Backcountry 3-15x optic?

[tomcat818]

Keep in mind that all the brands that meet your backcountry hunting requirements are most likely produced in one of two factories in Japan either Light Optical Works or Japan Optics. I would venture to guess that a good portion of the internals on these scopes are the same and are quality CNC machined parts, very good glass, and precisely manufactured to tight tolerances. Companies will specify the lens grind and coatings along with external ascetics for marketing but do not spend engineering $ when they have access to quality well engineered parts. I'm talking about scopes in your price range from $750-1,500 range. This is a list of rifle scope manufactures that build their mid-range scopes in Japan (some may surprise you):

Trijicon (Huron, Ascent, Tenmile, Credo)
Sightron
March
*Leupold
*SWFA
*Vortex
Nightforce
Bushnell Elite
Burris
Maven
Zeiss
Athlon
Nikon
Tract
Swarovski

*Brands I own

Note: not complete but all the time I was willing to spend on it

Those who hunt the backcountry by horseback can afford the extra weight of a Mil spec tactical scope which typically weight in the 32-42oz range and are built like tanks. On the other hand if you are packing in on foot it doesn't make sense to have a 2.5lb brick a top your rifle. My hunting scopes are in the 17-22oz weight range so you know what category I'm in.
Those who categorize entire companies products as junk while promoting extreme high end\high cost, and heavy optics only practical for short-carry hunting and\or bench rest shooting are in my opinion exhibiting signs of conspicuous consumption.

BTW I have hundreds of hunting hours on my scopes and not a single tracking issue to date.

 

[wilkup]

Keep in mind that all the brands that meet your backcountry hunting requirements are most likely produced in one of two factories in Japan either Light Optical Works or Japan Optics. I would venture to guess that a good portion of the internals on these scopes are the same and are quality CNC machined parts, very good glass, and precisely manufactured to tight tolerances. Companies will specify the lens grind and coatings along with external ascetics for marketing but do not spend engineering $ when they have access to quality well engineered parts. I'm talking about scopes in your price range from $750-1,500 range. This is a list of rifle scope manufactures that build their mid-range scopes in Japan (some may surprise you):

Trijicon (Huron, Ascent, Tenmile, Credo)
Sightron
March
*Leupold
*SWFA
*Vortex
Nightforce
Bushnell Elite
Burris
Maven
Zeiss
Athlon
Nikon
Tract
Swarovski

*Brands I own

Note: not complete but all the time I was willing to spend on it

Those who hunt the backcountry by horseback can afford the extra weight of a Mil spec tactical scope which typically weight in the 32-42oz range and are built like tanks. On the other hand if you are packing in on foot it doesn't make sense to have a 2.5lb brick a top your rifle. My hunting scopes are in the 17-22oz weight range so you know what category I'm in.
Those who categorize entire companies products as junk while promoting extreme high end\high cost, and heavy optics only practical for short-carry hunting and\or bench rest shooting are in my opinion exhibiting signs of conspicuous consumption.

BTW I have hundreds of hunting hours on my scopes and not a single tracking issue to date.

I've got the horses but even my sure-footed, mountain born mustangs can't make it into the areas where I hunt with me on their back. And no matter how light I get my equipment and in shape I am, I'm always wishing for and thinking of ways to lighten my load on the way out.
Oddly enough, I always pack a 30-30 Marlin Trapper or 44 wheel gun when hunting from horseback…
Pics for fun

 

[wilkup]

It's a great scope. It's a little heavy and more "tactical" looking than most traditional scopes

The confidence gained by the knowledge it was built by Trijicon is worth the trade off in weight for me.

 

[sp6x6]

There was a small NF in classifieds now SHV 3-10 ILL. PG 2 $725

 

[LDHunter]

I've got the horses but even my sure-footed, mountain born mustangs can't make it into the areas where I hunt with me on their back. And no matter how light I get my equipment and in shape I am, I'm always wishing for and thinking of ways to lighten my load on the way out.
Oddly enough, I always pack a 30-30 Marlin Trapper or 44 wheel gun when hunting from horseback…
Pics for fun

You could be arrested for having too much fun wilkup.... LOL

Seriously it appears that you're finding some really remote and beautiful places to hunt.

