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Night shooting suggestions for a poor

SquarePizza

SquarePizza

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 9, 2012
496
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NY
I've been dealing with a heavier predator problem than I've dealt with before.

I've always had heavy coyote populations around me but they have never bothered my animals. Neighbors hunted them off aggressively last year and now the foxes moved in. Those little shits are making nightly runs on my poultry.

I've been trying to spot light them with a green light, but target identification is slow. Sometimes they chase my ducks around the pond so I'm trying to be certain they eyes I'm seeing are a predator and not a duck. By the time I've got a good confirmation, the fox will slip away.

Is there any sub $1000 solution for night shooting?

I have 150 yards of open field to cover. It will sit on a howa mini and shots will be from the porch, so I'm not worried about field durability.

I've looked at the ATN digital scopes, as the base models seem reasonable at $550 and the 4k pros around $650. But a lot of complaints on these.

This is all new territory for me, so I'm not sure what decent options I have.
 
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SquarePizza said:
I've been dealing with a heavier predator problem than I've dealt with before.

I've always had heavy coyote populations around me but they have never bothered my animals. Neighbors hunted them off aggressively last year and now the foxes moved in. Those little shits are making nightly runs on my poultry.

I've been trying to spot light them with a green light, but target identification is slow. Sometimes they chase my ducks around the pond so I'm trying to be certain they eyes I'm seeing are a predator and not a duck. By the time I've got a good confirmation, the fox will slip away.

Is there any sub $1000 solution for night shooting?

I have 150 yards of open field to cover. It will sit on a howa mini and shots will be from the porch, so I'm not worried about field durability.

I've looked at the ATN digital scopes, as the base models seem reasonable at $550 and the 4k pros around $650. But a lot of complaints on these.

This is all new territory for me, so I'm not sure what decent options I have.
Click to expand...

I was looking for a budget solution as well and ended up getting an ATN 4k pro...I'll admit I was apprehensive but after a bunch of reading it seemed that most of the issues were with earlier versions and most of the bugs have been worked out...now that doesn't mean there aren't better options now as mine was purchased 6 months ago or so...and I bought it before joining the Hide and utilizing the knowledge base here with the members. They have far more better opinions than I.

I will say this...it appears to work exactly as advertised although I haven't been able to actually use it yet...cancer and chemo and stem cell transplant and bla bla bla...but soon I'll be able. I purchased the rangefinder as well that integrates with it and bought a different IR light. Some great videos on the scope on YouTube as well good reviews on the upgraded ATN light out on the web.

But like I said...the guys on the Hide have the experience and knoweledge...if they steer you a certain way...that should carry a lot of weight...just saying 👍
 
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Money's short, times are hard....Here's my night shooting setup :LOL:
Hopefully next year's budget will include a thermal...
acebeam.jpg
 
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I would suggest first learning to trap. Secondly, as shown above, get a flashlight.
 
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A mate has a pard NV007 IR that attaches to the rear of scopes, he also bought a NV008LRF and is happy with them. I have looked through the 7 was impressed for the price.
 
Id recommend a sightmark wraith. I run one for coyote and hog hunting and for the money its hard to beat. The only recommendations I have is if you are scanning a very large area (500+ yards) I would upgrade the IR to a coyote cannon.
Comparing my wraith to a pulsar thermal the only edge the wraith had over the thermal was the coyotes/pigs eyes light up crazy (light a flashlight) and I was able to pick them up at distances but the down side is if the animal is back to you in thick brush you wont see them.
 
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I'm just going to subscribe to this thread so I can find that sightmark scope later. Looks pretty cool even though I probably have no need for it
 
SquarePizza said:
I ended up snagging a wraith off of midway last night since they have a promotion on them right now.

