Night time Airgun Set up Recommendation for possums

Hi folks:

Need some of your expertise / opinion. Just moved to a lifestyle block with bit of native bush and have already shot 2 possums wondering near the house. We have a big willow tree out front with lots of Kereru – usually when the possums are near the birds start screaming and give them away.

Would be keen to venture into the bush when the rain stops and do a bit more hunting. Currently using a .22 Diana air rifle.

A few options I am considering:
(1) Spotlighting with battery pack- not so keen on this set up as bush is quite dense and not fun fumbling around cocking the airgun loading pellets at night with all these extra weight…etc. I do have a smaller torch taped to the airgun but that is not very bright for spotting / surveying

(2) Nigh vision goggle / scope- I am keen to explore this option as the NV is much more affordable than thermal. Not sure how effective it will be though ( to spot possums VS using spot light). I am thinking of using a handheld device to survey and spot possum then walk near and use torchlight to shoot. (Some NV can also clip onto the scope if needs be). Bear in mind airguns are known to break scopes easily due to recoil- so I am not too keen on mounting NV scopes.

(3) Thermal- I know this is probably the best option- use it to find the possum, walk near, turn on torch and shoot. But cost is too prohibitive at this stage

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Originally Posted by berg243

you could try a small red light torch mounted above scope for shooting and have a larger hand held red light torch for locating as a cheap option.

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That's probably the best cheap option. Some possums shy away from torchlight, but most sit still.

we use a led lensor p7.2 mounted on scope and another in the hand for finding . Nice bright light that can be zoomed in and seems to offer plenty of usable distance for locating .
And can still use it around the house/shed for other jobs .
Never used a red light and the possums don't normally bail before you can get a shot off from my experience . if they do it's usually just a slow walk .... still shootable .

LED spotlight would work quite well. Cheapest option out of the 3.
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-vision-72087/

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Originally Posted by berg243

you could try a small red light torch mounted above scope for shooting and have a larger hand held red light torch for locating as a cheap option.

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Thanks for the suggestion, is there something special with red light ? like you can see their eyes better ? Most LED torch light seems quite white. Is this like a filter add on ?

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Also just wondering if anyone has used NV? Quite keen on this as it gives me some new toy to play during lock down . Just not sure how well it works...etc

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I use a pard clip on NV unit (007a). Doing rabbit control on vineyards and fruit orchids.
Think of it as an invisible spotlight you view through a small black and white TV, a rabbit sitting behind long grass can be hard to see without any eye reflection. For the shooting I do it works well helping to prevent the animals becoming light shy.

There are a few threads on here discussing NV and thermal at length if you have a wee look around.

Just bought one of these again, https://www.ebay.com/itm/284205320212?var=585694077156 fits in solarforce case or any P6 body as I dont think solarforce exists any more. spot possums long way away and shootable light very good at 50M, red wont affect your night vision and possum eyes shine nice and red, cat a bit more orange. Thermal will help to find them after spotting first as sometimes you know they are there but they look away and near impossible to spot.

O and setup, one or 2 on head and one under barrel. Head light spill show sights and barrel one show possum.

Try to shoot them under the chin..that's a kill shot every time!

Get a good torch with a good mount and see how it works for you. You have to spend a lot more to get any major advantage. Yes thermal (have a handheld) and nv is great but a spotlight had worked for the past ..... Years

For night shooting I use a maxtorch and the figure 8 clamp (but having a dog that tells you which tree to look up saves needing to get the thermal out)

Thermal clipon on a compac doctor scope on slug guns.Great fun on the bunnies.Not cheap tho.Attachment 178125

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Originally Posted by alanpyc

Thanks for the suggestion, is there something special with red light ? like you can see their eyes better ? Most LED torch light seems quite white. Is this like a filter add on ?

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Red light supposedly causes fewer animals to spook. I think it is somewhat true, but not 100%. Red light is also kinder to human night vision. Definitely go for a red LED torch rather than a red filter on a white LED as a filter reduces the output significantly.

