Scope for night hunting

[bsekf]

My Son and Grandson have developed an interest in coyote night hunting. At this point they are not interested in Night Vision or Thermal Imagining. They are using a good red light and need a scope that gathers light. I am thinking 6X will be about right for a 200 yard shot. Should I be looking for a straight 6 power or a 3-9X variable? Anybody out there with some experience? When reading scope specs, is there a way to compare light gathering ability?

Bill

 

[284driver]

I personally would entertain a 2.5-10 vortex pst. Straight 6 power might be a little too high for scanning or chasing a moving creature.

 

[hogpatrol]

2.5 x 10 x 56 Trijicon with the green picket reticle. Works well with external light. No battery to die either.

Some info on scopes:

http://www.scopecalc.com/

 

[JarGoodman]

Probably not what your looking for unless you also want to video your hunts but this seems to tick all the boxes of night vision, day vision and some: http://amzn.to/2gSzKI4

 

[Knotwild]

I have to shoot permit deer eating my crops every year. I use a Streamlight TLR-1 HPL in green.Works pretty good, but I find myself shooting 3.5 to 4 power most of the time. At 200 yards, I don't think I could see a coyote's body, just his eyes. The light is attached to a rail on an AR and I have never tried to adjust the rail to line the sight up with the bore, so it might be better if I did that. Plus, I use an illuminated reticule. That is more important to me than light gathering. I sometimes use a 2.5 x 8 Leupold and sometimes a 3 x 15 NXS.

You might want to try one of the green lights that uses a narrow beam that you "sight in" with the scope and have a handheld green light for scanning. I haven't tried that. The few coyotes I have seen with mine are still wary of the green light. They will look at it, and eventually leave. Some say the shadows from the light cause them to run.

Now I have a friend with thermal that I get to fill the permit. That is flat out awesome and he only shoots does. That picture was taken with an IPhone held up to the scope.

 

[butler12]

Hi,
We do a lot of spotlighting and I would be looking for any scope with good German glass a 8X56 is a beautiful scope for low light shooting or if you can get a 3X12X56 in any of the good brands you wont look back.
Have a look on Ebay see if you can find any older Zeiss , Khales , Pecar or my favourite B. NICKEL Supra
I had a 3X12X56 one and it was fantastic at night and they can be picked for bargain prices because not many people know about them.

 

[thejamesd]

I've hunted at night with lights for 10+ years. A good 3 x 9 variable will get the job done nicely. Get a 40 mm or larger objective.
James