I use to pack everything as light as possible for day hunts or backpacking trips. I have since learned that you can't tell the difference between a pack that weighs 38 or 43 or even 50 pounds after the first of hour of hiking. With that said I take what I like to use now(The last 5 years). I started with a light weight tripod made by nikon and burris lightweight spotting scope, with compact sightron binos. But when I used it I found the tripod to be very shaky, and the optics to be useless in low light. Next I bought a short model outdoorsman tripod because it was the lightest and better optics. After two years hunting with it I found it to be very steady but way too short to use, especially if you are sitting on a steephill side.
Now I run a very heavy set up. But you can't kill what you can't see.
Outdoorsmen tall tripod with the Jim White panhead
Swarovski Swarovision EL 12x50 binos with their universal tripod adapter
Swarovski STX spotting scope with the 95mm objective on it (I also have the 65mm, but have stopped taking it since I can see better in low light with the 95mm. It weighs a little more, and takes up more space, but for me it's worth it)
I also use the quick adaptors made by outdoorsmen for my spotting scope and bino adaptor. This is key when glassing country where the animals may only be insight for a few minutes, and sometimes only a few seconds. (Like avalanche slides, clearings between timber patches in the high country, etc). If a trophy steps out while I am scouting or hunting, I just want to get a quick look at it in the spotting scope to see if it is what I will spend my season hunting. Several I have spent a season hunting a buck I only seen for a few seconds in the spotting scope while scouting. I have ended up killing most of these animals later on during the hunt because I knew that they were there somewhere near by. And since I had seen them I would put all my time and effort towards that animal.
Poll
