Wicked lights first impressions

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wyshadow

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This is my first post here. I just used the wicked lights hog hunt last night on some rabbits. I am not impressed with this setup and I have a hog hunt coming up this weekend. I could get 50 yards for the eyes and 30 yards to just make out the rabbit body. I'm a little worried this set won't work will with hogs. My headlights are a lot brighter then this setup. I would scan an area and pickup nothing. I would then scan with a spotlight and 10 rabbits would be everywhere. I used my nitesite for years on rabbits and javelinas and nite site is so much better. I'm I doing something wrong with this setup?
 
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I've seen Wicked lights but never used them. I started out hunting hogs with an ND3x40 laser light attached to the rail of an AR. Worked great for rabbits/racoons/etc and could easily see 100+ yards. Worked ok for hogs when the light was opened up wide and shined indirectly. When I would focus the light in to see better or farther, they would run. Don't care what color of visible light you buy, they do see the light. Shooting running hogs at 100 yards in the weeds and brush with just a light is tough and was not as successful as I had hoped. As many here on the forum, I ended up trying many things to improve my chances. My first upgrade was a PVS14 with a laser. It worked better but small field of view and little magnification. I then bought a dedicated 4x Gen 3 night vision scope. Killed a lot more with that scope and still use it. The real game changer is thermal. See and kill more than double what I did with night vision. Admittedly, each step up the ladder comes at a cost. Where I live, I use it several times a month so it makes sense to me. Get the best equipment you can afford/justify and go have fun.

My advice is that if you are going to use a light, get as close as you can and try to hunt where you have so room to shoot.
 
Thermal is way out of my price range. It would be nice to have one this weekend though. I looked them up a few days ago and they start at 2000 and as high as 8000.
 
Quote:I just used the wicked lights hog hunt last night on some rabbits. I am not impressed with this setup and I have a hog hunt coming up this weekend. I could get 50 yards for the eyes and 30 yards to just make out the rabbit body. I'm a little worried this set won't work will with hogs. My headlights are a lot brighter then this setup. I would scan an area and pickup nothing. I would then scan with a spotlight and 10 rabbits would be everywhere. I used my nitesite for years on rabbits and javelinas and nite site is so much better. I'm I doing something wrong with this setup?


I have the wicked lights and have used them extensively.

I can tell you that they will light up coyote eyes well over 200 yards, and I have killed coyotes at night at 200 with it.

I have also killed a lot of hogs with the set up, always using the red LED.

There are three possible explanations for your problem.

1. The fact that rabbit eyes do not shine very bright especially when compared to animals such as fox, coyotes, coon, cats, or deer. Rabbits can appear from seemingly nowhere, disappear just as fast.

2. The batteries were not fully charged. Were you using red LED?

3. We have a full moon right now. Don't know about where you were, but it was BRIGHT here last night. The darker it is, the better lights work regardless of red, white, or other. The ability of light especially red to illuminate eyes is greatly reduced under a full moon. This would be compounded when shining an eyes that do not shine bright to start with such as rabbits. My guess is that this was the problem, and a big reason I don't like to call predators under a full moon.

Hog eyes will not shine hardly at all at any distance, so they can be hard to see in brushy or thick cover.
 
I have been messing around with lights every night this past week. When I first used the lights, I have been using them the wrong way. When the lights are at highest setting, you can't see anything under 75 yards. At the lowest setting, I can pickup at eyes over a hundred yards. I've been testing the lights on our dogs, cats, goats, and even our chickens. Another thing I noticed is the animal needs to be looking right at you. If they are looking else where, you won't get an eye reflection. With the nite site, you can pickup an eye reflection regardless of where the animal is looking. I had the nite site viper and you can't see very far. Maybe 75 yards at the most to get a light eye reflection but usable range is around 35 yards
 
This is a strange post. I have a Wicked Light W4031C (red) and have no trouble seeing bodies and detail through a good scope at 200-300 yards. Eyes, 500+.

You be careful running lights in NM, as the regulations get pretty confusing as to where and when they can be legal. Mostly their not.

Rabbit eyes are not as bright as varmint-coyote eyes. If a coyote isn't looking your way, you won't see any shine. If your not near to, or directly behind the light, you won't see the shine of eyes.
 
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I have permission to hunt jack rabbits at night on a farmer's land. I have checked in to the laws and it is legal to take nauseous non game animals who are causing property and crop damage. In this case, it's crop damage.
 
Ive used the wicked scanpro for a year now and it's been excellent...im seeing eyes out to 300 yards so far and battery life is excellent.Being in the woods is going to really cut your scanning down but in opening areas it's worked great for me.
 
Confused with this post....I have used my Wicked 403 extensively and can tell you for a fact that I can shine coyote's eyes with the red bulb at over 400 yards pretty easy and have killed them at 200 + yards with it. At 100 yards, a coyote is lit u like a Christmas tree. When I have the white bulb in my 403, can nearly identify a coyote in my scope at pushing 500 yards on a dark night. If its a full moon/very bright out, it will greatly hinder your lights ability. I love my wicked light, and if you cant see a rabbit at 100 yards, something is def wrong. I spot rabbit eyes at well over 100 yards very easily. #confused
 
Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerConfused with this post....I have used my Wicked 403 extensively and can tell you for a fact that I can shine coyote's eyes with the red bulb at over 400 yards pretty easy and have killed them at 200 + yards with it. At 100 yards, a coyote is lit u like a Christmas tree. When I have the white bulb in my 403, can nearly identify a coyote in my scope at pushing 500 yards on a dark night. If its a full moon/very bright out, it will greatly hinder your lights ability. I love my wicked light, and if you cant see a rabbit at 100 yards, something is def wrong. I spot rabbit eyes at well over 100 yards very easily. #confused


I agree with CalicoyoteCaller's post and I am confused as well.
 
Must be something wrong with your lite. I have no problem with my wicked 400 or my vrl-1, which is very close to the wicked out to at least 400 yds on being able to see eyes. I am using the red led.
 
I have a Wicked Ambush in red, and I can see eyes very easily well out to 400 yards or better. No kills with it yet as I don't night hunt a whole lot, but I've identified a coon at a ranged 237 yards, a house cat at 204, and whitetails at 337.
 
I went on my Texas hog hunt several weekends ago. A good friend who lives in Lubbock, Tx drove me around south of town. We drove for five hours through field after field, and we didn't see one hog. Of course I was disappointed of not seeing any hogs but I enjoyed seeing hundreds of deer. I never seen deer in the wild so close; so this was a real treat. I can't say if the wicked lights worked on hogs but I can say these lights picked out a set of deer's eyes a couple hundred yards away, and they worked great. The only thing I wish I could have done before I went out was I wish I could have replaced my batteries on my scope's illuminated radicals. I had a real hard time seeing my cross hairs. I don't think these lights will work for me and I still feel the NiteSite is a much better setup. I will put these lights for sale in the next few days if anyone is interested.
 
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