Most of us only dream of places like that. <sigh>

 

[wilkup]

You could be arrested for having too much fun wilkup.... LOL

Seriously it appears that you're finding some really remote and beautiful places to hunt.

Most of us only dream of places like that. <sigh>

Being a PNW native, I had no clue the lottery I won in life until my wife and I decided to be adventurous and relocated to central Texas a few years after college. No disrespect to the Texas or the rest of the country, but it's just not like the PNW, especially in the part of Texas I lived with gigantic ranches and zero public land, a term I'd never even heard until moving there.
I moved back home 8 years ago and there's not a day that passes I'm not thankful to be here again.

 

[tomcat818]

I've got the horses but even my sure-footed, mountain born mustangs can't make it into the areas where I hunt with me on their back. And no matter how light I get my equipment and in shape I am, I'm always wishing for and thinking of ways to lighten my load on the way out.
Oddly enough, I always pack a 30-30 Marlin Trapper or 44 wheel gun when hunting from horseback…
Pics for fun

Makes sense my place is about 3 miles from a large wilderness area with a lot of pack in hunting. While scouting this past season wanted to check one of the areas where they pack in with horses and passed a spike camp with horses at the base of a high ridge line rising up to 8600 ft much like those in your photos. From there the hike to the ridgeline was intense with 3-5 inches of snow on the ground and I was thinking no way you could ride it. I decided not to hunt it because the pack out would have been brutal at ~6 miles from the trailhead.

When I lived in WA I packed into the William O. Douglas Wilderness area for a elk muzzleloader hunt. I saw a bunch of spike camps with horses on that hunt and the trails going in were rutted 2-3ft deep in places from the traffic. Unfortunately the weather was 65-70 degrees at 6500-7500ft for the entire hunt and the elk where bedded by daylight everyday.

The lever action completes the package I'd say

 

[Crnaduckman]

I think both your picks are pretty sound inside the budget. They both have great glass. I have a vx5hd I will be selling soon because I am upgrading to a March. I have another vx5 I am very happy with and will continue to run. My LHT is on a rimfire and sees a lot of action but doesn't get hunted hard in the mountain so I can't speak to durability on hard falls. Also the trijicon credo 2.5-15x44 and Tennille 3-18 are others you might consider

 

[wilkup]

Makes sense my place is about 3 miles from a large wilderness area with a lot of pack in hunting. While scouting this past season wanted to check one of the areas where they pack in with horses and passed a spike camp with horses at the base of a high ridge line rising up to 8600 ft much like those in your photos. From there the hike to the ridgeline was intense with 3-5 inches of snow on the ground and I was thinking no way you could ride it. I decided not to hunt it because the pack out would have been brutal at ~6 miles from the trailhead.

When I lived in WA I packed into the William O. Douglas Wilderness area for a elk muzzleloader hunt. I saw a bunch of spike camps with horses on that hunt and the trails going in were rutted 2-3ft deep in places from the traffic. Unfortunately the weather was 65-70 degrees at 6500-7500ft for the entire hunt and the elk where bedded by daylight everyday.

The lever action completes the package I'd say

When I moved back up here, I made a deal with myself I'd stay as far away from the trailheads as possible. There is so much to see and explore off the beaten path just within the East/Central Cascades I live that I'll never be able to explore it all.
That brutal pack out is what keeps people away from the areas I like to go, but it seems all the deer know that secret too. So I cuss and cry on my way out and swear I'll never do it again. Then a year goes by and I can only remember how amazing it was and those memories of pain almost disappear lol

 

[bultinkle]

I'd probably get a Schmidt Klassik or a rs1.2 if you aren't going to get a nightforce.

The credo 2.5-15 is a nice scope if SFP is ok, I liked mine.

 

[arrow179]

Plenty of good options out there to choose from. For your application out of this group for weight and durability I would choose the S&B Klassik.