New rangefinder

[daddywpb]

Just sold my Bushnell Sport, and got a Bushnell Scout rangefinder. I wanted one with the "scan" mode. The main difference I noticed is that the Sport would show a distance under 10 yards (not that it's a big deal), and the Scout will not. I'd like to hear comments from anyone who is using a Scout. Was it a good move?

[Siskiyou]

I have been thinking about buying a rangefinder, but it is not at the top of the list.  But it is moving up the list.  My primary mode of hunting is spending a fair amount of time glassing across canyons, and across clear cuts.  My favorite tool for this is my 10X40 binoculars.  There are times that a 20 power spoting scope takes up residence in my daypack, next to the  portable radio, the gps, the compass, the toilet paper, two canteens, food,a Wyoming saw and rope.  Almost forgot the first aid kit.  The point is I am overloaded.  Will the rangefinder replace the 10x40 glasses?  Then there are days that I add a pack frame and deer bag which I stash at a key location.

It seems that as I grow older the gear I carry increases and the body grows weary.  I went for a four mile power walk this morning in an effort to recover from a fall a couple weeks backs.  That sure took the steam out of the day.  But I carried the loaded day pack on the walk.  Spotted some deer, and it would have been good practice for a rangefinder.  As a kid hunting deer in California's dry fall we used a rather simple range finding method.  We adjust our sights to the dust kicked up by our first shot.  If the deer fell over we did not need to make an adjustment.

So what is your opinion of the two units that you have used for ranges between 100 yards to 500 yards?

[BoarHunter]

I too have considered a rangefinder then realize that with my GPS garmin 60CX and topo map, I could measure the distance easily.
When I set up in a place, I determine the various distance of various landscape features and so when I spot game, I know with enough accuracy its distance. I prefer this approach as usualy I have no time to fumble with a range finder when the time comes to take a shot.
The saving on the rangefinder allowed me to get a top of the line GPS.

[Siskiyou]

Gps-range finder

Over the years I have found that I will hunt the same areas.  My first ranger finder was the dust kicked up by my bullet on the far side of the canyon.  My second range finder became a 7.5 Minute USGS Topo map.  Of course both methods require a certain amount of estimation.   Two years ago my hunting partner and I were watching an opposite slope that was new to me and I had never computed the distance on a Topo.  I selected a spot on the slope and played with the gps a few minutes.  My best “guess” using the gps was the range was approximately 245 yards.  The top of the ridge was close to 600 yards away.

I have no experience with ranger finders, but I do not think a gps will be as accurate.  It will give you a better estimate then the naked eye.  I have used my gps as a measuring device, but when projecting a waypoint and measuring the distance it is a best guess proposition.

A gps will give you a better estimate of range in broken country that shows up on your Topo software, but there is no Topo software be it 1:24K or 1:100K that gives you the detail of a mid-slope rock out cropping over looking a basin.  If you use the out cropping for a marker your best guess maybe off.  The outcropping may be the size of a house and it does not show up on the map.  At the same time you are receiving six satelittes on your gps.  The screen shows your accuracy as (+) or (-) 12 feet.  At 147 yards you should not need a range finder with most firearms.  But if the game is at 400 yards your errors multiply.  So if your gps is (+) or (-) 12 feet is your possible error four yards or are you on the outside of the (+) and (-) circle and your error six yards?  With a rangefinder you are sighting directly at the target you want to shoot.  But with a gps you are estimating a location on a small screen.  If you are pre-setup you can get a fix on an area, but if you have a couple of bucks moving downhill across a canyon, in and out of the brush and trees the problem is more difficult.

A few years ago I shot a buck at over 250 yards.  My .270 was zeroed for 245 yards.  I was slightly uphill from the deer and I aim low on the neck to put the bullet into the chest cavity.  I did not need to estimate the range.  Because of experience I knew the buck was mine.  As 12 and 13 year-olds my buddies and I would pace the streets in our small town.  We knew that each block was one hundred yards plus the width of the streets. This adolescent playing has paid off. The year before I had a shot that almost duplicated the earlier shot, but the distance was about 145 yards and I was using 6.5X55.  This time the deer was trotting downhill.  I just placed the cross hairs low on his crest and the bullet did the rest.

