Western Hunting Journal, Premiere Issue whj001_premiere | Page 32

GEAR REVIEW
Rangefinders
Invest in a quality rangefinder so when the opportunity presents itself you can
confidently make an accurate shot. By Eric Martin
Rangefinders play one of
the most important roles
in consistently placing
shots on target, and when
it comes to hunting, bullet
placement is the key factor
in ensuring swift, ethical
kills.
30
Y
OU SPEND YEARS BUILDING APPLICA-
TION points, months prepping, plan-
ning and getting in shape, hours at
the range making sure your rifle and
scope are dialed and ready. The season
opens, and when an opportunity final-
ly presents itself, the first piece of gear you’ll depend
on, your rangefinder, is one that is often overlooked
in all the hype over the latest and greatest pieces of
hunting equipment.
This exact scenario played out for me last fall.
Having drawn an elk tag that I had literally spent one
third of my life applying for, I sat atop a small, wind-
swept ridge as the sun crept over the horizon, staring
across the canyon at the largest bull I had ever had in
my crosshairs. The first things to go through my head
WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL
weren’t if my camo pattern matched my surround-
ings, or if my boots had enough insulation. The only
thing I cared about was knowing how far away he was.
It wasn’t all that long ago such situations required
a good amount of experience in the field, and an even
greater amount of sheer luck. On those early hunt-
ing trips with my father, animals always seemed to
appear in distance factors of fifty yards. “He’s about
250” or “that ridge has to be 400”, my dad would pro-
claim. Sometimes our highly unscientific calculations
resulted in a filled tag. Often, it ended with a fleeting
glimpse of the backside of an unscathed animal, and
an education in bullet trajectory. Thankfully, times
have changed, and technology, which can deliver con-
fidence and accuracy, can be carried in a shirt pocket
every time you hit the field.