I got out last weekend and found a spot to place my treestand for the upcoming season. It's a different spot than I had originally planned and is far tighter than I'd expect to find out here on the prairie (this being my first year hunting the prairie, first year hunting in 20+ years, and first year hunting big game with a handgun).

Here's a look from above:


The Red Dot is my stand. The Yellow Arrows are my approximate shooting lanes. The Blue is a (dry) drainage that appears in spots to be a hidden deer highway.

The "front" two lanes give me shots to about 35-40 yards. The lanes to my far left and right are more like 25 yards max. The only far shot I can imagine is if Big Bruiser decides to amble right across that milo stubble.

I've got a Leupold M8-2x scope which I had originally planned to put on my gun (BFR, 475L), but now I'm thinking I should probably stick to open sights and train really hard out to 50 yards or so. FWIW, I'm not dropping the coin on a red dot this year. Maybe next year, but this season it's either the 2x Loopy or Irons.

So, what say ye?

That scope will get you some more shooting time after you can't see the irons any longer.

Well, there went my 2 cents worth ;-)

Gary, do you mean farther into twilight and dusk, or are you talking about when I'm older and crustier and simply can't see anymore?

To be completely honest, I have the coin, but would feel terribly, terribly guilty spending it. All the while I know an Ultradot-30 would probably be the best solution by far. Aarrghh!!

I think If I had the scope I would go with it if it always for better sighting in dim light, just because when it gets closer to dark I personally have troubles seeing my front sight although I with my red green colorblindness the red front on my revolver is heck to see anyways. Also I know from deer hunting with a bow if it weren't for fiber optic pins I would have passed on a lot more deer as well due to lack of light when in the trees or the shade of a hill. I'm knew to handgun hunting so I may be wrong.

The scope will be better in the fading light than the irons

A red dot would be better than the scope...(but that is off the table for now)

I can tell you for sure, iron sights disappear when there is still enough light left to take that last minute shot.

I guess another question I should ask is, how close is too close with a 2x scope?

I think you can figure that out for yourself.
Do some practice on a deer sized target, and see how fast you can get on target.
Also, since you are hunting from a fixed position, shooting with both eyes open you should do well.

Ya better start training yesterday; huntin' season is almost here.

I'd scope it, and get to using it.

I've taken game: squirrels, coyote, 'dillo and deer, at ranges 10 yards and closer with a scope.

My vote - scope it...i'm with KRal - the scope can and will work fine at close range if you practice target acquisition.

Is that a river/creek/waterway to the South of the stand? Do the deer cross it freely? Where are the deer bedding and how are they accessing the food sources?

I'm a red dot guy, but if you have the scope then yeah I would use it for this season...but as has been mentioned...start shooting as soon as you can.

Leupold 2X is better than red dot.

In low light I prefer a dot over any pistol scope.

ditto on dot,especially being able to keep both eyes open following/aiming for shot on kicked up game ,not so easy with scope-john

You know Gregg, you are completely right. This spring I volunteered to help a buddy at work get his own business off the ground and my fun time has been cut down to almost nothing. I spent today shoveling rocks and am in the midst of another night driving a desk. I think with a bit of creativity I can be ready. It's exactly 3 months to the season opener.

Right now I'm good to 40 with irons in a half-drunken stupor, but I want to be ready ready.



Yeah, that's a river behind my stand. The banks are quite steep and THICK with tall weeds. While the deer do cross the river, I've never seen a spot that shows heavy water traffic. There's also very little evidence showing that they'll slip behind me. They'd be completely in the open if they tried to walk the bank/shore as the far bank is really grassy and open.

I'm not sure about bedding areas, but I'm sitting in a major traffic corridor. It is insanely thick and tangled in spots and it wouldn't surprise me if deer were bedding in the super-thick spots.

One thing I'd like to do if I can find the time is scout the far north end of the drainage (blue area). I know they use the drainage to mask their movement as I found a well traveled trail there again this year (scouted it last year just a bit too). But I'm not sure what's up there and why they travel between there and my stand so much. They might be bedding up there, dunno. I can only go so far and then the public land stops, but it's probably worth a look.

One think I do know is deer like edges and corners and while this isn't my first choice for a stand spot, I'm sure I'll see deer. At least that's what all the hoof prints tell me.



Thanks for the tip, Ernie. It's funny, I was working with some big sheets of cardboard in the shop last night and told one of my co-workers that I needed to find some cardboard for target backers. He showed me a huge pile of deer-sized pieces and said, "take all you want, we get tons of this stuff."

So I think I'll go ahead and scope it and tack the basement with deer pics torn from gun mags. I'm sure I can squeeze a few minutes a day for target acquisition, even if it has to be when I get home at 2am. Then it's to the range as often as I can to work out the kinks with field/stand shooting.

Thanks again for all the help guys.

Sounds like you have a good plan in progress, Odin. The mental battle is half of it, IMO.

Keep pluggin' away and git the scope mounted and practice, practice... well I think ya know what I mean...

Have you got a load worked out for your BFR .475?

FWIW, for your deer season as you have indicated; any load that shoots good in your .475 L revolver will work; due to its caliber and ballistics at the close ranges you mention. No need to really research out different loads at this late stage of the game.

MHO

Keep us posted (and Post a pic of your BFR if ya git a chance!)

Best of Luck,

Gregg

That debate belongs in a different and (new) thread!

MHO

Gregg

Ha ha ha! Sounds like most of my days! Are you an excavator also, like me?

...I hope not; wouldn't wish that on anybody...

Especially in the Rocky Mountains.

Did I say rocky......

Oh my, I AM losing it...

But, it IS the "Off-Life" I have chosen...

...So that I can pursue my "On-Life Passion": HUNTING...

15 grains of HS-6 behind the 400gr LEE. I'm built like a marathon runner, so it's plenty stout for me, without being brutal.




Where's the "stir the pot" icon???




I work full time as a pre-press tech for a daily newspaper (anybody remember those?) and part time as a lawn jockey/landscaper. While I did run the skid loader for about two minutes today, the rock shoveling was all by hand.

That should work.

Exactly! Ever laid up a leach field?

Odin, How is that load grouping for you?

Have you clocked that load?

LOL

I am interested just because I have a 480 Ruger...