See What You’ve Been Missing: My Leupold Optics and Reconyx Game Camera

I have a picture with my little girl, Anna Grace with a turkey and me I harvested this past spring. She is holding the beard of the gobbler, but it is the beautiful smile on her face that makes this moment in time very special to her daddy. Being able to share my passion for hunting and the outdoors with this little two-year-old is priceless. However, it is not just about the turkey moment we shared on that spring morning, it was being able to share any moment with my “precious one.” You see the slogan or catch phrase for Reconyx is, “See What You’ve Been Missing.” Every minute that I am away from my family for work or while on a hunting trip I cannot help but ask myself, “What precious moments am I missing at home today?” This is why all of us should be more motivated to make more time each day and each year to spend with our families.

It is this same passion and feeling that I have in the products that I use year after year in the field. When a special moment in time happens in the hunting woods, I don’t want to “miss” that opportunity the Lord has given me. I want to be completely confident in my gear to perform at all times. When it comes to Leupold and Reconyx I have complete confidence in the products they produce. When I put the cross hairs of my scope on that buck of a lifetime I expect the bullet to hit where I am aiming. When I am looking through my binoculars I know I will see clearly what I am searching for. When any animal walks by my game camera I can count on it to capture that image. Are you always completely confident in the hunting gear you take to the field? Maybe you need to, “See What You’ve Been Missing”, and try one of their products today.

Leupold Optics

Leupold scopes and binoculars have been a part of my hunting arsenal for about fifteen years now. When I was Twenty-years-old I bought my first Leupold scope, a Vari-X III 4.5-14x50. I was amazed at the clarity when I first took it out to sight it in. For the first time in my life I could see crystal clear the target with definition that I have never seen before. I only had to shoot the gun three times at a hundred yards and it was sighted in. From that day forth I never had to adjust the cross hairs. For years it had been carried through cutovers, up and down tree stands, and bounced around on four wheelers. It never once failed me. I failed the scope several times by flat out missing, however even those misses where very few.

I have now owned over a dozen different Leupold scopes, all of which have been consistently reliable. My go to scopes now are the VX 3L series. I have a VX 3L 4.5-14x56 atop my primary hunting rifle. It is the long-range (LR) model that has a 30mm tube, adjustable objective, and the Boone and Crocket reticule. This scope gives you maximum light transmission while being mounted to the gun significantly lower to conventional large objective scopes. I also have a VX 3L 4.5-14x50 atop my primitive weapon. It has the basic one-inch tube, the standard reticule, and is mounted to the gun with low rings. The L concept, which means “Low”, is an awesome thing because it allows you to keep your cheek on the stock allowing you to shoot more accurately with large objective scopes.

I have many personal stories that I could share with you that are more like songs of praise sung to my Leupold optics. Stories such as spotting a big buck bedded on a hillside hundreds of yards away in a cutover in Mississippi with my Leupold binoculars. Stuff like that just doesn’t happen in Mississippi. Stories such as clearing my Leupold scope, which was covered in snow, just moments before I shot my first elk in Wyoming. However, one of the biggest things that impressed me the most about Leupold optics is how they hold their value. When I worked at a gun shop we traded a lot for used guns and scopes. When we would resale the scopes most would only bring a fraction of the price that it sold for new. Some of the scopes we would not even trade for because we could not resale them. Not the case with anything that had Leupold written on it. On average a Leupold product would retain 80% of its initial value. It was amazing the market we had for used Leupold products. I don’t think a used Leupold scope or binocular ever sat in our store over a week. These customers knew that they could get a reliable product at a cheaper price.


Reconyx Game Cameras

This is only the second year I have been using Reconyx cameras and I can say that out of all the game cameras I have used over the years Reconyx has been the most reliable. During the first year of use my Reconyx took over 35,000 pictures on one set of batteries. Since I live 120 miles from my hunting land it was a blessing to know I did not have to worry about my Reconyx running out of battery life while I was away. This was a frequent problem that I had with other cameras. I guess this is part of the idea behind their phrase, “See What You’ve Been Missing.”

Another function that I love about the Reconyx is the hyper-fire feature. The Reconyx has the ability to shoot multiple pictures in just a few seconds. During the rut when bucks are in hot pursuit behind a doe, this feature is a great benefit. Last year I had several pictures of bucks chasing does that I would not have gotten with the average game camera. The doe runs by the camera triggering the hyper-fire cycle and when the buck comes through behind her he is captured in the burst of pictures the Reconyx took. The ability for a game camera to take 75 pictures in a minute is unbelievable. I guess this is another part of the, “See What You’ve Been Missing”, idea.

The last function that I like with some of the Reconyx cameras is the capability for it to be completely covert. Reconyx was the first game camera to have this feature. The covert feature allows the camera to take nighttime pictures with no flash or no glow. Basically whatever walks by the camera will never know that its picture has been taken. This aspect will allow you to get a picture of that camera shy buck or of some wandering neighbors that have been snooping around your house. No matter the case you will be able to, “See What You’ve Been Missing”.

Conclusion



I have never had a lot of extra money lying around to spend on anything, much less on hunting equipment. However, I have learned early in life that you get what you pay for. I have learned that with most things in life, it is better to go without something and save until I can afford to buy a product that I know I’ll be happy with. Leupold and Reconyx are definitely what I would call high end products, but you get what you pay for. These companies also have excellent customer service departments. When I worked at that gun shop we never had a problem returning a product to the factory. They would very quickly fix the problem and get the product back into the customer’s hands. Many times we were able to exchange the product over the counter. I wish I could say that about all the merchandise we sold.

So, I will ask you this question again, “Are you completely confident in the optics and game cameras you are currently using?” If you are, great! Keep on using what you know works. However, if you are not, please try Leupold and Reconyx the next time you need some quality optics and a dependable camera. Then you will be able to truly, “See What You’ve Been Missing!”

God Bless and Happy Hunting.

Posted by Mark Newell