The New Redfield Draws First Blood in Spain

In October of 2009 Leupold CEO Tom Fruechtel and I found ourselves in northeastern Spain for the filming of a 2010 episode of Petersen's HUNTING Adventures. In addition to the Leupold products we would be using on the show, Tom also had a surprise up his sleeve.

Upon our arrival at camp, we were preparing to zero our rifles when Tom produced from his bag one of the first samples of the new Redfield riflescopes built by Leupold in their Oregon facility. Leupold had acquired the legendary Redfield brand in 2008 and a year later they were preparing for a 2010 reintroduction of the economically priced, updated and built-in-the-USA riflescopes.

According to Tom, Leupold's vision for Redfield was to offer American hunters a quality alternative to value-priced imports. Tom believes that many hunters will "Buy American First" and that Redfield's American-built riflescopes will be well received by the consumer. Tom went on to say, "We want Redfield to be accurate, dependable, affordable and American made. Those attributes pretty much sum up Redfield's Revolution riflescope line. We built these scopes from the ground up to take no prisoners and offer no reason for American hunters to buy imported scopes. The quality and price of a Redfield scope produced in Leupold's Oregon factory screams to the world, "American industry will not be outdone!"

Redfield is one of America's oldest optics brands, dating back to its founding in 1909 by John Hill Redfield. In 1998, American production of Redfield optical products came to an end at their Denver, Colorado facility. Ten years later, Leupold purchased the brand and now the New Redfield line by Leupold is ready to hit dealers' shelves.

Redfield's 2010 riflescope lineup offers hunters a choice of the most popular power ranges, including 4-12x40, 2-7x44, 3-9x40 and 3-9x50 models. Filling out the product line is the Raider 550 digital rangefinder, the 20-60x60 Rampage Spotting Scope, 8x42 or 10x42 Rebel roof-prism binoculars and the 7x50 or 10x50 Renegade porro-prism binoculars. Unfortunately, samples of these products were not available to us for our October hunt, but they will be ready for sale as you read this.

I was impressed when Tom showed me the sample riflescope. Beautifully finished, the new Redfield scope had very positive click adjustments and bright, multi-coated lenses. Fit and finish was very comparable to scopes costing two or three times as much. Our plan was to mount it to one of our rifles and hopefully get the chance to use it on either a fallow deer or mouflon sheep. Tom and I decided that our cameraman, Conrad Evarts, would be the perfect hunter to be the first to draw blood with the new Redfield scope and Conrad proved more than willing once our regular TV filming was concluded.

So, on the evening of October 4, 2009, Conrad, Tom, guide Francisco Rosich and I found our selves in search of a good fallow buck for Conrad. The new Redfield 3-9x40 was mounted atop my .270 Winchester Savage Model 114 American Classic and loaded with Federal Premium Triple-Shock 130-grain bullets. In the late afternoon light, we slowly worked our way along finger ridges feeding into a deep bowl on Francisco's Mollevi hunting area. We saw several mouflon early on, but none were quite mature enough to be a trophy. We bumped several young fallow bucks and does, but it was not until almost last light that we heard the deep, guttural bark of a mature fallow buck.

Slowly, we moved into position. Coming to the top of a rise, we spotted a group of fallow does and a young buck. A steep canyon separated us from the deer, which were feeding contentedly through openings in the trees on the opposing slope. Carefully, we crawled into a position that would allow Conrad to sit and use my shooting sticks for a rest. Just as we got settled, we heard the big buck bark again. He was masked by the trees but hot on the track of the does which were visible to us.

Now it became a race. Would the big buck present himself for a shot before last light?

Time seemed to pour out slower than cold molasses. At one point, a fallow fawn came so close to us we thought we'd be busted, but suddenly, its ears pitched forward and it looked intently off to our right. The does also became anxious. One of them barked a warning to the fawn, and it headed back toward the does in the direction it had come. Then, chugging through the brush from the direction in which the fawn had been looking  came a monstrous wild boar. As the big tusker quartered away from us the deer realized the boar would not pose a threat and they settled back down.

Once again, the big fallow buck barked to betray its position and finally, he moved into the open. He was a true trophy with high main beams, deep palmations and a plethora of points.

Despite the fading light, Conrad picked him up in the Redfield's circle-and-crosshair reticle which he centered on the buck's shoulder. The distance was just under 200 yards. Conrad pressed the trigger and the rifle roared, spitting a tongue of flame into the gathering twilight. The buck staggered and then broke into a downhill sprint where he disappeared behind a big pine. He never emerged from the other side.

Tom and I stayed behind at our vantage point to spot while Francisco and Conrad took off to where we had last seen the buck. Francisco reached the spot first and hollered, "He's down!"

With that, the first European kill to be made with a new Redfield scope was confirmed. My guess is there will be many, many more around the world in the years to come.