PRACTICAL HUNTING RETICLES

LOCK, STOCK & BARREL

- Lee J. Hoots

For some strange and unknown reason, the term “aiming solutions” has apparently replaced the traditional “riflescope” and “reticle.” The word “crosshairs” has all but been forgotten in modern marking-speak. Language has changed, for better or worse, but “sighting solutions” continue to evolve.

Flip through any shooting/hunting gear catalog or peruse the Internet, and it’s almost difficult to find a traditional riflescope. Instead, catalogs and cyberspace are full up with a mind-boggling assortment of options with an extensive and often dizzying array of so-called solutions. Reticles now feature a mixture of dots, numerals, letters, dashes and hash marks, symbols, unrecognizable doodads and all sorts of other potential clutter. Of course, much of this has been brought about in the last 10-plus years or so due to increasing interest in long-range target shooting (and tactical applications) for which such reticle enhancements are no doubt useful.

Most hunters, however, are better served by less sophisticated options. Unless purposely trying to shoot game at some unrealistic range, something most experienced sportsmen frown upon, as do I, a far more simplified scope is often desirable when pursuing big game. We can get along quite nicely with a standard reticle or a simple lighted dot if a quick shot is needed when a buck jumps from cover and takes off for parts unknown, or when a bull elk ghosts into view across a canyon at the end of the day.