Thermalling When Hunting

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Australia AU
So..........
I was again on a weekend hunt with a mate who does a bit more alpine 'hunting' than me, as he lives closer to it than i... regardless of that, He uses a Thermal eye piece to Scan the landscape......................... for deer.

then uses Binoculars and spotting scope to pin point and "look at its antlers" to warrant a further inspection or to close the gap-


This is not uncommon for the High country now days........... more and more driving around Slowly "spotlight" in broad day light.........

Whats your Views on this?!?


ive got my own opinions and views on it, but I want to know , Is this taking over in Canada too? guys getting lazy, not in it for the hunt just the antlers, bla bla bla


can discuss the lines in the sand in here too..... Where your line in the Sand?

Thanks CGN
 
They just proposed banning thermals in BC for hunting.

I can see how they would be beneficial for finding wounded game and predator hunting and for sure Livestock protection. The ones I've tried were around 4K and weren't beneficial to me for every-day hunting.


There is also the whole "fair chase" can of worms. Some provinces allow baiting, some don't, but as long as it's legal in the province where the hunt is, it's "fair chase"......
 
i had a seek reveal for other purposes but took it into the bush in northern ontario when I was out hiking in the snow wondering if I would more easily be able to pickup snowshoe hares. I lit up on every rock or laydown log due to the ground heat coming out under the snow cover. It was absolutely useless from that perspective. Even the porcupine i spotted with my eyes, hardly was identifiable with the seek. I realize there are much more expensive options out there, but if a cheaper one wouldn't work 10' away, I find it hard to believe an expensive one would be that beneficial over a ridgeline.

Perhaps $5k units, but certainly not the cheaper ones I've played with. A fun toy, but not an effective toy
 
WhelanLad said:
can discuss the lines in the sand in here too..... Where your line in the Sand?

Thanks CGN
Click to expand...

Well, $2000 Swaro's are technology too, as are rangefinders. I wouldn't use thermal myself, but on the other hand it's not getting you any closer to the game or making the stalk any easier. Maybe we should ban optics and go back to open sights and MK I eyeballs.
 
FishHog said:
i had a seek reveal for other purposes but took it into the bush in northern ontario when I was out hiking in the snow wondering if I would more easily be able to pickup snowshoe hares. I lit up on every rock or laydown log due to the ground heat coming out under the snow cover. It was absolutely useless from that perspective. Even the porcupine i spotted with my eyes, hardly was identifiable with the seek. I realize there are much more expensive options out there, but if a cheaper one wouldn't work 10' away, I find it hard to believe an expensive one would be that beneficial over a ridgeline.

Perhaps $5k units, but certainly not the cheaper ones I've played with. A fun toy, but not an effective toy
Click to expand...
I winder If somethings wrong with your unit, the phone attachment seems to work pretty good for me. Can easily I’d small animals like squirrels rabbits and birds with mine out quite aways. 50 yards out and you’d see a rabbit for sure. Even a friends CAT phone thermal imager works good in the winter.

[youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QBTutUXY1w0[/youtube]
 
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FishHog said:
i had a seek reveal for other purposes but took it into the bush in northern ontario when I was out hiking in the snow wondering if I would more easily be able to pickup snowshoe hares. I lit up on every rock or laydown log due to the ground heat coming out under the snow cover. It was absolutely useless from that perspective. Even the porcupine i spotted with my eyes, hardly was identifiable with the seek. I realize there are much more expensive options out there, but if a cheaper one wouldn't work 10' away, I find it hard to believe an expensive one would be that beneficial over a ridgeline.

Perhaps $5k units, but certainly not the cheaper ones I've played with. A fun toy, but not an effective toy
Click to expand...

ideally cooler morning periods when game are active or later afternoon works best, even down under alpine rocks can stay hot for long periods, but in the mornings, could see game for up to 1.5k away ,,
we did a stalk on a deer, i had just camera, but it was as if the hunt was out of it, was more just a stalk, thick bush allowed the deer to slip away per say but still.... scan n seek
 
well damn, I might have to try again with another unit. not that mine didn't pick up animals, it just picked up everything else that was slightly warmer and there were so many targets it was impossible to distinguish. It was very cold -30's if I remember so perhaps a more moderate day would have worked better.
 
A friend had one, an expensive one, when we hunted in NZ. It was ridiculous how you could pick up game with it. I’m a hard no on using one for hunting. I mean, it was really cool and fun, but in the situations I hunt, especially for mountain critters, it takes all the work out of it.
 
savage 110L said:
A friend had one, an expensive one, when we hunted in NZ. It was ridiculous how you could pick up game with it. I’m a hard no on using one for hunting. I mean, it was really cool and fun, but in the situations I hunt, especially for mountain critters, it takes all the work out of it.
Click to expand...

Amen to all the above!
 
Drillbit said:
They just proposed banning thermals in BC for hunting.

I can see how they would be beneficial for finding wounded game and predator hunting and for sure Livestock protection. The ones I've tried were around 4K and weren't beneficial to me for every-day hunting.


There is also the whole "fair chase" can of worms. Some provinces allow baiting, some don't, but as long as it's legal in the province where the hunt is, it's "fair chase"......
Click to expand...

Did they? I know they proposed banning scopes like the Tracking Point system where the optic takes the majority of the skill out of the equation, but I don't recall anything about thermal alone? Maybe I just missed it? There was a LOT of recommendations on that list...
 
