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HuntingLife Twenty Day Holiday Buying Guide for Sportsmen - Day One

Being a lifelong sportsmen with a known singular track mine for all things outdoors it would seem that I should be one of the easiest people in the world to shop for.  I am going to assume that most of you reading this Holiday Buying Guide are pretty singularly focused like we are but we decided to give you and yours some great holiday gift giving guides....Maybe you could leave the browser open to the gift you would most like and or email the link or drop it up on your Facebook page for the world to see...May all of your stocking be stuffed with great gifts.  Each day we are going to highlight a different product, book or item as well as a great conservation organization that you could have your family get you a membership to or donate to in your name.

Day One - ALPEN OPTICS SHASTA RIDGE 10X42 CAMO BINOCULARS

This November on our trip through North Dakota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan we had the opportunity to test out the Shasta Ridge 10X42 Camo Binoculars from Alpen Optics and test them out in all kinds of conditions and this weekend they got tested by one of the roughest optics handlers known to man, my 12 year old son Tristan.

First the Stats:

The optics come fully packaged with a great strap, case, lens covers and the optics themselves.  The quality of the glass on these lenses is excellent for the price and the optics are clear and easy to use.  We were able to see clearly in light conditions from dark, moonlight, dusk and high noon and all times in between.  I used them for almost 4 days straight in Manitoba scanning the treeline looking for any sign of deer and it just was not meant to be.  I can always tell the quality of optics because if they are poor quality, I get headaches and feel like my eyes have been pulled from the sockets of my head.  These Binoculars performed extremely well and I glassed for almost 10 hours straight looking for that one deer that would make our Manitoba trip a success.  I had no headaches.

The optics are armored in a soft feeling rubberized coating and the optics feel solid but not too heavy. The lenses have built in cups that easily slide out and fit well whether you wear glasses are not...I tried em out with my sunglasses on a few times by mistake and they worked quite well.

This weekend, i took Tristan out hunting and needed a pair of binocs for him to use so I grabbed the Shasta Ridge Bino's and handed them over for him to use.  He loved the opportunity to glass the fields along with me and we got to see geese, hunters and even a few deer.  About 4pm his interest was waning and he set down the binocs in the field and never picked them up again.  After an exhaustive search on Sunday, I headed back out to the field today and there they were sitting in the field, cold, wet and ready for action.  I picked them up, hung them over my neck and used them to spot the geese so I could move in for a quick ambush.

Every hunter needs a great set of optics and these Alpens are a great set of optics.  Amazon.com has them for $150.00 for the exact set that I used and I have included a link.  Alpen also has a great set of Binoculars in the Breast Cancer Pink and a portion of the proceeds go to The National Breast Cancer Foundation.

www.alpenoptics.com