ATN X-Sight 5-20 is good to go. Honestly, the older ones are slightly better though IMHO as the 4k models have more limited battery life IIRC.
Just fyi. Called wildlife dept to ask specifically if it was legal to shoot coons under the feeders at night. Was told NO. It's legal to shoot coons with 22 when hunting at night only if your hunting with dogs. The main man himself told me that this last spring so unless something has changed take it for what it's worth. I wanted to do the same thing. As for night vision,consider where you be hunting and conditions. Night vision is basically hunting with a light. If you have a lot of trees and things or brush it blocks that light leaving shadows. Also it of her foggy /rainy at night that reflects the light back in your eyes much like your high beams in a fog . however night vision makes it much easier to identify your target. Especially at a distance. Thermal on the other hand is not affected by atmospheric conditions but it's much harder to positively identify your target. You can easily see the heat signature but it's not sometimes easy to tell if it's a Coon or a possum your looking at. Also if there's a group of animals identifying a certain individual animal to aim at is hard sometimes. Remember that the typical thermals we use are not military grade scopes. I use both but it depends on the weather conditions as to which I choose what day. Myself I prefer night vision ( infer red) if possible just because I can pick out a certain animal in a group easier. I use atn scopes usually but the sightmark wraith is interesting .
But can you hunt 5 pounds of tannerite beside the feeder that happend to have an open can of tuna on top? Asking for a friend...
What's affordable? Budget?
Would be fun but my guess would be no.lol. of course you CAN but probably don't want to post it.
Those dog proof traps are great. 2 or 3 marshmallows in front of trap with one under trigger does great for me. But it's 60 miles to farm from the house gets kind of expensive driving back and forth emptying traps
About ten years ago, one of my wife’s uncles asked me to find him a night vision scope (he was in his 80s and in failing health, so didn’t ask why). I told him it would cost between $10K and $15K. He told me I should only cost about $400 and wouldn’t listen when I explained that he would be dissatisfied. I’d used Gen (1) Starlight Scopes (ehhh) in the Service during the 60s and modern light intensifying goggles (I think PVN-7 borrowed from the Nat’l Guard) when working with the Pittsburg County Sheriff in the 80s (awesome) and had handled a couple of $10K+ Thermal Scopes (amazing equipment) and knew better.
I ordered him a $375 Scope, set it up with its infrared light source, and took it outside after dark to test it before bringing it to him. I’ll never forget the moment when my wife tried it and shouted, “ A SKUNK!” Not quite believing her, I looked through the pitiful device and sure enough it was a skunk, waddling as fast as a skunk can waddle, right towards us! We went in the house and brought in Holly (our Laborador).
The next day I took the scope to him. He had it about a week and asked me to send it back. The object of this story is that if you want a real night vision instrument, it’s going to cost more than most of us can afford. Cheap equipment guarantees inadequate performance. A person should expect an optical rifle scope to cost as much or more than a good rifle. I’ve seen too may cheap scopes fail when they’re needed. In my opinion, it’s advisable to use iron sights until you’re willing or able to pay for reliable equipment.
I ordered him a $375 Scope, set it up with its infrared light source, and took it outside after dark to test it before bringing it to him. I’ll never forget the moment when my wife tried it and shouted, “ A SKUNK!” Not quite believing her, I looked through the pitiful device and sure enough it was a skunk, waddling as fast as a skunk can waddle, right towards us! We went in the house and brought in Holly (our Laborador).
The next day I took the scope to him. He had it about a week and asked me to send it back. The object of this story is that if you want a real night vision instrument, it’s going to cost more than most of us can afford. Cheap equipment guarantees inadequate performance. A person should expect an optical rifle scope to cost as much or more than a good rifle. I’ve seen too may cheap scopes fail when they’re needed. In my opinion, it’s advisable to use iron sights until you’re willing or able to pay for reliable equipment.
Here's another option buy a 39.95 solar powered security light from wally. Can of spray paint from oreilleys that's used for painting taillights and paint them red.set your light up 15 or 20 feet from feeder about face high. Animals mostly can't see red so it won't spook them. Give it time for your smell to go away then setup 50-100 yards away downwind with a scope with heavy crosshairs ( I use illuminated crosshairs but my eyes are bad) I've shot lots of hogs with that setup and your looking at 50-60 bucks total if you have the scope. I use the hyper-tough lights from Wal-Mart that are 2000 lumen if I remember correctly. The ones with 3 adjustable lights on them. Don't use the so called street or yard light there crap for this. All of my feeders have these lights on them and if I'm deer hunting or something and don't have my night scopes I can still shoot hogs if one comes out after full dark.
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