Hog hunting question but involves guns and optics too.

Moderators please pick the right forum category for this subject

I have a friend who lives on 200+ acres and has a major hog problem. He has set up motion detectors and gets up regularly in the middle of the night and shoots what he can with a spotlight...often within 100 feet of his house!

He wants to try hunting with night vision or thermal imaging. He hunts with a pump .308 and 12 gauge semi auto but knows very little about guns beyond those two. He is an experienced hunter and good shot but has no real night hog hunting experience.

He told me he wants to get an AR and he wants to shoot .308 so I think that means AR-10. He asked me about night vision scopes and/or thermal imaging scopes.

I know nothing about optics so I told him I would ask the forum.

Given that he will be using an AR-10 what can you recommend for him to buy or at least check into regarding night hunting optics.

He did not mention prices. I will say he definitely won't go the cheap route but he most likely won't be looking for $3000 equipment either.

All information is welcome as I will pass it along. He asks me about the forum all the time but doesn't spend time online so he won't join-or even lurk!

Thanks in advance.

He'd be better off building a good sized corral type trap with an automated triggering system.

Motion sensor spot lights on a 10' conduit pole, driveway alert alarm, rifle with light mount adjustable beam with scope, step up with a Photon, trap with spring loaded doors leave locked open until the pigs gets use to entering.

less than $3000 for a thermal is "the cheap route"

Trap is best bet. As far as rifle, AR-10 topped w/Photon XT hard to beat at that range.

Check into Palmetto state, they have good deals on their rifles right now, Academy had the photon on Black friday for $399, you can usually get them for 450-500 on the web.

Thanks for the responses.

Trapping would be the most efficient method. He trapped some in the past but they seem to have wised up and now ignore the trap.

I have done some research since I posted and watched a number of youtube videos. I sent a couple to his email because he does use the computer for that.

I found out thermal imaging is more expensive than I thought.

I'll be talking with him in the next couple days and see what he thinks.

Thanks again.

Get an Armasight Gen 2 Night Vision scope from Sportsman’s Guide after joining their Buyer’s Club. Then you can pay it off in 4 monthly payments and you get it after the first payment when ordering. They have a Club Double Discount offers where you save twice the amount of the club to non-club member price. So if something is $300 for non club members and $280 for club members, you save another $20 and it costs you $260 instead. It costs $39.99 to join the Buyer’s Club for a year and they give you two $10.00 no minimum coupons to use anytime you want to. All you need is a debit card or credit card so they can charge or take out the money once a month. No credit check either. I got my 2nd night vision rifle scope that way. Hope this helps you out.

Your buddy needs to think this through before acting. Leaving aside the very real question of whether hunting is the best way to reduce hog numbers, it's important to understand that there are three basic NV technologies, each with their own quirks.

Thermal - the best and the most $$$ - good stuff starts at $2500.
Traditional NV - Gen 2+ and Gen 3 - excellent but intolerant of recoil - from about $1500 to $3500 if you shop around on up.
Digital NV - the cheapest way to get started - from about $500.

Both forms of NV will need an IR illuminator, which isn't terribly expensive. Unless you are strictly hunting over feeders, you will need two units: a monocular for scanning and a rifle scope, so you really have to budget for two units. Finally, bear in mind that the .300 BLK, the 6.5 Grendel and the 6.8 SPC were created to avoid the weight and recoil issues associated with the AR10. Put bluntly, the AR10 is not the preferred platform for night hog hunting.

Your friend really needs to monitor the Hog Hunting forum here for a few weeks or so before buying anything, or it's very likely he'll be unhappy with the results of his purchase.

bowbuilder1971- thanks for the information. I order stuff from SG from time to time. In fact, I just got two boxes of 380 delivered today

I was a member several years ago but never bought enough to break even on my cost. I will tell my friend and I have some catalogs I will give him along with your suggestions. I am glad to hear from someone with first hand experience with the 4 pay plan. I might join if I ever decided to buy a gun from them.

syncerus-thanks for the explanation of the different NV technologies. That was very helpful. I did learn about the IR illuminator from youtube videos but your explanation sure helps understand what is what.

Friday was the first time my friend has mentioned all this so I don't know how serious he is about night hunting. I will give him all the information from all the posts.

We did discuss the 5.56 vs .308 AR platform. I will definitely pass along the recoil info because I don't know that he has given much thought to multiple shots at running hogs.

thanks again.

This is a long discussion. Your first line of defense is your property line. Do everything you can learn about snares and building good fence. Build a good road along this fence and patrol it daily. Build numerous lightweight traps and keep them baited and visit them often. Join a local predator club if there is one available. Over time get that AR, then add thermal. Outfit rifles with kill lights. Hunt early morning late afternoon with that AR, or another rifle with good optics, I’d have a red illuminated reticle. Learn to recognize hog sign and preferred habitat. Read everything available on hog control, safety, and disease. Take Agrilife sponsored courses on hog control. There is no complete single choice or solution to which AR or caliber or optic is perfect, but that is way down the list of priorities. Lots of .223s, .308s, 6.8s in very effective use and it’s fun shooting hogs but that alone will not control the rascals. Good luck. After 10 years of hard work, an arsenal of rifles and optics, Hi tensile mesh fencing and hundreds of snares and traps, we are virtually hog free.

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