Unless you are counting rings on a sheep for sizing up mtn goat bases....I would fore go the spotter. Even on pronghorn most can’t judge to the inch enough to matter. Most people see a pronghorn look they like and shoot it, or size it up by the prong being past ear tip and length is two plus ear lengths... boom

12xish or 15x and good tripods and head and be done with it. Put rest the money into more tags.

For 15x I wouldn’t buy anything but swaro or lecia(geovid are very heavy but have range finder ), conquest, Maven.... in that order. I don’t know if I’d go below those choices.

12xish... swaro (el or Slc HD) or best deal on lecia, Maven, Zeiss, or Meopta.

There is no arguing king of the hill in optics, its swaro. But there is a hell of a battlefield for second and third place, especially with the price points. 2nd and third is very subjective also.

I’m a fan of Maven for the price but honestly don’t think you can go wrong with Zeiss, lecia and even Meopta in the 1000+ price point.

Short answer you have a great budget. 900-1900 is very appropriate for good glass.

If you sat next to jgraider on a hill side glassing for mulies or coues deer for 5 hrs straight you would start to understand. If he was guiding you, you would love him and if he was hunting with you, you would hate him out of spite

His FOV and ability to truly break down a hill effectively and efficiently with his bino’s will smoke the rifle scope. This isn’t even counting comfort factor. He does have a wall full of very large mulies. It’s just a different game with lower animal densities and bigger country. Not to mention he has a wall of some really nice big deer.

In all honesty It’s really hard to understand where the quality is best served until you do it.

Thanks all for the input. I think I will buy two very good quality binos this year. One 10 and one 12 or 15. I already have another tripod in the budget. And get the spotter before the goat hunt. With two, my kids are using good glass also. I'm not worried on Pronghorn, I've used the same redfield binos I used for duck hunting since I mainly use them to see if bucks are in a herd. But better glass makes it easier. I expect there will be $ left for a decent scope upgrade. So 800-900 each for two binos and 450 for a new scope. I have a vortex tripod and will buy a better one for the bigger bijo/spotter.

Make that $2000 for binos

I agree with others who have said to upgrade one at a time.

That being said, to answer your original question, I'd get an SWFA 12x fixed-power scope, a pair of Meopta Meopro 10x42 that Doug has on sale, and find a used Vortex Razor 11-33 spotter. $300 for the scope, $400 for the binos, $450 for the spotter, and you're in under budget with good glass all around. If you could swing $1800 right now, I'd find a used SWFA HD 5-20 to replace the 12x scope with. Then upgrade the binos and spotter down the road (you shouldn't need to upgrade the scope for hunting). Other option would be to stick with the 12x scope, forgot the spotter, and upgrade to something like low-end Swaros or Meostar HD binos that will not need to be upgraded, ever.

Ultimately, you'd be set with a Vortex AMG 6-24, Swaro SLC binos, and a Swaro spotter. But we just spent like $8,000 of your money, so those type of suggestions aren't all that useful when you're on a moderate budget.

So there's a lot of ways to split it up, but really it's your usage that will determine the 'best' way to split it up. I'd probably buy a 12x fixed power scope and spend the rest on a spotter or binos, whichever you expect to use more.

I know Vortex has had some problems with their lower end glass. There is a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 with an EBR 1 MOA reticle on sale for basically $500. I expect this would be a heavy scope but I'm shooting a Winchester 30-06 lightweight which may come out even. I know this is a loaded question, but I don't have experience comparing glass at different costs. Would this be equivalent, better or worse than the SWFA SS 3-9? The 50mm would give my old eyes more light but I'm not sure about hunting with a 50mm scope.

Thanks

If the SS 3-9 is the same quality glass as the SS 5-20 then it far out classes the Vortex. I’ve owned the 5-20 and the Vortex you mention and there is no comparison. The Vortex is acceptable glass though and far greater magnification than the 3-9. I would feel more secure with the SS as far as reliably. Finding a SS 3-9 may be an issue. They were back ordered last time I looked.

In stock as of this morning.

https://www.swfa.com/swfa-ss-hd-3-9x42-tactical-30mm-riflescope.html

It also like the Maven’s and have the 11x45 pictured in Bobo’s Post. I sold my 30 year old Swaros for more than I paid And bought the Maven.... so far no regrets.

Thanks to both. I'll stick with the suggestions all have entered here. I'm not sure what i would do with a 24 power anyway. If my son decides to take up long-distance shooting, which he may, I would likely get him a specific gun and optics for that purpose.

Any way you chose to go I would be watching SWFA'S Sample List.They will be demo's or refurbished but you could get better quality for the money you spend.Just a thought.

The SWFA 3-9 HD glass is going to be far, far better than the Gen 1 PST glass. I don't think you can go wrong with the SWFA 3-9 HD on a hunting rig.

This is what my son wants to put on his hunting gun after learning about and looking through the 5-20 on his other gun.

Swfa 3x9 is what I'm going with. Just waiting for the right price.

Sign up for their email list. They usually have a few 10% off sales and usually a pretty good Black Friday sale.

Just to follow up, I went with a maven B-1 for my 10 power. Still looking for the second one, probably a 12x. I'm thinking I'll get the same scope for both rifles and put the Leopold on a 700 rem 300 wby and sell it to cover the second scope.