Superpowers

As a child, a common question asked among friend circles was, “If you could have one superpower what would it be?” Who would have thought that after a few years, there would be superpowers that technology has turned into a reality. One such superpower is the ability to see in total darkness, something that was wished for as a child. Sadly, night vision technology in the early twenty-first century was beyond what Santa could afford for a young, growing boy.

Today, night vision and even thermal imaging technology have made leaps and bounds, especially in terms of price point. These days, an effective setup for hunting varmints at night can be purchased for less than $1,000. While it may not be a top-of-the-line setup or have tactical applications among special forces soldiers, it still can be quite effective for the dedicated varmint hunter who finds himself longing for a day in the field as dusk sets in after a long day at work. In years of field use from simple walks at night testing gear, to full-on weeks of hunting under the darkness of a new moon, to the bright, almost daylike nights of a full moon. There have been three primary setups that I have used regularly with good success. These setups will be detailed in this article.

There is no doubt that hog hunting in Texas has played a major factor in the use of thermal and night-vision products for hunting. However, not all states have the same laws and for this reason, everyone should check and double-check what their state allows for hunting purposes. This brings us to the first setup that is used regularly in my home state of Arizona. Due to the fact that the use of thermal, night vision and even illuminated reticles in riflescopes are prohibited for the use of taking wildlife. Sadly, it seems that the folks making these rules have rather limited experience when it comes to hunting at night and even less experience with the gear used. However, this does bring us to the first setup for hunting at night.

Budget Setup

Hunting at night doesn’t have to break the bank and this simple budget setup can be used on just about any rifle and varmint cartridge combination. Over the years, several brands of lights have been tested ranging from simple cheap lights on Amazon, to dedicated companies such as Wicked Hunting Lights. The latter company certainly offers a far better product than the ones made in Chinese factories. Your budget can certainly dictate which category of light you want for your nighttime operations. A personal favorite of mine is made by Sniper Hog Lights and is appropriately called the Coyote Cannon. The best feature of this light is that it has replaceable LED modules that allow hunters to switch from white, red and green light. It even can switch to IR (infrared) illumination in the 940NM (nanometers) or 850NM range. This is great if you routinely hunt in less restrictive states, as it easily allows the shooter to bring a single light for multiple applications. Certain wavelengths in the infrared spectrum also offer advantages when paired with certain night-vision devices. In particular, digital night vision versus those that use intensifier tubes. Sadly, space will not allow for a detailed discussion of these topics as that alone could easily fill a book.

When it comes to hunting with this setup, coyotes have been the most common predator hunted. The tactics vary but typically start by locating a good area that shows promise, as coyotes are much more vocal at night, especially in my neck of the woods. I will walk to a stand under a dim red light, a practical purpose for those cheap Amazon lights. Once set up, I’ll let the area settle for about 3-5 minutes before the first thought of starting up a calling session. Sitting in the darkness certainly offers an interesting aspect to the hunt and I am instantly reminded of the benefits of thermal and night vision for hunting use. My senses are heightened and I seem to enter an almost hyper-aware state, even my deaf ears seem to pick up every noise. This adds a fun and rather interesting dynamic to the hunt, it can be quite a thrill. Once the area is settled, I will begin a short calling session lasting about 15-35 minutes depending on the situation. While calling, I will scan every so often with the red light switching it on and off.

Having two lights makes scanning and shooting much easier and having a buddy or partner on the stand makes it even better, as one light is dedicated to scanning and another light is mounted atop the rifle in line with the scope. This makes positively identifying the animal and taking the shot much easier. However, if only one light is available, I would highly recommend mounting the rifle on a tripod or very sturdy shooting sticks. This makes scanning much easier and when you do positively identify your prey, then making the shot is that much easier.

Much of the hunting conducted with this setup was done with bolt-action rifles, chambered in 223 Remington or 5.56 NATO with a bipod or shooting sticks. However, if you are looking to increase the effectiveness and odds of success in the field, I would suggest the next setup.

