New to night vision

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Brimil

New member
So I'm new to night vision, and fairly new to coyote hunting in general, but I just bought an ATN 4K pro and a coyote reaper XXL IR light... I can't afford a thermal scanner right now , so was wondering if in my situation would I be better off scanning with a red light, then switch to the scope for shooting, or just scan with the scope? Has anyone here done this without a night vision or thermal scanner? Eventually I want to get a scanner, but will have to make do for now .. for what it's worth, the gun is mounted on a tripod
 
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Not sure how that atn4k is but personally I wouldn't bother hunting if I didnt have thermal to scan with. Its a must have. Honestly you will be missing lots of coyotes and will probably be confused by all the other critter eyes you will be seeing. You really need a handheld imo. Im not trying to discourage you but initially finding them is the biggest part. You will miss a lot of stuff without thermal and get tired of the continuous tedious scanning with only gun mounted nv. About 1500 bucks will get you enough thermal to be deadly if you look at used. I wouod tecommend a pulsar unit. I scanned the last 2 years with an xd19a but after upgrading to shooting with a Trail xp50 last year I have a hard time looking through the lesser view of my handheld.
 
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A thermal scanner is what I'm saving up for next, but for now I only have two options.. Scan with a red light, or scan with the gun scope... So back to the original question.. Until I have a thermal scanner, would you guys recommend scanning with a red light, or scan with the gun, or stay home on the couch eating Cheetos and watching videos of guys with thermal scanners lol
 
I'd scan with the red light before I stayed at home. Lots of coyotes are killed with lights. Scanning with the rifle gets old, quick.
 
Id say after a few trips out with the red light you will know if it is worth while. Ive never seen the first set of eyes with red lights and Ive had friends tell me thre coyotes flip out when hit with the light. I think lights may work better where there are city lights in the background. Ive have heard of guys having some success though.
 
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Crawl, walk, run!

If I can not run, I will walk. If I can’t walk, I will crawl.

You bet you ought to hunt with a red light until you can afford NV equipment!

Is NV better? Sure, but the worst night hunting is better than eating Cheetos on the couch!!

But a really good light is what you ought to go after and that costs bucks as well. You will need lights after you go for NV as well. Lights never go out of style.

The reason is that depending on your concealment, you need the contrast a light gives you. If you are naked and out in the open coyotes will bust you.

The best two lights in my opinion are the laser genetics and the coyote light. The coyote light gives you a dimmer. That gives it an edge.

What did night hunters do before NV? They used lights! The savvy ones will use them with NV as well.

Three44s
 
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Thermal and NV are obviously better, but I killed coyotes with a red light for scanning and a red light mounted on the rifle for shooting. My advice is for scanning don't overpower the coyotes with the light. In my opinion the most common mistake using lights is having them too bright for scanning. It really doesn't take a lot of light to see eyes from several hundred yards away. Once you get eyes, you can switch to the scope for ID and shot.
 

You don’t need thermal or NV to be successful hunting predators. It’s only been recent years where this technology has been affordable and widely used. I’ve killed a lot of coyotes with both red and white lights. As with anything you do, there’s good and bad techniques. For scanning, use a dimmable light if you have one. You don’t need a super bright light to pick up eyes. Scan continuously, never turn your light off. I prefer a head mounted light like Night Eyes or similar. If you only have a hand held, just use the edge of the beam for scanning. If you have to use the light for shooting, slowly lower the main beam onto your target. In my opinion, very few coyotes are spooked by good technique. In your case though, once you pick up eyes, you can transition to thermal.

Give it a try....you have nothing to lose. Good luck!
 
Have a 19a and a Helion XP38. Got a major deal on the Helion but WOULD NOT give up the 19a for nothing. FOV is the greatest advantage you can have and I bought the 38 for 2 reasons: the deal and it has the greatest FOV of that line. Still doesn't compare to the 19a though. While it comes in handy to look at something a long ways out there it sits beside me while I scan with the 19a. All you need when scanning is detection and in by book the greater the FOV the better as we all know how fast and quick they can show up from any where. It's a lot more pleasant and easy on the neck scanning at a slower pace than whipping back and forth. If they made the 19a with the 640 resolution it would be the perfect scanner or close to in my book. I lost a couple of yotes when using the 38 in spots that had a lot of cover close by as they detected me by the time I detected them. With the 19a I've had them as close as 10' as they came around a berm and I froze. Same coyote went back around and came back with me doing the same thing. He gave be the old head bob stuff and looked down at the call then headed down. Don't think if would have happened with the 38. I have to scan so much more rapidly. If unsure of what it is, you can always ID with the scope.
 
