Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any of you wankers hunt at night?

I can wank any tme day or night...

Except for haunting at night - I got to be careful what 'trigger' I pull

Federal lands

Protected Biosphere

Cant even take your dog out in the back country trails there.

Hell yeah! That's when the game moves!!

Coyotes, badgers, bobcats, hogs.

Well, yeah, that's when spotlights work the best.

Duh.

Hogs only. Use a green motion light on bait. Weatherby Vanguard2 .30-06 with a LRS Burris set on 10X. Have been using Hornady 180 SST but since Hornady came up with their vaccine mandate I'm considering changing that.

I sit out at night (hunt) every chance I get. Especially in the months where it can be 90 degrees F at 10PM.

I have used kill lights, night vision (2 ATN models) and thermal (1 flir, 1 Bering Optics)

For years starting around 2004 I used a "kill light" mounted on a regular variable power rifle-scope. The Elusive Wildlife Technologies XLR 250 first, then the Wicked Lights Model W-403IC. One can get into this option for under two Benjamins. Biggest negative I've found that depending on the critter and how you illuminate him/them, the light spooks them. I like the 403 as it has both dimmer switch and a telescoping beam. As it gets dark I set it on a wide beam and lowest illumation that I can still see the crosshairs in the scope. Batteries last for several hours so I have it on when the critter comes in. At that point if necessary I will increase the illumination. Works better than just lighting them up.

Next, around 2015 or 2016 I got my first Night Vision unit. It was the ATN HD2 Night vision scope, used in conjunction with a infra-red illuminator. Worked fine but was a battery hog.

My latest Night Vision unit is the ATN 4K Pro. It is a day/night scope that has quite a few bells and whistles. I got the 5-20, but if I had to do it over again, I'd get the 3-14 as I typically shoot 100 yds and under at night and IMHO I would be better served with a 3 power low end magnification. It works well during the day, on a full charge, one can get hours of operation (14 hours according to ATN) It does both still and video. I have upgraded the IR illuminator to the Night Snipe NS750 IR Extreme. Supposedly this IR unit will illuminate to 1000 yds. A feature I really like on this model is that one can stream video from the scope to a smart phone or tablet. That means that you do not have to keep your eye glued to the scope. Rather you can sit back and watch the tablet, text messages or post on 24hr. on your I-phone, then if a critter comes into view, put your eye to the scope and go from there. Saves on night-blindness and headaches. For shooting at known distances at a stationary target where one does not have to scan to pick up the target animal it works superbly. One can get both scope and IR Illuminator for +/- $1K as the price for admission.

IMHO the biggest deterrent to thermal is the entry cost. My first thermal was the FLIR PTS 233. You can look up the specs. At the time I purchased mine several years ago the going price was +/- $2,700. To get into decent Pulsar unit at that time was $4,500 plus. That was above my pain thresh-hold. The FLIR unit works, but IIRC the native magnification is 1X. Due to the size of hogs, coons, yote’s and foxes, a 1X magnification @ 100 yds. can be problematic. As you are probably aware, as magnification increases, clarity decreases rapidly. Also, FLIR no longer sells to the civilian market IIRC.

I recently purchase the Bering Optics SuperHogster. Purchase Price, $3,100 and change. I’d not heard of it, but had the occasion to do a thermal hunt with some guides that were using the SuperHogster. Over a 4 hour period we saw well over 100 pigs out in the fields. My night vision was useless for scanning. The difference between being able to identify targets with my PTS 233 and their SuperHogsters was incredible. I purchased the SuperHogster the next day.

Native magnification on the SuperHogster is 2.9X, which works at perfect at the distances I shoot at night. Do not have many pix or vid using the SuperHogster as up to last week I did not have the ability to download pix and vid to IOS, only Android.

So these days when I set out at night I set up my ATN 4K Pro on a tripod aimed at a water source or spin cast feeder, and stream video to my tablet. I use the PTS233 as a thermal scanner, and have the SuperHogster mounted on an AR in 6.5 Grendel.

Adds another dimension to my quest to perforate porkers.

I like it.




Night-time Fox and hoglet using the Wicked Light 403 Kill LIght





Night Vision Hoglets




Streaming video with the ATN 4K Pro to my I-pad



Daylight view @ 120 yds



night-time view@ 120 yds




Hoglets @ 30 yds. viewed with the PTS233 @ 4X. Notice the fuzziness of the images.



Two of four out of the group above I nailed on the run with the PTS233




White-Hot view of Cactus and Cistern @ 120 yds, 2.9X magnification, SuperHogster

ya!

GWB

Geedubya, thanks for that!

👏

Yeah, thanks GWB,

and really nice huntin' boots there? Whites? Kennetreks? Lowa?

That's an amazing sight. Almost too much information in the sight picture.

I have red lights and use regular scopes.

But several years ago i got a ATN thor thermal and things have changed in the hunter's favor.

Once you get used to the picture it gets easy.

I think you just cost me a few thousand dollars.

Only from someone else’s truck

Biggest problem with thermals, for me anyway, is judging distance.

maybe worst shooting ive ever seen

Maybe worst shooting i hve ever seen

I kill most of the pigs here at the Ranch at night. I’m too cheap to buy the Thermal stuff, though. Still use a green spotlight and a scope on my AR. Quite a few varmints too, calling at night in the wintertime.

The hogs in ya area go nocturnal when they get hunted heavily.

I need to go visit Barry one of these days and catch some of his big catfish and let him educate me on the Thermal gear.

I've been known to blast hogs w/ my 1911 at night.

Killed truck loads of jackrabbits with my Colt Frontier Scout SA 22 shooting out of the window of pickup when I was in HS in our wheat fields.

Yep. There's not a whole lot that's more fun than corning the roads, getting all liquored up and then jumping outta the truck in the dead of night and unloading a mag of .45 ACP at a sounder. I've blasted many a hog that way - and many a jackrabbit as well.