Well, I was hunting this morning and got a nice bodied buck with my Encore with a 12" barreled 7mm-08. I got great penetration and the deer dropped where it stood. Here is the issue. when on the bench in the middle of the day, there is no issue. but in the light of dawn and dusk conditions you can experience while hunting, as well as shooting from field conditions, I have a lot of trouble with the sight picture with the scope. I feel I purchased good scope as it is a 2-7 variable powered Bushnell scope. I have been hunting with it for about 5 years, but have a lot of trouble finding the game in the scope. It is a struggle. If it is not perfect lined up or the right distance from the eye, you cannot see through it. when looking through it at the right alignment, the field of vision seems to narrow to find the game as well. YES, the magnification was and is set on 2. SO!!!! anyone else have this problem? any suggestions? Would a red dot be any better? I have used one in the past with my S&W model 629, but I do not remember how it did in low light conditions finding game. Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Gratutious pic. I hunt for meat not horns.

I think most had this problem when they first started hunting with scoped handguns. If this is still a problem after a season or two, I would try out a red dot. It may solve your problem. It takes much more hand/eye coordination than rifle hunting.

Spencer,
First, congrats on your seer.
Getting used to a LER scope takes practice under all conditions.
The best LER scopes compared to riflescopes is no comparison.
Your FOV is greatly reduced and it is hard to find your sight picture, but again with practice in low light conditions it will get easier.
I do not know which Bushnell scope you have, but if get the best they make, Burris or Leupold you may see some advantage in low light.
If the red dot sight does not have an adjustable rheostat then you may also have a problem in low light as it creates the same problem through glare, but eye relief and limited FOV is not a problem.
I prefer a scope over a dot sight myself, but that is just me.

I have the older (long) 2-7 Burris and it has a small feild of view as well. Unless there is a problem with the scope you will get better at finding the veiw to target with practice.

Not sure how you would test if there is something wrong with the scope...

I'm having the same problem with my 2 to 6 Bushnell 3200 on my Encore. Does anyone make a 30mm handgun scope that would give a better view up close. Tx Buckey

Handgun scopes can be very trying at times. The eye relief is short and in a fast target aqusition situation even shorter. From the bench the situation is more controld and field of view is easy to get.

A couple of things that really helped me with freestanding and field shooting was practic, practice and even more practice. In time you draw the gun at the right distance for full field of view. Alot of the practice was dry firing at the TV with hunting shows and pictures taped to the wall in the house.

I also learned to draw the gun into my line of sight to the target with both eyes open. This also helped keep the target in focus and the dominate eye takes over thru the scope.

IMO, the best scope to use to solve some of your problems (Field of view too narrow to find game) is the Burris 2x7x32. It has a large field of view on low power (may be the largest) and has a large (32mm) objective lens, which helps in light gathering ability. As far as the alignment problem... Well, as TIGGER stated....practice, practice and more practice.... That's all that will fix that problem.

As usual, Tigger nailed it.. with my pistol scopes I go to the lowest power and keep both eyes open, with practice you will be amazed at how the second open eye keeps track of where the critter is while the eye behind the scope plays catch up with the scope alignment and whatever... and of course practice practice... I always curse the predawn hours that I haven't put in enough time practicing getting on target.... but it's a good way to pass the time when I am sitting in my stand. never tried a red dot, but if it works for ya, let us slow learners hear about it

Hey Spencer- sorry, I got carried away patting ole Tigger on the back for his advice- As a fellow New Yorker- specificlly where are you from. New York is a pretty big place once you get a ways from the apple. Nice buck- I hunt because that's what we do... Sitting bull was quoted as saying "we hunt because that's what hunters do, when the Buffalo is gone we will hunt mice if that's all that is left to hunt, because that's what we do" - I hunt by my rules and when I get one i'm happy and proud that I did it my way. That fellow looks like pretty good eatin'- low fat and gluten free

My two favorite low light sighting systems are this:

And now this:

Scopes can be tough in low light, but I think the Weaver 2.5-8 is pretty good. Make sure you set on lowest in low light, whatever variable. The Burris 4x fixed on my SRH is pretty good in low light as well.

come on you're killing me here, the first is "one ragged hole" but the second?

The ORH is only a part of the package, what makes it work is the Marble's fiber optic front sight. It shows up well before first and well after last light without hazing your target, green is mean.

The dot is an Optima 2000, now made by Docter and JP. It is the ultimate compact heads-up sight I've used. The dot just "appears" on the target, no tube, no FOV issues, I've really gotten to like this one.

You are right. practice is essential. I guess I thought maybe I was using old technology and there was something new out there I could use to help me along. It can get frustrating trying to find a deer in the scope. especially if they are moving as this one was. Just at a walk, but still tough to find, line up the scope,.......
s4s4u, I did think of going that route with the ghost ring, but I do want the option to crank up the power a little if I had a longer shot.
Hogghunter. I am south of Syracuse, but north of Cortland. How about you??

Tigger is spot on. You need to develop the muscle memory to bring the gun up with the same technique every time. I will practice almost a type of draw fairly regularly bringing the gun up and getting the crosshairs on target. It's obvious when I haven't done that in a while with a particular gun.

Just about 2 miles west of the south end of Letchworth Park- little place called Dalton- at the very south end of Livingston county- there's gettin to be a bunch of New Yorkers -signing in time and again-

Hey Just out of curiosity do you think that dot would hold up on a tc encore in 460 smith?

I'm shootin' pretty stout (max +) 45LC loads from a much lighter platform and it has not blinked from recoil that is just on this side of uncomfortable. YMMV.

Do it and do it a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have spent a lot of time snap caps and I feel like my shooting has greatly benefited from it!

that is a good idea ummmm i like it i have seen them caps .

WoW, I just got a deer mon in addison (stueben Co) will do a right up with pics shortly but was going to ask this same question as bench shooting fine, and found exactly your problem when aiming at deer, too bad not an unlimited fov variable scope out there

I have very little experience with glass sighting systems but, hunt with an Ultra 4 dot 30mm on my S&W 629 Classic. There is no magnification with these so paralex isn't a problem. I've recently been reading about the use of green dot opposed to red dot scopes and learned the green does not impose the halo onto the dot? I love the Ultra at dawn and dusk, so easy for me to see the dot(depending on my setting the reostat). I've learned that to quickly pickup my target through my scope, keep both eyes open.

Steve