Illuminated reticle for coyotes at night?? Any experience with illum. reticle?

C

CaliCoyoteCaller

New member
I was looking at mounting a scope with an Illuminated Reticle for my night rig...However, I talked to one guy who said the IR will blurr the coyote or hinder my vision of the coyote at night? Has anyone ever heard this? Ive never used IR, but initially thought it would be cool for night hunting...any suggestions or knowledge on this?
 
I run two at night some, A nightforce and a luepold VX-R. I can see through both fine with or without IR on. I see no blurr on animals, I see mostly fox. so smaller target..

Jason
 
On my VXR's and VX-6 I can turn the illumination down to almost nothing. No issues with blurring at all. They in my opinion are an outstanding feature to have. Will never buy another scope without it!
 
Originally Posted By: smith1559I run two at night some, A nightforce and a luepold VX-R. I can see through both fine with or without IR on. I see no blurr on animals, I see mostly fox. so smaller target..

Jason

You dont feel it inhibits your ability to see the varmint good? I really wanted to get one, but that guy that told me that made me double think it...I didnt know if he really knew what he was talking about or was just yapping.
 
Originally Posted By: jcs271On my VXR's and VX-6 I can turn the illumination down to almost nothing. No issues with blurring at all. They in my opinion are an outstanding feature to have. Will never buy another scope without it!

Awesome! Thats what I was hoping to hear...I was looking at a Vortex and the IR is adjustable so I could turn it down to almost nothing which I think would be better, with the adjustable IR.
 
Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerI was looking at mounting a scope with an Illuminated Reticle for my night rig...However, I talked to one guy who said the IR will blurr the coyote or hinder my vision of the coyote at night? Has anyone ever heard this? Ive never used IR, but initially thought it would be cool for night hunting...any suggestions or knowledge on this?

You mean to be used with red lights? They work great.
I'm not sure how they work with NV goggles? Don't know if your eye relief will be right, but i have no experience with that.
 
Originally Posted By: rpc55Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerI was looking at mounting a scope with an Illuminated Reticle for my night rig...However, I talked to one guy who said the IR will blurr the coyote or hinder my vision of the coyote at night? Has anyone ever heard this? Ive never used IR, but initially thought it would be cool for night hunting...any suggestions or knowledge on this?

You mean to be used with red lights? They work great.
I'm not sure how they work with NV goggles? Don't know if your eye relief will be right, but i have no experience with that.

Yes, to run it in conjunction with my Red Wicked lights. I dont have NV...
 
Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerOriginally Posted By: rpc55Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerI was looking at mounting a scope with an Illuminated Reticle for my night rig...However, I talked to one guy who said the IR will blurr the coyote or hinder my vision of the coyote at night? Has anyone ever heard this? Ive never used IR, but initially thought it would be cool for night hunting...any suggestions or knowledge on this?

You mean to be used with red lights? They work great.
I'm not sure how they work with NV goggles? Don't know if your eye relief will be right, but i have no experience with that.

Yes, to run it in conjunction with my Red Wicked lights. I dont have NV...


VX-R all the way!!!! I sometimes had trouble seeing the dark crosshairs through my scopes. A red dot like the VX-R was perfect for me.
I have the Photon digital NV now...
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my experience when testing out illuminated reticles - and it may well be just the specific scope i tested with (nothing so fancy as a Leupold or anything) was that the illuminated reticle played holy [beeep] with my night vision when trying to look through the scope. it was VERY distracting, even on the lowest setting - either green or red.

i was getting reflecting on the inside of the scope body kicking back to me too, which made it even worse.


it probably doesnt help that my eyes adjust to night conditions VERY slowly, so for me having illumination like that inside the tube of the scope is like getting a flashlight shined in my face. bye bye night vision.

the only lighted reticle i've had good luck with in low light condition s is my dual illuminated RMR.

 
Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerOriginally Posted By: smith1559I run two at night some, A nightforce and a luepold VX-R. I can see through both fine with or without IR on. I see no blurr on animals, I see mostly fox. so smaller target..

Jason

You dont feel it inhibits your ability to see the varmint good? I really wanted to get one, but that guy that told me that made me double think it...I didnt know if he really knew what he was talking about or was just yapping.


for me no I dont think so. But even if you get a IR you can still turn it off if you want. I do prefer the dot on the VX-R a little better then the whole X-hair lit up. But I have played with it both way with foxes on bait pile and deer out in the field. Seems to be fine to me, I even use a red light. I would say if your light is not very bright a bright retical might overpower it some.

