Realtree’s David Blanton loves bowhunting western whitetails, and for years he’s made the trip from southern Georgia to hunt the creek bottoms and hayfields of eastern Wyoming with Seven J Outfitters. Western whitetails tend to be concentrated in the areas with prime habitat, and the open terrain makes them highly visible. But with so many eyes and noses, these deer catch on quickly to hunting pressure. Blanton’s most productive strategy has been to glass the alfalfa fields from a distance, locate a shooter buck, figure out a good ambush site, and then move in for a precision strike when conditions allow.

Image: Western_optics

David Blanton glasses for distant Wyoming whitetails with a Vortex Viper HD 20-60x85 spotting scope.

Some of the best glassing areas are up to a mile away from the hayfields, and deciphering details from that distance requires a quality spotting scope. The Vortex Viper HD 20-60X85 is Blanton’s go-to spotter these days. Set on 20X, it delivers a bright, sharp image for scanning over large areas, but it can be zoomed in to 60X to count every kicker on a buck’s rack, or pick out the perfect tree for a stand.

Once he’s in the stand, Blanton brings a lightweight set of binoculars, with the Viper HD 8x42 being a favorite. These provide great low-light performance and plenty of magnification to see what needs to be seen from a treestand, without being heavy and in the way.

Finally, a good rangefinder is essential at the moment of truth. The Viper HD 3000 is lightweight at just 9 ounces, but it’s equipped with 7X magnification and reflective ranging capability at up to 3,000 yards. The Horizontal Component Distance (HCD) mode allows bowhunters to instantly obtain the “shoot for” range of their target, regardless of the angle.