11 Best Scopes For Deer Hunting [Mid & Long Range]

The best scopes for deer hunting are divided into three groups: shotgun/muzzleloader, handgun, and rifle.

You can put just about any scope on any firearm and expect it to work for a while. You can drive nails with an adjustable wrench. You will get better performance, better results and be happier when you use the right tool for the job. 

For instance, I have a handgun scope on one of my Mosin-Nagants. I removed the rear sight and installed the scope because I did not want to drill and tap the receiver for a true Mosin scope mount. That is an extreme example.

Handguns

Handguns are also a limited-distance firearm. Yes, deer are killed every year at longer ranges. The reality of physics says longer barrels, to a point, deliver faster bullets and more terminal punch when the bullet hits a target. Ballistics by the Inch took a look at the .44 Mag in various barrel lengths to prove this.

Shotguns

Shotguns and muzzleloaders are both 100-yard guns. Certainly, deer and other big game are killed every year with both kinds of guns at much longer distances, but practical use says 100 yards is the farthest responsible distance.

Rifles

Rifles really need three subcategories.

Carbines

• Brush, or short range guns like the .30-30 and .45-70 Government carbines are also 100-yard or so guns. if you are good, you can push this to 200 yards with some calibers. Yes, they can and do kill deer at greater distances, but responsible shooters know the limits.

Mid Range

Long Range

• Long range guns are those that deliver human kills past 700 yards. A humane kill also depends on your target. If you pop prairie dogs, then the .222 Swift or .22-250 will do everything you want at 1,000 yards. If you chase deer, the .30-06 and similar performing calibers are the minimum performing rifles. Get past 1,000 yards for deer and you need to move into the magnums like the .300 Win Mag, .338 Lapua and others. Your choice of scope here needs to match your guns and hunting conditions.

Since deer hunting is a daylight proposition, night hunting scopes are not listed here.

Shotguns & Muzzleloaders

1. Truglo 4x32 Riflescope

I use TruGlo on some of my firearms and I particularly like this one because it is compact and camouflaged.

The camo means it will easily pull double duty on a shotgun when turkey season comes in. 

If you shoot a shotgun threaded for chokes, you can put a rifled choke for slugs and then a log turkey choke when chasing gobblers.

The diamond reticle may take some getting used to, but once you do, you should like it. It is a fixed-power a 4x magnification, which is really all you need on a shotgun or rifle scope.

Handguns

When you are shooting handguns, one thing you do not have to worry about is eye relief. The scope is at arm's length.

Depending on the caliber you shoot, shock resistance is critical. The same scope that works perfectly well on a 10-inch barrel .357 mag may not hold up to the S&W .500 Mag's punishing recoil.

If you shoot one of the big magus with a ported barrel, you must have a scope that will stand up to the forward push created by gasses venting through the muzzle ports. This dual recoil on guns with muzzle brakes will kill scopes quickly.

In general you also want a second focal plane instead of the first focal plane. Since you already have a pretty narrow field of view, being a couple of feet away from the scope, you do not want anything in the tube to enlarge and obscure your target view. 

The first focal plane lets the reticle get bigger as you increase magnification, while the second does not.

2. Leupold FX-II Riflescope

When you buy a Leupold scope, you are buying a high-quality scope you can hand down to you kids and grandkids, thanks to both their durability and their excellent warranty. 

It is quite at home on a handgun. Some years ago, I had a Thompson-Center .223 handgun with a Leupold on it. When I got rid of the gun, I kept the scope, which has served me well on a variety of guns since then.

Another reason why this is better suited for close range work is the 1/2 MOA click value. At 100 yards, an MOA is about an inch, so a half MOA is about a half inch. With everything just right, a rifle can put three shots into a 1/4 MOA at 100 yards.

Doing that with a pistol can happen, but has more to do with luck than skill. Putting everything into an inch at 100 yards with a good deer hunting handgun is good shooting.

The front bell is 28mm, which is about half the size of the large ones you can get on a rifle. However, the scope is also meant to be mounted low, so high mounts are not needed. 

Given Leupold's attention to quality and the Twilight management system, this 28mm front lens will gather as much light as inferior scopes with a large front opening, allowing you to squeeze a bit of extra shooting time in during low light conditions.

At a scant seven ounces, this scope does not appreciably add to the weight of a deer-caliber handgun.

3. Burris 2x20 Riflescope

The Burris 2x20 comes in black or nickel finish, if you want to try to match the finish of your scope and handgun. The nickel is not exactly chrome, but comes closer than the black matte finish. 

This is a true handgun scope because it lets you get a good distance away to peer down the tube. It is a second focal plane.