Jason
 
Originally Posted By: smith1559Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerOriginally Posted By: smith1559I run two at night some, A nightforce and a luepold VX-R. I can see through both fine with or without IR on. I see no blurr on animals, I see mostly fox. so smaller target..

Jason

You dont feel it inhibits your ability to see the varmint good? I really wanted to get one, but that guy that told me that made me double think it...I didnt know if he really knew what he was talking about or was just yapping.


for me no I dont think so. But even if you get a IR you can still turn it off if you want. I do prefer the dot on the VX-R a little better then the whole X-hair lit up. But I have played with it both way with foxes on bait pile and deer out in the field. Seems to be fine to me, I even use a red light. I would say if your light is not very bright a bright retical might overpower it some.

Jason


My light is very good, so I dont think it would over power it...and actually, the scope Im looking at has the illuminated dot in the middle, its not the entire reticle that lights up, so with just the little dot in the middle being lit, i will prob be ok. thanks
 
I'm currently using a Wicked 403IC in conjunction with a Leupold VXR firedot duplex and firedot circle and it works great. I have had instances where not having illumination prevented me from taking a shot because the coyote was on top of a terrace with no backdrop and the plain crosshairs blended in with the background. The VXR firedot turns down enough to not affect your vision.


Here's a video using a camera mounted behind several different types of scope and also of an ATN X-Sight. You can see the Vortex washed out the picture but the VXR was fine.


Here's another video using the scope camera with a VXR 2-7 and firedot duplex and a T67 IR flashlight. The camera was out of focus for the shot, but you can still see that the illuminated dot was fine.


Here's one filmed with the DIY camera through the scope using the Wicked Light:


Hopefully that helps. Usually with the Wicked light, I have the firedot turned up to about medium intensity. Go with the VXR!
 
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Last year I purchased a Howa 22-250 which came with a Stirling scope which was replaced immediately. But it had illuminated rets that were in white, red, green. At least for me, didn't care much for it, but then again, it was not a high dollar scope. I have a Nightforce ATACR that has illuminated reticles. Huge difference, but again, I rarely use the option. May sound a little off, but I've noticed it to be much better at dusk. Right between the time that you can't see much through binos and a gun light isn't doing much. Just my $ .02.
 
We use illuminated reticles for coyote hunting at night quite often, especially during quarter, half and full moon with significant snow cover. We are currently running the USO LR-17 MOA, it has a 12-position illuminated reticle system which is perfect for any lighting condition.
 
Thanks for all the input guys....I may have to give the IR a try...The scope Im looking at only has an illuminated dot in the middle so the entire reticle is no illuminated....so it shouldnt be over powering but it should provide good target acquisition in low lighting...at least thats what I hope.
 
Have you considered thermal? It's amazing what you can see with them. Pulsar scopes and monoculars are high quality without costing a fortune.
 
It's crucial how low the reticle brightness can go, some if not the majority don't go low enough which is fine for low light but horrible for no light conditions. On snow the illuminated reticle with no light is great. Definitely do your homework before you buy one.
 
Originally Posted By: capitolHave you considered thermal? It's amazing what you can see with them. Pulsar scopes and monoculars are high quality without costing a fortune.

No I haven't considered thermal...I automatically assumed I couldn't afford it so I didnt even go there lol
 
Originally Posted By: LARUEminatiIt's crucial how low the reticle brightness can go, some if not the majority don't go low enough which is fine for low light but horrible for no light conditions. On snow the illuminated reticle with no light is great. Definitely do your homework before you buy one.

Thanks very much for the input, Ill def do my homework!!! I appreciate your response.
 
I love my VX-R for night hunting in the snow, the lit up dot is perfect, I wont be buying another scope without it.

I would watch out for the Vortex, I haven't used one at night but I don't know what the creators were smoking when they made the light up reticle. Not only the center of their reticle lights up but some other useless parts of the reticle too, and I don't mean the cross hairs, I could see a lit up Vortex reticle being a real pain at night. Compare it to a VX-R and it makes more sense. The Vortex 1-4 weighs almost twice as much as my VX-R also.
 


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