Day/Night scope use for hog hunting.
Anyone had any hands on experience with Day/Night scope use and IR illuminators for hog hunting at around 100 yards and less, 150 max yards?
Is ATN a good choice or any others in same price range. ($800 or less)
Will be mainly watching a hog feeder at night at 100 yards and less from a blind, but also want to use the scope in daylight on the same bolt action 243 thru 30:06 caliber areas. (maybe even a 223 caliber bolt action rifle.
I've been looking at ATN 3-14 and a IR illuminator but no hands on experience with such and know nothing about such except I'm not yet interested in thermal imaging.
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Thermal rifle scopes info:
Dec/Jan 2025 Game and Fish SOUTH magazine has good article about using and hunting with thermal scopes. (they have east, west, north. The article is in the south magazine
Pg. 52, NIGHT SIGHTINGS by Bethany Beathard (take advantage of thermal imaging to dispatch wild hogs after dark,) pg 52-56, describes why thermal better vs N/V day night scopes and general description of the scopes menu selections, optics options vs budget.
Magazine also has a separate article about Burris's BTC35 V3 thermal that fits onto end of regular rifle scope for thermal hunting . Pg 76
I sub to the magazine is why I seen the article. Not sure of the subs price, probably about $10 per year.
Their website is GAFMAG.com.
link to view the SOUTH front page. https://www.gameandfishmag.com/magazine/current-issue/386467#top
Anyone interested might see if they have a digital download at the link to view/read the article or contact them about such??????
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night vision you can set up a gun for 1000.00
Thermal scopes that are any good will start around 3500 . My pulsar thermal scope was just short of 6,000. and the hand held monocular was another 5,000.00. Expensive toys but good up to 2000 yards each. I even use them in the woods so open fields are not a must.: I had a hand held Flur monocular that was only good in open conditions up to 150 yards. I gave that one away. Basic rule. You get what you pay for. Going cheap is not all ways the best.
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gjshaw: 33164280004379/comments/33164323696155
night vision you can set up a gun for 1000.00
Thermal scopes that are any good will start around 3500 . My pulsar thermal scope was just short of 6,000. and the hand held monocular was another 5,000.00. Expensive toys but good up to 2000 yards each. I even use them in the woods so open fields are not a must.: I had a hand held Flur monocular that was only good in open conditions up to 150 yards. I gave that one away. Basic rule. You get what you pay for. Going cheap is not all ways the best.
gishaw:
You say: I even use them in the woods so open fields are not a must.
Have you ever used your IR's in the day or night to look for a wounded or dead animal that ran out of sight into woods or tall grass? (instead of trying to follow a blood trail for instance)
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I and my Cousin who lives in Iowa bought Wraith NV scopes 2 years ago. His two Sons also bought different brand NV scopes for night hunting coyotes. Their brand wasn't any better than Wraith. This year, both Sons bought thermals (about $3500-4K each). I have no idea of their calling skills or whatever but let's just say they haven't had much success even with the thermal units.
Coyotes in populated areas just aren't as dumb as those in 'wide open spaces'.
"Have you ever used your IR's in the day or night to look for a wounded or dead animal"
We used an IR equipped drone trying to locate a wounded deer in November. Maybe a higher quality unit would work better but realistically, the drone was worthless due to the scattered trees preventing low level flight. At 100' tree top level, all we saw was a jumble of light/dark blotches. Well into the second battery, the drone lost it's avoidance capabilities and stuck itself in a treetop. Absolute and total FAILURE—plus a damaged drone.
There just so much of this 'technology' that may work well under best case scenarios and is a dismal failure the other 90% of the time.
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Okie743: 33164280004379/comments/33164291015963
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11460904#Comment_11460904
gishaw:
You say: I even use them in the woods so open fields are not a must.
Have you ever used your IR's in the day or night to look for a wounded or dead animal that ran out of sight into woods or tall grass? (instead of trying to follow a blood trail for instance)
yes, to locate a hog shot at night in a swamp, nothing in the day.
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