Thread: Thermal Optics under scrutiny?

Originally Posted by Grantn

Yeah I'm happy with that answer but do I full trust people to understand the difference in heat signatures and make the right call. Kind of but not 100% that's for sure

At 5-600yards a red,fallow,sheep or pig are different. Similar to white goat vs sheep.shape comes into it.

Right I'm convinced. So anyone got a handheld for sale? ��

I keep 99% of my shooting under 300yds,more like 250yds.Very easy to ID animals out on open river beds and bush edges.

In the early days of thermals we chased a lot of "deer at 1km" only to discover it was coons and hares at 200-300m in lumpy tussock country. In those days it was find with the thermal hand held and shoot with the spottie.

Technology has moved mighty quickly, judging from what I saw at the Rotorua Fishing hunting and 4x4 expo last month

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

At 5-600yards a red,fallow,sheep or pig are different. Similar to white goat vs sheep.shape comes into it.

Deer

275 yards (ish).



400 yards (ish)

Fallow buck 400yds.Pretty easy to ID deer at 300yds or less in the open.

I will group myself in with the other "luddites" who question the change to allow thermals on public land, particularly in those blocks that hold our trophy herds. Some seem to be making comparisons between thermal technology and advancements in modern firearms technology/ telescopic sights. Perhaps implying that thermals are just the next logical advancement in "hunting" technology. These comparisons are off the mark. For certain we have more efficient rifles and scopes than ever before. However, these technologies only improve the chances of humanely dispatching an animal once it is located with the hunters own wits and senses (I'm not a fan of using dogs for deer either). Thermal technology on the other hand strips deer of some of nature's most effective concealment and evasion tactics. Some of the very things that make deer such a premier game animal in the first place.

Binoculars and spotting scopes would have to go too if following that line of thinking.

Mickey he's saying that as good as standard binoculars and scopes are, they dont allow you to use an invisible, to us, spectrum of light. They still allow the animals to use their natural defences of darkness and concealment behind cover.

End of the day this thread is just a heap of opinions from my quick scan. Thermals are here to stay and they aren’t going anywhere, regardless of how you feel about them. Do what makes you happy and enjoy.

An interesting article from a 2017 NZ Outdoor magazine

Based on that article i can't wait for sierra to release gps trackable bullets

Thought of a VERY valid point about positive ID that hasn't been mentioned and is very much a real thing,I hunt with two fellas who have it. There is a proportion of the population who are to varying degrees red -green colourblind. Brown is in there too. Can't see bright red razzle dazzle paint sprayed on green grass,a Reddy brown deer,rabbit,that against a green background is infuriatingly frustrating to point out to these fine folks. The rest of us can see it plain as day.. just like the smear of green shit on meat.The simply cannot see it.no contrast between the different colours. Now a thermal handheld won't help with the Pooh's on the yummy bits,but it sure as God made little green apples will make finding bit of real-estate something live is in easier to locate. On same vein a camoclad hunter standing on bush/scrub edge with similar shade of vegetation behind and around then disappears for all of us. Not so if using thermal.the contrast of colour or shade aren't there but temperature is. So if Billbob is doing a sneak up on deer to poke a Broadhead through its ribs and is thirty yards away,meanwhile Danny is four hundy away about to set up his latest longer range venison slayer on same animal,if he happened to look through thermal,the two legged glowing blob of sweaty excited taxidermist should stick out like doggies danglies. Instead of a potential fatality or very pissed of in close hunter,Danny goes,fook that was close...and scans somewhere else for venison....billbob might look cuddly but I'm sure he wouldn't go well in a casserole and the mum in law definately would frown if put on BBQ.

Im colourblind. Ill outspot most people. And I test it regularly. There is a reason colourblind people were/are used to spot camouflaged objects in war. We are better at looking past the colours and identifying the shape and texture difference of objects. But I do struggle with small red berries and blood drops.