Night Vision & Thermal Pig Hunts

[JamesJ]

In my spare time, which of course is so abundant, I own and operate another company that runs night vision/thermal Pig hunts and helicopter hunts near Houston Texas.

In another thread we were talking about night vision and thermal equipment and I thought, I would offer it here to see if anyone is interested.

This year has been a great year for Pigs and we have had some big nights. Our biggest night this year was 60 Pigs in 8 hours. Most nights we shoot at 10-20 Pigs. But I don't have a limit and you can shoot till you are tired or we run out of ammo.

The hunts start at dark and I provide, night vision and thermal gear, guns scopes, ammo, transportation and 120,000 acres of hunting ground. you can shoot all the Pigs and varmints you want.

As its a night hunt I don't provide lodging, but there is a motel close by our hunting area. Out of state hunting license is $48 for Pigs and varmints. The hunts are $600 per person. We run a max group of 4 guys at a time. its a fun hunt and definitely something different.

And you get to hang out with me. That's a bonus, Right?

 

[Wheels]

And you get to hang out with me. That's a bonus, Right?
]

I have no clue what the US military uses for nightvision but James' stuff can't be far behind. It's almost like daylight.

. Most nights we shoot at 10-20 pigs. But I don't have a limit and you can shoot till you are tired or we run out of ammo.
]

Realize James buys ammo by the pallet!

 

[JamesJ]

And I just traded in the old gear and upgraded!!!!!!!

I have spent money wisely on wine, women and song, but I have really wasted money on night vision, LOLOLOLOL

 

[slad68]

This could be an extremely interesting hunt. With the night vision on the market today, one has plenty of options.

James what type of NV did you get.
I found the NiteSite Wolf to be the best I could find in SA. Daylight up to 300yards.

Wish I could join on this one.

 

[JamesJ]

We were running AN/PVS 9 binos, PVS-7 gen 3 goggles, D760 gen 3 NV scopes and the Tuskir 384 thermal.
I went to the PVS14 Gen 3+ and moved from a dedicated night vision scope to a Gen 3+ clip one scope and the Zeus 5 thermal. the other set up was working fine, but i never liked the d760 or the pvs-7's.

The PVS-14 are good enough to drive on the highway with at 80MPH. the Zeus is good to spot animals at close to 800 yds

 

[BWH]

Send me details.... how far from Houston, schedule, etc.... May have interest/group. Thx!

 

[gizmo]

James check in to ATN products. We did a hunting show down at my place where Chip Fong of ATN was one of the guests. They have the best night vision and thermal I have ever seen. The Thor unit is amazing. We were watching pigs come in to the fields from literally about 3/4 of a mile down the ridge. Spectacular stuff though a bit pricey but worth every penny. I have every intention to buy a few. If you want more info on me, I don't sell the stuff or anything but I can get you hooked up with the guy who does.

 

[JamesJ]

@BWH The area we hunt is out east of Houston about 45 minutes. Schedule is pretty open for the fall and winter. We start the hunts at dusk and hunt all night. no limit on pigs and varmints. I like to keep the group to a max of 4 and really prefer 3. We run the hunts from my high rack truck and ride the ranches in the area. the rice is just right for the pigs and its usually a pretty good shoot. There is a hotel right in the middle of out hunting area and its not fancy but its not expensive and its convenient. I live in Katy so I just drive back and forth. all your gear, ammo, drinks and pigs are included.

@gizmo I've done a bunch of stuff with ATN over the years and some of its good and some is so-so. The biggest problem I've seen with their stuff is the way their batteries are mounted the connections go bad under hard use.

 

[BWH]

Thank you sir! What about the "cleaning".... do you have a processing/quartering operation or facility to assist?

 

[JamesJ]

With the numbers we are taking and what we are doing it can be a pain. We usually charge a small fee to clean and quarter a pig or two for guys that are driving. I also have a processor that will take care of them and ship them if you want.

 

[BWH]

Yeah.... no desire to bring home 10-20 pigs... However, a few for the freezer (hams, straps, loins, etc)

 

[JamesJ]

More importantly I have NO desire to clean 10-20 pigs. LOL

Let me know some dates and we can get you on the books. Also time permitting we will set up the calls and shoot coyotes and bobcats.

 

[Marcos Rodriguez]

Very interesting this kind of hunt!...
In my cointry, one of the forbidden things are the night scopes, even the thermal scopes...
A PITY.... I love this ... as far as the suppressors (Forbiddens in my country too, GRRRRRRR....)
Awesome hunt! thank....

 

[JamesJ]

All the guns are custom AR-15's suppressed as well...

 

[Petrus Geldenhuys]

I would love to try out a thermal scope for Jackal in South Africa!

 

[joester]

Is late March a good time for spotting/shooting hogs?

 

[Roy Sparks]

Certainly looks like a lot of fun. What thermal scopes work best for you James ?

 

[Roy Sparks]

I would love to try out a thermal scope for Jackal in South Africa!

Me too Petrus. Just got a Yukon Photon IR and it has worked surprisingly well - longest shot was out at 240 meters on a jackal and it was dead on. It has withstood the rigors and held its POI well till now however the thermal I believe would be better coz the Yukon IR has limitations when you have to contend with fog and mist. Would love a thermal with a variable power option for close and long shots i.e, bushpig are normally closer over bait but jackal may require minimum 6x preferably 8x. Maybe I could do a trade on a hunt for a nice thermal scope ??

 

[JamesJ]

@Roy Sparks I just moved from the Tuskir384 to the Zeus 5 60hz 75mm lens. Its a very nice unit.
The Tuskir was getting a few years old and the new tech just continues to get better.
The downside to this technology is I cant export any of it. ITAR and US customs prohibit me from taking it out of the US. I don't know what the penalties are but they cant be good.

@joester March is a great time. let me know if you want to set something up.

 

[Wheels]

I had to run to Houston earlier this week and decided I would rather stay up all night rather than stay at a Holiday Inn Express. I met up with @James Jeffrey - HuntingAgent.com an hour or so before dark and he let me play with some of his toys. Not sure what things cost but between an AR, scope, suppressor and nightvision James probably has 6k+ in each setup. (he only brought three of them) After shooting a few rounds to see how much of his ammo I was going to waste we went out to the rice fields. There he put a special forces type helmet with a monoscope that probably costs another 6k on me. It felt like being a cyborg from a Schwarzenegger movie.

We hunted until 1:30 when it started pouring and called it a night. We shot 3 hogs in the 175-225 range plus another 10 or so piglets/shoats.

I had never used night vision before and it was pretty neat. We had heavy cloud cover which limited the distance we could see but was still able to shoot out to 200 yards with no problems. I am also not an AR man so it was fun shooting the 30 Blackouts with the suppressors. No hearing protection was needed.

The nightvision monocle is turned up and is picking up the flash from the camera. It is not a light on my head.


Now I understand why all the gas station restrooms around Houston say: FOR A GOOD TIME CALL JAMES
+1 (281) 814.2398