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cal74 Offline OP
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John,

Any first hand experience with this yet?

https://www.leupold.com/life/news/leupold-lto-tracker-thermal-sight-a-vital-tool-for-any-hunter/


It caught my eye previously, but after last night I'm thinking I'll have something in my backpack for next year.


Made a poor hit apparently, was on my hands and knees for 1 1/2 hours and failed to recover a deer. Thick nasty crap, I'll be going out again as soon as it's fully light out.

Something like this, might be just the thing in such situations.


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IF it really works, it would be a good thing for recovery. My son and I spent about four hours the other day tracking tiny blood drips from a buck he clipped, lightly apparently. My arms look like I had a battle with a barrel of Siamese cats. While searching, I found a really nice 10-point another hunter had lost last Saturday. Tragic.

I'm not in favor of using such stuff for locating living, unwounded critters, as I think we have enough of an advantage as it is.


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600yds. Impressive. Some body buy one and report back😀

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Originally Posted by Pappy348
IF it really works, it would be a good thing for recovery. My son and I spent about four hours the other day tracking tiny blood drips from a buck he clipped, lightly apparently. My arms look like I had a battle with a barrel of Siamese cats. While searching, I found a really nice 10-point another hunter had lost last Saturday. Tragic.

I'm not in favor of using such stuff for locating living, unwounded critters, as I think we have enough of an advantage as it is.

And we all know darn well that is the first thing it will be used for.

Nice crisp fall morning with big game bedded down and well hidden on hillsides or in thickets; no need to minutely scan every square inch of ground for an antler tip or part of a leg, just pass this FLIR across likely areas to pick up the brightly shining warm bodies contrasting with the 20-40 degree ambient temperature. Lase the distance, crank up the scope, put a bullet through the bedded deer and then walk the 50 yards back to the parked UTV to go get it.

Heck, even the ad in the link shows what looks to be a healthy deer standing tall, not some wounded critter lying down.

This thing will sell like moonshine behind the barn of a Baptist revival meeting.


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cal74,

Haven't even laid eyes on one yet, much less tried it.


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cal74 Offline OP
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Thanks for the reply, I was hoping you might have gotten your hands on one early.

Yes, I can see lots of people not using this as they should. But for others, it could be a great help in locating downed game.

I went back out this AM, picked up the blood trail and didn't really get any further than I did last night. Started grid searching and didn't turn up anything.

I'm 90% sure it was just a muscle shot, maybe in the upper leg. Perfect example of a firearm (XP-100) that's capable of 1/2" groups not doing it's job, because I didn't do mine adequately.


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And we all know darn well that is the first thing it will be used for.

You're right, but I'm not convinced that such use will actually put much game in the freezer, given the difficulty of shooting through brush.

On the other hand, if the imaging is decent, it just might eliminate some of the "sound shots" some fools are prone to taking. High-tech stuff like this is sure to appeal to the inexperienced and desperate crowd, those most likely to send lead towards stuff they can't see clearly. Hard to say.

The old, fat, and lazy (also cheap) crowd, of which I'm a charter member, are less likely to want anything else to tote around their necks. Hell, I often don't carry or use binos because of the hassle and because of the movement required to use them might bust me in the tight cover I often hunt.


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A couple of my buddies might need them to assure themselves that there are not 2,856 bears waiting for them in the pre-dawn.....

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A little fantasized deadly peril adds spice to the hunt. Let the boys have their fun.

Me, I'm afraid of skunks in the dark, a much more practical phobia.😱

Last edited by Pappy348; 11/11/16.

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Better to spend the $700 bucks on ammo and practice to the point you don't make bad hits.


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I'd say the LTO is bumping up hard against some ethical concerns. Thermal imaging for locating game? This is similar to where "drone technology" might be going.
On the other hand, I used to know some burglars who could really benefit from a tool like that. Is anyone home? Is there a dog inside?
Technology is fine but at what point is it no longer hunting and merely the deployment of gadgets?


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Originally Posted by Pappy348
A little fantasized deadly peril adds spice to the hunt. Let the boys have their fun.

Me, I'm afraid of skunks in the dark, a much more practical phobia.😱


Yep.

Had a close call with one, I kept crowding him until I put the flashlight on him.

I chose a slightly different route to where I wanted to go. I no longer assume everything I hear in the dark is a possum.

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Last "skunk" I thought I was walking behind turned out to be a badger.

Using this device for anything other than finding lost/wounded game never occurred to me. Nor would I ever use it for anything else. But that's just me......

