In recent times, hunters have gradually been trending toward optical attachments for rifles that use high levels of magnification. It's not uncommon to find magnification rates of 6-24x, or sometimes higher. While "the more power the better" idea is widely conventional in areas such as horsepower in vehicles, it is often a bad move for hunters to implement this theory in their hunting.
The past "gold standard" for scope magnification level, at least for deer hunting, was 3x to 9x. Employing 3x power, a hunter is capable of accurately taking close shots at nearer than 50 yards, a distance common when hunting deer. Nowadays, however, it is becoming more common for hunters to be using 6x to 18x magnification rate, often higher - and the higher the scope magnification rate, the more narrow the field of view becomes. Having 6x as the lowest magnification level, it is basically impossible focus on moving target at a distance of 30 yards.
At 6x power, a deer would look 6 times larger than it normally would to an unassisted human eye. At a distance of roughly 30 yards, a sportsman will be peering through his rifle scope at a patch of brown fur, which makes it basically impossible to focus on a point to aim at. Not only do hunters in this position find that they are zoomed in too near to the target, but sight blocking items are magnified with the same power too. Trees and brush are typical blockages in deer hunting conditions, so someone hunting a deer that has already been over-magnified has to now overcome a 3-inch sprig that just became a deer's eighteen-inch hiding place
Now, while it is evident that in wooded environments, involving relatively short distances, a high powered scope is not always ideal, that doesn't mean these scopes don't have a place. High powered rifle scopes are great for open shooting situations that are mainly free of obstructions, where targets are at 250 yards or greater. Scope power ranges of 3x to 9x work nicely in circumstances like these. Hunters can bump it up to 18x to 24x rifle scopes when the firing distance increases to 400 yards or more. A lot of what goes into deciding on the optimal rifle scope is a hunter's preference, but hunting environment is just as significant, probably more so.
Nowadays there are many more scope models to select from than ever before, and rifle scope producers are producing an increasing number of high magnification rifle scopes. The rifle scope selection of Zeiss Conquest, for example, boasts 64 scopes, and more than half of them have a 3.5x magnification level as their lowest power level. Even the fairly priced Bushnell and Burris rifle scopes are now available in 20x magnification and greater. Leupold rifle scopes are very popular, and they have a scope with a range of 8.5x to 25x.
The large selection of scopes available to choose from today is great, but hunters need to choose wisely, based on firing situations and environment. Keep in mind, "greater power" does not always translate to "better".
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