Ok, i have the chance to go calling at night in texas. I have the option of either using my night vision equipped rifle or a light. What would you all reccomend? Any additional help or tips is apreciated.

That depends on a lot of other variables.

If you are hunting with a partner that will be scanning with a light, I would say Night vision scope. But the downside is that if your partner shines the light on the predators when they get close, your night vision will wash out and you would be better off with just your day scope with large aperture. The larger the aperture the better. But, when your partner moves the light away from the predators eyes, there is nothing to stop them from seeing you so you must be ready to shoot.

If you are alone, light. Because you don't want to be scanning with a scope and night vision can be cumbersome to deal with if using a monocular and night scope.

Having done it both ways, if you and your guide/partner are using night vision, then you can still do very well. When I hunted "Blacked out" a couple of years back, my guide had Gen2 NV goggles and used my lightforce 170 with an IR lens on the front and a 75watt bulb. Worked very well and got lots of range out of the light. Then I had a Digisight N550 on my rifle to shoot with. Overall, I was happy with the setup and coyotes never spooked with that setup like had been done on previous trips where they knew what lights were. (Whether red or white)

I have more fun hunting with the light personally. But to make it better I added a thermal monocular to better locate the "Hiders" that run from the light and won't look at you.

thanks, that really helps. I'm new to night hunting so one question, a light dosn't scare predator?

I have seen some turn inside out when lit up by the halo of the light. Others are fine with it unless you drop the center of the beam in their face.

You want to just light up the area above the horizon to pick out the eyes on the way in, then when they are in range you want to drop the light on them and "blind" them. That will usually make them stop for the shot.

It is really up to the predator and whether they associate that light with danger. Very remote areas that we hunted, we seemed to do better with the lights. If we were near a ranch headquarters or something it seemed to make them look at us once and then never seen again.

Good to know, thanks.

If you learn the basics of using a good light it works very well. That said I am a 3rd gen NV/Thermal guy something about sneaking through the dark critters never knowing your there just makes me smile

Like Phantom said, the NV and thermal can be lots of fun. My problem is that I bought it all and can't use in in my state for that. I have to go spend thousands in Texas just to use it.

How I love West Texas though...

what gen is your NV and do you have a IR on it?

I have an AN-pvs7 goggle in Gen3, The Digisight N550 scope (I would say Gen2 clarity with IR). I use the built in IR and also a "Torch" from TNVC. The Lightforce 170 with the IR filter though.. My gosh talk about turning night into day for NV. I can clearly see 1/4 mile with it and the digisight and have great detail.

Then the thermal is an X200xp Thermal Eye from L3

I was meaning AW's equipment if it's gen1 gen go with a day scope and red light if gen 2 or higher then go with the NV the hand held light won't wash it out if the light guy doesnt brun then with it.

It's a gen 3. So i'm guessing that will work?

Only if the tube has autogating built in. If not, then it will wash out.

Do you know what model tube you have in your NV?


Also, the moon phase will make a big difference if not using a light to see. New moon can be great hunting, but you will have to provide a lot of light for the NV for distance.

I am not aware of any conventional light setup that will outperform NV from both a scanning capability as well as providing stealth. So if you have night vision by all means that would be your best option as long as it is Gen 2 or better. Kevin

I can tell you in the west Texas desert that if you are tying to scan 360 degrees with a scope, your going to get dizzy and miss a whole lot of eyes. It was just too much tunnel vision when I tried it. The light made things easier to pick up and while the reflections are brighter with the NV from the eyes, it wasn't any harder to pick out the reflections with the lightforce even with a really low beam strength.

Not knowing where you are headed to hunt, take as much as you can and try it. I went 6 times on my night hunt trips for 3 days each which by no means makes me a pro. But it was easy to see what worked and what didn't. We could cover all 360 degrees with that light in 2-3 seconds and spot animals. Trying that with a scope would be insanely hard to do.

If you really want to find the animals, get a thermal eye or flir for detection. Use the NV then to identify. That will get the ones that won't look at you after you halo them.

I wouldn't scan with a scope at daytime, and certainly wouldn't do it at night in unfamiliar territory.

This is a single kill using nothing but NV. Video recorded grainy on the digisight, but you can see what I mean about looking through the scope for scanning. (The brighter light was the lightforce with IR filter.) Coyote was 75 yards away. Only killed 6 coyotes on that trip, and part of that was getting all the NV figured out and bad weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC3qTCxbr8M

On this trip, over half of these coyotes were killed in one night, lights only with day scope. 13 in one night. 21 coyotes total.

them are some fat coyotes or they have been in the sun for awhile, great hunt