Thermal/NV vs red lights

C

chasing3kids

New member
Will try to make this short. Hunted in a local tournament this weekend, around 80 teams. Pretty tough conditions, warm and windy. 5th 4th and 3rd place tied with 3 coyotes. 2nd had 7 and first had 8. The big difference was the top 2 teams were running thermal/nv. There has been some talk after the tournament of that not being fair.

I am just curious if you guys think if red lights can compete with thermal/nv(in a tournament setting)? Or should they have there own class?

Ps - I am not for or against it, if I had the coin for it I would probably run it myself.
 
I have competed in contests with guys running thermals and I have run them myself outside of tournaments. While IMHO thermals are a great advantage,(why else would folks spend that kind of money on them) they can be beat. But we have had to hunt harder to beat those teams.I wouldn't not participate in a contest because others are using them but no matter what the gear others are using to win consistently I think you have to be better prepared and hunt harder than anyone else possibly will.
 
Good response reaper, it defiantly isn't going to keep me from hunting tournaments. I don't necessarily hunt them to win(although it would be nice). I don't get to hunt as much as I used to, have a wife and 3 young kids. To me it is a few days a year I get to 100% concentrate on hunting for 24hrs straight, instead of a few stands here and there.

I was just wondering what everyone else thought of it. Cause a handful of guys were pretty discouraged by it. I kinda like being the underdog, if anything makes me want to hunt harder.
 
Agreed. There have only been two contests held in our home state and we were very nervous about the guys that had to opportunity to hunt with thermals. We also had to drive two hours to check in when it was in some hunters back yards. That just made us hunt harder than ever and it paid off. I will hunt with men that have the drive to keep going when others would quit over guys with the better gear all day long. In one contest we didn't sleep for almost three days and we all wanted to quit but just kept pushing. Planning sets goes a long way too. It took us a few hours of brainstorming....(and a couple beers) to figure out the most efficient rout and stand selection.
 
I have seen that here, some contests don't allow night hunting. (not sure how they do that)

I have hunted with both. There is a good side and bad side to it..

One of the challenges was ranging the distance. In a thermal it's harder to tell the distance. There are ways to adjust to this and get around it. I think that I would suggest a hand held unit for a lot less money for the light guy. We had great success using lights on the way in, then when the shooter was light on, and tracking in, the other light guy would shut down his light, and use the thermal.
Take the shot, and thermal would track it if it ran, and then point it with a laser. Shooter would walk out and get it. (saved a lot of time when taking the hand held with them) Recovery can be a challenge IMO.

I had a kit fox come in and had the light on it, and thermal scope shooting. He didn't know it was a fox and was thinking the little fox was a coyote at distance and was shooting over it. I told him it wasn't a coyote and to stop. But it highlights the challenge with identification that has to be worked out, and the distance ranging. I am sure that this can be done..

But, i don't really think that one has an advantage over the other. A well running team with seasoned partners could make either work really well.

IMO Contests are about who prepares better and who make the least mistakes. You can't kill them if they are not there (scouting) and you can't win if you don't put them in the truck (calling, wind, shooting, and at night it has to be well practiced)
 
I don't compete in tournaments but take a look at some of the ranges that Sentinel is killing coyotes at and there aren't too many lights that'll compete with that. None of the lights that I know of would even know they were there.
 
draw your own conclusion: the other night I was watching a coyote about 300 yards from my house with thermal. as soon as I heard a car coming the coyote left the middle of the field, and went to the edge of the field where the headlights would not shine on him. he did not do this just once but, he did it two times.
 
I myself hunt some local tournaments myself and I would see no reason for them to have their own class. They still have to have a proper setup and calling knowledge. If they started different classes for thermal & nv , what would be next ? Those using ar's in another class from someone using a bolt gun, or electronic callers separated from hand calling . I myself don't have the coin to have nv as of yet but I plan on it. And I myself wouldn't consider someone having better equipment than myself as having an unfair advantage. There will always be someone who has better equipment always.
 
