Folks,
Haven't been on the Gobbler in awhile, but had an incident Monday AM that compelled me to post for your consideration/ideas. Had an experience early AM that brought 5-7 strutting birds within "marginal" distance. This occurred in an open cow pasture with very little in the way of reference points for range estimation. (For me open fields like this is more difficult estimating range than in the woods where I have other items to use for reference) Nevertheless, as I sat there with a very capable SBE II with Rob Roberts choke and 3 1/2" Magblends my mind began to wonder about definitive distance. I have taken numerous birds with this gun, and despite the inherit costs/recoil of the Magblends have spent ample time on the range to know the weapons capability. Despite all of this, I still was left wondering and attempting to determine the given range of the birds before me. I have been an avid hunter for forty years, and although my eyes have faded a bit in the last 5 years still can see and associate objects/distance fairly well. In the end I picked out one of the larger of the birds and at the right time......sent him to the promise land.....22lbs 7oz. Despite this success, I still could not get this thought out of my head.......WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF SOMEONE LIKE BURRIS OR ANOTHER MINI RED DOT SIGHT COULD INCORPORATE A RANGEFINDER IN THEIR OPTICS??
With todays technology surely this would not be much of challenge for their respective engineers. Obviously it would have to be configured where minimal movement would be needed to activate and utilize the product. Maybe have a remote wireless activation button where the hunter could mount at a location of their choice somewhere on the weapons receiver, and the reading would appear in the corner of the site window of the actual red-dot.(Capable of 10yds-75yds) I realize the majority of range estimation and subsequent technology/marketing has been geared toward the long range rifle enthusiast, but as a Turkey hunter I also know the difference in 20 yards estimation could prove success versus failure. In reality much akin to the modern archery hunter, whereas they have configured bow mounted rangefinders. Something tells me the market is there for this product to be invented, as just about every Turkey hunter out there at one time or another has misjudged the distance to a bird. In no way am I trying to insinuate the replacement of woodsmanship and good old fashioned hunting skills, but in reality high tech is the world we live in, and if it will prevent a possible missed shot, or better yet avoid a crippled bird, I believe it is a worthwhile endeavor. Hezz, maybe I'm thinking too far out of the box, but thought I would put forth this ideal and see what you guys (Dedicated Turkey Enthusiast) think about it. Regardless of your thoughts, you will not offend me, as I merely seek to get some feedback to an idea. Thank each of you in advance for your time.
PS: Surely there is an engineer/inventor on this board who has already configured this in their mind while reading my babbling!
