Night Vision Budget NV for night pack rat hunting

[kthomas]

I have recently moved to Arizona, and have quickly learned of the destructive creature commonly known as the pack rat. Thankfully nothing of mine had been destroyed (yet), but had the pleasure of removing 6 drowned and bloated pack rats from my in ground hottub. I'm now at war with the little pricks.

I will be using a PCP airgun to hunt them, as firearms are illegal to discharge here. They hate lights, so using a regular weapons mounted light doesn't work to well.

"Budget" and NV don't go together, I know. I'm looking for a fairly cheap solution, I only need to shoot about ~5 yards or so. For night shooting, I will have a Sig Romeo 3 mounted at a 45° offset. Perhaps there is some "budget" IR solutions that can be used in conjunction with this setup?

 

[wigwamitus]

IMHO this is about the crappiest thermal scope you could actually use for hunting.

https://www.nightvisionguys.com/home-nvg/pulsar-core-rxq30v-thermal-rifle-scope-1-6-6-4x22-384x288

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Other possibilities include finding a used Pulsar Apex 38mm. One of my neighbors borrows my Apex 38mm a lot and uses it for ratting on a .22LR.

 

[Rerun7]

How much is “budget” to you? Everyone’s budget is different.

Have you tried a green light? You may be better off with something like that. I think you’ll be disappointed with a cheap NV option. Especially with your purpose.

 

[wigwamitus]

My current personal ratter is .22lr(16) with ODIN 17mm 1x 320(30) on an M-69 mount.

The image at 10yds makes the rats/mice look like blobs ... that's because the ODIN is fixed focus at infinity. So the ODIN image for ratter is much worse than the RXQ or Apex's. But, the most important thing is to see into the bushes and or wood piles and or weeds where the rats/mice hang. If you go out ratting, you will know where they are. But you have to see them to hit them. With NV and an illuminator this can be done when the rats/mice are looking at you, which they are more times than not. And I've gotten a number of them with NV, illuminator on helmet and laser on the .22lr. That said, I've found it is far more efficient to get them with the smaller thermals because I can detect more often and from farther away. Plus if you will use laser, you need a 14. So I even think it is cheaper to go with a low end hunting capable thermal, the ones I'm suggesting should be available for the $1,600 ball park.
Alternatively a photon 4.5x and a t-20 illuminator might run $500 or so, but actually have too much magnification and will also miss some rats/mice due to their better ability to hide from NV. I've gotten about 240 rats/mice around our buildings in the past 3 years, the vast majority with either the Q-14 or the ODIN both 1x ... 1x is king, in my experience for under 100yds, especially for under 50yds.

And btw, the ODIN image giving blobs are under 50yds for the rats/mice still works, because their isn't much else out there that fits the profile. I shot one bird sleeping in a bush one night, but that taught me to watch for birds in the profile zone. I see birds low in bushes and even sleeping on the ground sometimes (not a good plan if you ask me!) But, I watch them long enough that a rat/mouse would've moved and that gives evidence of bird and I move on. The rats/mice will be moving until they see you, then they usually freeze. Then if you keep moving in they will trigger betwen 25 and 10 yds for me anyway. But they usually then run for their hole, which sometimes is even towards me.
it is good sport !!

I got these six one night within about a 10 square yard area to the south of the green house. With the .22lr(16) and the Q-14 (since sold - but it was a great sight for a .22lr ratter)).

 

[Rerun7]

I would highly agree on the thermal vs NV.

Not long ago I had an opossum 10 yards from me in the brush while hunting and I could see it great on thermal, tried multiple times with my NV and could not see him through the light brush.

Really showed the limitation of NV for that application.

 

[kthomas]

Appreciate all the informed responses. I didn't see a budget in my original post, as I didn't know what the costs looked like on the low end of the scale for my purposes. I know thermal and NV is pretty expensive technology, and so far it seems like I need to spend a lot of money to suit my needs in the thermal/NV world.

I will probably try either a green or red filtered flashlight before I consider dropping thousands on thermal or NV. With that said, does any one know if pack rats are disturbed by green or red light?

 

[wigwamitus]

I have not tried green or red light, but pack rats are very SA (Situationally Aware) ... they alert inside 50yds most times and "scramble to safety" somewhere in the 25 to 10 yd zone. And that is with no vis light on my side. I doubt showing any visible light would reduce their SA. My general tactic is to spot them from outside 50yds, then follow a stalk route outside their LOS (line of Sight), get within 10yds and pop into sight and shoot fast.

You can try the Photon ...

https://www.ultimatenightvision.com/Photon-XT-4-6X-Digital-Rifle-Scope-p/sm18008.htm

With a t-38 illuminator (not seeing t-20 on amazon right now)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TFCJNT...RX&pd_rd_r=D130J1CB1KXQK9C38VDB&pd_rd_w=SkKhV

You'll need mounts and such, but should be able to get into that for under $600 ... now if the rats are in vegetation or hiding down around their wood pile hotels .. you'll only be able to see their eyes and then only if they are looking at you. But if they alert on you, they will be looking at you. I've gotten several with NV/laser setups I could only see their eyes. It is possible, just not as efficient as with thermal. Meaning you will be spend more hours/minutes per kill.

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Now PVS-9 simrad is between $1,500 and $2,000 and ELIR-3 is under $400 ... But that puts you at or over the $1,800 or so cost for the low end thermals and for this purpose the low end thermals will work better, though for other purposes, like LD target shooting at night, the SIMRAD/ELIR-3 will work better.


Lots of choices !

 

[RTH1800]

Rat poison?

 

[wigwamitus]

Rat poison (we have 22 traps now in and around 5 buildings) gets maybe 75%, I get maybe 15%, that leaves 10% to replenish the rat supply, apparently.

 

[wigwamitus]

The most effective option might be cats ... most of my neighbors try to keep cats, but only the neighbor that has 20 can keep enough alive long enough to make more before the yotes get them all. Most of my other neighbors get cleaned out. The neighbor with twenty cats looses one per month.
The latest thing is big white fuzzy dogs ... i.e Livestock Guard Dogs. Two near neighbors got those this year and so far THAT seems to be working. The dogs protect the barn yard from the yotes. So that enables the cats to survive who can then take out a good chunk of the rats.
So one of the big white fuzzy dogs is getting ready to have pups and we are in line !

But the rats are good stalking and target practice in the mean time