It has 1/2 MOA clicks. The glass is Hi-Lume coated, which is the Burris version of an anti-reflective multi-coated lens, making sure you get maximum light transmission through the lens compared to cheap scopes.

At seven ounces, this scope also adds little to the weight of what you are carrying. This weight makes a real difference if you have to shoot offhand instead of across a brace.

Red Dot

If you are a shooter who prefers a red dot on your carbine, the Holosun mentioned below is ideal. You also get the advantage of being able to add a magnifier for extra versatility. Be aware all magnifiers will not work with all red dot scopes. Before you buy, check the compatibility.

4. Holosun HS510C Riflescope

Some hand gunners prefer a red dot style optic v. a traditional scope. If that's you, the Holosun HS510C s for you. Holosun is making serious inroads these days in the red dot market.

More and more tournament and 3-gun competition shooters are turning to the Holosun because it is just dependable. This scope does mount directly to the gun with a quick detach mount. Co-witness mounts are available.

The sight is a 2 MOA dot inside of a 65 MOA circle. I've never had much use for the circle, except to get a rough idea of the size of what I'm shooting at. The 2 MOA dot is smaller than many of the competitors. 

Cover 2 inches at 100 yards may seem like a lot, but the typical deer has a chest area of more than a foot across. Just put the dot in the middle of the chest. 

Hit high and you still get lungs, possible spine. Hit low and you get lungs and possibly the heart. Hit forward, you still have lungs and shoulders. A slight rear shot can still clip lungs and probably the liver too. A liver shot is a fast bleed out. Adjustments are a half MOA.

This is a non magnified scope. For some hunters with older eyes who want magnification (like me), this is not a good choice for a handgun to shoot to 100 yards.

Burris says you can get up to 50,000 hours of use from the CR2032 battery. That may be possible at the lowest illumination setting. Regardless, batteries are cheap. Change the battery at the beginning of each hunting season

It has the Shake Awake feature to help save battery life. Turn the scope on when you get to the stand. It goes to sleep. When you pick up the gun, the scope turns on. In other words, less motion on your part. Deer hunters know the less the move in the stand the better off they are.

5. Bushnell Trophy TRS-25 Red dot Sight

The Bushnell Trophy is a red dot scope with a 3 MOA dot. A minute of angle is about three inches at 100 yards. On a typical deer, three inches in the center of the chest still leaves a lot of deer's chest area in view. 

Add to this, the usual shotgun slug and muzzleloader shooters consider a 3-inch group at 100 yards to be good and very good in some circumstances. It's certainly enough to put a trophy on the wall and meat in the freezer.

It mounts to pic rails. So you can put a rail on the receiver or shoot a cantilever barrel on your shotgun. The advantage to the cantilever barrel is the scope stays zeroed if you swap the barrel.

This scope is also a good choice for handgun and carbine rifles.

Carbines

Carbine rifles also do not need a high magnification.

Carbines come in all kinds of actions, with most people thinking of lever actions like the venerable .30-30 or hard-hitting .45-70 government. The ejection method will tell you how to mount the scope. Side eject can have a straight rail mounted across the receiver. 

Top eject, like the Winchester, use two short sections of rail, one before the port and one after. Getting the scope, not the sights, correctly aligned on a two-piece rail is more difficult than on a single-piece rail.

6. Primary Arms SLx 1-8x24mm Riflescope

Primary took the original version of this scope and added another 2 steps of magnification. The illuminated reticle is calibrated for 5.56, 5.45 and the .308. If you shoot a different round, spend a bit of time at the range to learn where you bullet hits according to the scale in the reticle.

The reticle ranges to 800 yards, but that's for tournament shooting. Using a carbine at that distance is irresponsible as the bullet will not consistently deliver a humane kill. At distances to 300 yards, it is ideal for the deer hunter.

7. Bushnell Banner Riflescope

If you look through scope recommendations here at Hunting mark, you will see this scope and its siblings show up as a recommended buy from other writers. Bushnell is just that good. This scope, in a 3x9 magnification, is ideal for most carbine uses. It is just at home atop an AR 15 as it is on a .450 Marlin.

This is part of the Dusk & Dawn series from Bushnell. Specially coated optics allow you t see more and better in the twilight minutes when deer are likely to be moving around the edges.

Midrange

Mid range scopes are the arena of the .30-06, 7mm mag, .25-06 and cartridges with similar ballistics. They are still effective at close range.

I have certainly killed plenty of deer with a .30-06 under 50 yards. But they also have the ability to reach out even farther in the hands of someone who can dial in those distances.

Mid range scopes also begin the need for decent magnification. The low end for a scope reaching 600 yards, to pick a point, is between 7x and 9x magnification. Some people will say they can do just as well with a lower power scope. 

