Scope selection and "expectable" low light visibility.

There is a thread running currently about scopes.
I am wondering what is everyone's experience with low light visibility in scopes?

I have noticed that my scope(Bushnell Elite 3x9-40) on my deer shotgun does goes "dark"at about .5 hr before the end of legal shooting time.It is next to impossible to make anything out at like 80-100 yard distance,and the distance where I can still clearly see is getting less and less as the minutes go by.
Mind you-I hunt bushy, wooded areas mostly ,where it gets darker sooner, yet I am disappointed by this discovery.Contemplating switching out my scope.

Any opinion or advice-or I just have a lemon???

I hunt back in the bush as well and know what you mean about early low light conditions. I have a scope that will work for a few minutes past my eyes visual ability, but have learned from experience....if you can't tell if it's a buck or Doe with the naked eye at 50 yds, call it a wrap and time to get out of the stand.

I think that too many guys push it too late and end up taking 'centre of mass' shots because they can't see well enough to make a clean kill shot and end up lung/gut shooting the deer and then your into the flashlights and blood trails.

Scopes should be used to sight on your target not help you see it when it's to dark for the naked eye.

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Originally Posted by gbk

There is a thread running currently about scopes.
I am wondering what is everyone's experience with low light visibility in scopes?

I have noticed that my scope(Bushnell Elite 3x9-40) on my deer shotgun does goes "dark"at about .5 hr before the end of legal shooting time.It is next to impossible to make anything out at like 80-100 yard distance,and the distance where I can still clearly see is getting less and less as the minutes go by.
Mind you-I hunt bushy, wooded areas mostly ,where it gets darker sooner, yet I am disappointed by this discovery.Contemplating switching out my scope.

Any opinion or advice-or I just have a lemon???

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You have a lemon, I use and elite 3200 as well and I can see better through the scope in the early and late times than I can see with the naked eye, My buddy uses a legend and his is the same.

Although I have been a Leupold fan for many years and own 3 of them I recently topped my varmint rifle with a Nikon Prostaff 5. It has amazing clarity at a reasonable price and lets face it, Nikon is a world leader in camera optics so it would make sense that they migrate their expertise to scopes as well. I'm very pleased with mine.

I have two Bushnell Elite 3200 scopes, along with several other brands of scopes. All of them except for a few older or low-end scopes allow me to see very clearly before and after legal light. In my experience, the magnification setting will have some effect on how well you can see in low light situations. The higher the magnification you have your scope set at, the more difficulty you will have seeing in low light. 9X magnification should still be low enough that you shouldn't have issues though. How is your naked-eye low light visibility? That could be the main issue.

Most any name brand scope should add a few minutes to your legal hunt time. Generally bigger tubes and objectives will increase that time even more. I have a 1" 3-9 Leupy that I have used night hunting yotes in the States and on a clear night a quarter moon is just enough to shoot by.

I think Skeeter may be correct, I'd make sure it is focused properly and if that doesn't help, I'd send it to Bushnell.

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Originally Posted by skeeter1

You have a lemon, I use and elite 3200 as well and I can see better through the scope in the early and late times than I can see with the naked eye, My buddy uses a legend and his is the same.

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X2. My 3200 is excellent in low-light conditions. I have 2 Bushnell Trophy II,also,slightly shorter than the 3200, that are equally as good if not even better. I'm told it's because of the shorter focal point.

Thanks Guys for the feedback and some insight.

I have my scope set at 3.5 magnification"all the time" .I have these bad "feelings"about point of impact change with magnification variation.I may be wrong with that one...but I keep all my scopes at low magnification(good enough for southern Ontario anyway).My eyes are OK-plus I had one of my buddy saying the same thing when looked thru the scope I am talking about.
I think Skeeter is correct-I have a lemon.I will seek out Bushnell in the spring(when there will be "HOPEFULLY" a reasonable weather to tinker with a replacement scope outside, at the range)
Once more thanks to all
GBK