Originally Posted By: BrimilSo I'm new to night vision, and fairly new to coyote hunting in general, but I just bought an ATN 4K pro and a coyote reaper XXL IR light... I can't afford a thermal scanner right now , so was wondering if in my situation would I be better off scanning with a red light, then switch to the scope for shooting, or just scan with the scope? Has anyone here done this without a night vision or thermal scanner? Eventually I want to get a scanner, but will have to make do for now .. for what it's worth, the gun is mounted on a tripod


I have a 4k 5x20 and after the 271 update mine is doing fine day or night.
 
So this is what I do, and it may be more involved than you want to do. When I coyote hunt I always have a hunting pack with me. When I set up, I clamp my gun into a tripod and then connect the scope to my tablet or phone. I set the tablet/phone up in my hunting pack so that I can minimize the amount of light coming off it. Once i'm all set up I begin calling and slowly turn the gun while watching the screen of my tablet. Once I see something of interest, I get myself positioned in whatever manner is needed to take the shot.

It sounds like a lot to do, but it actually works surprisingly well.. Some day I'll break down and buy a scanner of some sort, but for now this works well enough for me
 
Having spent most of my career hunting under just moonlight with no lights, NV or thermal just having that digital nightvision is a huge upgrade. Not going out until you can afford a $2,000 thermal unit is just the worst advise ever, must be made of money...

In your situation i'd just use the night vision and set the caller a good deal away from you so you have time to scan and identify. You'll pick up the glowing eyes if your using an IR light and if they're in range you can see pretty well with digital NV without giving your position away using the red light. The tight FOV on digital scopes does suck though.

Good luck!
 
Originally Posted By: LARUEminatiHaving spent most of my career hunting under just moonlight with no lights, NV or thermal just having that digital nightvision is a huge upgrade. Not going out until you can afford a $2,000 thermal unit is just the worst advise ever, must be made of money...

In your situation i'd just use the night vision and set the caller a good deal away from you so you have time to scan and identify. You'll pick up the glowing eyes if your using an IR light and if they're in range you can see pretty well with digital NV without giving your position away using the red light. The tight FOV on digital scopes does suck though.

Good luck!
I don't believe anyone here told him he shouldn't go until he had thermal. I believe what I said was that "I" wouldn't bother going with out it. No, I'm not made of money but I simply made it a priority to cash flow thermal........ then it worked so well I cash flowed more and better thermal.
 
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I know this is going to sound cumbersome and I wouldn’t suggest it if I had not watched my hunting partner use his XP50 trail with a ZRO Delta QR mount to scan with and then when a coyote is located he clips it on the rifle and shoots. At first I didn’t think it would work but he kills as many or more than I do with my Trail/Helion combo. If you block off the ends of your pic rail so the mount is guided into its proper spot it is pretty smooth. Could it lead to possible missed opportunities if one sneaks in? Ya probably. But we always hunt in pretty open area and so far it has not happened and he spots em as much as I do.

I feel like using a light would lead to more missed opportunities due to spooked coyotes or undetected coyotes that would be seen sooner in a thermal 100% of the time. I tried using the red light setup many times and did not see a single coyote, let alone shoot one. I am certain than my above mentioned tactic will have better results than a red light (at least for us). If you have been having good success with lights then I guess you have it figured out, but I never could. Thermal comes natural and I think adding lights to a thermal hunt would blow it.
Better than not hunting at all but scanning with a rifle on A tripod would be better than using lights. Popping it on and off with a QD mount alow you to scan 360deg and hopefully spot em sooner to allow the extra second to pop it on the rifle.
 
A handheld or helmet scanner is the best option. I realize the question was on lights, but my perspective on using thermals per some of the other comments. Personally, I would scan with the gun on a tripod either via StreamVision or looking through the scope before trying the scope/zro delta combination. The shape, size and weight of most thermal scopes (with a few exceptions) are not conducive to using it as a scanner for long-term scanning. Second, as jk2paintworx mentions there are lots of times coyotes can sneak up on you. I hunt the wide open plains of ND and still probably at least 25% of the coyotes would make it really difficult to get the scope mounted in time, especially in the dark. Add the fact of how much movement this creates, it wouldn't be my first choice. Kudos to those that can pull it off, but things happen so fast, at times I don't even get the record button pressed in time when not using RAV.
 
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