SouthTXBowhunter
New member
I'm a very experienced predator hunter but I'm ready to step up my game at night and I'm kinda lost when it comes to thermal and NV, despite all the reading I've done. I can see some advantages to either technology depending, in part, on the conditions and terrain. So, I'm looking for advice on what will work best for where I do most of my hunting - South Texas. Down here we're known as "the brush country" and that's no lie - its thick and nasty. That's great for producing dense populations but it makes hunting challenging and most shots are not very far. 50% are inside 60yds. 75% are inside 100yds, 90% are inside 150yds and 99.9% are inside 250yds. One of the biggest challenges is animals sneaking in and being right on top of you before you ever see them - especially at night. They have so much cover to use and, as you know, they have to be looking at you to catch eyes at night. This means a lot of animals (mainly coyotes) figure out what's 'up' and all you see is a flash of eyes as they dart across a single lane ranch road as they're making their exit. We do far better on bobcats and grey fox at night than coyotes and I'd like to change that. Since we're usually pretty arid around here and because of all the brush, I'm leaning towards thermal - at least for scanning. My thought is that the thermal might help me at least identify that I have an animal sneaking in, where NV might be less effective. Even from a truck rack where I night be able to see out 50-70 yds, there will be lots of low and sparse brush that can make an animal difficult to pick out; and while NV would certainly be helpful, without those glowing eyes, I can see where a slinking coyote could be more easily missed than a heat signature. Am I correct in these assumptions? Given my conditions, would you choose thermal of NV for a dedicated scanning device?
Next question is weapon sights... I had a guy point out, recently, that with thermal its often hard to tell if there's some little brush in front of the animal; and that he'd hit brush rather than the animal on the other side, so he preferred NV. Is this true or is he full of you know what? Given my hunting terrain and distances, would you recommend thermal or NV for a rifle scope....and why?
Would you recommend going ALL thermal, all NV or a combination? I've considered something like a thermal monocular for scanning and a NV scope for shooting; but I can find justifications for all sorts of scenarios. Haha!
Question on magnification.... I had a chance to look through some thermal units for the first time the other day - a Pulsar Axion Key XM22, FLIR Scout III 320, FLIR PTS233 and the FLIR PTS536 and the first thing I noticed is that anything within about 30yds takes up a big part (if not most) of the screen on 4 power. Even on 2 power I was kind of shocked by the lack of field of view. It got me to thinking that it'd be hard(er) to locate and shoot close animals with some of those units. The FLIR PTS233 seemed like it'd be more useful at 100yds than the PTS536, for example. Now, this was inside a store and I could only look at 90yds max, but that was my impression. If I'm not worried about shooting past 250yds and will have MOST of my shooting inside 150yds, would I be better off with something that has a base magnification of 2x than 4x? OR, is there another factor/spec I need to consider? My biggest concern is that I'm shopping for things I can't lay my hands on and can't look through myself. I've never spent this kind of money on something I don't have the ability to check out personally and it's freaking me out a bit. Anyone know if there's a good dealer of these items in/around San Antonio, TX? I checked these units out at a Cabelas but they know less about them than I do, lol. So, that's not a good option. If there's anyone in this area that has some good gear I could check out and want's to come hunting - to give me a chance to check out how it actually works in the field - PM me and I'll have you out for a night of calling.
I have a budget of around $5k to get started but I do believe in getting quality. So, would I be better off getting a REALLY good device for scanning and then switching to my usual flashlight once I have something located; then buying a scope down the road, after I built my budget back up? I DO NOT like scanning with a rifle. My boss bought a NV scope about 8 years ago and I tried it on 2 sets and gave it back to him. It's just too heavy and awkward to scan like that, imo. So, if I can only get one item, it sure seems like something to scan with would have the biggest positive effect on my success rate at night. What are your feelings on this?
Sorry for so many questions but I needed answers from guys who actually hunt, rather than guys who want to play "operator" or some end-times scenario. Lol!
Next question is weapon sights... I had a guy point out, recently, that with thermal its often hard to tell if there's some little brush in front of the animal; and that he'd hit brush rather than the animal on the other side, so he preferred NV. Is this true or is he full of you know what? Given my hunting terrain and distances, would you recommend thermal or NV for a rifle scope....and why?
Would you recommend going ALL thermal, all NV or a combination? I've considered something like a thermal monocular for scanning and a NV scope for shooting; but I can find justifications for all sorts of scenarios. Haha!
Question on magnification.... I had a chance to look through some thermal units for the first time the other day - a Pulsar Axion Key XM22, FLIR Scout III 320, FLIR PTS233 and the FLIR PTS536 and the first thing I noticed is that anything within about 30yds takes up a big part (if not most) of the screen on 4 power. Even on 2 power I was kind of shocked by the lack of field of view. It got me to thinking that it'd be hard(er) to locate and shoot close animals with some of those units. The FLIR PTS233 seemed like it'd be more useful at 100yds than the PTS536, for example. Now, this was inside a store and I could only look at 90yds max, but that was my impression. If I'm not worried about shooting past 250yds and will have MOST of my shooting inside 150yds, would I be better off with something that has a base magnification of 2x than 4x? OR, is there another factor/spec I need to consider? My biggest concern is that I'm shopping for things I can't lay my hands on and can't look through myself. I've never spent this kind of money on something I don't have the ability to check out personally and it's freaking me out a bit. Anyone know if there's a good dealer of these items in/around San Antonio, TX? I checked these units out at a Cabelas but they know less about them than I do, lol. So, that's not a good option. If there's anyone in this area that has some good gear I could check out and want's to come hunting - to give me a chance to check out how it actually works in the field - PM me and I'll have you out for a night of calling.
I have a budget of around $5k to get started but I do believe in getting quality. So, would I be better off getting a REALLY good device for scanning and then switching to my usual flashlight once I have something located; then buying a scope down the road, after I built my budget back up? I DO NOT like scanning with a rifle. My boss bought a NV scope about 8 years ago and I tried it on 2 sets and gave it back to him. It's just too heavy and awkward to scan like that, imo. So, if I can only get one item, it sure seems like something to scan with would have the biggest positive effect on my success rate at night. What are your feelings on this?
Sorry for so many questions but I needed answers from guys who actually hunt, rather than guys who want to play "operator" or some end-times scenario. Lol!