does anyone have a personal recommendation (good one) on what to use for a night scope when it comes to hunting porkers?!

I came across one on Amazon. As we all know, you get what you pay for. wasn't sure that this was worth it or not...?

see link here: FireField green light

I have a Pulsar XQ50--only hunted with it twice but it picks up animals way out there.

Check out Outdoor Legacy

https://outdoorlegacygear.com/

-- that's where I got mine and their customer service is top notch. Jason will talk to you and give you solid advice. Knows his stuff.

thank you for the information!!

I tried night scopes, but I prefer hunting in daylight. Most of my hog hunting is with a pack of dogs in southern OK or from a speeding pickup on some Texas ranch.
Hunting over feeders just bores me to death!

I don’t do a lot of night hunting for hogs, but wanted to have a more flexible option than just feeder lights. Ended up getting a photon XT 4x day/night scope.

I have killed several hogs with it and it works well for me out to 200yds. It has an onboard IR illuminator and an additional illuminator that I can attach to it. So far I’m happy with it.

The XT model was discontinued in favor of the RT model that has more bells and whistles. You can still find the XT models if you look around..I got mine for a bit over 300.00 including the extra illuminator.

For the amount of night hunting I do, I can’t bring myself to pay the price of a thermal unit.

Crshelton--I hunt over feeders a bit but I also do spot 'n stalk, which is more fun.

And--z--the thermal works just as well in the daylight.

Dustoffer, the photon xt works fine in the daylight as well! I’d love to have a thermal but I can’t justify spending that kind of money to hunt hogs when the photon works for my situation.

Z

Hoping Bobby Tomek sees this.

I also like/recommend the Photon XT. It's a digital night vision unit. About the same as an optical 2nd gen unit. 100 yds at night with a good illuminator. Also, available in 6x power. Actually can shoot repeatable groups with it. $400'ish. I have have it shut itself off (trip the on/off button due to inertia) under recoil with a very light .308. AR15 it's never a problem.

I like the Pulsar Thermal unit, too. Can see way farther. Animals show up in high relief to background. Holds zero and prints good groups (though it's harder to make out print on a target unless you use a thermal target like a handwarmer). Day or night. Way more expensive, though. Weekend rental price is about the same as cost of the other unit.

skl1, I’ve never had my xt shut itself off after shooting. Mine is mounted on a Howa 1500 in 308, running 150 Sierra game kings at close to max.

Z

Zee,

Mine did shut off, but only when I had a large external IR flashlight attached to my (very light) Ruger American predator. As long as I just used the integral IR flashlight, it stayed on.