Night Vision And Lens Trials;

Here are a few things I thought to mention regarding the NV set up. A few things that may help you achieve best results.

To start lets just say it is OBVIOUS that to achieve better NV we must hunt on moon nights, the more moon the more we see. BUT this is about hunting with NO MOON.

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When I started experimenting with NV it occurred to me I need to try a lot of different styles, so, first I made this below. I made this from a tablet plastic bottle top and put in 4 red lenses above a SURE-FIRE torch G2.

However, this is NOT necessary; the slightly larger lens diameter compared to the Sure-fire 30mm is not worth the effort in making this lens holder, the red lens you build in a Sure-fire will work equally as well.

Below is the finished lens in its tablet bottle holder,  although it looks DAMN GOOD, it’s not worth the trouble at all, rather just fit a small 30mm lens into the Sure-fire on top. I put in 3 red lenses. And the beam it throws will help you get distance on NO MOON; I will claim that I can see a jackal approaching at over 200m with this set up. But here we are using a RED lens not IR. ( not Infrared). Using the red will not only give your NV longer range but will help you light up incoming eyes fast!

REMEMBER ON MOON NIGHTS WE DON’T NEED EXTRA IR LENSES, THE MOON DOES THAT JOB! -  I love hunting on a quarter moon for jackal with NV, you see nicely!



The finished lens; -- Rather just fit a small lens (3) into the Sure-fire, it is just as good.

This is what I will suggest if you are hunting SEVERE EDUCATED JACKAL – slim jakkalse or let us call them Kakalse, don’t use ANY red lights, just fit an infra red lens, use a developed film that’s black with no photo on it, this is top class infra red. This is a secret not often divulged by night hunters, you don’t hear many of them or see many of them giving trade secrets away, but this is a money saver, this will cost you ZERO to make up. Imported infra red will cost $90 plus.

Fit 2 lenses to the Sure-fire light, and it will just throw a very soft dull light at the end, it will TO THE HUMAN EYE only throw a light about 2 inches, BUT look with it on your Sure-fire with the Night Vision and it lights up FAR! My Meteor and this IR lens, gives me over 250m of vision at night to see an incoming predator, easily

Jackal very educated and wary of red lights – USE the IR system.

Jackal normal hunting – Use the tiny red light on the NV binoculars.

This is a picture of two of my Sure-Fire lights; one is a G2 with 2 batteries and the other a 9P that takes 3 batteries, I use 2 infra red lenses on these models, and if hunting normal jackal not educated I fit the light with 3 red lenses above the NV Meteor binoculars.

Hunting like this is AMAZING, what you can see at night is superb, and a jackal that’s slim, man he has no idea you are even around.

When I went out testing these various styles my wife said as she looked through the NV the first time with the photographic infra red, she said “ man that’s amazing, I can see the sheep clearly at that gate” the gate was 140m from us. That’s pretty much top class quality, no ways will you need to see longer range at night anyway

PERSONAL COMMENT

As far as I am concerned, for jackal calling, this is what you DO NEED. You need to spot eyes running towards you from at least 200m, follow them in, and at 120m and closer be able to easily identify the animal and what’s going on, with this set up, my Meteor provides me with that easily. For normal jackal hunting I use a built in tiny 3 red filter set up, for educated jackals, I use NO red filter, just an infrared filter, these both enable me to see at the above ranges and more, and if a moon night, I just use the Meteor on its own, without any extra enhancer at all.

Here below are a few pics showing the different lenses I tried, I settled with the top picture with built in red lens for normal jackal hunting, the educated jackals I used NO red, just the infra red.


 

This is with built in red lens – 3 lenses – (if I fit one or two it’s far toooooooo bright.)

This is with an experimental bigger red lens, it was decided against, as it gives the exact same field of view as the smaller built in one, and the built in one looks better also……

Generally, I say the two words below in blue – after you have hunted like this, you will wonder how you ever hunted at night before with other bigger systems, being able to call at night using no lights is amazing, and when you pick up those eyes coming in, you know he has no idea you are even around.

TRY IT!

Remember the batteries that a NV takes and also Sure- fires are expensive, so I use a re charger for the Sure-fire lights, this way it lasts much longer and is also a lot cheaper !!!

