People who hunt with thermals

JimFromTN

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For the people that hunt with thermals, do you ever start out during daylight hours and stay passed dark? If so, what do you do? Do you swap out scopes when it gets dark, use a clip on, or do you use your thermal during daylight hours?
 
I carry two rifles. one with standard scope and one Thermal. My buddy carries just the thermal.
I use the standard so i can shoot longer distances during daylight. out to 500 yards. My thermals I limit to around 200 yards. The thermals can reach longer distance , but i am not confident that animal recognition capability at longer distances.
 
I have quick attach bases for my ar stuff.
Run a scope like normal then just swap them.
If you are wanting a bolt gun or quick attach is not an option. You can hunt with thermal just fine during the day if you can identify your target before hand with bios but if multi targets it can get hard making sure you have the correct one.
 
A quality thermal doesn't care if it is day or night. Shooter may have preferences.

Thermals don't care if it is day or night. That is 100% true. I have done a goodly amount of daylight thermal hunting over the years, but for hogs, that isn't my most productive time. However, I will often start an hour or so before dark and if hogs come out in daylight, it isn't a problem.

With that said, there is a period of time called thermal crossover when the heat of the ground and vegetation matches the heat of your targeted animal and the image may not be so perfect. This is mostly a warmer weather issue and usually happens in the evening just before sundown. Technically, it should or could happen twice a day, but I have only experienced it in the evenings. It is usually of short duration and generally will not be an issue for most hunters most of the time. Thermals with better thermal sensitivity will be less susceptible to this issue, but I have experienced it with thermals from several brands. The better the thermal sensitivity, the less of a problem this will be because the thermal crossover will be relegated to a more narrow range of heat that the thermal sensor will have trouble discerning.
 
I remember seeing a scope last year that could do regular picture or thermal. I don't remember the brand. I don't remember how long the charge lasted, maybe 2-4 hours? A friend of mine was looking at it for coyote control.
 
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I remember seeing a scope last year that could do regular picture or thermal. I don't remember the brand. I don't remember how long the charge lasted, maybe 2-4 hours? A friend of mine was looking at it for coyote control.
I have never heard of a thermal that does that. Are you sure you are not thinking of the day/night scopes which are digital night vision not thermal. I could be wrong. I would love to have a thermal version of that.
 
I remember seeing a scope last year that could do regular picture or thermal. I don't remember the brand. I don't remember how long the charge lasted, maybe 2-4 hours? A friend of mine was looking at it for coyote control.
That's one of the new Pulsars, it will do digital or thermal. It may have just been a handheld, not a scope. I don't remember
 
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