Mid-Tier Setup

Hunting varmints at night has shown how valuable a tripod can be for nighttime calling sessions. Making a shot in the daytime is not always easy, but making a shot at night is even more difficult. This is especially true on a coyote that is typically moving as it requires practice and patience and above all – repetition to become proficient at it. Using a good tripod is just another piece of gear that makes it a little easier. These days, it is not difficult to have an Arca-Swiss plate added to a rifle stock or the forend of an AR-15. However, if adding such things to your setup seems a little too tactical or gaudy-looking, Primos has a good option with its new Trigger Stick Apex tripod with Magnaswitch. It is as simple as swapping out the sling swivel with the classic rifle adapter, which has a sling swivel stud built in. This setup has been used with good success in the field and also, it is quick and easy to set up. The addition of a stable shooting platform such as a tripod is probably one of the best additions a shooter can add to a budget setup.

The next best thing you can add is the ability to see in the dark, without anyone else seeing you. I am talking about night vision, with the advancements made in digital night vision paired with a good infrared flashlight opens a whole new capability.

Looking back on all the coyote stands I have made at night, I wondered if the light ever gave away my position, a red or green light was used to help minimize the light signature. According to all my research and field experience, coyotes can see the added light even if it’s red. While it may not be startling enough to keep the coyote at a distance, it certainly can cause them to hang up and even spook, which is something I have experienced on numerous occasions. This is especially true if you are using the light a lot and I remember constantly battling my mind about whether the light should be on or off. Trying to time it to where the light would come on with the coyote in range was a constant challenge. All of this is eliminated with the use of thermal, night vision and infrared light.

After one particular stand, alone with a screaming rabbit echoing off the rolling hills, I clicked on my red light and scanned quickly. The first thing I saw was two coyotes both within 25 yards of my Lucky Duck e-call and only about 40 yards from me! In a bit of a panic, my second scope-mounted light was clicked on, but by the time I got crosshairs on the first and closest coyote, as it was already pushing 100 yards at a dead run. A quick adrenaline-filled finger jerked the trigger, the splash of the bullet was seen feet behind the running fluffy pelt. The second coyote was never seen again and may still be running to this day. After that, I decided to save up some money from working horses and purchase some sort of night-vision device.

Over the years, many devices have been tested from first generation traditional night vision that uses an intensifier tube to gather ambient light to third generation military night vision, and more recently, digital night vision. The first night vision device I ever used was a Bushnell Equinox 2x 28mm, a first-generation unit that used a traditional intensifier tube to gather ambient and IR light. This was used to scan to ensure no coyotes ever snuck up on my stand again. While not a very effective unit, it worked decent enough when combined with a good bright IR light.

It is easy to get carried away when it comes to night vision, there are so many options and technical specifications, it is enough to make your head spin. Suffice it to say, these days you want third generation intensifier tubes or digital. The big issue with traditional intensifier tubes is the cost, especially for third generation stuff, you will pay for it. The bonus to having an unmagnified third generation night vision device (NVD), such as a PVS-14, is that it can be mounted to a helmet with ease and used to navigate to your stand. This is something that digital night-vision technology is close to being able to do, but I would say is not there just yet. This is mostly due to the refresh rates of digital night vision in a very dynamic environment there is a bit of a delay as you are seeing everything through a small LCD screen rather than through an actual tube like with traditional NVDs. This is something to keep in mind when shooting at a running coyote using digital NVDs.

If you are simply looking for a night hunting setup that won’t cost thousands of dollars but is effective and offers the most bang for the buck, then the Sightmark Wraith HD or Wraith 4K can be purchased for less than $500 when paired with a Sniper Hog Lights Coyote Cannon and you have a night-vision scope that attaches to your rifle ready to zero and hit the field. This makes for a very cost-effective and efficient system for a grand total of about $850 at the time of this writing. That price is unheard of for night vision and the best part of this system is the effective range. At 500 yards, I have positively identified coyotes. While I can see much further than 500 yards with it, I would say I can see past 1,000 yards with this combination. However, being able to identify what you are looking at depends on many factors and conditions. One nice thing about night vision in combination with an IR light is that when the light hits a coyote’s eyes, they will glow quite well through the night-vision scope. This makes them a little bit easier to spot. The best part of it all is that coyotes cannot see IR light, so it levels the playing field in terms of vision.

