Double Naught Spy
New member
I had the honor of taking JohnKSa hog hunting on Monday night. It was the 2nd time in several years that I have managed to get him to come hunt with me, the first time being a bust. I was bound and determined we would get him a hog on this trip.
We started off with a session at the range to get him familiar with the thermal weapon sight, dry and actual fire the rifle, verify zero, and shoot off of shooting sticks. When all was good, we grabbed some dinner and headed out to tour the properties that we would be hunting.
Soon after dark, I spied a hog and despite starting from a location up wind of the hog, we managed to work around to being in a position with a slight cross wind, using distance (initially) and a big tree (close to target) to keep our approach as clandestine as possible.
We came around from the backside of the tree and set up on our shooting sticks with the hog about 95 yards out. Then it became apparent that my instruction had been lacking and that we should have had a refresher after dark so that he could really get a sense for using a thermal scope in conditions where your normal eyesight is next to worthless. At the range in daylight, he could visually spot the target with his unaided eyes, point the rifle at the target area and quickly acquire the target. In the dark, he did not have that option of seeing the target before sighting on the target. This made it difficult for him to find the target.
Usually when I introduce folks to thermal scopes, we are already working in low light or dark conditions and these sorts of issues resolve themselves as the new person learns to use the gear. I had inadvertently shortcut his instruction as a result. Well, when you are standing out in the open with a hog out in front of you, that is not the time to be learning new things. So I did the best I could to talk him onto target, then to make sure that he had the target properly identified and that what he was seeing in his scope matched what I was seeing through my scope. Once verified, we were good to go and John got his first hog.
Here is the video...
https://youtu.be/Gr2QR7l4U58
We spent the rest of the night trying to find more hogs, but never saw any on the properties that I hunt. Even so, mission accomplished and JohnKSa is now a sus venator.
We started off with a session at the range to get him familiar with the thermal weapon sight, dry and actual fire the rifle, verify zero, and shoot off of shooting sticks. When all was good, we grabbed some dinner and headed out to tour the properties that we would be hunting.
Soon after dark, I spied a hog and despite starting from a location up wind of the hog, we managed to work around to being in a position with a slight cross wind, using distance (initially) and a big tree (close to target) to keep our approach as clandestine as possible.
We came around from the backside of the tree and set up on our shooting sticks with the hog about 95 yards out. Then it became apparent that my instruction had been lacking and that we should have had a refresher after dark so that he could really get a sense for using a thermal scope in conditions where your normal eyesight is next to worthless. At the range in daylight, he could visually spot the target with his unaided eyes, point the rifle at the target area and quickly acquire the target. In the dark, he did not have that option of seeing the target before sighting on the target. This made it difficult for him to find the target.
Usually when I introduce folks to thermal scopes, we are already working in low light or dark conditions and these sorts of issues resolve themselves as the new person learns to use the gear. I had inadvertently shortcut his instruction as a result. Well, when you are standing out in the open with a hog out in front of you, that is not the time to be learning new things. So I did the best I could to talk him onto target, then to make sure that he had the target properly identified and that what he was seeing in his scope matched what I was seeing through my scope. Once verified, we were good to go and John got his first hog.
Here is the video...
https://youtu.be/Gr2QR7l4U58
We spent the rest of the night trying to find more hogs, but never saw any on the properties that I hunt. Even so, mission accomplished and JohnKSa is now a sus venator.