Checked the camera today and hogs have been vacuuming corn 10 of the last 13 nights, so I will be back after them--but not for a couple of nights as I have a meeting tonight - - and forecast is for more rain tomorrow. But Weds, Thurs, Fri I am good to go.

Report to follow

Knock em dead! Same old story at my places, wife's nothing, friend's nothing, and my place just random. Sat at my friend's to discover that the battery had died! Old battery with no sunshine!

Had been in the seat for about 90 minutes when this guy came in. First thing I saw was a silhouette about 35 yds in front, between me and the feeder. By the time I got the thermal switched on and the rifle on the rest he was about 60 yds away walking left to right behind the feeder. I fumbled a bit but finally got the safety off, put the reticle on the sweet spot and bam! He took off in an arc away and piled up in 20 yds or so. Weight estimate - 120-140 lbs.

Any day that includes a downed hog is a good day. Nice shot. Ugly gun.

Yes, you are right. Either my Ruger 77 or my Win 70 Featherweight would be a great improvement but I tried the thermal on the M70 and it was too top-heavy and since I’m a lefty, reaching over and across the thermal to work the bolt was tough.

That's a fine way to end your drought, Dustoffer.

Things have been slow here, and hogs are a rarity. I did kill two big, stinky boars (late Dec-early Jan, I believe) that happened to be cruising through. I also killed four coyotes since early January -- all mature males as it is/was their mating season and they were on the move.

Good looking 'yote coats Bobby--this has been the longest stretch w/o hogs since I've been on this place--maybe 8 years. Also, my other place near Belmont is out of hogs too--

Glad to see you are still on them, Bobby, although that bolt gun is a little disturbing!

Bill- That bolt rifle is taking some getting used to ha ha. I bought a low-end thermal (ATN Thor 160 LT 4-8x) and intended to put it on a Contender, but the mounting area of the thermal is rather restrictive. I'd have to get a longer base, and my only option is finding a used one or having Match Grade Machine make one. They used to offer them, and I could kick myself for getting rid of the one I used to have.

Enter the Savage Axis 25-06. It belonged to my late father-in-law, and it sat here for a long while before I did anything with it. But I finally collected brass, dies, a picatinny rail and bullets and bought a Timney trigger for it. I wanted a mild load and wound up using the 115 grain Ballistic Tip at a sedate 2741 fps MV. It works great on hogs, but I'd like something a bit more frangible for 'yotes.

My father-in-law intended to rig out that rifle but passed away before he could do that. Some day, I might add a nice laminate stock to replace the factory composite version.

Dustoffer-

A lack of water for many months and lots of area hunting pressure has about wiped the hogs from around here, it seems. But we still have a surplus of coyotes. I killed 5 in September, 3 in January and one this month -- and I never even hunted for them. They still pay a $5 bounty here in Lavaca County. I turned in 13 sets of ears the earlier part of 2022 and now have 8 in the freezer. Would be 9 but one had mange. Got that one into the burn pit and lit up the carcass, so the $5 reward went up in smoke.

Nice kills Bobby. How do you like the ATN? The $900 =/- Amazon price makes it attractive.
Have had a chance to compare its performance with any other thermals?
BB

quote:

Originally posted by Docbill:
Nice kills Bobby. How do you like the ATN? The $900 =/- Amazon price makes it attractive.
Have had a chance to compare its performance with any other thermals?
BB

Thanks. While I've used the Leupold LT Tracker and Tracker II monoculars for years, this ATN is my first mounted thermal. I actually bought the SightMark Wraith 4K Mini (night vision) from Academy but immediately returned it. It was a disappointment and did not maintain zero at all.

After a few hours of mulling things over and reading though many, many reviews, I ordered the ATN. It proved to be a good decision for my usage.

The Thor LT 160 4-8x is a bit on the crude side when it comes to image quality but is very workable for my needs. One of the coyotes was 170 yards, and I had no problem identifying it and making a clean shot. The reticle choices suit me just fine, too. I really like the fact that model is simple and doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary features like Bluetooth, audio/video recording, etc. like most thermals have. I'd never use that stuff anyway.

ATN claims the internal battery should give you about 10 hours of run time. That seems pretty close to what I am getting right now. A few nights ago, I left it on for over 7 hours and still had what appeared to be about 20 percent left on the battery power indicator.

For someone who wants to see fine details and for hundreds of yards, this is not the unit for you. But for someone needing a utilitarian-grade thermal that won't break the bank, this is a great choice. So far, I am quite pleased with it.

Thanks Bobby. That is exactly what I was interested in hearing.