When bowhunting, few gear items are more critical than top-tier optics. The good news: From binoculars to spotting scopes to rangefinders, Maven has you covered.
by Clint Casper
When it comes to hunting, specifically bowhunting, primarily my main focus, the old saying “you can’t kill what you can’t see/find” rings very true. My optics play the most pivotal role out of my hunting gear in many circumstances.
When bowhunting out West, my tactic is spot and stalk bowhunting. To have any quarry to hunt, I must first find them with my eyes. As a whitetail and turkey bowhunter, I typically play a cat-and-mouse game in tight-quarter landscapes, like hardwood forests and thick creek bottoms. My optics need to allow me to catch movement and judge the size of an animal before they spot me.
Regardless of where I am in the world, good optics are an absolute necessity when I’m bowhunting, which is why I run Maven Optics.
Why Maven?
Based out of Wyoming, Maven Optics is a direct-to-consumer company that stands behind its employees and their optics. This means no retail markup prices. From riflescopes to binoculars to spotting scopes to rangefinders and everything in between, Maven is your full optics company.
Maven optics hold a lifetime warranty, which in today’s world, is a HUGE deal, giving the consumer the ability to be able to rest assured that no matter what, their hard-earned dollars will never be wasted and that Maven will stand behind their optics if anything is to go wrong.
Maven also offers some of the most customizable optics packages in the business. You can customize everything about these optics, from colors to focus rings and knobs and everything in between.
Maven utilizes an ideal shape, edge-to-edge clarity, a fantastic field and depth of view, silky smooth focus wheels and knobs, and state-of-the-art technology on all its optics. The optics promise superior low-light performance when a bowhunter needs an optic to perform the most. In this article, I will cover the three main optical pieces I use from Maven.
Binoculars
When I think about my bowhunting setup, as far as gear goes, my binoculars are basically my number one multi-tool. A good set of binoculars will be utilized in many different ways, depending on the style of bowhunt. For example, I’ll use them during certain times to scan big areas and even long distances to find animals. Instead of wasting energy with my legs, I will let my glass cover the country for me.
Also, sometimes I’m in tight quarters and need to pick out the smallest detail, like an elk antler. No matter the situation, my Maven B.6 10×50 binoculars have me covered!
The B.6 binoculars from Maven come in a 10x and 12x power model. I chose the 10x because 10-power provides an excellent mixture of field of view and brightness. Based on their criteria, the B.6 is part of Maven’s B Series, their highest scale of binoculars. The B.6 features fog and waterproof properties, extra-low dispersion ED glass, phase correction coating, tripod adaptability, excellent color fidelity, fully multi-coated lenses, and Maven’s lifetime warranty. These binos come in at $1,050.00, a fantastic price point for feature-packed binoculars like these.
These binoculars come in at only 30.7 ounces and are 6.6 inches long. This is a very compact set of 10x binoculars that set exceptionally well inside a binocular harness. These binoculars give me the absolute most bang for my buck, no matter what type of bowhunt I’m on. They never leave my binocular harness, which is always with me. Maven also offers their C series line of binoculars and a ton of other B series binoculars in different sizes for all consumers.
Spotting Scope
In the world of western bowhunting, which I now spend as much time doing as I do chasing whitetails and turkeys back home in Ohio, seeing is believing, and you better be able to “see” what you want to hunt. This means that you are covering long distances and a lot of area for extended periods until you find exactly what you’re looking for. Because of the number of hours I spend behind a spotting scope, I must have a great quality spotter to spend my time looking through, which is why I run the Maven S.1A 25-50×80 spotting scope.
The S.1A is a premium spotting scope that weighs 64.5 ounces and measures 14.9 inches in length. This spotter features a Fluorite objective system, fully coated lenses, and phase correction coating. It is also waterproof and fogproof, provides exceptional color fidelity, and has Maven’s lifetime warranty.
This spotting scope will rival any comparable model you can find on the market, and based on its price of $1950.00, due to no retail markup, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better-built, brighter, or lighter spotting scope on the market. Due to the exceptional glass and edge-to-edge clarity, I can spend hours behind this scope, scanning for the game, and never have eye strain or fatigue. This type of use speaks to how great these spotting scopes are and why buying a premium spotting scope like the Maven S.1A is essential.
Maven also offers the S.2 and S.3 series of spotting scopes, which are smaller and have a smaller price tag. All of Maven’s spotting scopes can be bought in an angled or straight version, allowing the buyer to customize how their scope is built. I prefer the angled scopes, especially when on steep slopes out West.
Rangefinder
Last but certainly not least in the Maven lineup for myself is their award-winning rangefinder, the Maven RF .1 7×25. This rangefinder is packed with awesome features that you will only find in a Maven rangefinder.
The RF features 5-4,500 yard effectiveness, line of sight and angle compensation, Field and Forest function modes, five reticle options, five brightness levels, phase correction coating, edge-to-edge clarity, 7×25 optic power, tripod adaptability, and, of course, Maven’s lifetime warranty. It weighs 10 ounces and is 4.7 inches long by 3.1 inches wide.
This rangefinder is genuinely a work of art, and when it comes to hunting, the last step I take before I draw my bow is to range my target. I need speed, accuracy, and precision from a rangefinder, and this model delivers all that and more.
A few key features I love about this model are Field/Forest mode, which allows you to match your environment. For example, in open spaces, I’ll use Field mode to hit small objects or to be pinpoint accurate on long-ranging targets like an antelope on the plains.
Then, I can go to Forest mode if I’m chasing elk in the thick timber and want to range around or through trees, snow, rain, etc. These features are brilliantly developed and simple to toggle back and forth on. I also love the ability to dim down or turn up the brightness levels on the rangefinder. This is extremely handy in low-light sceneries when I need to get a range quickly. This rangefinder is about as feature-packed as possible for only $450.00.
I can assure you that Maven Optics will stand behind all of its products and warranties. It is, in my opinion, the best bang for your buck. Give them a look!