For them, that is true. But for a hunter interested in regular and ethical kills, zoom in a bit more so you can be that much more certain of your shot placement.

8. Vortex Crossfire II Riflescope

With a 4-16x magnification range, you can zoom in enough to put your choice of crosshairs where it matters on that deer. The front ring allows you to adjust your parallax focus.

The scope has tactical adjustment knobs on the windage and elevation turrets, but you have to remove the caps to do this.

At 2.2 pounds, this does add significant weight to your rifle. That is just the nature of the beat when you start reaching out farther. Scopes have to be heavier to get more magnification in.

With the Dead-Hold BDC (bullet drop compensator), you can take a lot of the guesswork out of sighting in your rifle for long range shots. "This exclusive reticle has been designed to minimize the need for guessing bullet hold-over at long distances.

9. Bushnell AR Optics 4.5-18x40mm Riflescope

Bushnell makes good hunting rifle scopes at reasonable prices. The 4.5x18 is a full tactical scope so reaching 800 yards is not an issue. This scope comes in four different reticle configurations, one of which is illuminated.

The scope is shipped with five different turrets for elevation adjustment: a plain turret, 6.5 Creedmore, .308, .224 Valkyrie and 223. For deer hunters, the 6.5 Creedmore and the .308 are the only valid choices for mid-range humane kills on deer. 

Yes, the other rounds can and will keel a deer at these distances. Humane is the key word. Make the kill fast.

Long range

Long range, defined here as 1,000 yards, is pretty rarified atmosphere. For decades the .300 WinMag and the .50 BMG ruled the range.

New rounds like the .416 Lapua Mag and the .338 Lapua have carved out a space next to the two older rounds. Several wildcats and near wildcats also deliver this performance.

Whatever is chosen, experts say the bullet should deliver 500 foot founds of energy on impact. That amount of force does narrow the field considerably. A .22-250 will certainly reach that far, but falls well short of the needed energy.

This field is quite limited compared to the other scope needs in this review. You should expect to spend more than $800 as well to get a decent long range scope. You can get less expensive, but you also sacrifice quality and durability.

Many long-range rifles are shot with a muzzle brake. The brake generates a forward motion in the rifle as the gasses escape. This forward motion, likely something you will never notice, is what wrecks the inside of inferior scopes.

You also need magnification. A 25x zoom should be the minimum you consider. You can get less zoom, but once you try a scope with 25x or better, you will want to trade out your lower magnification scope.

10. NightForce SHV Riflescope

NightForce holds more long distance shooting record than any other scope. This American-made scope simply has what it takes. Military snipers like the late Chris Kyle wanted a NightForce on their rifle. 

Since this scope is used on the big boys, often with a muzzle brake, you know it will stand up to the punishment.

Cutting to the chase here, if you are a good enough shot to drop a deer at 1,000 yards regularly, then NightForce is the top choice that will deliver every time. Because NightForce is a sniper's choice, you know the glass delivers pristine image quality.

This version of the NightForce comes in four reticle choices, two of which are illuminated. It is a tactical scope with exposed adjustment rings and a guaranteed return to zero, as well as a fast-focus eyepiece for making rapid magnification changes for those unexpected opportunities.

11. Primary Arms PLx 6-30x56mm FFP Riflescope

Primary Arms sells for other companies and also has its own line of optics. "This rifle scope is part of our top tier optics line called PLx. PLx optics meet the exacting demands of professional use, offering impeccable glass clarity and advanced features from state-of-the-art production facilities," the company says.

The PLx is made with Japanese glass, among the best on the planet. The big 56mm bell requires high mount rings. The 34 mm tube will make these rings harder to come by than 1 inch or 30 mm rings.

It ships with a sunshade and flip caps.

It is a tactical scope with exposed adjustment turrets. Primary Arms describes it this way: "Once zero has been achieved, the finger-adjustable turrets can be easily reset to 0 as well, allowing future adjustments to be readily tracked. 

To protect your zero, the turrets are locking. Pull out on the turrets to make your adjustments, push in to lock them down and ensure bumps on the range or in a bag won't throw off your zero."

FINAL THOUGHTS

Regardless of what gun you use to bag whitetail, you need to check your scope's zero and check it often. Anytime you bump a hunting rifle or it takes a hard knock, best to go check the zero.

High-end scopes can handle some bumps and such while cheap ones will rapidly lose zero.

If you are chasing the buck of a lifetime and you only have one shot, your scope must be zeroed. You'll likely never get another chance at that wall-hanger.

Big bucks got big and old by not being stupid.

If you are looking for a Best Muzzleloaders for Hunting, then check out our complete guide on it.