Night vision options

[Blancoalex]

What lumens do you run on lights with red lenses? I see some as high as 1000. My current one only 350.

 

[Revolting Peasant]

Used a bunch of different ones. All over the spectrum on power. Big Q Beam you have to be careful with the light after it has been on a while. Gets hot and will melt your seat covers, wires, plastic, nylon, etc. if it touches it. Like lay it on the seat lol. Don't ask.
I actually prefer an adjustable light. Dial it down and scan for eyes. Crank it up and drop the beam on them to shoot. Especially coyotes. Pigs maybe run it higher. Smaller eyes and harder to get a reflection at any distance.
Thinking about a Kill Light 500 in white and red for now for a nice balance of power and size with adjustable rheostat.

 

[Revolting Peasant]

You can get too strong in my opinion. If the beam gets too bright they seem to be able to see part of it. Maybe shadows?

 

[Blancoalex]

Thanks Revolting, I have read some that shadows is what scares them most ! I am making an adjustable light holder that I can direct main beam above the animal. Is there an lumens number you would say is max ?

 

[Revolting Peasant]

Lumen ratings appear to be very subjective. The Kill Light 250 LED module says it is 1400 lumen but it is not as bright as some 1000 I have used. A lot of lights I have been alongside with others I don't know the lumen ratings. Sorry I'm not much help in with an exact number.

 

[Revolting Peasant]

Some of the weapon lights I have used 200-400 isn't bright enough.
800 seems good
1000+ was pretty bright and ate batteries.
Colored lenses reduce that somewhat. Red might be ok up to 1000-1300. As I said before, everyone's numbers seem to be different.

 

[JMW67]

Looking for opinions on night vision options. Made my first hog hunt with borrowed night vision equipment. We use 3 types but would like to hear what you think is best to look at acquiring .

Below is what we used and our experience.

1- Night vision scope - if behind brush did not see pig(s)
2- infra red - limited distance 0-150yds , but saw red body heat glow that night vision missed
3 - regular scope with green or green flashlight - good for about 100yds to see body and red eyes
4- something better ?

Thanks

thermal monocular and night vision scope one for spotting other for thumping

 

[Blancoalex]

Thanks JMW67 , that is pretty much what we did on our first trip. Used both night vision and thermal to locate and then shot with night vision. Pretty amazing how 100yds at night seems like a long way. We ranged different points before dark came to know our distances and safe shot locations.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

What you just mentioned about calves looking like a pig is why I will not let anybody hunt on my property, I will not hunt in the same pastures my cows and calves are in. I have a DNV and 100 yards is max distance I will use. I have watched some of the YouTube videos of people using thermals, scanning pastures with pigs and you see cows in and around them and then they do a count down and start shooting, pigs running everywhere and crossing in front of cows and still blasting away... I do wonder how many cows or calves are shot during one of those nights Hunt's.

I hunt with cattle being present on several properties. As mentioned above by snox, it comes down to being responsible shooters. There are a lot of situations where I or sometimes we will line up and it is a 1 shot and 1 shot ONLY situation. When the pigs run, you let them run.

Personally what I find more problematic are the cattle reactions, sometimes even before the trigger is pulled.

I understand your sentiments for not letting others hunt your place. I have hunted with those that I would let shoot if I was out in the pasture. I have hunted with folks that I don't want to be in the same county if I know they are hunting. However, it isn't a thermal or night vision issue. It is a person issue.

I personally run an all thermal setup. I used to run a thermal spotter and DNV rifle scope. For your needs, any of the DNV will work just fine. You could go with an inexpensive thermal for basic spotting as well. For that matter, you could run an inexpensive thermal like the Pulsar RQX30V or FLIR PTS233 that will handle your hundred yard distance just fine. They are what I call "barnyard thermal." I know people use them for more than that, but the one guy I helped make a purchase on a thermal who kept his Pulsar RQX30V actually wanted it for his barnyard and shooting coyotes, raccoons, etc. that were bothering his chickens and livestock. He farthest shots were 75 yards. He loved the scope. Just about everyone else I know that bought one for hunting ended up selling and buying something better because they were not limited to such short distances.

 

[Kmccord]

Yes, not blaming the optics, but the people behind the optics, nothing worse than watching a UTube vid with people spraying and watching cattle in the background.

 

[mpowers]

Jumping on to follow...

 

[soundwaves]

lm very interested in a afordable night vision or thermal optic that l can mount on to my riflescope. would want it to be good out to 200 and 300 yards if possible. any thing in the market that would do the job without costing an arm and a leg ? it has to be a optic that goes on to my Nightforce NXS riflescope. any ideas would be very helpfull

need to stop these guys beeing rude infront of my trail cam

 

[nikonNUT]

So I know I went cheap but I grabbed a Sightmark Wraith for a hog hunt at my little brothers in-laws place. 3700 acres of river bottom they grow soy beans on so no worries I.D.ing cows. If I get hooked I'm thinking there is a Trijicon Hunter IR MkIII 60mm in my future or the LGS has a Reap-IR for $6K. Time will tell but I'm kind of impressed with the Wraith. I've been stalking the cats at night just to get a feel for it (scope only, no gun. I shoot fluffy and I"LL be the one being stalked!) and I think it's not half bad! A hog sniper or coyote cannon illuminator are coming in the very near future. Only downside I can see so far is that anything over 12x is too noisy to be of much use and I'm sure more issues will arise but for $500.00 I can't complain (yet!)

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Only downside I can see so far is that anything over 12x is too noisy to be of much use and I'm sure more issues will arise but for $500.00 I can't complain (yet!)

Well, that is how digital works. You are getting digital zoom and not optical zoom. With that said, few folks even use that much magnification. At $500, it is really pretty darned cool for what you get!