There’s nothing like putting in the effort of spotting and stalking right up in shooting range of the trophy animal of your dreams just to take a shot AND MISS! A hunters make the mistake of assuming their optics are on after sighting in their scope once, and then never checking them again. As a big game you understand just how much punishment you and your gear go through every season. Keeping your optics dialed in should be one of the first things you should be doing at the start of every season.
If you are someone who does a lot of traveling before your hunt, you have to also keep in mind the elevation from the location where you sighted your scope in originally, to the location of where you will be hunting. If you travel somewhere higher or lower in elevation you may want to recheck your sight with a few shots if possible. Higher or lower elevation will the drag of the bullet resulting in a different shot impact. I won’t get into all off the technical aspects of it but it is something I would highly recommend looking into to see how your specific rifle round is affected.
The other thing to keep in mind is your scope mount. Along with your gear getting beat up during transportation and travel, your scope will as well. Periodically checking the tightness of your scope mount will result in a higher success rate on your hunts as well. I myself have ran into the frustration of missing a big trophy Antelope because I did not recheck my scope after a long bumpy ATV ride. I missed two shots before I realized that my scope mount had come loose during that ATV ride.
With all that being said, the point of keeping your optics in mind during your hunt is as much importance as the rest of your gear. Make sure it is sighted it, keep in mind any elevation change, and always recheck it is secure. Good luck on your hunts!
