What's a decent spotter that can be had without having to take out a home equity loan to afford it?
Couple of our stands on our new lease overlook some big country of rolling hillsides and draws.

Got a budget?

I can highly recommend this Vanguard Endeavor HD. I sold my Leupold Golden Ring not long after buying it. There are a bunch of positive reviews on it. Here's a link to get one really cheap. They are usually a couple hundred bucks more.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9...s_straight.html

Thanks for the link, that's well within my budget.

I got a Leupold SX-1 Ventana 20-60 x 80 with case and tripod (model 111362) from Cameraland about a year ago. I apparently got an incredible deal as I can't find any on Ebay or anywhere else for close to what I paid. It's a good scope, IMO.

Vortex 11-33. Would watch and see if an open box goes on sale

I've got the same scope. AWESOME piece of equipment for the money.

I'd suggest that you do some thinking and research before you buy if this is your first scope ..... scopes come in angled or straight configurations. Some will become awkward in certain circumstances. I bought a straight version because I thought it might be more versatile under most conditions. FWIW.

This is on my Christmas list for the wife and I was going to tell her to watch the Black Friday sales. Have any of you noticed good deals on spotting scopes around that time?

There are some, but the main ones are usually crappy low-end scopes. Cabela's has a $100 Simmons they'll put on for $35-AVOID that one. But keep on eye on the other in your price range, and don't discount DEMO models, either. You can get a really good scope for a really good deal if you're careful.

cameralandny has some good deals on demo units pretty often. Highly recommend picking something up from them.

I agonized over what to get and ended up with the Swarovski so I'm probably not the best person to give you advice on this but for reference, I've used a buddies redfield which was decent but nowhere near the swaro. Also looked through the vortex's which were great for the $ but the razor HD is the only one that was close to the swaro.

Really depends on if you're trying to determine that "there are deer over there and that one looks like a buck" or if you want to tell that "there are 6 deer over there, 4 does, 2 bucks, one is a spike, and the other has 6 points on the left, 5 on the right, and a tick crawling on his face".

Let us know what you get though!