use.
There are situations where I leave them on the seat of the vehicle though-

 

[SplitHoof]

When on several occasions we climbed to the top of a large hill to get a vantage point for spotting, the PH will ask me if I can see what he is looking at, or I may discover an animal that he might not due to how we may be crouched down in the shadows; not being able to see what each of are looking at puts me at a huge disadvantage, IMO. You might as well wear a bag over tour head or remain sleeping in the Bakki for that matter, while your PH and tracker are doing part of what you paid so much to partake in. I want every advantage I can get in looking at details of the animal when it’s appropriate to do so, it’s part of the hunt that we worked so much for to make happen.
We carry our Bino’s in the Rick Young Ultra Light Harness, and with the several ways they are used, the binos never get in the way. Won’t leave camp or the Bakki without them.

 

[ftrovato]

I used mine everywhere including Penns woods deer hunting. I've seen deer in heavy cover within 100 years (eyes/ears/throats) that my naked eye missed.

Put them to your face every time your not moving and you'll surprised what you see.

 

[Hunt anything]

I left my binoculars in an Argo one time, absolutely never again. It was my very first stalk on a herd of buffalo in Mozambique. On the actual stalk I didn’t need them but after my bull was down and the herd thundered off my bull let out that wonderful but sad death bellow. The herd came back at a run and surrounded the bull. I would’ve given anything to be able to watch the herd through binoculars at 60yds instead of just my naked eyes.
My PH did allow me to look through his for a minute and I was able to see a hippo bull come out of the papyrus a 1000yds away but I feel I cheated myself by not having my own binoculars.

 

[roverandbrew]

I assume that is a joke and I agree with it's message. But that is actually one of the most awesome weapons systems in the US Army, an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper rigged to jump.
Awww, the memories....., and my knees, hips and back!

I'd rather be a baby in the belly of a wh...........

 

[JimP]

I personally believe that your binoculars should be a part of your body while hunting. Have you ever gotten out of a vehicle with someone else and left your binoculars in the truck while you walked a short ways to "take a look" and then wished that you had them.

Same with your rifle, never go more than a couple of steps away from your vehicle without it if it is during hunting season. A friend this past muzzle loader season here in Colorado walked away from his vehicle just to take a look on a far side hill. Yep, as soon as he had gone a good ways away from his vehicle in the middle of the day stood a nice bull elk at 50 yards, never to be seen again once he retrieved his rifle.

 

[roverandbrew]

Mine generally stay on the truck unless I am beside @One Day... and know I will have hear about it later.