Thermal and NV are not a good solution in bush. The IR reflections will render NV useless. Small low power thermal spotter may be of use, but its a lot of money when a torch will do the job.
Get a good head lamp for spotting and a rifle mounted torch for the kill shot.

man you fellas are spoilt...
Ive shot litterally hundreds of possums with a big jim torch and or a dolphin torch...those were heavy 6 volt jobbies and batteries werent rechargable.
ANY torch will do the job...possums arent hard to find,and once up trees stay there. you dont need a $200 torch to find possums in willow tree near your home...go out now on full moon and silhouette them....once leaves take off its too late.
head torch to walk with and handheld for looking around... shoot them in the V of throat if you can...or through chest if side on...your 22 airgun may have enough grunt for head shots,chest works but takes few seconds to kill them.

55yrs ago we got a couple of salmon in the Orari river,using a big metal red? torch(befor big jims came in) and a gorse knife.Use to get a lot of eels out of the ohapi stream with the help of our big torchs.Biggest eel was 5ft 10 inch long.Oh the fun we use to have befor tv was around our area.

Pard spec's say: Not Approved for Spring or Piston Powered Air Rifles (Break Open Types etc)

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Originally Posted by vulcannz

Pard spec's say: Not Approved for Spring or Piston Powered Air Rifles (Break Open Types etc)

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I was just about to mention most of the LED torches I have seen will struggle with the vibrations and shaking the air rifle will subject them to. Better to do what we used to...one person on the torch and one person on the rifle.....Decent headlight is great for spotting them.

Red light don’t spook animals as much as a big bright white beam pointed at their head! Red is softer you can get great eye shine return of it too, have tried blue n yellow but red best I have found, you don’t have to buy an expensive torch can just put red cellophane and tape it over the lens of any torch for what you want to do ,

Red light is pretty much invisible to a lot of animals. works great on rabbits and hares (doesn't stop their other scenes which tend to be more accute) can't see why you'd need more than a head lamp for possums. they just run up the nearest tree or fence post. don't put anything on ya springer, it's all just weight that affects how it shoots. (unless it's sighted in with them on, then it's off when you remove them) we'll that's been my experience in the past anyways

I've only used torches. I've got a night vision kit but never used it yet. One thing to remember if shooting with a airgun, is if your shooting from underneath with a shot angle of over 70° you need to account for the bullet placement, i.e if your aiming for the head, the bullet will actually hit the distance that the barrel is from the scope and hit in the chest/neck. And likewise if you got for a heart shot, it will hit in the stomach area. Look up Teds Hold Over channel on YouTube he has a hold video explaining this

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Originally Posted by Ranger 888

Try to shoot them under the chin..that's a kill shot every time!

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through chin up through the swede -weeeee look ma its jacko imitating an open boiled egg!did it once with a big buck nailed him x5out of me trusty TOz17 .bugger wouldnt fall out of tree -righto out comes trusty .303 as a chainsaw -nup his tail relaxed and he landed in a shower of blood and crap right on bonnet of my car .cranium was sparkling wehite apart from a rather ragged hole through the base!

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

man you fellas are spoilt...
Ive shot litterally hundreds of possums with a big jim torch and or a dolphin torch...those were heavy 6 volt jobbies and batteries werent rechargable.
ANY torch will do the job...possums arent hard to find,and once up trees stay there. you dont need a $200 torch to find possums in willow tree near your home...go out now on full moon and silhouette them....once leaves take off its too late.
head torch to walk with and handheld for looking around... shoot them in the V of throat if you can...or through chest if side on...your 22 airgun may have enough grunt for head shots,chest works but takes few seconds to kill them.

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mickey -many moons ago Iknew an old scots bloke on the coast who used a single shot and miners acetylene lamp to keep the london fur markets supplied ."och laddie yonbonny wee buuga looks at the flickerin flame ,makes him very bouncy bang! he reckoned possums curiosity was their downfall and id agree .also watch for a doe whose randy ,sit tight and nailall the horny bucks as they come lookinfor poontang .theyre grossly oversexed and totally undervigilant-.22 or 12g blowjob will cure the desire. Ishot many with a good old chrome 3cell torch under the barrel of the stirling m14.snarling bastards get no mercy from me -its kill on sight .

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Originally Posted by vulcannz

Pard spec's say: Not Approved for Spring or Piston Powered Air Rifles (Break Open Types etc)

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Sytong night vision has a much higher recoil rating than pard and is air rifle rated.

