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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BobinKy" data-source="post: 1585108" data-attributes="member: 58027">As you all know, I have said that I do not hunt. However, I do like to observe wildlife from a distance in both full light and twilight. For example, I use the method Steve describes to observe Great Blue Heron (4-ft wading birds) in streams, lakes, and wetlands, from a distance of 100-1000 yards. During the day, I handhold lightweight Nikon SE 8x32 or Swift Audubon ED 8.5x44 binoculars with a Kowa 661 30x66 spotting scope mounted on a tripod. During twilight, I handhold the heavier Fujinon FMT-SX 7x50 binocular and insert a 20x eyepiece in the Kowa spotting scope.  I have found that I need to reserve the tripod for the scope, thus I do not take larger binoculars like the Nikon SE 12x50 or Fujinon FMT-SX 16x70. I have tried taking two tripods, but that slows me down considerably over the terrain.Sometimes, I leave the Kowa at home and take a Williams Optics ZenithStar 70mm ED astronomy scope. Dring day, I pack Pentax XW 20mm (22x), 10mm (43x), and 5mm (86x) eyepieces. When I will be out during twilight, I leave the 5mm eyepiece at home and pack a 40mm (11x, 6.6 exit pupil, 6.6° FOV), along with the 20mm and 10mm. But always, I use the binocular-scope method Steve describes--handholding binoculars to watch the heron fly in and a mounted scope for detail.I may be making some changes on my binoculars for heron watching. For day, I may switch to handholding the Leupold Cascades 8x42 porro CF binoculars because their internal focusing makes them 100% waterproof. However, this switch will reduce the binocular FOV to 6.5°, a loss of 2° from the Swift Audubon. Even though the extra 2° in the Audubon do not perform with peak resolution, those 2° pick up incoming birds on the edges of the FOV, birds that I might miss otherwise. During twilight, I may switch to the Vixen Foresta porro CF 7x50 because of center focus. Here the loss of FOV will be 0.4°. Decisions...decisions.. . .CL, it sounds like you might have a hunting party in the works. :-O...BobKentucky</blockquote>

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