Thread: Night vision vs hunting torch update.

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Night Vision (which I have persevered with but given up on) is good in open terrain (farmland for eg)
Not so good in closer/tighter bush fringe/track/clearing situations

Setting the IR etc is a fine tune frustrating procedure (IMO)

Agreed.
At the end of the day, its no different to choosing a rifle calibre. You don't shoot everything with a 45-70, although you could (and one of my brothers would).

IR NV for its price, is very well suited for more open country, and where higher definition is required, and you have no close reflective surfaces. It also works better than thermal in the middle of the day on smaller game, or even well into the night in the middle of summer where there is rock all over the ground. Using thermal to find rabbits in a hot rock pile is as bad as using a IR NV in the hay paddock (before the hay is cut). With thermal on a hot day/evening, every rabbit sized rock or fresh cow shit has to be thoroughly inspected for target identification.

Thermal on the other hand has the advantage when there is more vegetation for animals to hide. I have watched a herd of deer from above, work their way through scrub in the late afternoon using the thermal, and have then tried to spot them via normal bino's, and even through I knew exactly where the deer were, I couldn't make them out.
Thermal also has a ten fold advantage when you need fast follow up shots on multiple game, eg if you were hunting mobs of pigs in open ground. IR NV is too slow for trying to locate running animals.

And as a discloser, ALL of my hunting is on privately owned land. Any form of night vision (IR or thermal) is prohibited on DOC land.