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Best Rifle Scope for Deer Hunting

The best scope will vary baed on where you're hunting. Hunting conditions in dense forest condition will let for a hunter to use a scope with a lower power range than one used out west in more open conditions.

BTW - The scope mounted in the pic with the.."Springfield’s Waypoint rifle uses a Picatinny rail scope base, so this 45mm objective easily clears the barrel" description is mounted way too high with that pic base and 45mm objectives. Get lower rings.

My .02
 
The best scope will vary based on where you're hunting. Hunting conditions in dense forest condition will let for a hunter to use a scope with a lower power range than one used out west in more open conditions.



My .02
These pictures illustrate the challenge of hunting in a fairly wooded environment with or without a rifle scope. If this deer had been running you would have had as much luck hitting this deer with a bullet that was thrown as one that was fired. Notice as the magnification increases you can start to see the bush between me and the target. The trees and brush can make a deer hard to see, and as Talyn pointed out turning up the power on the scope doesn't always give an advantage. As it was, this wasn't a doe day so this deer got a pass and besides it was probably a yearling and smaller than I like to take. Moving through the woods alone, the dark ear tips, and being alert as it was makes me think it could of been a button buck. As you can see the sound of my camera tipped it off that not all was well in the woods. Had I been focused on sound coming from a different direction this deer might have passed unnoticed.
Do you see it.JPG

There it is.JPG

eye on me.JPG
 
These pictures illustrate the challenge of hunting in a fairly wooded environment with or without a rifle scope. If this deer had been running you would have had as much luck hitting this deer with a bullet that was thrown as one that was fired. Notice as the magnification increases you can start to see the bush between me and the target. The trees and brush can make a deer hard to see, and as Talyn pointed out turning up the power on the scope doesn't always give an advantage. As it was, this wasn't a doe day so this deer got a pass and besides it was probably a yearling and smaller than I like to take. Moving through the woods alone, the dark ear tips, and being alert as it was makes me think it could of been a button buck telescopie. As you can see the sound of my camera tipped it off that not all was well in the woods. Had I been focused on sound coming from a different direction this deer might have passed unnoticed.
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I need a decent scope for my new tikka it’s not gonna be a long range rifle as I’ve never shot over 140 yards but one day I might stretch that to 300 but I have no interest shooting farther than that at any animal. I’ve been looking at vortex, leupold, and athlon, and recently, bushnell. Let know what you think. Also buying used wouldn’t hurt my feelings thanks.
 
I think any of those brands would be a good pick. I think most of them offer some sort of lifetime warrenty. Natchez shooters supply company sometimes has refurbished scopes, but I'd by wary of a used scope. You might be ending up with another person's problem, but that's just me. I choose the 3 X 9 Leupold because it was basicly the same type of scope that I have on my 40 year old Remington 742, so there was no learning curve. I hope this offers some insight and you end up with a scope you are happy with. Please let us know how it works out. Thanks for your response. Happy hunting!
 
Best scope for deer hunting is extremely vague. Are you only going to hunt in the Missouri backwoods ? Are you going to hunt Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana ? And it's going to depend on what gun.

If it's me, I'm going with a scope that's versatile. Something I can take out to the maximum effective range of whatever rifle I'm using or dial down for a 40 yard shot at a whitetail in the brush.
 
Heavy woods I’ll take my ‘94 Marlin .44 with irons. More open, my old Sig SHR in ‘06 with a 2.5x 7 Leopold. Varmints? CZ .223 with 3x9 or Ruger 77V, 220 Swift, 6x 18. Different strokes for different folks (or targets😊)
 
In heavy woods I choose either my Winchester Model 1910 in the .401 Winchester Self-Loading or my Remington Model 81 in .300 Savage.
 
A lot of good answers here based on a lot of good experience. However, I don't think there is any one BEST scope. Every different situation typically requires a different solution. Over the last 35-40 years of my hunting, it was done on mostly open pastures dotted all over with thick cypress heads, some pine scrub, and a little bit of swampy/marshes. My scope of choice was a Redfield 3x9 mounted on a Remington 700 Classic in .270Win, always using my own re-loads.

I typically left it on 4-6x and that worked well for most situations. Then if I went into the swamps, I'd typically turn it down to 3x. The longest shots over the open pasture, typically 300-400+/-yds, I'd sometime crank it up to 9x depending on light. That's what worked best for me. But I couldn't/wouldn't say it's the best.
 
I am a a westerner,so longer ranges are a norm. The choice tends to depend on how many $$$ you have to spend. I am an old coot and still use the stadia line scopes of the 60-70s. Nostalgia I guess, but they work well for me.
 
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