3 Ways to Hunt Feral Animals With Night Vision Equipment

I purchased myself and night vision scope some years ago now and since that time I have had plenty of opportunity to use it both hunting and areas of observation (camping, bushwalking, etc), and I must say that every time I put it into practice while hunting I am extremely impressed with not only the performance but also the ability to be able to find and hunt game with no visible light source.

Just to get you up to speed and to ensure that we are all talking about the same thing I'll give you a quick rundown of what night vision equipment is and in particular my nightvision.

There are typically two types

1) Uses heat to determine an image while another
2) Amplifies light to give you an image.

The first one is typically used by military, law enforcement and emergency services, and is commonly called thermal imaging. I'm sure you would have seen many hours of this footage during the Iraq invasion. It is typically the image that is used from attack helicopters and the like.

The second of the two types is what we are interested in, it is the nightvision that you can get access to as a civilian and as a citizen of Australia.

With nightvision there are different levels of performance, these levels are rated in generations. These generations also reflect the way the technology has changed over the years, for example generation 1 or Gen 1 as it is called, was first used in the Vietnam War while generation 4 is what is currently used by the military. Because of the effectiveness of this type of technology in warfare the American government has placed limits on exportation of night vision equipment from the USA to other countries. Some countries are strictly prohibited to receive any night vision equipment while others such as Australia are permitted to receive up to and including Gen 2+ nightvision equipment. Within each of these generations they also have different categories to determine the clarity of the image and as with all things the better the clarity the higher the price.

For a more detailed look at how night vision work have a look at the ATN website.

http://www.atncorp.com/hownightvisionworks

ATN are the premium night vision manufacture in the US, they are also the manufactures of the night vision rifle scope that I also own.

The best way to explain the difference between hunting with nightvision and not is like the difference between hunting during the day and spotlighting. The amount of animals that come out at night by far outweighs the numbers you see during the day. Now just imagine if you had those numbers that come out during the twilight hours except that you had the visibility of daylight, however this is not entirely true. It is much more than this.

Not only do you have the numbers which are seen at night but you also have the cover of darkness as your prey does not share in the nightvision technology.

This becomes very apparent once you use nightvision in the field. I have personally followed pig's, foxes and cats in complete darkness without their knowledge and within 10 m. Bloody amazing!!!!

However there are ways to which you can use this technology to give you a superior advantage in the field. Here I will list the three top ways.

1) Sit and wait.

This is by far has produced the biggest yield of feral animals than all the other techniques that I have used. It is also not too different from the citywide technique you would use in the early mornings or at dusk without nightvision equipment. The process goes along the lines of: find an appropriate spot where your prey is likely to come during the night and then find an appropriate location where you can sit and have good clearance over this area. It is then a simple process of sitting and waiting.

Places where you would typically used this technique is sitting over dams, crops, game trails and my favorite - carcasses.

I would typically use this technique when I know there is going to be game coming to that exact spot. This is normally determined through research and observations.

This technique also gives you the ability to predetermine concealed location and configure that location so that you can sit there for a long period of time accompanied with all the accessories that you might need. An example of this is that I use my double swag. I position in such a location where I can look down on to the target area and within that sway I can also store extra batteries and a high-powered infrared spotlight, not to mention pillows, sleeping bags and other niceties.

I would typically move into the swag and then roll down one end so I made in seeing through to fly mesh. In the ready I would have my rifle situated on a bipod along with the nightvision scope and only located around 20 to 30 m from the target area. The system gives me the ability to be able to be able to go to sleep and then when there is any pig activity there is enough noise that wakes me up. It's then a simple process of lifting the rifle, turning on the nightvision and taking advantage of the situation before me.

I also known people which have used this technique within barns to reduce the bird population as they roost at night. But this friend he was a simple process of taking them out one of the time without the knowledge of the other ones sitting around (most birds are really stupid at night).

Here are some photos of how I have used this out west of bourke.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2419.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2420.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2421.aspx

2) Stalk and wait.

This technique is very similar to the sit and wait, the only difference is, is that instead of sitting and waiting on a location you stalk into the location and then wait. It also means that with the sit and wait you would normally would have constructive concealed location where you can sit an extended period of time, where this technique is mainly used for locations which you might not want to sit ay that long. It is also good that it gives you a good understanding of the surrounding area along with giving you a good indication of night-time activity.

One of the drawbacks of this method is that as you are not stationary the nightvision requirements increase. What I mean by this is that with the sit and wait technique you only need a nightvision rifle scope while you can get away with only using the scope is more effective to use some form of night vision goggles in conjunction with the nightvision scope.

The other limitation with this method is that while the other two methods give you the ability to have high-powered infrared spotlights this restricts your ability to carry this equipment as you also have to carry the batteries to power such spotlights. 

3) Drive and wait.

This technique is typically used when you want to cover a large amount of area in the shortest possible time, and would normally be used in areas which you are unfamiliar with. For example if you suddenly get access to a property which has multiple dams have an extended range you would use this technique.

While this technique is typically used for reconnaissance it can give you hunting opportunities. The technique goes like this: you first locate the multiple target areas which you would like to survey during the evening, then once the sun has set it is a process of driving to within nightvision visible distance and surveying the area, then once you are happy you can move on to the next area. The benefit of doing this is that you can also have high-powered infrared spotlights which increases your visible distance considerably. The downside of this technique is that there are times when your quarry will be scared away by the sounds of the vehicle approaching, however given my experience animals don't tend to get scared the same way at night as they do during the day, and because of this they are more likely to return quicker and flee less.

Combinations

I have in the past with great success utilised all three combinations. I would drive to a location and then wait there for a while, then once I see my game old then stalking the location and utilise a pre-built concealment area.

Here are a couple of pictures of my success with my night vision.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/40.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/39.aspx

In my up-and-coming blogs I will discuss some hunting trips when I have used each of these techniques giving you a real-world experience so you can understand the practical uses.