Another evening of thermal hunting. I almost always use the scanner and my son on the rifle - a .224 Valkyrie. The scanner is a true game changer. The rifle stays locked into the tripod. It is a pain in the butt to scan through the rifle scope while walking around. The scanner is even fairly useful while riding in a sxs. The invision thermal rifle scope is more definitive than the scanner
Below is a screen shot of scanner video. The video is somewhat sharper than the screen shot. The coons in those pictures are about 100 yards away.
There is a coon on the ground and one semi obscured by branches up in the tree. They cannot hide. I carry a .22 mag pistol with a reflex sight for critters in the trees. Dont really feel great about shooting a centerfire, high velocity caliber up in the air.
The difference between a .22 mag shot coon and a .224 valkyrie shot coon
On this 2.5 hr hunt we killed six coons, one possum, one skunk, and two armadillos. A year ago, we would have probably killed 20 or more egg eaters of various species and maybe up to five hogs.
Of course, while we had four zimbabwe professional hunters staying with us for five days, I couldnt get a hog baited up on four bait sites on two different properties. The ph’s are gone, and the hogs show back up last night
I still trap some, primarily in the spring nesting and fawning season. I think thermal hunting and trapping complement each other very well.
Six years ago, I had no turkeys on my place except an occasional hen would try to nest on my place, probably because I have the best cover in forever. But they were not successful in bringing off a nest. Since then, i started spring trapping and some night hunting. We started seeing a few poults, and four years ago we had a couple gobblers and decided to kill one. The turkey population has continued to increase. Right now, I am getting more turkey pictures than I have ever gotten at my place. I hope the trend continues
