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Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting #6959052
08/09/20 02:32 PM
08/09/20 02:32 PM
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,250
San Antonio , Texas
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Yotegiter Offline OP
trapper
Yotegiter  Offline OP
trapper
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,250
San Antonio , Texas
I’ve always called at night using a traditional light but recently I am considering going the thermal route. The darn things are ridiculously expensive . I’m looking for feedback to give me an honest assessment of how much bigger of an advantage is thermal versus just traditional lights for coyote hunting at night. Thank you

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959077
08/09/20 03:05 PM
08/09/20 03:05 PM
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 10,726
SW Georgia
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Wanna Be Online content
trapper
Wanna Be  Online Content
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Joined: May 2018
Posts: 10,726
SW Georgia
I’m with you...I could just about pay to have lights installed around a field with an on/off remote for the price of a scope. But man I want one!! I have people tell me to buy an NV scope and just a small thermal to spot critters.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959132
08/09/20 04:22 PM
08/09/20 04:22 PM
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 3,083
Ks
Flint Hill fur Offline
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Flint Hill fur  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 3,083
Ks
Thermal advantage over lights is far an above on coyotes. For the most part my experience has shown me coyotes shy away from light or at least it will start their downwind swing. There are always a few dumb ones that act like cats tho. With thermal a guy can do a 360deg scan in seconds and be confident there is or isn't anything coming in for quite aways. Distance of animal id is kinda where your wallet comes into play. More $ =higher resolution scope which means objects are clearer at distance an less pixilated. I can't remember the last numbers but the thermals with first number of 360 or greater resolution is what you want. Once you have experienced thermal a light will only annoy

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959139
08/09/20 04:33 PM
08/09/20 04:33 PM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683
SD
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Tray Offline
"Wilson Jr."
Tray  Offline
"Wilson Jr."
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Joined: Feb 2010
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SD
Difference is like night and day. LOL
Thermal is really a game changer if you do muck night work, but like you said it’s really expensive. Not only the scope for gun but you will also want a have a handheld scanner, way to difficult to continually look thru rifle scope all the time.
With good thermal equipment it’s amazing how far away you can pick up animals, in open county I can pick up coyotes well over a mile.
Some states are starting to put limitations on there use, would suck to spend the big money then have it outlawed.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959144
08/09/20 04:39 PM
08/09/20 04:39 PM
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 298
Oregon
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RockCrick Offline
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RockCrick  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 298
Oregon
Buy a thermal monocular, scan for critters with it while calling, once they are in range, hit them with the red light. The rifle mounted scopes look cool on the you tube videos but I would go night vision on the rifle with an infrared auxiliary light before mounting thermal on the rifle. The thermal monocular is handy for a lot of applications other than hunting like security checks, checking livestock etc. One thing about thermal is calibration and the ambient temperatures, you turn it on and look at a hillside of warm boulders, it’s a lot harder to pick out critters. In the snow or in an alfalfa field, you can pick out a mouse. I’ve noticed when the wind is howling it’s a lot harder to use, my assumption is different air temps blowing throw it off. Obviously the distance and brush and trees make a difference as well. Closer to the target it works better, cooler air temps works better since the rocks and stuff aren’t as warm so they don’t show up as well. My monocular auto calibrates so the longer it runs the better it dials in during warm temperatures. In the snow I can check on my horses at night from 1000yards away and they glow like a road flare. Smaller critters at that distance can be hard to differentiate. I’d recommend trying to go with someone that has a thermal setup before buying, they have limitations for sure.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959194
08/09/20 05:30 PM
08/09/20 05:30 PM
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,384
kentucky
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logger coffey Offline
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logger coffey  Offline
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kentucky
I did go out and buy a Fire thermal monocular to play with ,and love it.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959308
08/09/20 06:55 PM
08/09/20 06:55 PM
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 136
NW Illinois
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Raizmup Offline
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Raizmup  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 136
NW Illinois
Put a Flir PTS Pro233 on my coyote gun 2 years ago. It's a freaking game changer. Its definitely the coolest toy I own! I use it all year at my place for farm security. Works great from 100 degrees down to well below zero. The only time a thermal won't work is when theres alot of moisture in the air.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959355
08/09/20 07:38 PM
08/09/20 07:38 PM
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 3,554
North central Iowa
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Bob_Iowa Offline
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Bob_Iowa  Offline
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North central Iowa
Dad and I was just talking about this today, can you see badgers with those thermal scopes or does it have to be larger than that?

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Bob_Iowa] #6959372
08/09/20 07:52 PM
08/09/20 07:52 PM
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 496
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Turd Furgeson Offline
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Turd Furgeson  Offline
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Originally Posted by Bob_Iowa
Dad and I was just talking about this today, can you see badgers with those thermal scopes or does it have to be larger than that?


You can see mice no problem with a decent rig.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959408
08/09/20 08:13 PM
08/09/20 08:13 PM
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 3,554
North central Iowa
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Bob_Iowa Offline
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Bob_Iowa  Offline
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North central Iowa
I was hoping that was the case.

Re: Thermal VS traditional light for night hunting [Re: Yotegiter] #6959610
08/09/20 10:53 PM
08/09/20 10:53 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,509
South Dakota
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TravC Offline
"MCnasty"
TravC  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,509
South Dakota
In conjunction with a supressor. Its an awesome tool


There i said it....
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