For the guys who don’t believe the above, read this taken from a professional forum on photography. I include a link to read more.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=162221  It is the 6^th post down on the page- read it all.

This is my set up with the Infrared lens and a funnel fitted, the funnel just allows the infrared to be thrown forward more other than lighting up the sides, the funnel just helps contain the light thrown. However this is a personal thing, if its off then you see a bigger picture through your binoculars.

Little things like this you learn as you start using these technics, I am VERY HAPPY with this set up, and it is far better than 2nd generation stuff, if I can see a jackal clearly at 160m I am happy.

I cant express this enough, if you have hunted jackal for years, and now you see these articles on night vision, and you buy a set up like this, all I can say is after the first time you switch it on, and you see what you can see in total darkness, you will be amazed and you too will say “ Man what have I been missing all these years, why did I waste my time using red lights, this is far better” and for educated jackals, well they wont know you are even around.

A trick I like is, set up at a place jackal or lynx have killed an animal, sit 100m away from it, and sit ground level with a clear view, wait for them to come back and kill them dead – just observe with the night vision. Just watch the wind for jackal.

Man I love my night vision, it was expensive at first, but after a few dead jackals, the unit has paid for itself, to use quality stuff is great, the Meteor is credited as the BEST night vision binocular in its class, and now that I have customised this unit with a stronger illuminator etc, it is now far better than 2nd generation.

Building an enhancer provides you with far better performance from a night vision binoculars. As I said before, if you use the moon to assist you with natural light at night you will see very well from a quarter moon till full moon, excellent in fact, but when we hunt with no moon we need to find ways to help us get light from other sources, and using this kind of system above will help wonders.

Just a word of advice, remember if you are hunting in an area that you tell other hunters you are around, as they wont see you sitting in a field and it could cause an accident especially if they decide to discharge rifles in your direction.

Also remember using night vision with infra red light enhancers is not able to be seen by other people,  the beam it throws unlike a red light, an infra red light is invisible to a human, BUT can be seen if somebody else is also using a night vision binocular, monocular or night vision scope near you.

MY CHARGER FOR THE BATTERY

Here is a photo of the charger I use, it is a two battery charger. So, I save a little money by not having to buy 123’s as they get expensive at R50-00 a throw. They make a 2 cell battery charger, not a 3, as the Surefires with 2 batterys are far more poular than the 3 cell ones.

If you want a recharger or more info on Surefire lights, drop Doug a mail and visit his website at www.surefiresa.co.za e mail Dougie le Roux

  dougie@surefiresa.co.za

He can advise you on what you need, but I use a G2 with a bulb NOT a LED, and a 9P, these two models are excellent for night hunting. Speak to Doug, he is a really nice guy, friendly and has fast service, and that is something in SA. Extra rechargable batterys ( 2 of them for a G2 will cost R50). A recharger will set you back R275-00 including overnight courier. The G2 will cost about R570-00.

Here are 5 other links to my site that cover night hunts with Surefire lights; I love to discuss night hunting with night vision, as I said before after you try this you will wonder how the heck you ever hunted without it before. Regarding a charge, after I have charged the battery to its limit, it gives me a reading of 4,97. When the charge is low it burns RED, and at full charge the recharger will show GREEN.

http://www.africanpredator.com/artjackelsec.html

http://www.africanpredator.com/windmill_calling.html

http://www.africanpredator.com/artnightvision.html

http://www.africanpredator.com/art_infra_red_lense.html

http://www.africanpredator.com/art_night_vision.html

*********TO THE GUYS HUNTING PIGS AT NIGHT – MAN, ALL I CAN SUGGEST IS TO GET YOURSELF A SET OF NIGHT VISION !!!!!

YOU WILL WONDER HOW YOU EVER HUNTED WITHOUT IT BEFORE!!!!

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Night Vision Binoculars – Mike Daykin

Daytronik Solutions

PO Box 11346, Queenswood 0121, South Africa

Tel:  012 333 6616      Int: +27 12 333 6616

Fax: 086 679 6616      Int: +27 12 333 6945

Mike Daykin

Email: sales@daytronik.co.za

Web: http://www.daytronik.co.za

Surefire Lights – Dougie Le Roux

BLOEMFONTEIN

0514464496

0832640209

www.surefire.co.za

dougie@surefiresa.co.za