Originally Posted By: catfishlouieI myself hunt some local tournaments myself and I would see no reason for them to have their own class. They still have to have a proper setup and calling knowledge. If they started different classes for thermal & nv , what would be next ? Those using ar's in another class from someone using a bolt gun, or electronic callers separated from hand calling . I myself don't have the coin to have nv as of yet but I plan on it. And I myself wouldn't consider someone having better equipment than myself as having an unfair advantage. There will always be someone who has better equipment always. Couldn't of said it better!..there's always someone out there that has something better. Buy it today, and tomorrow it's old news. The fast pace of technology.
 
Thank you for the replies. Like I said I am not for or against it in tournaments. If I had the money I am sure I would have it to. I was just curious what others thought.

Reaper, it sounds like we have similar hunting styles. A few beers are a must when brainstorming a plan for a tournament after scouting.
 
Originally Posted By: old catdraw your own conclusion: the other night I was watching a coyote about 300 yards from my house with thermal. as soon as I heard a car coming the coyote left the middle of the field, and went to the edge of the field where the headlights would not shine on him. he did not do this just once but, he did it two times.

Thats pretty cool, too bad you didnt catch that on video.
 
I was in that tournament as well, the top team ran the coyote light brand, second place was night optics brand. Both are sponsored by fox pro, and probably rightfully so by the amount they got compared to everyone else. Funny the top five places killed half the overall kill amount, it was tough hunting, but I won't enter anymore loved it when it started out. Just getting to be too many of those around and you can tell it the areas I hunt at. People all over getting tougher
 
Hey cosletdecoy, so the number one team was running just red lights? If so that is really impressive. I was under the impression the top 2 teams were both running thermal and or night vision. Either way those guys knew what they were doing and how to use their equipment.

This was my 3rd year hunting this tournament. It is changing, but I still enjoy it. It was definitely tough this year.
 
Yes sat next to second place team, they are known as elite coyote hunters. They are the ones who said first place team had red coyote light. Top team is some type of club called Illinois predator masters, I believe they said some of them are local to t town. We went non stop 5 Friday until 10 sat morning never saw or called one in. Hunted the afternoon till dark still nothing. I always liked hunting in that competition just wanted to see how i measure up to other hunters I guess.
 
Heck I was probably sitting one table away from you. I was sitting at the same table as that group with the sweat shirts from Illinois predator hunters, down from them about mid table.

We hunted half the night and all day. Had one at night get down wind of us before we could get a shot and called one in at 9:15 Saturday morning. Got her with a shotgun. We have checked one in the last two years, just haven't been able to get more than one.
 
Sign of the times. Let them compete. The eradication of coyotes is the goal. If thermals win. Then save up the $ and get one. They are a game changer that is for sure. ATN is coming out with an entry level. But entry level is still close to 2000.00.
 
I have no problem competing against them it makes me feel all that much better with a win. I don't think there is a substitute for hunting hard and putting your time in
 
I use the wicked lights 401 in red, it's definafely better than the xlr 250 I started out with but heavier. I thought I liked the idea of that going into the night but I am rethinking my strategy now with the others kill numbers being so high. It is getting tougher not to run into others hunting coyotes anymore. I absolutely loved it starting out ten years ago. We have a serious issues with guys and dogs running them not just local,from several counties away. It makes for tougher hunting calling them in.
 
cosledecoy, not intending to highjack the thread but I have the same issue in my area. Every Saturday and Sunday for the last few years I have road warriors with dogs screaming up and down the road around my house. One group from the next county east, the other from the southwest. And they meet in the middle right in my back yard at sunrise. The issue I have is that they shoot from their trucks in the road and then leave their beer cans and fast food wrappers blowing all over. A real great bunch of guys.............Until they started showing up, my area was a great place to call and no competition. Ok, done venting.
 
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