What do you all use to hunt at night?

I have a light that lights up like 100 yards, but was curious if night vision is better.

If so, what do you use?

R

Night vision is better because it does not spook the animals. You can activily scan your field of view with NV and the animals know nothing. That doesn't work so well with most flashlights.

You can also have a much further visual reach than 100 yards. The last two piggies I took were at 125 and 160 and the latter distance was just about the edge of the field.

Why in the world would I want to spend $100 a day to rent night vision?

Not trying to be a smartalec.. just that after 10 times of that, I could have bought some sort of goggles or scope that would work fine, no?

There has to be some sort of night vision solution for $1000 or less, isn't there?

Not trying to be cheap, but hogs are not my priority so don't want/need a huge setup, just trying to have some fun and help with the ranch.

R


R

That is correct. But, when it comes to night vision and thermal imaging you get what you pay for. $1000 doesn't get you anything worthwhile in the realm of night vision IMHO.

Gives you ability to try it before you buy it. When dumping $$$$$ be sure you get what you need

Point taken and very good reason.

So, what would you all suggest?

I really rarely hunt at night, I mainly come out and would like to see something before the sun comes up when I am sitting on the stand.

I really am looking for more of something to watch when it is dark than hunt, but I hate to waste money so figured to find something that would meet both needs without me having to spend a ton of money... dunno.. it is a tough call to make.

Also, when you rent.. you have to go sight it in etc? no.. that would not make sense.. how would that work?

and thanks for the input guys.. I have a lot of hogs on the ranch and am looking for a way to harvest some. I can and am going to put up some pens to catch some.. but really do enjoy hunting them as well, vs just catching them.

Oh, I only have one rifle.... a 30-06 Savage, so.. can't swap out scopes easy.. heh


R

I use a 16in lever 30-30 with a tritium front sight and glow paint on the rear sight. My go-to brush/night hog gun and it has more kills under it than any night vision scope. Cheaper, too...

Just hunt by the moonlight, let your eyes fully adjust and only use a flashlight if you absolutely must. Some people try too hard.

Ask on forum if anyone in your area has night vision for you to see. I have PVS14 got it on special $2605.00 itt pinnacle 5yr warranty. Which is best price I have ever seen. Posted on AR15.com nightvision OPMOD purchase. What I did to get best price. It works great! What you see during the day you can see at night. Target to 500yds no problem, or just look at the stars look like powder in the sky there are so many. Added thermal very quickly scan the fields for animals at night, cover 1000 acres easy. Good light transmission 95% or better day scope may suit your needs. Search google. Someone did tests on various scopes using optical cards and reading them at dusk and dawn, results were surprising.

Of course that is your opinion given what you market, but it is a generally bogus opinion from a functional perspective. Lots of people are plenty productive with inexpensive night vision.

The expensive stuff is great. The expensive thermal stuff is absolutely wonderful! However, the average hunter doesn't need a Mercedes to commute to his regular job and doesn't need higher dollar night vision for his regular hunting.

Double, do you have a brand/pair you recommend?

Russ

ATN aries or MK series with professional IR Illuminator 780nm up 850nm, not the atn one(works better than nothing, the fact that I am comparing to to nothing should speak volumes ). 150yds shots at night are no problem with this unit. I have one back at home sitting in case, only because I have PVS14 with ITT Pinnacle tube. If someone hunting with me needs it I let them use it. You can pick one up ebay $300.00 range used, TVNC torch pro 200.00 range new and you are set for night hunting with out spend $1000.00. Anyone says it wont work, see if they invite you with them on nighthunt and give you first shot, since it won't work

heh.. thanks guys. I appreciate ALL the input, I really do. I have all sorts of exotics and such to hunt, so do not need to spend a ton of money, and am making a couple large hog pens to capture a bunch, but I really want to enjoy looking around at 5am when I am on the stand, so figured to see if I could do so without a really big cost.

I do, however, enjoy the high end stuff you all have....seeing what it is, I just can't afford anything like that.. sooo..

Thanks!

