African Predator

Here is a really interesting article on night vision and hunting with the moon, if you have a bad set of night vision it will help to use it on moon nights, you have more natural light and you see better ( so do predators so watch it).

Ok, firstly remember the area you hunt dictates how you must set up. If you hunt Karoo you have the small bushes all over the place, if you hunt Free State you have no cover generally and this dictates that we use other ideas. I hope this helps

Hessian for the Free State fields is best, or a cover with golden brown colours, NOT DARK. The Karoo allows us to use broken up colours, grey, brown and dull green (NOT BLACK). Also, don’t use shade cloth, it shines in the moon light and also squeaks in the wind.

*Make sure to use colours the same as your terrain and use a construction as small as possible (quad / ladder/ portable stoel).

*If at all possible place the truck, quad, ladder or whatever structure you use , try place it at an area facing the area you suspect the predator to approach from, then you don’t move much.

*Don’t have any car reflectors on your bakkie; it will light up in the moon night!

*Place 2-3 small tiny bottles of jackal gland lure about 80m from you downwind spread out 25m apart; this will help keep incoming predators noses confused and less on your area.

*Try concealing yourself totally and NOT using a big moving swivel chair. – SEE MORE DETAIL HERE LATER!

*Use a platform with a hole, a table top kind of thing that just your head sticks out of, and around you it is all covered.

*If you sit in a swivel chair in the open, wear colours that match the area, give as much attention to this as possible.

*Using the moon helps with NV, it gives you plenty natural light and you see so well, you do not need the extra infra red lens at all.

*But now you must be careful as predators see real good on a moon night, and you with NV makes you even, but now

remember to direct that attention away from you, that calling sound you make must not be anywhere near you.

*When using NV remember the animal is or seems most times further away than it really is, so if you use say 3-4 clothing pegs hang them on a bush here at their at say 70m then you know exactly the range if a predator comes through that area, also mark the caller with a reflector and you will spot it fast with the NV.

*Generally MOON hunting is very common sense stuff, but pay detail to the area and you will be more successful

A friend and I hunted the Karoo, it was full moon – it was so bright we could see quite well over the clear open sandy area at our one side. We pulled the truck between two bushes that were about a metre plus tall. We got nicely hidden and faced a direction I thought we would see something approach from. After calling for 15 minutes we saw with NV a set of eyes about 500m away, it was moving at quite a speed and covering ground fast. At 250m I could see him clearly; he came past us at about 150m and crossed my partner’s barrel about 100m from the caller, kiss kiss and bang. The jackal never knew we sat hidden and on full moon we klapped him, the wind was mild and we used two bottles of gland lure 30m in front of us.

On moon nights using a red light is basically useless, as you cant see the light it throws, or very little of it anyway, using NV with a moon works as long as you are hidden and the caller is nowhere near you

Using colours light and flat is important, no dark patches, and you must match that terrain. You will mostly stand in the open and must make sure that the area isn’t broken up by you with dark colours, grass golden brown camo is good or Hessian is better. Hessian sheeting will blend you in at night perfectly and you will not stand out at all.

The nice thing about NV is that on moon nights you don’t need extra infra red lenses etc, just the NV on its own, as with the moon you see so well, just remember to keep all movements to a minimum. Try to limit movements on a shooting chair.

Here is what I mean, instead of turning the chair and keeping the binocular directly in front of you, rather turn your shoulders slowly ONLY while looking with NV, then when you reach that point you can’t turn anymore then move that chair a little, and then move the shoulders again.

In other words, if you sit and look straight with NV, turn your body left and right, you will be able to at least turn 320 degrees in a circle (SEATED) so you only have to turn your actual swivel chair a tiny bit to cover all around you ( 360 degrees). BUT if you stand you can cover 360 degrees by turning your upper body only if you are in good shape. As your legs move or twist on the spot you stand.

As a trial, do this, stand and turn holding a binocular, just turn your top shoulder area not your bottom section and you will see you will be able to look around far in a circle, now sit and do the same, you will look far again around you but not that good as when you stood up.

Now at night do this but don’t move that chair so much, then you stop unnecessary swivel chair movements.

Also, take note a jackal can motor towards you at night, hy kry n moerse spoed en is vinnig, now on a moon night he sees even better, and now he will motor even faster! So be wake up! OR you will scan and see Mr Doggy sitting behind your bakkie looking at you!

GENERAL

I hunted one night with a guy who would light up an area with a red light every 3 minutes, no less! I told him to light up every 20 seconds maximum as jackal can motor in, BUT he never listened, so I never hunted ever again with him, that night many animals came in to us that we never even saw!

Get yourself a small swivel chair that can be carried easily into the field, place it in a sheep camp on the ground in an area that had stock loss, wear colours matching your area and sit and await nightfall, scan with NV and be ready, now you are ground level, and you wont be spotted easily, just find a good spot with good visual aspects.

FINALLY; YOU CAN USE THIS as I do, I create a wall of space, I call it a wall, it is in actual fact an area of space that I create that is between me and an incoming predator, I make sure nothing is within 80m of me all the time, and this is MY SPACE, I after I have scanned that area, I scan on the border of it 20m inside and then outside of it. I place a reflector 75m away from me, this is my marker, then I know that once I see eyes or his movement he is either at 75, or more from me. If he appears closer than 75m the first time I see him, I know I was far too casual and must jack up my act (this happens easily when you start to get tired and you make mistakes!

Every now and then I scan close to me, in case something slipped through, another thing you can do with a no moon night is every say 10 minutes just scan fast with a red light just once, just to make sure you never missed anything

If you are two guys scanning with NV chances are nothing at all will go un noticed, I hunt 90% of the time with a partner it is safer at night and I am scared of the dark

Here is a dog I called that knew NOTHING at all, he had no idea of our presence and we used night vision as per usual.

I know I have said this before BUT remember that when you start using NV you will learn very fast that because you now use no lights, the animals called respond faster, they come in faster sometimes too fast! And lastly they come really close to you.

HERE IS A TYPICAL IDEA OF WHAT I DO ON MY HUNTS; I use a gland lure we now make up, it is placed downwind 20m from me and I set out 3 bottles. They are 15m apart; I mark them all with a small reflector so I can find them easily after the hunt. The lure helps hide your smell, it works well!

The new gland lure we are making up is taken from the female jackal virginal areas, and together with other organs also taken from the female jackal, we mince it up with a preservative and use this now on our hunts to hide our smell and also lure in other jackals easier. The gland lure we are making is 100% genuine and made by hand.

This is a new product for 2010. If you want a bottle to do these applications give us a call. See our site for this new item for 2010.