The original spotting scope
I rememeber the days when the vast majority of rifle hunters were using lever actions with iron sights. In the last decade or so, there have been massive improvemenets in the durability of rifle optics and even the less expensive optics, don’t fog up like they use to. Some of those $20 binoculars you see work quite well in daylight, but in low light, that is the time you will really know how much your optics cost. My recommendations when it comes to using binoculars is to get fixed power optics and get the lightest weight ones you can buy.
The biggest argument against packing a pair of binoculars up in your shooting bag or on your tactical vest is the added weight. My Bushnell powerview optics are compact and lightweight and for target identification with fixed 12x, that’s a very inexepensive option. I’ve held all of the Steiner optics, and those are outstanding, but you may not get your moneys worth if you are only using them a few times a year. Steiner binoculars imho are the Trijicon ACOGS of binoculars and they are outstanding for the people that need them.
My grandmother got me interested in bird watching at a young age by taking me to monthly meetings of the Audubon Society. As much as I enjoyed the tales of guest speakers and the frequent potluck dinners, nothing compared to getting out in the field and spying a new bird for the first time. I came to look forward to winter because it meant the annual Christmas bird count.