I just took a last minute hunt deal for Tur in Azerbaijan.

For you guys that have been there, what spotting scope did you take?

I have a Burris compact and a Kowa 66mm ED. The Burris has limitations, but is tiny and works well enough on a back country hunt. The Kowa is not too big or heavy, but is it too big?

Is a mystery ranch crewcab a workable pack for this hunt? That is my go to pack for everything.

Jeremy

Burris is OK,especially as rifle scope.
but never seen any Kowa while Tur hunting

The Kowa is pretty close in size and weight to a Zeiss or Swaro 65mm scope. Optically, it is on par with them, IMHO. This one has the 20-60X eyepiece.

I'm just not sure if I need a bigger scope with lots of reach or if a compact 20-25X max magnification scope will do the job.

Thanks,

Jeremy

A spotting scope is definitely an asset but as much as I like my Euro glass, it's not like you'll be doing any serious long-range trophy evaluation. A cheap, light-weight spotter will work just fine. No reason the MR pack shouldn't work. You won't be carrying big heavy loads but you definitely need a big enough day pack for your gear.

Sheephunterab, Thanks for that. I already printed out your gear list from your tur hunt in 2013, and about 5 other gear lists from the web.

I wasn't sure if we were looking really long distances to judge size or just a couple of miles.

It sounds like for once, I might not have to buy any gear for a hunt. Kind of makes me sad in a way.

Jeremy

In the beginning we all have the intent of being fussy and holding out for a giant but once you see the sheer magnitude of the area and the terrain that tur call home, you'll shoot the first mature male you can...lol The scope is handy for locating animals for sure and seeing if there are indeed some decent males but after that, not much judging to do.....Any tur over 30 inches makes a great trophy...heck any tur makes a great trophy. They really aren't that spectacular to look at on the wall but the hunt itself certainly is a great experience!

Very good point. Having seen the mountains only on video, it is easy to underestimate how much the will really and truly kick my ass. They edit out the tough hiking part in most of the videos. Probably because they want to sell hunts and not scare everyone away.

Thanks again.

Jeremy

sheephunterab's comments pretty much have you covered. Like most Asian hunts, the guides probably don't have much for optics and will want to use yours.

The steepness is tough to imagine. I liken it to the steeper faces you see in the rockies. But with crumbly rock. When I climbed to our spike camp the first place we took a break was so steep that we just turned around and leaned against the slope ha. It was my first mountain hunt and I loved it so much i want to do it again with a bow!