Hunting at night is a lot like hunting in a black hole. In most fields I will make a range card with my rangefinder or a mapping program on my iPhone beforehand. Most of our deer are shot from 150-450 yards if everything is perfect. I talked to AGM a few different times via email and they are hoping to come out with some better Mrad and moa ranging reticles. They always respond quickly and are very nice. I would go with at least 384 and 640 if I had the cash. I hope that they will build a clip on type rangefinder that will connect through blue tooth if nothing else. As of Last January, every scope they make in 384 or above comes with a 5 year warranty. That's pretty strong.
As said before deer are easy to Id at 800 yards in red hot mode. I often look at alligators which being cold blooded are different. Especially in water. I find that black hot works better there. My AGM also has SAR, shot activated recording. Which is good because I forget to cut video on from time to time. I can easily I'd Armadillos at 250. House cats as far as 400 plus and coyotes over 300. Of course telling coyotes from certain dogs can be difficult.
My scope costs around $3000. Another very handy item is a thermal monocular. It keeps you from having to scan with your rifle. Mainly with the monocular, all you need to pick up is a signature so you know something is there. Then you can transfer to the rifle. The AGM comes with one of the best Quick Release mounts in the business which is made by American Defense Manufacturing. It is rock solid. I switch from the Grendel to my AR 308 fairly regularly and have zero profiles for each. It's very easy to change the profile to match the rifle. I think this can be done for up to 5 rifles.
The Pulsar with rangefinder that I like runs about $5700. I know one guy running one on a 270win and he loves it.
The biggest detractor for me with Thermal is that you really can't see antlers well. When they are in velvet, it's no problem.
If you would like, I have video of kills at 100, 180, 380, and 425 I could send you via email so you could see red hot mode and clarity. Be sure also to learn the difference between 384 and 640. One is just as clear as the other but the 640 gives a larger field of view. There is a good u Tube video on that. Let me know if you would like those videos. They are high shoulder kill shots. I'm always a bit iffy about putting stuff like that on a public forum. Then again this is a hunting forum. Another last thing I just thought of. With The traditional scope type units, the reticle can easily be leveled. This is not so easy on the ones built like a red dot scope.
I have a night vision scope setup also but I rarely use it anymore. The system along with the IR light is very cumbersome. The key is having a good IR light. I've found that deer will shy away at times when that IR light comes on. I don't know if it throws a shadow or what but some are definitely aware of it. With thermal they are completely unaware of any presence.
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