Range finders what for? Fadala, who practically lives for hunting, shares how the laser rangefinder has changed the game

Guns Magazine, Oct, 2002 by Sam Fadala

Five Coues deer threaded their way across the fabric of a rugged Arizona hillside. Now you see them, now you don't. Gray forms blending with Southwestern foliage and broken rock in that land's unfinished mountains. A mature buck stopped to attack a browse plant, distance 261 yards--spot on. The rangefinder said so.

I shuffled out of my pack frame, slipped the daypack off, rested the Ruger M-77 across the vertical struts of the frame, power ring of the Swarovski scope screwed up to 10x, eyepiece focused on the hill--I was ready. Winchester's latest 150 grain .308 round was a shoo-in for a perfect strike at that distance. Couldn't miss. Pow!

I missed. No excuses. Wind nil, no sun in my eyes, rifle rested. Thought I'd squeezed the trigger carefully. But I missed.

The two bucks in the group led the race. The larger one, a fine example of a trophy desert whitetail, pulled a length ahead of his small-antlered brother, two does and one fawn trailing behind. Into an ocotillo thicket burst the big boy first. A 30-foot window offered a shot as the buck ran through it--an ethical target--swing ahead, squeeze the trigger with muzzle in motion.

Crack! Got him. But the bucks had swapped places in the ocotillos. Old, going downhill fast, rack receded, he was all mine, the smallest-antlered Coues deer I've ever taken. Oh, well. The experience was great and so was the eating.

New Hunting Tool

I hunt with it all: recurve bow, muzzleloader, open-sighted .30-30. This time I carried a 21st century outfit. My B&L 10x42s found the deer and I had an accurate scoped rifle shooting superior ammo. But it was the rangefinder that sealed the envelope, telling me just how far the shot would be.

Once associated only with tank commanders and other military personnel, the rangefinder is today as close as the nearest sporting goods shop: affordable, user-friendly, and above all laser-accurate. The first rangefinder I got my hands on was all of these things and I loved it, quickly proving to myself that it was a viable instrument exceeding advertised claims. But better things were yet to come in smaller packages.

The downsized model I had that day for Coues deer was a Bushnell Yardage Pro Compact 600, ideal for hunting with plenty of distance capability in a lightweight, easy-to-carry package. Operable with cover in place, it proved a genuine asset in the field.

Ending The Guessing Game

Everyone will have his own reasons for employing a rangefinder. Mine took roots in Wyoming one afternoon as I hunted with my friend Bob Hodgdon.

"How far is that cliff?" Bob asked.

I shaded my eyes; squinted like a man with a divining rod; and proclaimed the distance exactly 250 yards to a boulder where moments before stood a mule deer buck we did not want.

"0K, how far is the fence line over there?" he asked. Again with confidence I said 175 yards. I was wrong on both distances. The boulder on the cliff was less than 200 yards away, the fence line the same distance.

The upward angle on the boulder created an optical illusion. The fence line, straight out from us, wasn't as hard to judge, but still, no cigar. It was a humbling experience that occurred several more times on that antelope/deer hunt. Bob had a rangefinder. He could prove distance. I was only guessing.

Shortly thereafter, I had a rangefinder, too. My goal was four-fold. First to train myself in judging range by verifying my guesses, second to satisfy my curiosity, third to know how far an opportunity truly was, fourth to prove the true distance of a shot. Another benefit cropped up--rangefinding was fun. Of course, the rangefinder found its way into prairie dog country, where, for the first time, I knew just how far those long shots with my 6mm PPC truly were.

Other Uses

But improved offhand range guesstimation, varminting and just pure fun were only the beginning. I found many more uses for the rangefinder, the 600-yard model becoming an important part of my big game hunting gear. The rangefinder also aided shotgun patterning. No need here, you might say, but not so.

I set up my pattern board wherever I pleased. Instead of pacing off 40 "long ones," the rangefinder told 40 yards exactly. Shoot, walk up, place the 30-inch cardboard disc over the greatest shot concentration, trace a circle around the pellet holes, count the number inside the circle, divide by the average number of pellets in the charge, and the actual delivered choke value was revealed.

If 50 percent of the pellets landed within the 30-inch circle, that would be Improved Cylinder performance. More important than verifying choke is knowing what shot size and wad column produce the densest patterns, not only at the standardized 40-yard distance, but also at ranges more commonly encountered in the hunting field.

For example, my Ruger over/under 28 gauge is mainly a quail and dove gun. Despite that, the fast handling nature of its small frame tempts me to take on larger gamebirds with the 1-ounce load. Using the rangefinder, I quickly learned how the choke tubes patterned at the various ranges normal for my 28 gauge with different loads. Armed with this knowledge, I can make the most of this lightweight.