Pigs at night, what optic?

Nine Banger

WKR
Shoot2HuntU
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
653
Does anyone have thermal goggles?

I'm hunting on foot in forest and fields.

I'm losing shot opportunities on targets for 2 primary reasons:
- spotting targets that are moving into thick vegetation.
- losing targets to vegetation or terrain while I transition from spotter to rifle.

I wonder if goggles will help with spotting targets farther away or sooner.
 

Tom-D

FNG
Joined
Sep 11, 2023
Messages
84
Woof. I’ve done that before and it sucked. Too often I would miss shot opportunities because of the delay switching from the thermal to a light. Not to mention any foliage between the shooter and the animal will light up so bright it makes it tough to see the animal. It works, but for $2K you can get some really solid thermal scopes these days.
Iv done it that way a bunch of times with mates of mine though i personally dont own one, i havent had an issue. Seems like it would be a pain trying to scan around with a rifle. I had a good mate that was living on a farm shooting pigs every night and had both and he seemed to think the scope wasn't very useful without the spotter. But most of that was from a car so a different style
 

Zigzag357

FNG
Classified Approved
Joined
Aug 30, 2024
Messages
15
Yeah…. Nope. Not correct.

Not to mention the OP’s got a $2k budget. A weapon mounted thermal is clearly the answer. Your nods and laser is slick, but irrelevant for this conversation.
You can buy a pvs 14 for under if not at 2k and nothing has a faster refresh rate than an intensifier tube it’s legit just glasses
 

Crews

FNG
Joined
Oct 18, 2022
Messages
59
Location
Texas, dadgummit!
You can buy a pvs 14 for under if not at 2k and nothing has a faster refresh rate than an intensifier tube it’s legit just glasses

So the OP maxes out his $2k budget for a PVS-14 and then what? It can’t go on the rifle. Helmet, illumination, laser…. You’re talking double the budget for a tool that doesn’t work half as well as a thermal in the OP’s stated conditions.
 

Crews

FNG
Joined
Oct 18, 2022
Messages
59
Location
Texas, dadgummit!
Does anyone have thermal goggles?

I'm hunting on foot in forest and fields.

I'm losing shot opportunities on targets for 2 primary reasons:
- spotting targets that are moving into thick vegetation.
- losing targets to vegetation or terrain while I transition from spotter to rifle.

I wonder if goggles will help with spotting targets farther away or sooner.
I’ve done a lot of night time hog hunting, and have always said if I could afford a second luxury item aside from my weapon mounted thermal it would be a helmet mounted thermal monocular. The weapon mounted thermal, in my opinion, is #1 priority and trying to switch between handheld and rifle mounted is very problematic.

I’d wonder about binoculars because there is the issue of depth perception to consider.
 

Boltgun

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
154
Does anyone have thermal goggles?

I'm hunting on foot in forest and fields.

I'm losing shot opportunities on targets for 2 primary reasons:
- spotting targets that are moving into thick vegetation.
- losing targets to vegetation or terrain while I transition from spotter to rifle.

I wonder if goggles will help with spotting targets farther away or sooner.
I hunt similarly, and have found a very lightweight rifle (SBR 11.5” AR with light components) allows for scanning and being ready to shoot quickly. It is fatiguing after 5-7 hours though.
 

Nine Banger

WKR
Shoot2HuntU
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
653
I hunt similarly, and have found a very lightweight rifle (SBR 11.5” AR with light components) allows for scanning and being ready to shoot quickly. It is fatiguing after 5-7 hours though.
We're on the same page. I'm running my Jp-5 w/ 8" barrel and a suppressor. I usually do 1-2 hrs a night.

My current tweak is to stop trying to put the spotter back in its carrier and just hold it and throw the rifle up on my forearm for an offhand shot.
 
Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Messages
550
Location
Colorado
I have an AGM rattler v2. Sweet setup. QD could work as a scanner and mount to gun to fire. 200 yards would not be a problem with it.
 

Boltgun

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
154
I think there’s a pretty solid market for a mount manufacturer (AGM are you listening?) to make a Quick Connect mount for thermals, so that they could easily and quickly (and in the dark) be remounted to a rifle in a way that returns to zero.

For $200-300, a mount like that would be a no-brainer for budget thermal owners that want a spotter than can quickly transition to thermal scope.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2024
Messages
376
I’ve done a lot of night time hog hunting, and have always said if I could afford a second luxury item aside from my weapon mounted thermal it would be a helmet mounted thermal monocular. The weapon mounted thermal, in my opinion, is #1 priority and trying to switch between handheld and rifle mounted is very problematic.

I’d wonder about binoculars because there is the issue of depth perception to consider.
I have binos. I like them way better than the two different monoculars I tried before the binos.

I have th pulsar merger xp50
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2024
Messages
376
The Rix storm looks enticing. Anyone with experience with these?
I’ve demoed the rix. Good quality product.

The new pard multispectral is nice too. Day, night, and thermal. I use it on my AR and crossbow with QD mount.
 
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