Hawke Vantage IR 1-4X20 Turkey Dot Reticle Review

If you’ve been looking for a new optic for your turkey gun, then I may have something pretty interesting for you to take a look at. A few weeks ago we got our first look at the newly released Hawke Optics Vantage IR 1-4×20 Turkey Dot Scope. 

I will say upfront I was surprised by how much I liked the looks of it. I’ve been turkey hunting for a few years and have always used a micro-reflex red dot like the Burris FastFire III or the Vortex Venom to help make sure I’m zeroed in on that gobbler’s neck. I’ve tried out a couple of scopes but did not like how much space they took up on my shotgun OR how much of my field of view was cluttered by the scope itself.

Our Favorite Thing About the Hawke Vantage IR 1-4X20 Turkey Dot Reticle

For testing purposes, we mounted the Hawke Vantage IR Turkey Dot to the CVA Scout .410 and have been shooting it a ton.  I would call this scope “compact” and lightweight. It’s about 8.5 inches long and just over an inch and a half tall. And, because it uses a 1” tube, it weighs just under 12 ounces. One of the main draws to the CVA Scout is that as a .410, it’s a pretty compact gun, so we appreciated the fact that we weren’t adding a lot more size or weight to it. 

My favorite thing about the reflex sights is that you can still see everything you want with both eyes open and clearly take a shot, and I just hadn’t seen that with a scope…until now.

One of the main things Hawke boasts about with this scope is the 4” eye relief. Well, let me first say that’s not true at all – we measured closer to 8.5”! The eye relief on the Hawke Vantage Turkey Dot Shotgun Scope is so much that you can mount it as far down your shotgun’s rail as possible and still see a full field of view. Even better, because you can put it so far away, the rim of the optic doesn’t clutter your view of what you want to see. So, unlike other scopes I’ve seen, you can keep both eyes open and see clearly to take the shot.  On a side note, you’re less likely to leave the woods with the imprint of a scope ring between your eyes as well.

What Makes the Hawke Vantage IR 1-4X20 Turkey Dot Reticle Different?

The first thing I noticed when picking up the Hawke Turkey Dot was the long eye relief.  This feature was enough to convince me to pick up a Hawke Turkey Dot Scope.  However, I’ve often seen new hunters and youth hunters struggle to find their target when the adrenaline rush of a target game animal walks into range.  This ridiculously long eye relief should help alleviate that issue for most hunters.  Now, as you would expect, when you zoom closer to the 4x power, the available eye relief decreases somewhat. However, I still think it’s more than four inches. 

I would be doing this scope a huge disservice if I didn’t mention the other thing that makes this a turkey-hunting-specific scope – the Turkey Dot Reticle. This reticle is another very impressive feature. The entire thing is etched in the glass, so you can clearly see it at all hours of shooting light. There are horizontal lines and a lower vertical line that points to the 2 MOA horseshoe and center dot, and that configuration makes it very easy to center your aim point directly on the turkey’s head.  The problem with most turkey hunting shotgun scopes in the past is that they decreased your target acquisition time, as well as blocked your field of view. This new design solves both of those problems.

And, as if the etched reticle wasn’t enough, the horseshoe and the center dot are also illuminated. If you’ve watched or read any of our other reviews, you know that I absolutely love an illuminated reticle. Pretty much every rifle scope I own at this point is illuminated, so that sealed the deal for us. The light can be red or green and can be adjusted to five different levels. But, the other nice thing about the reticle being etched is that if you forget to turn on your scope or the battery dies, you’ll still be able to get on your bird without any problem. Additionally, should you need to change the battery, the battery compartment is on the side, so there is no need to re-zero afterward. 

One other thing I’ll mention about the illumination may be of interest to you. My husband also loves to use a red dot but says they’re all blurry and look like a starburst because of his astigmatism. Well, I think his favorite part of this optic is that somehow he can clearly see the illuminated portions without any blurriness. So, maybe if you’ve shied away because of your astigmatism, this could be the answer for you. 

More Than Just a Fancy Reticle

And, don’t think Hawke is just banking on some cool reticle. As with all Hawke Optics products I’ve used, I would consider the glass to be very high quality. This lens is made with their system H2 glass and has an 11-layer protective coating to make sure the glass stays that clear. 

I’m also a fan of the capped turrets, adjustable at ½ MOA. We were easily able to mount it to the rail that comes with the CVA Scout, and zeroing it in was pretty simple as well. In just two or three shots, we were ready to go

Improvement Ideas:  Hawke Vantage IR 1-4X20 Turkey Dot Reticle

There are clearly a lot of things we like about the Hawke Vantage Turkey Dot scope, but there are just a couple of things I might like to see improved upon. 

First, as Hawke does with many of their illuminated rifle scopes, it would be nice if there was an off-space between the brightness levels. As it is, you have to turn through all the levels to get to the off position. So, if you have the brightness on level 3, you’ll have to turn through a few extra levels to turn it off. 

It would also be pretty cool if they had an automatic shut-off with a shake-awake feature. If you’re like me, you’ve forgotten more than once to turn off your red dot, so having that extra feature to help prolong the battery would be nice. Now, that’s not a huge deal because it uses a CR2032 battery, which is pretty cheap. And, as we mentioned, you can switch it out fairly quickly without messing anything up.