Hopefully this does the trick.
Click to expand...
I think you will be impressed for the money.
In this video the coyote started out about 500 yards away.
This is a HD wraith and not the 4k.

www.instagram.com

Aaron on Instagram: "Somone seemed bouncy on the way to an easy meal. #hedead"

28 likes, 4 comments - aaronw_06 on May 4, 2021: "Somone seemed bouncy on the way to an easy meal. #hedead"
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Not made anymore but tons of them out there. Place a WTB add on SH or one of the night vision Facebook groups. The originals (gen 2) go for about 900. Many have been upgraded to gen 3 tubes and these go for 1200-1500. Even the gen 2 ones are good.
 
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Similar to you last year, did not have the money for the nice stuff so bought a SightMark Wraith, for Chinese junk it’s decent especially when paired with a Luna ELIR. This year I’ve budgeted (selling some daytime gear) for NV and Thermal and just picked up a KN203 SIMRAD which is on the cheap end of NV but blows the Wraith and even higher end clipons out of the water.
 
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The sight mark wraith gets decent reviews. I think pulsar makes one near that range and I’ve always had good luck from pulsar. Bering optics I believe has a NV in that range as well.

I have a Hogster R35 thermal from Bering and have been very impressed

If you have time check out “The Late Night Vision Show” on YouTube. I know they reviewed the wraith and some others. Excellent information from guys who actually use the stuff shooting hogs and yotes. They give an honest review of what they think about the scopes
 
SquarePizza said:
I ended up snagging a wraith off of midway last night since they have a promotion on them right now.

Hopefully this does the trick.
Click to expand...
Before mounting the scope to a rifle, learn how to use the settings.
I've recommended this scope to a lot of first time night hunters.
First thing they do is mount it, sight it in and then complain it's not working at night.
After showing them how to use/adjust/tune the scope, they were very impressed with it's performance.
The wraith scope and a decent thermal spotter make a very cheap + deadly night hunting combo.
Before going out into the field, make sure you have fresh batteries loaded and spare batteries.
Enjoy.
 
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warnera1102 said:
I highly recommend lithium batteries, I run Energizer lithium and they seem to last alot longer
Click to expand...
Burned through my lithium’s pretty quick too. Noticed that if you leave batteries in the unit even after you turn it off, it seems to drain them. So take batteries out when not in use, even if a few hours.
 
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Glassaholic said:
Burned through my lithium’s pretty quick too. Noticed that if you leave batteries in the unit even after you turn it off, it seems to drain them. So take batteries out when not in use, even if a few hours.
Click to expand...
Luckily I haven't had that issue. Mine sat in the safe for almost a month from the last time I hunted and they still show a full charge.
 
If it takes an external battery pack just run those. Like $20-$25 and can run most of those optics for 10 hours. I have several 5,000 and 6500 models and it works very well
 
Glassaholic said:
Similar to you last year, did not have the money for the nice stuff so bought a SightMark Wraith, for Chinese junk it’s decent especially when paired with a Luna ELIR. This year I’ve budgeted (selling some daytime gear) for NV and Thermal and just picked up a KN203 SIMRAD which is on the cheap end of NV but blows the Wraith and even higher end clipons out of the water.
Click to expand...
The KN203 looks like a old unit, is there anyone who does refurbs/sells them like the PVS units?
 
346ci said:
The KN203 looks like a old unit, is there anyone who does refurbs/sells them like the PVS units?
Click to expand...
Maybe TNVC or Sure Shot NV? I found mine in the classifieds and lucked out with an amazing tube, they are a bit wonky but nice you don't have to have a rail in front to mount, but you do need a Spuhr mount with SIMRAD plate and appropriate spacer. Some say their image is better than PVS-27 because of the massive objective, my buddy had a PVS-27 for a short time that I shot last year, but what's cool is the controls are easy to access from behind the rifle

20210617_PVS-9_KN203_SIMRAD_March_4.5-28x52_001.jpg


20210618_PVS-9_KN203_SIMRAD_March_1.5-15x42_SFP_005.jpg
 
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Bite the bullet and get a 2 grand thermal, itll pay for itself. The atn are good as long as they are on a bolt gun, seems like the recoil in ar's kill em.
 
Quick update:

The wraith showed up, and tentatively mounted and sighted in on a 22 hornet.

