Nikon Monarch Laser 800 Rangefinder Hunting Field Test

Archieved Hunting Product Field Test
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Rangefinders

Nikon Monarch Laser 800 Rangefinder

Prior to Nikon sending me their new Laser 800 Rangefinder my experience had been that rangefinders were bulky, hard to put on target, and had too many "modes" to cycle thru (like Rain or Reflective or 250 yds) to make them anything more than something I'd play with at home and leave in camp on a hunt.

But the Nikon Laser 800 has made the rangefinder into a useful, lightweight, compact, trustworthy tool that should go with you on any hunt. And that's just what it did on my first pronghorn hunt in August of 2004.

If you've never been on a pronghorn hunt all I can say is "Why Not?". It's the closest thing to hunting the African veldt that we have in North America. A beautiful, one of a kind animal that can run almost as fast as a Cheetah but for a much greater distance. And the country it inhabits is the wide open high desert of the west. Combine this with the pronghorn's eight-power vision and your shot distances can be some of the longest you'll ever take. A true test for any rangefinder.

The Nikon Laser 800 comes with a belt pouch and a neck lanyard. As I already had Nikon's Action EX Binoculars around my neck I chose to keep the rangefinder in the belt pouch. A snap flap ensured it stayed in the case while I moved to my hunting spot in the dark.

As the sun rose over the New Mexico desert I decided to leave Dave (one of the hunters I'd brought with me) and our guide and strike out on my own. I walked to the rim of a box canyon overlooking a watering hole and sat down next to a stand of junipers. I hadn't been there fifteen minutes when I spotted a pronghorn walking along the plateau. Up came my Nikon binoculars and I could see it was a good buck, but a long way off. This would be a great test for Nikon's new rangefinder. I slipped it out of the case, pushed the power button once to turn it on, located the pronghorn thru the six-power monocular, put the crosshairs on the pronghorn and pushed the power button once more.

Instant acquisition - wow! 694 yards. I continued to range the pronghorn as he turned and headed towards me at the end of the box canyon. Each time the Nikon Laser 800 instantly acquired the target - to the half-yard.

As I sat on the rocks of the canyon rim I continued to switch between the binoculars and rangefinder while the pronghorn dropped down into the box canyon. When he stepped into a creek filling the watering hole I figured he was as close as he would get. I used the Laser 800 one more time to get a final range - 194 yards.

I set my .300 Fite Custom Rifle onto the shooting sticks, put the scope crosshairs just behind the pronghorn's shoulder and as I touched the one-pound trigger I was rewarded with my first pronghorn at seven o'clock opening morning.

But the story doesn't end there. Since we were hunting two-on-one I needed to wait a few more hours before retrieving my pronghorn so Dave might have a shot at his. It wasn't long before another nice buck appeared and walked down to the middle of the canyon with nothing but grass for hundreds of yards around it.

Dave and our guide put on a truly righteous stalk that I enjoyed watching from my vantage point on the canyon rim. Slowly they closed the gap to what they guessed was two hundred yards. As Dave squeezed off his first round I saw the bullet hit the dirt behind the pronghorn - low shot. A second bullet yielded the same results. Now the pronghorn was on the move. Dave tried a third shot but missed again.

Our guide field dressed my pronghorn and he and I headed back to town to have it skinned out and put in a cooler. We left Dave to continue his hunt and I gave him the Nikon Laser 800 to use.

After dropping off the pronghorn and getting a bite to eat we headed back to see how Dave was doing. When we arrived the same pronghorn was back, bedded down, and Dave was sitting facing the opposite direction. What the guide and I witnessed for the next twenty minutes was the funniest thing either of us had ever seen while hunting.

Initially we were probably 4,000 yards from Dave and the pronghorn. We tried getting Dave's attention by honking the horn and jumping up and down, but to no avail. We then decided to move the truck closer hoping Dave would see us and we would get the pronghorn on its feet.

It worked, sort of. Dave spotted us, got up and started walking towards us. The pronghorn spotted us and started walking towards Dave. As Dave got to a gate in a cattle fence he turned around for one last look up the canyon - facing away from the pronghorn. The pronghorn watched Dave and snuck under the fence not 100 yards from where Dave was standing. We couldn't believe what we were seeing.

The pronghorn was now sneaking away from Dave watching him the whole time. Finally Dave turned around and almost jumped out of his skin. As he regained his composure he took out the Nikon Laser 800 rangefinder - ranged the pronghorn - rested his rifle on a fence post - pulled the trigger and he had his first pronghorn. 315 yards.

Neither the guide nor I let on to what we had been witness to. At least not until that night at dinner with the other thirteen hunters and six guides also with us on the hunt. Everyone roared with laughter as I reenacted Dave's hunt.

Dave later told me how impressed he was with Nikon's rangefinder. We both agreed that a Laser 800 would be on our belts in future hunts. I heartily recommend it be on yours as well.

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