Laser rangefinders have become a critical tool that many hunters now take for granted. However, just a few decades ago this device was almost science fiction – lasers were impossibly complex, expensive, and required massive power to operate. Now they fit in your pocket and deliver amazing accuracy for the cost of a couple tanks of gas.

Tip 1: Albert Was a Smart Guy.
Albert Einstein posited the theoretical basis for the laser in 1917, although it took another 40 years to develop a working device. One researcher described it as “A solution looking for a problem.” But since then a dizzying array of problems have been identified for which a laser is the solution, including, “How far away is that deer?”

Tip 2: A Simple Time Measurement.
Lasers generate a very narrow beam of light in a single wavelength, and hunting rangefinders send that beam out and measure how long it takes for the beam to hit a target and bounce back. It then calculates distance based on the out-and-back time. Simple, right?

Tip 3: What Can Go Wrong?
So, why do some rangefinders measure a mile or more, while others max out at few hundred yards? All consumer rangefinders use a ‘Class 1’ laser, so the difference is not the power of the laser, but rather the quality of the optics, sensor, and electronics. Also, maximum range is based on an ideal target (a flat, hard, perpendicular surface), under ideal conditions. You may have a device that can range 1,500 yards, but if that soft, furry deer is behind foliage in the rain, getting an accurate reading at 90 yards may be a problem.

Tip 4: What Do You Need?
If you’re a bowhunter, a useful feature to look for instead of maximum distance, is the way many rangefinders calculate shots up- or down-hill. Accurate angled shots are much easier to figure when using a rangefinder that compensates for that problem. Smart hunters will also take measurements in their field of fire to landmarks before the deer shows up. That eliminates motion that the deer may spot, with the hunter still being confident of the range.

Tip 5: Always Scanning.
Most rangefinders do not send out a single beam, but rather send out a series of pulses and then the electronics evaluate the returns and give you a reading. Some report the first pulse that’s returned, while others average all the returns, and most have very complex programs that give different weight to different results. That’s why you can get different readings when you do multiple ‘shots’ at a target. The better the target, the more steady you hold the device, and the fewer variables there are to interfere, the more accurate the result.

Tip 6: Education and Experience.
Whatever unit you buy, read the manual so you can understand how it works. Go online to get more information, and then take it out into situations similar to where you hunt and use it – a lot. Something as simple as a bare tree branch between you and the target can goof up the reading. If you understand what can go wrong, you will be able recognize that it is happening when you are hunting.

Tip 7: Who Did It?
Lasers have been the basis of billions of dollars of commerce and have literally transformed the world, but determining who exactly invented the laser was the center of one of the longest patent fights in American history, lasting in excess of three decades. In the end, Gordon Gould prevailed, in part because in 1957 he took his notebook with all his designs to a neighborhood candy store where the proprietor was a notary. Without that documentation Gould would have lost out on millions of dollars.

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