What Power Do You Shoot At On Scope

[Rancher]

Let’s say max distance is 100ish yards, what power will you dial up on your scope? What’s the advantages/disadvantages to having scope maxed out or on its lowest setting at or around this distance. Thanks

[mforsta]

I will put mine on 10X so I can "aim small, shoot small".

[randywallace]

I use high magnification. At 100 yards I am usually in the 12-15x range. At longer ranges, I may crank it up closer the the max (30x).

As mforsta said, aim small, shoot small. It is much easier for me to be accurate with higher magnification. The only time I back down on magnification is if the distance is well under 100 or the light is fading. Even with a Swaro, it just doesn't transmit a ton of light to my eye at 25-30x range in the last few minutes of the day. Bring it back down in the 7-12x range and I can still see.

[jakesnake66]

As I've gotten older I use less and less magnfication. That may seem counter-intuitive, but although my natural eyesight gets worse, I do a very good job keeping my contact lenses in spec, so my corrected eyesight is excellent. Because of how I hunt, I very rarely get a 100 yard shot, but even at that distance I do not want to be magnified more than 4x-6x. I hunt from the ground, and most of my shots are either off-hand or supported with my elbow on my thigh when I'm sitting on a bucket or my little stool. It's a personal thing, but I do not want to see the shake that comes with higher magnification. I shoot a tremendous amount with my peep-sight Model 94 30-30, so even lower magnifications can catch me off guard when I hunt with scopes.

About 10 years ago I was hunting over a large open area. I set my Nikon to it's max 9x. Then I decided to walk up into a hardwood flat that bordered the field. I didnt' think to change my scope setting. As I stood facing west a good 8pt walked up behind me. I spun around, shouldering my rifle at the same time, and when I took aim through the scope I could not find my deer. He was 12 yards away, but with my scope set to 9x I wasn't sure if I was on the deer, and I certainly couldn't be sure what part of the deer I was seeing. It was just colors. Somehow I was able to make an excellent educated guess, and I drilled the buck through his shoulders. But it was a panicky moment, and since then I've tried to avoid those situations where my field of view is so constricted.

[Mr Drysdale]

Unless I’m hunting extremely close quarters I set my scopes on six power and generally will take most shots within 100 yards without changing it. I shot a doe last Saturday evening at 271 yards and ran the power up to the max (14x). The last thing I ask my grandsons is “is your scope on the lowest setting”. My now 15 year old grandson had a bad day a couple of years ago because he had his scope on 10x (from sighting in) and couldn’t find the deer that was at 25 yards. That one got away.

[deerhunt1988]

I'm glad to see i'm not the only one who routinely uses higher magnification. The consensus from articles and podcasts by 'experts' and 'famous' hunters is that you don't need higher magnification to hunt whitetails.

My scope is almost always set on 6x if my shots are 100 and within. I do a lot of hunting from the ground where I can reach out a tad farther. In these situations I keep my gun on my shooting sticks and my scope on 7-9x. Having higher magnification also helps me quickly judge whether the buck is a 'shooter' for me or not. I don't carry binos as they are somewhat useless for the way I hunt (no food plots). If I tried to bino one in, decent chance I'd lose my shot opportunity.

I've been using a 3x9 Swarovski for the past 15 years and its served me well out to 325 yards. But I really wouldn't mind a bit more power. Plan on heading west for mule deer in the next few years and I'll DEFINITELY be upgrading to a higher powered Swaro. Something with at least 12x.

[jlt]

I’m not a gun hunter much, but I was talking to a western buddy this morning and he’s very pleased with his sig optics.
But to answer the question, when hunting with the kids I dial the scope way back and then we zoom in once we find the deer. As far as I’m concerned I’ve always kept my 3x9 about mid way

[Tjc]

Mine stays on 5. I can work it either way if I have time. If it’s over 50 yards and I have time I’m going to 10 on this 20 year old Simmons 44 mag

[DoyleAlley]

I keep mine on 2-4. If he steps out further away, I'll normally have time to dial it up. On the other hand, if I'm cranked up high and he steps out close there might not be time to dial it down low enough to actually get on target.

[peewee]

I typically keep it about 5 or 6.