royinidaho
Well-Known Member
Didn't start seeing deer until after sun was over the mountains to the east. Were they out before then? Darn'd if I know.
Before the sun, I could range, repeatable @ 1144 yds. After sun rise repeatable to 1040.
It may need to be noted that rained on us most of the night. Yep, we slept, kinda on the "hill". Were we ready for the 50mph winds and heavy ran? Heck no, but "it was a warm wet". But it hard to get thermia when the temp is in the low 60s.
I wonder if the wetness had a positive affect on the LRF performance?
Also we were ranging across to a fairly large and steep hill side with sage, junipers and large bushes.
Closest deer were 435 +/- as they moved about.
Farthest deer were 1040yds. Repeatable for the full session.
Other deer from 495 to 825 again repeatable for the full session.
Optics continued to be pleasing. Though not sufficient power to grade/measure quality of antlers other than just to 'see horns'.
All readings were hand held or hand resting on the tripod. It was off and on cloudy. Shade/sun light didn't seem to make a difference.
Also had the Nikon XL-II. I am plenty satisfied with it but for these old eyes they aren't good enough to "grade" antlers either. And they seemed to be the heaviest thing in the pack.
Result of test is that the Leica 1200 is plenty good for the range of my capabilities in hillside mountain conditions. We'll see this winter about sage brush desert on the yotes.
PS: Its an eye opener to actually be in the field and not at the computer or set-up range. I guess we'll go 500 to 700 yd ranges first /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif butyou can bet that by October we'll be more than ready.
Before the sun, I could range, repeatable @ 1144 yds. After sun rise repeatable to 1040.
It may need to be noted that rained on us most of the night. Yep, we slept, kinda on the "hill". Were we ready for the 50mph winds and heavy ran? Heck no, but "it was a warm wet". But it hard to get thermia when the temp is in the low 60s.
I wonder if the wetness had a positive affect on the LRF performance?
Also we were ranging across to a fairly large and steep hill side with sage, junipers and large bushes.
Closest deer were 435 +/- as they moved about.
Farthest deer were 1040yds. Repeatable for the full session.
Other deer from 495 to 825 again repeatable for the full session.
Optics continued to be pleasing. Though not sufficient power to grade/measure quality of antlers other than just to 'see horns'.
All readings were hand held or hand resting on the tripod. It was off and on cloudy. Shade/sun light didn't seem to make a difference.
Also had the Nikon XL-II. I am plenty satisfied with it but for these old eyes they aren't good enough to "grade" antlers either. And they seemed to be the heaviest thing in the pack.
Result of test is that the Leica 1200 is plenty good for the range of my capabilities in hillside mountain conditions. We'll see this winter about sage brush desert on the yotes.
PS: Its an eye opener to actually be in the field and not at the computer or set-up range. I guess we'll go 500 to 700 yd ranges first /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif butyou can bet that by October we'll be more than ready.
