Night Hunting Setup - Rifle

HB_Hunter

HB_Hunter

Well-Known Member
Has anyone setup a rifle for night hunting? KY just changed the regs and we can now hunt coyotes at night with rifles. I am looking at the following scope:

ATN x-sight 4k pro 5-20x

The price is reasonable and I am planning on putting it on a Savage .243 that I already have. Shots will be in the 200-300 yard range with some likely being closer. I am also planning to get a supplemental IR light and was looking at this one:

ATN IR850 Pro Long Range IR Illuminator

Would love to hear from anyone that has gone down this road.
 
I have that same setup. I use mine on hogs. You should have adequate illumination for 200-300 yards. The problem I have with it - smoke from the shot often obscures the target for a second shot. It is only for a second or so - but your quarry can travel a long ways in one second and at night, you have no idea which way they went. Secondly, it is difficult to spot animals because it is all shades of blacks and grays. If it is hogs in an open field, or under a feeder - it works fine. Animals in timber, brush, or grass are difficult to pick out because everything is black or gray. The mount I received for the light it lacking. It doesnt clamp down tight on a picatinny rail and it doesnt have elevation and windage adjustment for the light - which is important for getting the bright part of the light to match up with the center of the sight picture.

Bottom line, For my use - hog hunting - I went back to a red weapons light and standard scope and and saving my money for thermal
 
Mine is old school night vision, a Gen 2 ATN Night Arrow but it has accounted for lots of hogs and a few coyotes in the several years I’ve owned it. It’s mounted on a Mossberg AR rebarreled to 6.8 SPC and it’s a hog killing machine. The IR light that came with it was worthless so I bought an IR flashlight from Tactical Night Vision that mounts to a rail on my handguard. It has zoom capability and is good to around 250 yards even on a dark night. If you have a decent moon, no clouds the zoom isn’t necessary to kill hogs up to 150 yards.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I’ll go ahead and order it and give it a shot this year. I’ll be setup watching an open field for coyotes 99% of the time.
 
A friend of mine has an ATN 50X Thermal, around $4000 price tag, and it's the real deal. A buck at 1000 yards is easy to see what rack he has, 200 and 300 yard shots on coyotes are the same as daylight. The electronics package allows a friend to watch the action on their smartphone. I also saw some cheaper ones, and I wouldn't advise wasting your money on these. To really be happy with your purchase you will need to spend $4000. I'd advise you to keep saving up and avoid the regrets.
 
HB_Hunter said:
Did you already sell it?
Click to expand...
No. I kept it. It is on a rifle I am not impressed with, either. It is my night hunting backup for when my son or a buddy comes along on a night hunt. Understand, I am hog hunting, at night, with a quarry that is fairly easy to get within 75 to 100 yards. My night vision outfit is on a Stoner Arms AR 10 .308. My red weapon light is on an AR 15 .450 Bushmaster. The .450 will lay a hog down much quicker than a .308 and the AR 15 platform is much lighter than the AR 10. Probably not the ideal coyote setup
 
SwampCat said:
No. I kept it. It is on a rifle I am not impressed with, either. It is my night hunting backup for when my son or a buddy comes along on a night hunt. Understand, I am hog hunting, at night, with a quarry that is fairly easy to get within 75 to 100 yards. My night vision outfit is on a Stoner Arms AR 10 .308. My red weapon light is on an AR 15 .450 Bushmaster. The .450 will lay a hog down much quicker than a .308 and the AR 15 platform is much lighter than the AR 10. Probably not the ideal coyote setup
Click to expand...

I have a .450 also, and it is a hammer on hogs, but I found my 6.8 to be better for me, ammo is cheaper and I can get a second shot much easier because the recoil is lighter. The .450 is impressive though !
 
Drycreek said:
I have a .450 also, and it is a hammer on hogs, but I found my 6.8 to be better for me, ammo is cheaper and I can get a second shot much easier because the recoil is lighter. The .450 is impressive though !
Click to expand...

I am strongly considering getting a 6.5 grendel upper to put a thermal scope on. I have a few places where I can shoot out to 400/500 yards - and that isnt where the .450 shines. I kind of hate to go with a new caliber, as ammo is almost non-existent and if you can find some, it is high/high
 
SwampCat said:
I am strongly considering getting a 6.5 grendel upper to put a thermal scope on. I have a few places where I can shoot out to 400/500 yards - and that isnt where the .450 shines. I kind of hate to go with a new caliber, as ammo is almost non-existent and if you can find some, it is high/high
Click to expand...


You’re right about that, I’m glad I have lots of ammo in my cabinet. I’ve heard good things about the Grendel, but I have no first hand knowledge of it. The ballistics look good though.
 
HB_Hunter said:
Has anyone setup a rifle for night hunting? KY just changed the regs and we can now hunt coyotes at night with rifles. I am looking at the following scope:

ATN x-sight 4k pro 5-20x

The price is reasonable and I am planning on putting it on a Savage .243 that I already have. Shots will be in the 200-300 yard range with some likely being closer. I am also planning to get a supplemental IR light and was looking at this one:

ATN IR850 Pro Long Range IR Illuminator

Would love to hear from anyone that has gone down this road.
Click to expand...
I have had night vision and thermal scopes. My recommendation is always save up and buy the best thermal you can afford. I have the ATN Thor-HD 640x480 in 5x50 and absolutely love it. I actually just got me a 350 legend upper and put it on it. It is a hog hammer now. Follow up shots are easy because almost no recoil. With night vision once you shoot (depending on your environment and time of year) the smoke can sometimes white you out, fog will do the same thing to you, also any brush will block your infrared from shining past it. With thermal you can spot animals in any smoke or fog and even through sparse brush and grass. I was lucky and found my scope used from someone that had only used it 3 times. I love the fact that I can record the shots with the scope also, makes it easy to look back and see what you did wrong when you miss lol.
 
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Screenshots from my hunt Sunday night


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great sequence of pics Shawn. I wish I could afford a good thermal, I’d relegate my NV to my .17 and pop coons with it.
 
I just put a deposit down Pulsar binos. Scope will be acquired later After playing with on in TX over the holidays, I was hooked. Primary use of binos will be locate trespassers and find wounded game. I’ve got coyote problems....but it’s the trespassers that cause the most angst.
 
Drycreek said:
Great sequence of pics Shawn. I wish I could afford a good thermal, I’d relegate my NV to my .17 and pop coons with it.
Click to expand...

Yes I am supposed to be able to move it from gun to gun and just change my profile and it will go to zero on that profile for that weapon. I haven’t tried it like that yet. Want to get a rail for my 10/22 and use it for coins around the feeders instead of trying to always trap them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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