Thread: Hand held thermal now legal on public land

Wow. Common sense seems to be breaking out!

The arguments against thermals is a bit like when optical sights (scopes) first appeared. Some thought it made it too easy but I guess everyone has got over that now. Just because you are seeing more animals doesn't mean you have to shoot or even stalk them.
I use a hand held while hunting and a thermal scope while night time pest shooting. Great tools and like all else, you don't have to use them.
All DoC have done is clarify their legality on public land, which is great.

This is a coup to common sense rather than the constant flow in the other direction

No intention to use one, but a huge supporter of the intent of this decision

I'm surprised there was a rule against it to begin with since all you can do with a handheld device is look at the deer.

It does raise a question about day/night scopes. They would appear to have the capability to be used after dark without the use of additional lights (like a thermal scope) so can they be used on conservation land in daylight hours?

Common sense, crikey.

Originally Posted by Shearer

It does raise a question about day/night scopes. They would appear to have the capability to be used after dark without the use of additional lights (like a thermal scope) so can they be used on conservation land in daylight hours?

Its a bit like laser sighting devices, night vision gear picking up the sight beam. Not really attached to the rifle but not legal on public land so...

Have to say when I got a thermal for farmland pigs, I thought it was going to be a game changer and it was to some extent, but I didn't enjoy using it. Looking down a small tube at a shitty picture got old pretty quickly.

Originally Posted by Shearer

The arguments against thermals is a bit like when optical sights (scopes) first appeared. Some thought it made it too easy but I guess everyone has got over that now. Just because you are seeing more animals doesn't mean you have to shoot or even stalk them.
I use a hand held while hunting and a thermal scope while night time pest shooting. Great tools and like all else, you don't have to use them.
All DoC have done is clarify their legality on public land, which is great.

Each time a new technology comes along, we should be asking that question. Its OK to have that disquiet. When I was doing guided meat hunts, many of my customers were beginners who were using my services as a learning step. More than once the opinion was expressed that they needed one to be able to compete, and try going into some of the sika country without one while another crew is there using them.

This has me wondering about the Pulsar Digisite Ultra on my .308. It's not a thermal....it's a night vision unit, is that also prohibited at night on public or DOC land??.

Shooting at night on public land is prohibited in any form.

Originally Posted by Waitati Hunter

I'm surprised there was a rule against it to begin with since all you can do with a handheld device is look at the deer.

You have completely missed the point of why they were banned.
I was simply a public safety issue

Day or night you would pick up a hot spot and maybe assume it was your target species.
Clearly at night you were not allowed to shoot no mater what systems you were using.

But during the day it would be very easy to assume it was your target species. Move in to a shooting position and use a conventional scope or sights to find and shoot the target.
Which might not have been your intended target species.
Humans have a wonderful ability to see what they want to see even when it is something entirely different !

I think over time as this technology has become better understood and more widely used in pest control and culling programs that the policy makers at DoC have moved to this more enlightened position.
They would have been getting feedback from their own people in the field that thermals actually make it safer and easier to positively identify the target and non target species.
All this dependent on the skills and experience of the operator, the quality of the thermal and the conditions it its being used in.

I have used a high end hand held thermal for around 10 years now for work and play.
And believe me all units and all operators are not equal.
I can see just a tiny pixel at 2km that others people and units can't.
I have had stints of using it every night for three months week on and week off.
So I have clocked up huge hours doing conservation work using the thermal to find and identify the target species and then put myself into position to intercept them and shoot with conventional sights.

Originally Posted by Twodiffs

This has me wondering about the Pulsar Digisite Ultra on my .308. It's not a thermal....it's a night vision unit, is that also prohibited at night on public or DOC land??.

The permit specifically prohibits hunting during the hours of darkness

Originally Posted by Twodiffs

This has me wondering about the Pulsar Digisite Ultra on my .308. It's not a thermal....it's a night vision unit, is that also prohibited at night on public or DOC land??.

FFS, read condition 4 on your DOC Permit.

Please remember we are not the only legitimate recreational users of the Conservation Estate

There are Trampers, Runners, Mountain Bikers, 4x4 users, climbers, kayakers and rafters.
The list goes on.
That is why we need to identify beyond all doubt what we are shooting it.

These other user groups behave vastly differently to hunters in the conservation estate and therefore pop up in different places doing different things.
A newby hunter or the vastly experienced hunter can all make fatal mistakes in identification.
Using a thermal is just a new way of making old mistakes