Night or infrared scope suggestions

[Jtarm]

I know nothing about them. I need something that'll fit a traditional bolt-action sporter, preferably will fit 1" rings and not break the bank.

Here's why:

[TNsailorman]

oh man! Ham and tender loin on the hoof. Everyone has their opinions and here goes mine. .35 caliber all the way. .358 Winchester, .35 Remington or .35 Whelan. All will do the job. A Marlin 336 in .35 Remington might be your best bet as far as cost goes. Watch the GB adds and you can find a nice bolt action on there for a good price if your are patient. james

[Jtarm]

I have several nice BAs. I'm looking for a night scope.

[JimB..]

With that many in one spot I’d hang a red light from the feeder before spending money on a new optic.

[Hogtamer]

Jim is right. Put a "hog light" (green LEDs from what I've seen), 5 - OO in a pumpgun. Shoot the far ones first and lay 'em down. Call it a mass casualty event. Wait a week and repeat.

[Earlwb]

Well many of the scopes tend to have a recoil limit, thus are caliber restricted. So you might want to decide what caliber you are using. I am using a ATN day/night digital scope. it uses a infrared flashlight for illumination. Although it works for me, it is limited to .308 Win max as the recoil could tear it up using something bigger. Like the others say, a red light or green light works well for lighting up the pigs. Then you can use most anything from iron sights to regular scopes or even red dot sights. HAnging the light off the feeder is a good idea too. The pigs don't really see the red or green lights. Even if they do they get used to it real fast.

[dverna]

The “hog” light is a great idea. We do not have hogs here yet, but if the got that bad I would need to get a backhoe to bury the bodies.

I bet an AR in .300 BO would be about the ideal gun.

[NyFirefighter357]

I've read a green light is better for hogs. I saw a simple set up using an ammo can as a 12v exit light battery holder and green or red lights L.E.D. lights purchased for automotive use. Something like this is very cheap to build. I'll try to post more about it later.

https://www.google.com/search?client...+night+hunting

[Lloyd Smale]

we have a feeder set up at camp that might just work for you. Its a hanging feeder we put on a set up using two power poles with one across the top to hang the can from. On the top piece we have 3 12volt led lights that are on a dusk to dawn eye and are powered by a deep cell truck battery and changed by solar panels the lights are on all night every night and the deer sure got used to it fast and id bet the pigs would too. Its been operating every night for 3 years now without a bit of maintenance. Doesn't light them up like day time but sure puts enough light on them that you know what they are and could easily shoot them with a normal scope. Much cheaper then night vision optics!! If you go the optics route thermal is the new wave. Ive seen lots of good reviews on the atn's and there price is as cheap as it gets for any kind of real night optics.

[JimB..]

we have a feeder set up at camp that might just work for you. Its a hanging feeder we put on a set up using two power poles with one across the top to hang the can from. On the top piece we have 3 12volt led lights that are on a dusk to dawn eye and are powered by a deep cell truck battery and changed by solar panels the lights are on all night every night and the deer sure got used to it fast and id bet the pigs would too. Its been operating every night for 3 years now without a bit of maintenance. Doesn't light them up like day time but sure puts enough light on them that you know what they are and could easily shoot them with a normal scope. Much cheaper then night vision optics!! If you go the optics route thermal is the new wave. Ive seen lots of good reviews on the atn's and there price is as cheap as it gets for any kind of real night optics.

That sounds awesome. Are you able to take deer after dark in MI?

[pietro]

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I've no experience with night/infrared scopes because hunting here is prohibited between 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise except for some (not all) varmints.

For my uses, red dot reflex sights serve just fine.

For night hunting predators, I shine a flashlight upward to catch the red reflection of their eyes in the edge of the light of the predator responding to my calls - and put a bullet from any scope, peep or reflex sight between the red dots...……………




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[dverna]

That sounds awesome. Are you able to take deer after dark in MI?

Not legally.....but it happens a lot in my area.

[Jtarm]

The hog light looks awesome.

I'm headed up this weekend to fetch dad's old Winchester 100 (.308) from my brother.

Should make a dandy hog gun.

[Earlwb]

Here in Texas you can hunt pigs day or night, seven days a week, including holidays. No limits or size or weight restrictions either. Piglets or big ones all the same for hunting. But various cities etc. have various ordinances one has to be aware of before they go hunting inside city limits, etc. Generally there is no discharging of firearms within the city limits in most cities or towns. I don't think anyone got in trouble yet for using a gun to kill a big wild boar that attacked them though. Some cities may let you use cross bows or airguns (those big caliber high power ones). Mostly in the cities one has to use sophisticated traps, as the pigs are real smart and quickly learn to avoid traps. They have started using special pig only feeders with poisoned food in them too. The smart feeders only open up for pigs and not other animals. Although I think they miss a lot doing it, but helicopter hunting for pigs is legal in some areas too.

Of course here in Texas we have millions of feral or wild pigs thus it is out of control. The rich people hate it when their yards around their mansions are dug up by pigs and their favorite golf course greens got rooted out too. Or their park where their kids play sports got destroyed. Thus when they complain the city laws and ordinances change. So one has to check before they hunt in some areas.

[Norske]

I just got an e-mail from an outdoor store (Midway, Midsouth, or other?) advertising a night scope (maybe going to be discontinued) at 1/2 price or so.

[popper]

jtarm - put a wire fence around the feeder. Arms with green lights on top of feeder. Deer can jump the fence, hogs can't. Hogs will still go to feeder but don't get all the corn.

[Lloyd Smale]

no sunrise to sunset. Like dverna said though its a pretty common practice up here. We did it because we have a picture window in camp that looks right out at the bait pile and we can watch the deer while we sit around at camp. Kind of at least gives a guy an idea of what deer are hanging around camp.

That sounds awesome. Are you able to take deer after dark in MI?

[Jtarm]

jtarm - put a wire fence around the feeder. Arms with green lights on top of feeder. Deer can jump the fence, hogs can't. Hogs will still go to feeder but don't get all the corn.

What are the green lights for? Night hog hunting?

[Lloyd Smale]

some say animals don't fear red or green lights as much as white because white reminds them of daytime. We found it doesn't much matter after a week or so for them to get used to them.

[Three44s]

I have no experience with wild hogs but do with coyotes.

Coyotes are about as wary as it gets. Unless they have been shot at and missed under a red light, they are not afraid of it. If they smell you or hear you, that is a separate issue.

If the night is not dark enough and your light is off them they will bust you as well.

Three44s