I guess it may be a good, or possibly sad indicator of my character that I keep writing ‘Things That Don’t Suck’ reviews about models of products that were replaced long ago by newer versions. It’s highly likely that the newer models have modifications that improve their usefulness and performance.
However, if a certain thing works for me – car, firearm, toaster, laptop, or, in this case a Cabela’s binocular harness – I don’t even consider looking for a newer iteration.
Predictably, when I went to the Cabela’s site and typed in ‘binocular harness,’ up popped a number of products, none of which was exactly the harness that has given me fantastic service for about 20 years.
There is a similar model called the Cabela’s Hybrid Binocular Harness. As far as I can tell the current form differs little from my cherished harness. Thus, if mine ever fails, I’ll gladly invest the $19.99 Cabela’s charges for this near-twin.
Each time I use my harness – when climbing into a tree stand, still-hunting a woodlot, or doing that incredibly tiring crouch-jog that African PHs seem to love – I am reminded of my pre-harness days and the beating I took from my wildly-swinging optics.
The beating was only suspended if I used my free hand to hold onto the binoculars steady. Of course, that’s tough to do while attempting to 1) climb a ladder, 2) push silently through brush, or 3) continue that debilitating crouch-jog.
My Cabela’s harness has been there on every hunt I’ve taken since its purchase; that includes scores of outings near my home in Northeast Georgia, several hunts for big game in Western North America . . .
…and even my sole African safari in 2018.
The harness will head back to Africa with me in 2020 for a second safari, this time in Mozambique. Between now and then, it will continue to be used on forays after large and small game, and this December it will support my combination binocular-rangefinder on a tactical training course at the Government Training Institute.
Mike Arnold writes about firearms and hunting at his blog Mike Arnold, Outdoor Writer.