PARDs rating is actually well above most hunting rifles and always was and is rated for air guns.
Since the introduction of the new S models

I have hundreds of rounds of 300wm and 338 with my own personal unit

The real limit is around how much recoil you can handle and control the rifle for night vision (any brand) with the different scopes and eye relief - I used to say 308 unsuppressed as a guide as we would get calls about a ultra light 300 WTFSSM and would it be ok - all the makings of a great you tube video (or Rik tick I guess)

There is the obvious one for locating possum. What food source is in season in the place your shooting. I had two nights of intense shooting on a farm in kaiwaka in about an acre of Bush on a farm. One of the native species of tree had come into fruit and possums had come in from all over the area. I spent two nights with a 22lr (though an air rifle would have done fine) whacking out possums. Filled the owners chest freezer with carcasses. (apparently mixed with a bit of sheep fat there is no better dog food. He bred sheep trial dogs) Night 3 they were leaving along the willows running through the section. Bit like a good trout fisherman knows what insects the fish are feeding on and adjusts the fly or nymph accordingly. If the food is there that's where they will be. If ya know that then a torch is fine. Scan the trees with the torch at a not to fast but not to slow pace. Look for eyeshine not the possum. ( listen for movement) Don't shine the torch directly onto the possum till your ready to shoot (except the safety of course) if it turns away try to make a possum call even if it's bad (which mine is awful) they usually will turn back and look. If you don't get a clean kill shot and they start heading down the tree, wait till they are in easy shooting height, there's usually way to many smaller branches and twigs to deflect a light projectile as they spiral down. If it hangs by its tail listen for blood dripping on the ground. If you hear it don't waste another shot, it's dead and will fall as its muscles relax. Least this is my experiance.

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Originally Posted by faregame

PARDs rating is actually well above most hunting rifles and always was and is rated for air guns.
Since the introduction of the new S models

I have hundreds of rounds of 300wm and 338 with my own personal unit

The real limit is around how much recoil you can handle and control the rifle for night vision (any brand) with the different scopes and eye relief - I used to say 308 unsuppressed as a guide as we would get calls about a ultra light 300 WTFSSM and would it be ok - all the makings of a great you tube video (or Rik tick I guess)

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I thought the issue with air rifles is that springers have a forward and back recoil which is bad for scopes. Not so much the force of the recoil.

makes sence really. Think of it as a car hitting the wall. You have air bag in front and a headrest at back for impact. Non air rifle rated scopes are made for the backlash, air rifle scopes need the forward impact protection. Don't care how good/expensive ya scope is, if it isn't set up to take that forward impact a high power springer is going to break it. Gone are the days of a 22lr fixed 4x scope for ya air rifle.

I've got a scope mounted torch for rabbit shooting ( see profile to see set up) Below is part of one of my shooting data cards and the difference between torch on gun and torch off gun aim points. This is without the angle you would use for possums in a tree
Attachment 204333
I know some of data looks skew wiff but it's actual shooting at targets at measured ranges. I've double checked it all reshooting groups and it came out the same.

Only data i got was this rabbit i shot with the springer about 5pm.Attachment 204339
Sent the game keeper over to collect his dinner.

Bloody good torch on that. Looks as bright as daylight. Must be big! Throw ya aim point out.?

Gadgetman years ago gave me a couple of his torches(which i still have ).-chinese models(IIRC) 18650 batteries ,latter models reverting to 3x aaa batteries power. brandname ULTRAFIRE

.What impressed me was these wee buggers gave out a beam good for 50m+and in a practical test of robustness ive taken out two feral carts with this torch clamped to the barrel of my s/a 12 shotty .
Ive used these torches on nightshift throughout my nursing career and still use and swear by them .you get a rubberclamps with velcro straps fits on rifle or atop the scope and it makes for a dandy wee jacko smacker
.Another tip -watch for a doe in season -buck jackos go off their swedes fighting for banging rights and chances are if you shine the light theyll rear up hissing and spitting etc etc at you till you drop em
.I shot 4 in 5mins at 4pm one after noon like this -she was horny up on a log less than 5m away lifted the tail -hellloo here comes the cavalry till human spoiled the gang bang with his version. .she reared on me spitting -hole between the eyes was the result -joined the others.my policy killl on sight no excuses. She was a very plump young maiden a couple of the bucks young studs but IIRC the 3rd bloke to drop was fairly old buck who in hindsight should have had more bloody sense.