Gonna check out the lower priced stuff:)

Russ

Ebay has used atn unit with illuminator 300.00 no bids. This will get you started, I would say 100yds no problem no moon pitch black. I will be heading thru Austin Sat but it will be during the day . If it were at night I could show you what the latest gen III tubes can do. I have Laser illuminator, and 3.5x magnifier, scan a 800yd field like daytime.

Can you send me a link via PM?

I see one for 350, but not 300

Thanks!

I found a ATN Viper 1 for 259

R

So.. yet another question...heh, sorry..

Would keeping my Sightmark rifle scope on and mounting something like a SGCL-07 Designator be worthwhile, for now?

I would think that one of those would work, but might startle the hogs when it is used.

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to be a little more effective on hog hunting.

I have found any light as long as you can turn it up slowly won't spook animals. Red is not as noticed at low levels by most animals. If its bright they will see it. I have tested on hogs, coyotes and bobcats.

Hey J.R.

I have a couple hundred $$ night vision monocular that I picked up at Harbor Freight which works just fine for what you are looking for. 100 yards no problem, then I click on my Elusive Wildlife kill light 250 mounted on my .243 and whack those hogs. Check out harbor freight, see if they still have them. Otherwise I've seen 'em on ebay also.

I spent an evening in Fort Davis last year playing with white, green, and red lights. You are right. You hit the hogs with a bright red light and they take notice. You lower it down on them slowly and they aren't nearly as bothered or don't notice. Sometimes they spooked with green and white even when the light was lowered down slowly over them and definitely when hit with the full brightness with no transition.

Some folks will proclaim that the animals (insert your favorite one here) can't see red and hence can't see red light, but they can see the light. They may not see it as red just like when you see a red light on B&W TV, you can still see the light and that it shines, but it isn't red to you. Like the TV example, while they can't see the color, they probably see it as a shade of gray.

Alright, I dont see many guys posting this but heres what we do. We hook up 2-3 of these- http://www.supercircuits.com/Infrared-Illuminators/ to a couple of batteries and hang in a tree. These will iluminate a huge area under a cheap nightvision scope. Clear and as bright as day. This will allow you to buy a cheap scope and hunt better then buying an expensive scope. Easy to setup and you wouldnt believe how well they work.

Infrared illuminators make a huge improvement for gen1. the torch by tnvc works great but not cheap 200.00

Check out the M845 made by Tactical Night Vision Company. I've been using one for about a year now and I've shot 100 + hogs. I think it's the best entry level unit for the money.
Good luck,

I am sure the torch works fine and their website indicates it operates in the correct range to support Gen 1 scopes (805 nm). Later gens benefit from this lower IR level, but many of the illuminators are made for higher gen. scopes and are in the 900nms range and don't work well with Gen 1.

The Torch is a flood light, which is fine for open areas and great for search open areas for targets. For more cluttered areas, such as inside the woods, a laser does better because of the narrower beam and reduced "splash."

They are also expensive. The least expensive IR laser I have found runs about $350, but works great and has a collimated beam at 805 nm. The product used to be sold through Luna, but now is sold direct and under its own name, Dipol.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laser-IR-Illumin...=item2a2379172d

I have also gone with the stand alone IR floodlight and battery setup like CheapsideHogs noted. I have a particular meadow I watch in this manner and it works great for Gen II, but not so great with Gen I. Wrong nm range. I went with cheaper components, a 12v lithium rechargeable battery pack from Deal Extreme and then one of their 12v 48 LED IR floodlights and the whole setup cost me less than $70 and will run continuously for about 20 hours of illumination time.

We have some Pulsar N550 Digisight NV riflescopes that we can get you a promo code for and it will make them a reasonable price. These effectively see about 400 yards under 1/4 moon, plus you can record with them with an external DVR. You can also use them day or night with no harm to the device. On top of that they can be completely customized, you can even make your own reticles if you connect it to a computer.

http://www.westforkarmory.com/pulsar-dig...on-digi550.html

Wow.. those really are cool. I will hold off on getting anything fancy till I can save up enough for something like that. Recording me missi.. er shooting pigs would be worth the cost, I think.

Thank:)

R