With this setup, I highly recommend the use of a tripod, because you will be scanning through the Sightmark Wraith paired with the IR light. While you could use a handheld NVD, the pairing of the light and scope is what gives me the extra range for spotting and identifying animals at a distance. Plus, once you have spotted the animal, all you have to do is take careful aim and squeeze. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference the Sniper Hog Light makes with the use of the Turbo IR 850NM module equipped. While the Sightmark Wraith comes with an IR illuminator that is only effective to about 100 yards. The addition of the Sniper Hog Light increases the effective range by a massive margin.

Hunting with this setup has been wildly successful, so long as you are diligent in your scanning the chances of something sneaking in on you is essentially zero. It has been wonderful in culling nocturnal coyotes that prey on sheep and cattle and it also has been a great setup for a second shooter as well. It is easy to use the Sightmark Wraith as it has only five buttons and a simple menu system. Most folks I take out can pick it up in a matter of minutes along with a brief explanation. Another advantage to digital night vision compared to traditional night vision is the fact that it can be zeroed during the day. Since it does not use an intensifier tube, there are no worries about burning up the tube in the bright light of day. Zeroing the optic is a straightforward process. Shoot a group and adjust the crosshair from the group to the point of aim and you are zeroed. It is a little different than the clicks of a riflescope, but it is quite easy to accomplish.

The Deluxe Setup

The final setup for hunting at night incorporates not only night-vision technology, but also thermal technology. There is no doubt that thermal is ideal for scanning for animals as they glow white hot or black hot or whatever setting/capability your thermal optic has. These days, it seems the sky is the limit when it comes to settings and preferences on thermal optics and as a result, this can be quite overwhelming. The unit I settled on is a clip-on unit from AGM Global Vision, the Victrix Pro TC50-384. It is not ideal for scanning as a handheld and it must be paired with a traditional riflescope when mounted on a rifle. However, I appreciate the versatility, especially when hunting with friends. When mounted on a rifle in conjunction with a traditional riflescope, preferably one with a lower magnification range (1-5x), it can be used to scan through the scope to detect and even identify animals. Since it is mounted in conjunction with your riflescope, you can even use your scopes crosshairs to take a shot. The real-world detection range seems to be about 2,000 yards under ideal conditions. However, the identification of a coyote drops down to about 500 to maybe 600 yards as it is a small animal. However you can detect them at much greater ranges than that. Since I don’t plan on shooting 500 yards at night, this is of little concern to me and it works quite well in a wide variety of situations.

When paired with night vision to sneak into your stand and get set up, the use of thermal ensures that you don’t miss an opportunity on an animal. Thermal essentially detects temperature changes and displays them on a small LCD screen built into the unit. This means that rocks will retain heat better than the ground and foliage, and as a result, any warm-blooded creature will also stand out against the cool night air or dark foliage. Under snowy conditions thermal optics work extremely well as the environment provides a stark contrast, which will make most critters stand out. Thermal makes detecting animals at night easier and no doubt contributes to the success of a hunt. However, a good unit is also more expensive than most night vision, thus making it less of a budget option. However, for those who are serious the benefits of thermal outweigh the cost.

In closing, other than the laws of the state, there is no reason to not consider hunting varmints at night. This is especially true when it comes to predators because there are plenty of great options out there that will fit just about any budget. Much of this gear can be mounted to anything with a Picatinny rail making it easy to install it on your favorite rifle. The final word of wisdom is to do your research and due diligence. Find out what will work for your situation and for your budget. Despite being a lengthy article, this is just a high-level overview to get you started. It must be tempered by research and experience to become effective in the field.