Just got back from Kansas, where shots range from stands that won't have a shot over 75 yards, to stands that would have shots at 500 all day. The average of shots that we have taken on this trip is probably about 200 yards.

This trip, the weather was all over the place, wind of 35 mph, to none, temps from 68 to 6 degrees, rain, sleet, snow, ice, the full package! I had issues with fogging that I have never experienced before! I will be studying up on anti-fogging, I am guessing part of the issue was that there was such a differential between the temp of your face and the optics surfaces, which causes fogging when coupled with the high humidity?????

My biggest issue, is that on a couple of days, I sat one of our big box stands that are very exposed to the elements, but offer shots of up to and even beyond effective ranges, 500 yards would be easy to have, the real sweet spot intended for these stands is 200-300, but 400 can be common. My Leica rangefinding binoculars would just flat out not range past about 200 yards on some days. I don't really know why, but am interested in intel/theories. I am speculating that there was just to much moisture in the air, but that is problematic, and I have actually ranged farther than that in previous hunts when it was raining (albeit lightly)....It is important to me to know the yardage on some of these stands, otherwise I would just limit my shots to a yardage I know is under 300.

I am definitely in the camp that likes to get closer--just FYI--but sometimes that ain't in the cards. I would actually carry another rangefinder if it would perform in all conditions more dependably, I have had this issue a couple of times with my Leica's.
Another thing, my hunting partner has the exact same bino's, we bought them at the same time a few years back, and he had the same issues.....

Thanks for any feedback--Don

Don, They make a couple different cleaning solutions that advertise that they help prevent fogging, they might be worth a try.
I ran into about the same problem this year in PA. The day I was hunting was cold, extremely humid, and just one breath would fog over anything glass I was using. I just barely was able to make a shot at 100yds or so. I kept a ziplock bag with some dry tissues to try and keep stuff dry but sometimes there's just so much you can do.
I may have to try one of the new Ziess' with Lotutec. It's similar to the coating that Bushnell puts on some of their scopes. I don't know if Bushnell puts the coating on any of their rangefinders, Zeiss does have it now on some of thier Bino's.

It is frustrating to have lousy weather in the few days you can set aside to hunt isn't it...................DJ

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:

It is frustrating to have lousy weather in the few days you can set aside to hunt isn't it...................DJ

Man, you got that right DJ. I pland most of my hunts a year out or better, schedule time off from work, and then the weather has you at it's mercy! Plus with the seasons some places, like rifle season in Kansas, you only have a short window to go, even if you could adjust you schedule.

That's good intel on the Zeiss optics, I was not familiar with that Lotutec, I will follow up on that. I've tried the Nikon 'FOG' wipes, on this hunt too, and they didn't help at all. I have seen where Bushnell has a 'rain' setting on some of their rangefinders, but I just wonder if they are really gonna work any better than the LRF 1200 I had, or my BRF's......

I'll check into the Zeiss stuff, I would make that a must on my traveling hunting rigs if it works!!! I sure do have a lot of Swaro's that I would like to make more 'functional' if some other treatment would work......