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I can still track, and $800 would go a long way towards something I really want.

The $200 Barska knockoff can't be far off.


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I have often wanted some sort of thermal imaging device for use in a Swather. Every year during first cutting, regardless of how careful we are, some (usually not many, maybe two or three, but any is enough) fawns get killed while cutting hay. This is a pretty sick feeling, hearing that telltale thwack as the fawn goes through the conditioner. They are still little enough they hang tight and they are damned near impossible to see. My first thought was to wonder if there is a way for this Leupold gadget to work in this way.

Not exactly hunting related, but some of those fawns would likely have become legal game at some point.

Last edited by SteveC99; 11/12/16.

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Originally Posted by SteveC99
I have often wanted some sort of thermal imaging device for use in a Swather. Every year during first cutting, regardless of how careful we are, some (usually not many, maybe two or three, but any is enough) fawns get killed while cutting hay. This is a pretty sick feeling, hearing that telltale thwack as the fawn goes through the conditioner. They are still little enough they hang tight and they are damned near impossible to see. My first thought was to wonder if there is a way for this Leupold gadget to work in this way.

Not exactly hunting related, but some of those fawns would likely have become legal game at some point.


This is thinking outside the box. Mounted in the cab and hooked to a viewing monitor.
Some techie could have it signal an audible alert if an illuminated image is detected. Let me know when you need some "seed money".


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Originally Posted by SteveC99
I have often wanted some sort of thermal imaging device for use in a Swather. Every year during first cutting, regardless of how careful we are, some (usually not many, maybe two or three, but any is enough) fawns get killed while cutting hay. This is a pretty sick feeling, hearing that telltale thwack as the fawn goes through the conditioner. They are still little enough they hang tight and they are damned near impossible to see. My first thought was to wonder if there is a way for this Leupold gadget to work in this way.

Not exactly hunting related, but some of those fawns would likely have become legal game at some point.


Some Audi's are equipped with this exact technology to detect animals/people on the road at night. I've been a passenger with it on, it's impressive.

Not sure if Audi makes swathers...


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Originally Posted by bigwhoop
I'd say the LTO is bumping up hard against some ethical concerns.

Technology is fine but at what point is it no longer hunting and merely the deployment of gadgets?


When the LRF was introduced,some ((mostly naive and optimistic types) proclaimed it would be used so that hunters would know what shots not to take. Others(skeptics) said many would use it to take any shot imaginable.

This will be the same. The thrust of any new technology (it seems) is to reduce and avoid the development and use of as many shooting, woodsman ship and hunting skill sets as possible.

Now thermal imaging will find the game. "Hunters" who can't even manage that simple chore will use it to locate unwounded game....you can bet on it, humans being inclined to take the easy route in anything, like sheep.




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Originally Posted by BobinNH
Originally Posted by bigwhoop
I'd say the LTO is bumping up hard against some ethical concerns.

Technology is fine but at what point is it no longer hunting and merely the deployment of gadgets?


When the LRF was introduced,some ((mostly naive and optimistic types) proclaimed it would be used so that hunters would know what shots not to take. Others(skeptics) said many would use it to take any shot imaginable.

This will be the same. The thrust of any new technology (it seems) is to reduce and avoid the development and use of as many shooting, woodsman ship and hunting skill sets as possible.

Now thermal imaging will find the game. "Hunters" who can't even manage that simple chore will use it to locate unwounded game....you can bet on it, humans being inclined to take the easy route in anything, like sheep.


But just like the LRF, it aint going to make them better hunters. But you know i do understand where you're coming from. and agree, some will use it as a crutch.

Its always the case.

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Sorry to the OP for this tangent.

I keep reading where some say this device is an ethics concern. It is making "lazy" hunters. It should only be used to recover game.

The one thing other than our spoken and written language which separates us from the other vermin on this planet is our ability to make tools. Human beings by far are the best tool makers in the world.

This device from Leupold is another step forward in tool making. A tool is used to make a job easier or more efficient/productive. This is assuming the majority of the people using it have the intelligence to operate it.

We all use tools to hunt. None of us are chasing down game in our bare feet and strangling it to death with our bare hands. I understand the push back to something new. We also don't like change.

Regardless of what this device can do, we still have regulations which govern the hours we hunt and bag limits of the game we hunt.

The end result in hunting is to harvest/kill the animal we are pursuing. To argue over how we do it leaves us standing on a slippery slope. Just my 2 cents.

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