New to Thermal

[Nepistolman]

I’ve never been around the thermal world but thinking of giving it a try for coyotes. And I have no clue where to begin. All I know is I’m not wanting to spend 1k to use once or twice and never again. So can you guys help a guy out on what to look for or what to stay away from. Thanks in advance!!

 

[pdhntr]

I’ve never been around the thermal world but thinking of giving it a try for coyotes. And I have no clue where to begin. All I know is I’m not wanting to spend 1k to use once or twice and never again. So can you guys help a guy out on what to look for or what to stay away from. Thanks in advance!!

I am using my third different thermal. Each one higher quality and more expensive than the last.

Discussing "what to look for or what to stay away from" is almost totally dependent on price. With thermal scopes it is really simple. You get what you pay for.

The first thing I tell a person thinking of getting into thermal is decide on a budget, otherwise you are wasting your time and others discussing the positive and negative attributes of scopes that are not in your budget.

In my opinion I would not consider anything less than $2500 new. Or a used one with some factory warranty still in effect.

Jim

 

[Intell]

I’d say watch for a good used unit if you don’t want to spend so much, but your probably still going to be in the $2500 range.

My first was a Trijicon Reap IR. Then I wanted a second unit so I could take my non thermal friends along on night hunts. I didn’t want to break the bank so I bought an I Ray bravo, 380 core for $3000. I was disappointed even though it wasn’t bad, I had been spoiled by Trijicon.
My dealer was kind enough to exchange it for a 640 Pulsar XG50 with the BAE core and it’s close to my Reap unit.

Don’t get me wrong, some 380 units are plenty good enough for dumping Coyotes, I have 380 core pulsar binoculars that are very usable but in my experience with sights the 640 cores give you a lot better less grainy image.

It would suck to drop $1500 on a unit that’s just mea, when a used $2500 can get you Wow.
I’ve saw nice deals in the classified here in the past, Euro optic also has nice demo deals for thermal as well.
If your firm about $1000 you may want to look into some type of digital night vision with IR light, I know of a few young men who use them for coyotes successfully.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

How about the new range finding capabilities, wait and save for that or not?

 

[snowpro440]

At what range would you consider using a rangefinder on a thermal scope ? was considering a pulsar from euro optic for around 3k but its extra for one with a rangefinder. Using a .223 rem

 

[Kracken McGraw]

At what range would you consider using a rangefinder on a thermal scope ? was considering a pulsar from euro optic for around 3k but its extra for one with a rangefinder. Using a .223 rem

Sorry, that was kind of my question also. Didn’t know if it was a waste or the greatest thing ever.

 

[pdhntr]

At what range would you consider using a rangefinder on a thermal scope ? was considering a pulsar from euro optic for around 3k but its extra for one with a rangefinder. Using a .223 rem

Sorry, that was kind of my question also. Didn’t know if it was a waste or the greatest thing ever.

Not sure if this will answer your question or not. I call in Northern Wisconsin and we have a lot of wolves that often come to the call. Some are very bold, but that is a discussion for another thread.

One thing that I have found is it's very hard to judge distance at night if you are in a large field or don't have "reference" points that you have established distance during the day. On really clear nights (clear in the scope, no humidity) a coyote at 300 yards looks closer than it really is. On nights with a little more humidity, they can look farther away. A pup can look farther away than an adult. A wolf at 350-400 yards looks just like a coyote at 300. I don't want to put the land owner or myself in a bad situation shooting a wolf. So the rangefinder gives me another tool to identify the critter and helps me judge where to hold if it won't come in or I get busted.

Missing a couple 300 yard coyotes before I had the rangefinder really helped to make the decision also.

With all this said. If you can call them in close you don't need a range finder. Also if you are killing 40 plus coyotes at night in a season, you probably have enough experience with your scope that you don't need to range.

I have used a lot of different calibers for night shooting and try to get them set up so I can hold dead on up to 300 yards. Inside 300 I am pretty good without a rangefinder, but missing a couple that looked like they were easily doable and finding out later how far I was off in range are the ones I remember.

Jim

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Not sure if this will answer your question or not. I call in Northern Wisconsin and we have a lot of wolves that often come to the call. Some are very bold, but that is a discussion for another thread.

One thing that I have found is it's very hard to judge distance at night if you are in a large field or don't have "reference" points that you have established distance during the day. On really clear nights (clear in the scope, no humidity) a coyote at 300 yards looks closer than it really is. On nights with a little more humidity, they can look farther away. A pup can look farther away than an adult. A wolf at 350-400 yards looks just like a coyote at 300. I don't want to put the land owner or myself in a bad situation shooting a wolf. So the rangefinder gives me another tool to identify the critter and helps me judge where to hold if it won't come in or I get busted.

Missing a couple 300 yard coyotes before I had the rangefinder really helped to make the decision also.

With all this said. If you can call them in close you don't need a range finder. Also if you are killing 40 plus coyotes at night in a season, you probably have enough experience with your scope that you don't need to range.

I have used a lot of different calibers for night shooting and try to get them set up so I can hold dead on up to 300 yards. Inside 300 I am pretty good without a rangefinder, but missing a couple that looked like they were easily doable and finding out later how far I was off in range are the ones I remember.

Jim

Thank you, that was very helpful!

 

[dirtclod]

I’ve never been around the thermal world but thinking of giving it a try for coyotes. And I have no clue where to begin. All I know is I’m not wanting to spend 1k to use once or twice and never again. So can you guys help a guy out on what to look for or what to stay away from. Thanks in advance!!

Check out Outdoor Legacy, lots of info and recommendations available. Check out their You Tube videos also.

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Good luck!

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I don't range at night, typically I'm hunting day scouted ground. And at night it is really is tunnel vision, especially dark nights. I don't know of any 1k thermal sights, although occasionally there is an auction that ends at 50-60% of msrp.

 

[alf]

1K might get you into decent night vision, but won't get you much in thermal.

You really need to budget for a scanner too.