Another one down with the Photon and Pulsar thermal

DoubleUp

DoubleUp

Well-known member
We had another pretty good night calling. Went to a duck impoundment that we've called for some years with good success.

I did the calling. Wind was west, so I set my partner guarding the back-door to the east and north while I covered west and south. One tried to sneak in the back-door on the downwind side after about two minutes of calling, but my partner nailed him at about 150 yds. It was a pretty big male. He had to shoot him twice but at least was able to put him down. The wind was blowing pretty hard so the sound was carrying a lot better to the downwind, but I called rather softly for about a minute and then increased the volume pretty loud. That's when my partner said the coyote couldn't resist any longer. This was a big male, and was a lot larger than he appears in the picture. I know the duck pond guys will be glad another one is gone.

 
Always a special thing to fool the fooler, especially eastern ones. They have a lot more cover here to work around and get the wind.
 
The hd19a with focus (unlike the flir ps series) and pulsar 4.6s makes for lowest cost but effective combos out there, nice shooting
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Originally Posted By: Hard_wareThe hd19a with focus (unlike the flir ps series) and pulsar 4.6s makes for lowest cost but effective combos out there, nice shooting
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What are these models?

Looking at getting into a night vision setup!
 
Sightmark Photon 4.6XT digital night vision. That is 4.6 power and while you can see to shoot to about 80 yds. with the built in IR, add a good IR like the T-20 and you are good to 200 yds. Scope cost between 4 and 5 hundred plus the IR flashlight allow another $150.

Pulsar XD19A thermal monocular spotting scope. Picks up heat signatures of all warm blooded animals within several hundred yds. Will not see through glass, buildings, etc., but will allow you to catch signature and movement of animals in brush and trees. No, it doesn't see through them either but will show the animal as it moves through open spaces in them. Cost between $1800 and $2,000, but is a game changer for sure.

Thanks Hard Ware, it ain't fancy but it is pretty effective. The Photon does require avoiding setups that will produce IR reflection from bushes and trees.
 
It was windy tonight just as the weather predicted, so I didn't even contact my buddy about going. However just before dark I saw what I was pretty sure was a coyote skulking out across the field at about 500 yds. So, I got my 243 and thermal and went to the back of my shop where I have my shooting table set up. I saw two targets that I am pretty sure were coyotes headed toward an old partially overgrown wooded field where coyotes often go to hunt for rats and mice. I rode around there with my truck to see if I could spot them in that place, but couldn't locate any target on the thermal.

So I decided to ride on around the loop. It's about 6 or 7 miles around it, but when I went by my house, there was a target in the field right beside the house. When I looked with the Photon I could see that it was a coyote headed away from me at a leisurely walk. So I turned the engine off, got out and propped on my tool box. The coyote went all the way to the end of those cuts (200 yds. and crossed the ditch into the field behind my house. She gave me a broadside standing shot at 220 yds. and the 55gr. Nosler BT did the rest. Here's a picture where I dragged her out of the field and into the back of my yard. She was a big female but was not pregnant and not nursing.

 
Double Up is getting his share, and mine too. I need time to hunt, this work stuff is seriously impacting my pleasure. CONGRATS DU, pound em.
 
Thanks guys, the combination has worked quite well over the past year. Last night however it cost me a coyote kill. We had been seeing this pair of coyotes on and off for close to an hour. They were trying to get our wind and were staying several hundred yds. away while running down field ditches. Every so often they would pop up in the field and then disappear again.

Finally my buddy who was doing the calling hit on Lightning Jack and both of them came charging down the field to within about 125 yds. When I switched from the thermal to the Photon, I just could not get on them with the Photon. My buddy also uses the same combination and he had gone to his Photon as soon as I alerted him, so he was able to get on them and could have shot at the closer one, but he hasn't had good results beyond about 100 yds., so he didn't shoot. I was wishing for a thermal scope about that time, but things happen quickly sometimes and that was one of them. I really lay the "crash" off more to pilot error than equipment failure.
 
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Hey, you can't win all the time. Ha! You've done pretty well with that photon and Hd19A combination. It's hard to pull them out with any kind of night vision with their natural camo working for them and you can't always depend on their glowing eyes.
 
I don't think that I can contribute the situation to either contrast or field of view. As you know things happen quickly hunting coyotes and this time the quickly caught up with me. I only had my T-20 set on 15% so the process of increasing power to see the coyote cost me the few seconds that the closest one was standing still.

By the time I switched to 100% power, he was running, but I never saw him with the scope and had to find him again with the thermal. My hunting buddy hesitated even though he was on him with his Photon and didn't take the shot probably thinking I was going to shoot. Stuff happens!
 
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