Buying the Best Thermal Optic for Coyote Hunting
The proliferation of thermal optics has extended hunting opportunities into the night. But which thermal is right for you?
By Andrew McKean – Game & Fish Magazine
Because of sucking mud, the only way to reach the sounder of pigs across the harvested wheat field was to walk under the moonless Texas sky. Every 100 yards or so, I’d stop to scrape gumbo off my boots and scan the dark field with my thermal monocular.
The feral hogs were still there, shining like lamps in the thermal optic, but slowly feeding away from us. I counted at least 25. Some were large adults but most were suckling pigs, the perfect eating size. As I closed the distance, I switched on the thermal scope atop my AR and whispered to my buddies. I’d take the right-side pigs, and if any from the rest of the sounder came my way, I’d handle them too. By stage-directing our shooting, I hoped to avoid crossing any lines. Shooting at night, it turns out, has its own set of hazards.
When my Pulsar rangefinder told me we were inside 100 yards, the three of us, each with a suppressed rifle mounted to a tall tripod, counted down our volley in a whisper. The next 30 seconds were wild. We killed all but about five of those hogs, and the sound of bullets hitting mud and sowbelly was almost as memorable as watching hogs run and fall in my thermal scope, which creates images out of heat instead of light. Through my scope, I could see my screaming-hot bullet contact fairly-hot hog, and occasionally the resulting impact created a spray of warm blood, rendered phosphorous-white in my thermal. Crazy.
We donated the larger hogs to the farmer who allowed us access and kept the 50-pounders for the barbecue. By the time I fell into bed at 4 a.m., my buddies and I had collectively dispatched 34 hogs and walked more than 4 miles across muddy pastures and fields. A pretty good night in Texas, all made possible by thermal scopes and monoculars that allowed us to literally see into the night. CLICK HEAR TO READ FULL POST