Spotting scope necessary for archery elk hunt?

Is a spotting scope necessary for an archery hunt? 2018 will be my first western hunt of any kind so I have a lot of gear I'm acquiring on a limited budget. I'm not sure how much, if any money I'll have for a spotting scope after already getting new bino's (Leupold Mojave Pro Guide HD 10x42), MR Pintler pack, and few new apparel items. If I were to have funds for spotter, it'd most likely be no more than $500. My current thinking is that instead of spending that limited amount on a spotter, to instead get a tripod to run bino's on and get spotter for future trips. Am I on the right path with my logic? Any insight you guys have would be much appreciated!

Yes you are on the correct path, don't worry about the spotting scope you stated you're archery hunting so you'll likely be moving a fair amount and calling for elk unless you're trying to score a bull forget the spotting scope.

You should have one, but not expect to carry it all the time because this is an archery hunt and you will probably be hunting thicker cover a lot. I carry mine more for the scouting and getting used to the area phase of the hunt, after that I rarely carry one.

The only pieces of equipment NECESSARY for an archery elk hunt are a bow, an arrow, and a broadhead.

Unless you know you're going to be in areas conducive to glassing a long ways, skip the spotter. I doubt you'll come back from your first archery elk hunt saying, "if only I'd had a spotter."

In the area that I hunt elk, which includes above treeline, we can see a long way, but binocs are more than sufficient to say, "There's elk, and some of them are bulls." The only reason I can see for humping a spotter around would be if you are really picky about how many inches of antler those bulls have.

If I was going to choose between spotter and binos with a tripod I would go with the latter any day of the week.

A legal bull will be fine with me! My main goal is to start getting some experience so when my 4 year old son is old enough to hunt that I can take him elk hunting and help him harvest an elk sooner!

I think the speed and mobility gained by not taking 6-8 lbs of tripod and spotting scope is worth while especially if you don't already own the gear. Good field capable light tripods almost eat up a $500 budget before glass.

In regards to tripods, I've seen lots of recommendations for Slik 624/634 CF. Is the twist lock or flip lock style preffered for running optics? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on a head? Thanks for all the input!

j_burkWI said:

In regards to tripods, I've seen lots of recommendations for Slik 624/634 CF. Is the twist lock or flip lock style preffered for running optics? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on a head? Thanks for all the input!

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A fluid head is the best at panning, but is also the heaviest and most expensive. Friction pan heads tend to be jumpy and not lock down well, but are cheap and fairly light. Ballheads are a very light option that fixes in place pretty well, but doesn't pan as easily. The pistol grip heads are quick to move and lock down well but they don't really effectively pan.

I packed a Nikon ED50 a lot elk hunting. It's a really clear, compact, light scope that is plenty to let me check out an elk. Sometimes hunting muleys I'd pack a Swaro STM65 instead. The Swaro weighs 50.8oz with it's protective case and Outdoorsmans adapter though and the Nikon with case and adapter is 20.4oz. If I couldn't decide if I should pack a spotter or not for elk I always pack the Nikon with a little Slikk Compact II tripod. The tripod is cheap and not what I'd want to glass with for a long time, but it's good enough for evaluating an elk I spotted with the binos. A better tripod like the Promaster 525 with a good head (I like the Outdoorsmans pan head) is what I pack when I plan to glass a lot. The Nikon did really well from a better tripod like that. If you haven't tried glassing off a tripod with binos you will be amazed at what you see with the binos that steady.

The Outdoorsmans pan head is my favorite of all that I've tried. I really like the separate tilt and pan adjustments, and the head is super smooth. For a cheap option the Promaster 6160 is pretty good.

There is a new spotter from Kowa hitting the market that should be great for packing, early reviews I've seen are great on it. I sold my 65mm Swaro spotter and am selling my ED50 also to buy one of the new Kowa 55mm spotters that are just hitting the market, split the difference in between these two and use it for everything.

Hope this helps.