Night Vision Using NVG's for LR Hunting
- Thread starter CJS-6.5
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Yes or vice versa. Personal preference. For quarter mile distance you'll want some magnification. A good IR illuminator for eye shine helps when the weeds are up if using night vision. Day scope and a buddy holding a good spotlight lots cheaper too but critters smarten up pretty quick to that.
I've used the spotlight tactic in the past and it really takes a good fast shooter to get them before they are heading for the hills. I was trying to figure out a sneakier way. You can't underestimate the sneakiness sir.
A gen 3 d-740 on an AR use to be the de-facto go to starter rig for night hunting hogs and predators, varmints back before thermal was all the rage.
Used to get them for $3500 + rifle.
Worked well enough for me and many others.
Darkness to cover your movements on a stand was a huge bonus but the wind and making noise can still get you busted.
So sneakier yes, but rules still apply.
from my limited experience, (with quality tubes no less (green phos)) with an incredible throw IR flashlight (luna elir2), the deer and coyotes have this magical color that is very hard to see with nvg. i can also say from personal experience that eye shine is not that great either and you can't count on it. ( i want to be clear i was not hunting deer at night)
maybe the newer white phos tubes would help but this has been my experience. i would say get a high end thermal, trijicon reap-ir or hunter mk3. avoid entry level thermal scopes with low resolution and digital magnification. i can tell you right now digital magnification is essentially worthless, if you start with a 640 screen, you can maybe do it to 2x, anything higher, forget about.
i bought from cliff at third coast thermal and he was very fair and informative. i am not affiliated. i tried a couple places on ebay but they were a joke.
i called tnvc about their sentinels but i gotta say, maybe i got the wrong sales person. pretty much dismissed me with quite an attitude. apparently, i wasn't worthy of being their customer. as i said earlier, wound up buying a set from I square tech nologies. peter lesbos, and you can't go wrong buying from him. high marks.
i did just recently call tnvc to get some helmet pad kits and wound up talking to a salesman in another state who was great to talk to and really took his time to make sure i got the right kits. wish i could remember his name. ex-military, refuses to live in cali. kinda restored my faith in tnvc a bit.
maybe the newer white phos tubes would help but this has been my experience. i would say get a high end thermal, trijicon reap-ir or hunter mk3. avoid entry level thermal scopes with low resolution and digital magnification. i can tell you right now digital magnification is essentially worthless, if you start with a 640 screen, you can maybe do it to 2x, anything higher, forget about.
i bought from cliff at third coast thermal and he was very fair and informative. i am not affiliated. i tried a couple places on ebay but they were a joke.
i called tnvc about their sentinels but i gotta say, maybe i got the wrong sales person. pretty much dismissed me with quite an attitude. apparently, i wasn't worthy of being their customer. as i said earlier, wound up buying a set from I square tech nologies. peter lesbos, and you can't go wrong buying from him. high marks.
i did just recently call tnvc to get some helmet pad kits and wound up talking to a salesman in another state who was great to talk to and really took his time to make sure i got the right kits. wish i could remember his name. ex-military, refuses to live in cali. kinda restored my faith in tnvc a bit.
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I'll throw my 2 cents worth in. I use a Prometheus thermal monocular to find deer out to 600+ yds and an armasight co-lr gen 2 NV1 clip on in front of a leupold mk4 to shoot. This has worked very well for deer and foxes (presumably foxes are a lot smaller than coyotes). Unless their are other factors (terrain, environment) impacting on your shooting eg very hot weather with rocky ground, and your financial situation allows I would invest the money. As someone else wrote the technology is good but it will not make up for poor fieldcraft.
hey oztrg, how far out can you actually see deer with your nv1 clip on? cause if they are not moving, i can't even see them at a 100 yds with mine. starting to wonder if it is just me. the nv just doesn't seem to recognize their hair color.
Yes. We do it with a CNVD-LR clip on. Very effective. Thermal for detection, NV for shots. 75% of the dogs we kill at extended ranges a good illuminator is a must. Killed a bunch of dogs from 3-500 with that set up. Definitely a situation where you gotta pay to play. The gear to do it effectively is pretty costly.
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Using a thermal for detection and and a high quality NV clip for ID and shooting is definitely the way to go in my opinion. Especially at distance. Detection is is really an issue at distance with NV without the thermal to back you up.
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i have killed hundreds of coyotes at night. we professionally predator hunt and offer culling services here. i have used about every type of clip on, nvg and thermal device sans some of the tier 1 military thermal.
i can say without a single question i can ID yotes and deer whether it be buck or doe and how good of a buck along with killing many yotes beyond 400yd in the dark with a good gen3 clip on and a good day optic and illuminator.
dont skimp on tube specs and quality when it comes to any night equipment and you will get the performance you need. if you want to check out some kill videos we film at night you can go to pitch black precision facebook page. we have tons of footage through various nv devices and various distances.
i can say without a single question i can ID yotes and deer whether it be buck or doe and how good of a buck along with killing many yotes beyond 400yd in the dark with a good gen3 clip on and a good day optic and illuminator.
dont skimp on tube specs and quality when it comes to any night equipment and you will get the performance you need. if you want to check out some kill videos we film at night you can go to pitch black precision facebook page. we have tons of footage through various nv devices and various distances.
works great, ran them for years. peq-15/16 aren't easy to come by. you can also check out the luna elir3 laser illuminator. they work fantastic. surgeon shooter a couple posts up ^ sells them.
