Thread: Thermal Optics under scrutiny?

I recently took borrowed a friend's monocular to hunt on the public land. Aside from the safety and ethics debate, I found the act of looking through a little electric screen horrible compared with the meditative hours you can spend behind glass. Binoculars connect you more intimately with the landscape; the thermal separates you from the landscape.

Also, I didn't see any animals.

Originally Posted by Bucko

I recently took borrowed a friend's monocular to hunt on the public land. Aside from the safety and ethics debate, I found the act of looking through a little electric screen horrible compared with the meditative hours you can spend behind glass. Binoculars connect you more intimately with the landscape; the thermal separates you from the landscape.

Also, I didn't see any animals.

Yep there an aspect of "disconnect" about thermals v binos, the difference is spending hours looking through binos to see nothing & 5 minutes through a thermal to see nothing and knowing it's time to move on.

Or as i found out as a new thermal handheld owner, seeing deer through the thermal and not being able to find them through the binos even when i knew exactly where to look!

I suspect your opinion would change had you spotted one through the thermal.

As to harm .... It's similar,actually very similar to spotlighting. Makes it easier to find an animal..but just like spotlight or indeed a helicopter,animals learn to hide.in last two years my favourite bush hunting spot has changed,animals stay deeper in the bush MOST of the time. But I'm still able to tip one over if try hard enough.its still shit loads easier than during the late 80s early 90s.had add up last night.3 pigs,5 chammy and 33 deer have come to my freezer in last 30 years of hunting it.

No not a pest a resource that needs managed.now wallabies different story. Lots of fun but if not kept at them they just keep making more little hoppers

My mate has thermal. Hard core pighunter in open country.first thing in morning will be spotting hillsides in the dark from truck for pigs... Cocky wants numbers kept down so it's a tool to help do that. A deer within driving distance gets shot too.he won't shoot one if can't drive to it!!!! But if he doesn't keep on top of numbers,someone else will get in the gate and he be hunting groundless. Balancing act.