You should also consider the terrain of where it is you like to hunt. If its semi-forested it might not be the most efficient use of weight and space to carry more than 60mm. Personally, I wouldn't bother deer hunting where I do if I couldn't take my 82mm scope. My deer honey hole here in the open deserts of southern Arizona isn't that secret or hidden. Its a tall mountain on public land with a decent amount of roads in the area, but nobody wants to climb it. Its about a 1,000' vertical climb and in some spots a bit dangerous to get up, but as the crow flies its only 3/4 a mile from where we can park to the mountaintop. Most people probably drive by it and be like "I ain't climbin' that thing! I couldn't shoot a deer form up there!
" The idea of carrying an 82mm scope + tripod up in addition seems doubly crazy. But indeed: we see deer that all the silly heads drive around and have no clue about
Its a tough hike, but we put deer down every year.
By contrast, while in search for elk in the heavily forested White Mountains, I don't even bother to bring my spotting scope.