If anyone in this thread is looking for a Simrad KN203 FAB, I have spare one that works perfectly fine. No blemishes etc that I can part with to help someone out. I know new NV is not cheap so I'll sell it at a good price. PM to discuss if anyone is interested.
The KN203’s are awesome units. The lens is giant and pulls in a lot of light, performance is better than my PVS-30. They are large but they work amazingly and the performance is tops. There’s also a slightly smaller Simrad KN253 although they are pretty hard to come by. I have some of both for sale if you’re looking for one.
Hey there redneck...u say u have a 253 u could part with? Price on a 253?
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What do any of u guys know about these 2 different units by Arma. 6* & 4*...Armasight by FLIR Vulcan 4.5 or 6power GEN 4 FLAG MG Professional N/V Scope
Hi guys,
in answer to two two of the questions directed to me below: with the co-lr I can readily see deer (sambar) and identify antlers, ears and get eye shine out to 510m. This is in front of Leupold mk4 6.5-20x50 set on 8x; yes in Victoria australia I am able to hunt deer under nv on private property.
in answer to two two of the questions directed to me below: with the co-lr I can readily see deer (sambar) and identify antlers, ears and get eye shine out to 510m. This is in front of Leupold mk4 6.5-20x50 set on 8x; yes in Victoria australia I am able to hunt deer under nv on private property.
Just so everyone knows...I experimented with thermals here on the wide open prairie and they really don't cut it. Just be sure you know what you are getting into before you blow your wad. Not everywhere is like the videos they show when they advertise them. As a small redundant disclaimer I will apologize to all the people that will make heated remarks because they bought them so have to justify them by seeing others join there group that got screwed. With all due respect. ?
Ok, I’ll bite.
Exactly which thermals did you experiment with?
If you couldn’t get a thermal to do 500 yards like you were initially requesting, then you chose the wrong tool for the job. Sure most of them on the market, especially the lower end stuff is pushing it, but there are several that will do that with ease.
Does thermal have its limitations? Yes, extreme humidity can effect the performance of even the best units but that’s pretty much it.
I2 has its limitations too, fog being the biggest thing that you can’t do anything about. Available ambient light restricts performance significantly too but that can be helped with the use of illuminators.
In an ideal situation you’d have both to chose from but at approximately $20K (give or take) for both a top tier thermal and a top tier I2 clip on its out of the realm of what many people can afford or justify spending.
Ok. I used P products. And I'm not really complaining about a product here. I'm just not prepared to use a product that will slow me down or limit me. What I mean is that they are great products for some people but not great for others. I have a technique that requires me to move quickly from spot to spot. What I tried wasn't user friendly enough to acclimate fast enough for me. I was hoping for a product that could turn on and be gtg as fast as I put it on. For those that just sit in one spot for hours and scan I only see a few limitations. Why the need to calibrate all the time? If there is an animal running away I don't want to calibrate.
You don’t have that problem with the Trijicon stuff. At worst you might have to NUC once after the initial startup.
No offense meant to the OP here. But I have to whole heartedly disagree about the frequency with which the "P" products need to be given a NUC. If you leave it on Auto, then yeah, I can see it being a problem. But, I put my XP50 on SemiAuto and I NUC it on my own when I feel like my image is degrading. I've yet to have it NUC on it's own while out hunting, even for 3 hours of continuous use. I think maybe I do it every 5-10 min while looking through it on a stand. It doesn't affect my hunt at all. I'm not a fanboy by any means. I just think it's a relative problem.
Having said that. You said you are looking to make 500 yard shots. In my opinion NONE of pulsars products will fit your need for that.
You need to go with a D-760, a high end I2 clip on, or a longer range thermal like the Mk III or Reap 60mm.
You may also find you have specialized your equipment a little too much at that point. There is always the "want" for one tool that does every job. But, in my opinion when it comes to hunting at night in general, and especially at significantly varied ranges, it is less than ideal to only have 1 tool.
Having said that. You said you are looking to make 500 yard shots. In my opinion NONE of pulsars products will fit your need for that.
You need to go with a D-760, a high end I2 clip on, or a longer range thermal like the Mk III or Reap 60mm.
You may also find you have specialized your equipment a little too much at that point. There is always the "want" for one tool that does every job. But, in my opinion when it comes to hunting at night in general, and especially at significantly varied ranges, it is less than ideal to only have 1 tool.