I watch deer almost every day.  I play the mental game regarding shot placement and range.  I believe that for a quick read a range finder would better serve the hunter then a gps because it is on target and not best guess.  I see the rangefinder as a tool to train the eye and the brain for those shots at moderate range.  The long shot should provide the hunter a little time to get into a good rest, and use a rangefinder to get within a few feet and not yards.  As a teenager I missed a few deer at long range.  Practice with a rangefinder would have been a good investment.  I always over estimated the range.

This morning would have been a great opportunity to train the eye using a range finder.  I went for a morning walk and I first spotted a doe and two fawns.  Best guest placed the fawns at 30 yards and the doe at 45 yards.  I later spotted a doe and a small buck.  Best guess is they were between 130 and 150 yards.  The bottom line is that if they were legal all would have been a dead on hold with the .270.  The second pair would have been a high behind the shoulder hold with the 30-30.

You can easily measure distance from fixed stands with a gps during the pre-season measuring from one to a point to another. 

[Siskiyou]

This morning I went on a four-mile hike, of course a gps went with me.  I carry my gps in a case at my side.  The unit is on and receiving satellites.  This is the same mode I would be carrying my gps while hunting.  This mornings experiment was with the Garmin GPSMap76C.  I will repeat the experiment with the Garmin GPSMAP76CX.  The 60CX and the 76CX have the same processor.

I found that estimating distance from my position to a road intersection easy, and I would use the rocker to scroll the point to the road intersection from my location.  As I scrolled the distance was display in feet from my location.  This was easy because the road intersection was displayed on my the topo map loaded on the unit.*

The next test was a shot across a shallow draw without a good landmark to get a fix on the target area.  I scrolled the pointer and came up with a distance of 467 feet. (155.6 yards.)  Frankly I did not like that number.  My eyeball told me the distance was greater.

My next effort was to select the Stop Watch/Lap Page.  The page allows me to measure a distance that I travel.  While the page starts out in feet when I arrived at my selected point it showed that I had traveled .18 mile. (5280 feet X .18 = 950.4 feet.  Or  316.8 yards.)  I feel this distance is more representative then 155.6 yards.  If I held on a deer for 156 yards and the deer was at 316/317 yards the result would be a very low shot in the chest cavity.  A killing shot but not where I prefer to hit.  I preferred to catch the lungs.**

The next stop really showed a problem that the hunter could face in the woods.  If you have been setting on a stand for a long period of time this problem will not appear.  At my next stop I pulled out my gps, which showed a minimum of satellites.  The gps having been screened by my body it was showing an accuracy of 130 feet.  It quickly found additional satellites.  The accuracy quickly dropped to 82 feet and continued to drop.  This would not have worked with a moving deer.  My target would be quickly loss.

·   ** Field accuracy.  I have wondered around looking at my different gps units so much the last few years that a neighbor woman thought I was carrying a heart monitor.   But I was really testing satellite reception between the Garmin Legend, the 76C and the 76CX.  And a trip with the eXplorist 100.  The bottom line is that the longer I set the more satellites I received and accuracy falls within a few feet.  But this may require that I set in the same position 10 or 15 minutes.  I am current setting at my dinning room table and my GPSMap 76CX shows seven satellites and accuracy of (+) or (-) 19 feet.

So if the hunter finds himself on the move and suddenly a big nervous buck appears on the next ridge the time lag for the gps to settle down, the buck is over the ridge before the hunter comes close to getting an accurate reading.  Normally a gps held in an ideal position will pickup additional satellites over one carried in a pouch or hanging around ones neck.

I believe the 76C fairly represents most gps units.  I found it close to my Garmin Legend. 

The Garmin 76CX and Garmin 60CX series are a different animal.  The SiRF III chip boots up and locks on to satellites very fast.  It also receives more satellites when carried in the pouch on my side.  So the key is that with its better reaction time and more sensitive chip will it allow fast range estimation then the 76C?

If hunting from fix stands it would be easy to establish field of fire maps and measure the fixed distances at my leisure.  Most gps units will work for establishing pre-planned shooting lane.

If everything works out during the next few weeks I will have an opportunity to field-test the GPSMap76CX at range estimation.  Two flaws up front are that I do not have a rangefinder to compare with.  And I will not be running a tape measure out to confirm the distance.  So my conclusion will be dependent of my perception.  If I can learn to use the 76CX as a rangefinder I will benefit.  If I spot a legal buck in the process that will be a plus.  It will be unlikely that I will use the gps as a rangefinder if I spot a buck within 300 yards.  Hopefully the month of October will be spent hunting and not pounding on a keyboard.