I will be hunting with my girlfriend this year (both first time hunters) for elk and deer. I bought a pair of 8x42 vortex diamondbacks and the question is - do we need a pair each? We have one gun, and I will be doing the shooting, but I'm kind of thinking we both need to have glass.

Should I get a second pair? Or a spotting scope?

What would you get as a second pair to complement the ones I have? Something more powerful for glassing off the hillside?

In general, I almost NEVER carry a spotting scope. Only for very, very, VERY specific sets where I plan my shot to be long range on purpose, or on colony varmints.

I usually don't carry compact binos any more, and I do my "general glassing" duty with my rangefinder. I then have a larger set of higher magnifying binos in my pack.

I tend to favor both hunters should have glass, such both can scan together, identify game together, etc, but on the other hand, I could easily be convinced to use a tag team approach (which I do with my wife, quite often). So on a long range set, I'd have a range finder, and a spotting scope, whereas my wife would have a range finder and a set of high mag binos. (Again - we use 7x rangefinders instead of compact binos).

2 sets of eyes means double the chance of spotting game. Since she's going to be hunting anyway, you might as well get her a good pair of binos that she likes.

X2

Now that's redundant !!!