This may seem a unusual question, but I have been a thinking a bit about binos for my elephant hunt. This will be a tuskless.

It seems to be a given we will likely put in many miles walking to find a suitable animal in moderate terrain and potentially hot weather, so a more compact bino is desirable.

However, I am sure some glassing will be in order to look over herds/though brush to evaluate all the animals. In additions, we may do a bit of glassing from high points to save a bit of walking. In addition, I cannot image being without decent glass to add to my enjoyment of other viewing game and sights.

I am thinking of compromising on a 8x, which has always truck me as good compromise for closer work where long distance evaluations are not the norm. I am considering a smaller bino in the 8x22 class (roughly 9-10) ounces rather than lugging a heavier weight 8x30 or 8x4X glass I would normally carry. I doubt any twilight viewing will be necessary and same of the smaller glass has impressed me lately.

Was wondering what other have chosen and what regrets or suggestions they may have. Plus validation for buying more glass

metalman,

I have used a pair of 8X compacts for years. I can put them in my left breast pocket of my shirt so there is to weight on my neck. You give up some comfort when glassing for long periods but that doesn't happen much on a tuskless hunt.

465H&H

For buffalo and elephant I use 8x20 swarovski's. 8x30 EL's for everything else unless hunting pronghorn.

I have used both the Zeiss 8x20's and the Swaro 10x25's and found both adequate. They are MUCH lighter than a pair of 8x30's but you do give up some field of view and as 465 pointed out, comfort if extended glassing... trade-offs.

Metalman,

At one point I tried to go as light as possible on all my gear when we were doing everything DIY in Alaska. I found the pocket binos to be great if your trimming down. They fail miserably in low light but for what you described they shoud work nicely. I have Zeiss, Swarovski and Leupolds that will all fit just about in your palm.

Mark

Metalman:

You have confirmed that yours will be a tuskless elephant hunt.
That being the case I doubt there will be much room for evaluation as there will be no ivory involved and your PH will tell you which one is to be shot and this being the case, would recommend a pair of 8x30s; neither bulky nor heavy and can be worn very comfortably under-arm where they will neither bounce nor swing.
Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica, Leupold are among the better choices for more compact models.

I love my Leica 8x32s. Not bulky and good quality.

By evaluation, I meant checking them all to find a tuskless and insure there is none on both sides!

I can image in a larger group there might be a bit of quick searching to find such.

And I hope to spend some time looking over live elephants of a similar size. I have watched the DVD's and every photo I can find. Visualizing the ear hole location for the broomstick method is still giving me fits on frontal views.

My local zoo only has Asian elephants and for some reason they seem to not take kindly to bringing your scoped rifle in for such visualization exercises

The new Swarovski CL 8x30 is 17 oz. and they are very handy to use.

What I discovered was that my binos were much like my camera in that it was very convenient to keep my big, powerful (heavy) model in the truck and the very light compact model with me. Translated that means that my good 10x50's stayed in the truck for glassing and my inexpensive little 7x25 compacts were carried once the stalk began. Same as my camera, the big slr with extra lenses stayed in the truck until needed and my nikon coolpix compact was ALWAYS in my pocket for "snapshots". This system worked out perfectly for me. Good Luck!

I had tried to read all the right books when starting African hunting at age 40 or so, and thus began with binos that fit in my offhand shirt pocket.

But, there's so much in the bush to examine closely, not least the birds, that I quickly moved to serious binos (Leica 10x40) that seem to weigh nothing when carried under the off shoulder with the strap across the chest.

Regards

My 8x30 Leica's are my choice for all African hunts.

This is how in my opinion. The only thing in front is ammo period.

Especially with tuskless on the menu.

Agreed on lighter optics, as long as they perform well in low light conditions. And, keeping them out of the way as Mike has suggested. . . . Get the very best that you can afford.

you will doing a lot of walking and when the shot presents it's self you may not have a lot of time to get ready to shoot so something that does not get in the way should the main consideration

I use an older pair of Leitz 6 powers that are pocket sized. I guess no one makes a good 6 power any more so I would probably get Leicas 8x20s. They seem to fit my hand best. I'm not much for binoculars in the extremely thick stuff. One more thing to get in the way when the time comes.

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
I'm not much for binoculars in the extremely thick stuff. One more thing to get in the way when the time comes.

AMEN!