I wouldn't mind the idea of using one to spot game from a distance, but it does seem a little unsporting to slap a thermal scope on your rifle. Of course, I'm thinking more deer/elk/moose, not raccoons, coyotes, wolves, and hogs. I know the deer and moose populations take a hard enough sh!t kicking back home as it is without throwing high tech thermals in the mix.
 
This thread reminds me very much of the discussions that took place when optics first appeared for hunting.
If you find it effective for you, and it's legal, go for it.
Me, I'll stick with my old fashioned ways until hell freezes over, or they put me in a box.
 
“If you improve the pump, you’ve gotta improve the well... or start restricting access to the well.” - Steve Rinella


Game tag numbers are set using a certain known historical efficacy. If a new technology brings about a drastic increase in efficacy, then either steps need to be taken to increase game numbers, or the tag allotment will need to be reduced to compensate.


I’m not saying Thermal fits this bill necessarily (way outside my budget, so I have no opinion on its efficacy), but any time a new technology comes to the field, we need to consider how it’ll affect the well.
 
FishHog said:
i had a seek reveal for other purposes but took it into the bush in northern ontario when I was out hiking in the snow wondering if I would more easily be able to pickup snowshoe hares. I lit up on every rock or laydown log due to the ground heat coming out under the snow cover. It was absolutely useless from that perspective. Even the porcupine i spotted with my eyes, hardly was identifiable with the seek. I realize there are much more expensive options out there, but if a cheaper one wouldn't work 10' away, I find it hard to believe an expensive one would be that beneficial over a ridgeline.

Perhaps $5k units, but certainly not the cheaper ones I've played with. A fun toy, but not an effective toy
Click to expand...

Even a FLIR Breach, which is $3-4000 in Canada, will do a very good job at spotting large animals up to a 2-400 yards away. I have one and can easily spot (not identify) cattle and large mammals at that range. If you get other FLIR thermal like the Scout, with higher resolution, or a Scion, with magnification, that increases your detection range by 2x or more, for the same price. Thermal are incredibly good at detecting game.

I am very much on the PRO-thermal bandwagon. They work awesome for finding a dead animal, and yes, they make it much easier to find the skunks and raccoons that need eradicating on my farm. I've yet to need to use one on a big game hunt, however I often have it with me. I've just been fortunate enough to have the deer I want walk right in front of my little ground blind since I've owned it.

That being said, I'm also PRO-night vision hunting. If I've got good night vision, I think I should be able to hunt at night. I suspect most on here would disagree, but oh well.
 
One thing I have learned over time is that we all have different moral compasses.... Everybody's situation and experience is different ... People look down on guys like me that bait bears, yet have no problem blasting a heron because it might eat their invasive koi fish (lol).....

I wouldn't feel right "thermalling" for big game, but would love to use it to hunt coyotes at night..... But I also wouldn't judge someone for using a legal method to harvest game....

Hunting can be hard..... Hunting can be easy.... I can recall shooting a whitetail doe that I had to drag up a 100 foot hill through prickly Ash after a long spot and stalk, and I can recall shooting a nice ten point buck that walked right in front of me broadside twenty seconds after I got off my four wheeler..... Was it immoral of me to shoot that buck because it was "too easy"?..... Any more immoral than the guy that spends the whole day hiking with a thermal and uses it to take a nice animal?....
 
I would love to hunt pigs with a thermal! Those hunts look so fun. If they were legal and guys were carrying them for hunting, i personally would not care. But I would stick to doing things The same way. I hunt birds mostly anyways.

I am interested in one, but only to find skunks at my bee hives and foxes at the chicken coops. Atleast for now......
 
Hmm, I thought this thread was going to be about using air thermals to your advantage when hunting. :)

This kind of thing always makes me wonder if it actually matters. Are hunters running out in droves and buying $5000 thermal units, causing game populations to become decimated? Probably not. So maybe it's much ado about nothing, but I'm sure someone will be frothing at the mouth to make a new regulation about them. :)
 
Superbrad said:
One thing I have learned over time is that we all have different moral compasses.... Everybody's situation and experience is different ... People look down on guys like me that bait bears, yet have no problem blasting a heron because it might eat their invasive koi fish (lol).....

I wouldn't feel right "thermalling" for big game, but would love to use it to hunt coyotes at night..... But I also wouldn't judge someone for using a legal method to harvest game....

Hunting can be hard..... Hunting can be easy.... I can recall shooting a whitetail doe that I had to drag up a 100 foot hill through prickly Ash after a long spot and stalk, and I can recall shooting a nice ten point buck that walked right in front of me broadside twenty seconds after I got off my four wheeler..... Was it immoral of me to shoot that buck because it was "too easy"?..... Any more immoral than the guy that spends the whole day hiking with a thermal and uses it to take a nice animal?....
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a time...

We had a guy in our moose camp that was shy of 5 feet tall. We used to joke with him about how he’d ever get a moose out of the bush if got one. Well, he took a shot at a moose not far off a logging road, and that thing ran towards the road and chose to die on top of a little 4 foot hill, feet facing away from the road. A quick slice, and the guys rolled right down the hill into the ditch. Then he backed his pickup up to the little hill, gave it a shove, and it slid right down and onto the tailgate. The bugger lol.

Then I shot mine the next year, and it took the whole gang (including him, god bless him) the entire day and evening to get it out and back to camp. Karma ;-)
 
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