Last night I worked and lost 9 chickens to whatever is coming around. Today I got things set up. Sight in was easy, but the day mode is grainy as hell, basically useless over 6x. No worries, this is specifically for killing a predator inside 150yards, 2x will be fine.

Night mode was decent, as long as there was a bit of light left the night mode was 100%. After total darkness with cloud cover I had to switch on the illuminator otherwise the picture was just blacked out. Whatever, it will work I think. Too bad the predator didn't show up tonight.

Overall I like the scope, but the eye relief is stupid short. When sighting it in from prone it wasn't an issue as I as able to wrap around the rifle to move my face closer.

However, from my hunting position, I was sitting which put my straight behind the rifle and that was a huge problem, I couldn't get close enough to the scope without getting into a funky position. This thing really seems like it was meant for an AR pattern rifle with a longer rail and adjustable LOP. Which is unfortunate since I'm in NY.

I will make it work, I can't be mad at a $500 buy in for night vision, especially if I can shoot this damn killer before I lose my whole flock.
 

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SquarePizza said:
Quick update:

The wraith showed up, and tentatively mounted and sighted in on a 22 hornet.

Last night I worked and lost 9 chickens to whatever is coming around. Today I got things set up. Sight in was easy, but the day mode is grainy as hell, basically useless over 6x. No worries, this is specifically for killing a predator inside 150yards, 2x will be fine.

Night mode was decent, as long as there was a bit of light left the night mode was 100%. After total darkness with cloud cover I had to switch on the illuminator otherwise the picture was just blacked out. Whatever, it will work I think. Too bad the predator didn't show up tonight.

Overall I like the scope, but the eye relief is stupid short. When sighting it in from prone it wasn't an issue as I as able to wrap around the rifle to move my face closer.

However, from my hunting position, I was sitting which put my straight behind the rifle and that was a huge problem, I couldn't get close enough to the scope without getting into a funky position. This thing really seems like it was meant for an AR pattern rifle with a longer rail and adjustable LOP. Which is unfortunate since I'm in NY.

I will make it work, I can't be mad at a $500 buy in for night vision, especially if I can shoot this damn killer before I lose my whole flock.
Click to expand...
A good IR light is a must with the cheaper NV. The NV I had was an ATN Xsight II had zero NV capabilities without an IR light. The one that came with it (similar to what your using) was only so so. I bought a sniper hog lrx 66 for mine. World of difference. Wide beam was awesome inside 100 yards. The focused beam could illuminate my neighbors house at 560 yards

There’s even some cheaper models that work way better than what comes with the scopes
 
One recommend that most people overlook is aiming the IR and adjusting the focus. Just tossing that out there.
 
I ended up buying a Pulsar trail 2 XP50. Not as fancy as some of your real big $ stuff, but decent lenses, mounts, battery pack arrangements. A couple of wallabies at my new place. Very high humidity tending to fog with heavy cloud cover.

looks like the spec on the Iaiming thermals is pretty good, Australian importer is backing 3 year warranty on them. About 2/3 price or similar Pulsar.
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You could just increase the chicken coop security with more wire. But that's not as much fun as hunting at night.
 
Millennium200 said:
You could just increase the chicken coop security with more wire. But that's not as much fun as hunting at night.
Click to expand...
Something has just killed all of my chickens (7) over the past three weeks. I have wrapped the run and coop with more wire and whatever it was still got in. Completely gutted, all the meat gone and no tracks.
 
Probably a fox. Put a trail camera out and some bait to see what is coming around
 
Know you went with the wraith, and that is an option I was looking at. Ended up with an atn 4k and bought a better illuminator because the one that comes with the atn is not very good I have read. That being said I was pleasantly surprised with the pic quality of the scope. After zeroing in waiting untill night fall and wanted to see how well I could make out objects. Set a soda can on the backstop at 100yds. Using the stock illuminator I was able to pick out the emblem on the can and sent two rounds from ar shooting wolf 62hp.
For a cheap option into nv I can't complain at all. Hope you get all your critters taken care of
IMG_20210123_185458883.jpg
 
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