I hunt in deer in South Carolina where it is legal to shoot 1 hour before sunrise and 1 hour after sunset. I also try to get to Zimbabwe every year. I have been considering purchasing one of the new FLIR Scout II 240 thermal imaging devices to really see what is out there in the dark. However, I can find very little in the way of objective customer reviews of this device. If anyone out there has one and would like to share their experience with it,I would be very grateful. I am not about to plunk down $2K for one of these unless real hunters tell me they work!

Dave, some of the guys who hunt pigs at night in Texas could probably help. There's a Boar and Warthog thread....might want to post it there as well.

Thanks John

To what extent should recreational hunters who consider themselves sportsmen/women want things like this?

Obviously, game animals have evolved further in behaviour since we stopped throwing rocks at them, but sooner or later we need to draw a line in the sand as to what defines fair chase in our 'weapons' technology.

I suggest the one clear place is electrics, which would preclude even illuminated scopes - to draw the line further out becomes a can of worms, and there are many worms in the can.

Is it OK to tell your buddies a deer is coming their way on the radio you carry for safety?
Should you have a trail cam that rings your phone when a stag comes to the wallow?
Should a poor shot use the rifle that fires when the reticle crosses the kill spot?

I have no problem with carrying a PLB or GPS, though the latter is a decadence Aldo Leopold would wonder about. I don't have a problem with farmers et al using smart scopes and lights for pest control, either, but when hunting is 'sport' (and hunting is the original meaning of the word), we need to have standards.

Subsailor,

Ultimate Night Vision (ultimatenightvision.com) is a small company in Texas that rents this equipment. Tyler Adair (who owns the company and usually answers the phone) also knows a lot about the various models.

Some friends I hog hunt in Texas with have rented standard night vision from him last 3 years. Last year, one rented a FLIR unit.

After the day cooled off, he could make out hogs awfully well. Not a lot of detail for seeing trees and other obstacles. But he didn't have long to set up contrast settings, etc, before we went out. But hogs and other animals really stood out. The units using the new 12 micron cores have significantly better resolution, but they cost 3x what the FLIR's seem to be on sale for in the last month.

Hope this helps,
Steve

I would check with US Customs before I took it to Zim. I took a pair of Generation II night vision optics to Zim once and had a blast. I later discovered you were importing "tools of war" into Zim and could be in real hot water. I doubt US Customs would permit there leaving the US if asked.
The booking agent I used investigated and was so concerned he posted a caution to prospective clients. This was about 10 years ago but I doubt things have become more tolerant.
The thought of a Zim jail convinced me not to do it again.

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
I would check with US Customs before I took it to Zim. I took a pair of Generation II night vision optics to Zim once and had a blast. I later discovered you were importing "tools of war" into Zim and could be in real hot water. I doubt US Customs would permit there leaving the US if asked.
The booking agent I used investigated and was so concerned he posted a caution to prospective clients. This was about 10 years ago but I doubt things have become more tolerant.
The thought of a Zim jail convinced me not to do it again.

Wow - thanks for the heads up! I ended up purchasing the SCOUT II 320. It is pretty amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by subsailor74:

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
I would check with US Customs before I took it to Zim. I took a pair of Generation II night vision optics to Zim once and had a blast. I later discovered you were importing "tools of war" into Zim and could be in real hot water. I doubt US Customs would permit there leaving the US if asked.
The booking agent I used investigated and was so concerned he posted a caution to prospective clients. This was about 10 years ago but I doubt things have become more tolerant.
The thought of a Zim jail convinced me not to do it again.

Wow - thanks for the heads up! I ended up purchasing the SCOUT II 320. It is pretty amazing.

How would you compare the Thermals to say a Gen 3 Goggle?