heavy bush

[erForman]

Is there any one thermal device that is better at detecting targets in thick heavy brush conditions? With my Pulsar XP50 it only seems to "see" the front edges of a thicket. I don't think it does a real great job of penetrating very deeply when everything has cooled down to the same temperature. Is this a common issue with thermal?

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Thermal does not see through other objects. Thermal sees into brush when there are gaps in the brush. If your Pulsar is not seeing into the brush, it is because there is no direct line of sight gaps to the target in question.

 

[erForman]

Thermal does not see through other objects. Thermal sees into brush when there are gaps in the brush. If your Pulsar is not seeing into the brush, it is because there is no direct line of sight gaps to the target in question.

I see what you're saying. Still I was hoping that if a dead or wounded hog had holed up deep in a thicket then the thermal would still show a hot black or white spot that contrasted with the surrounding vegetation. I guess " line of sight " is the deciding factor.

 

[437]

I go through this a lot since our hogs don't come out very far from the woods we exclusively scan edges and into woods. They pop in and out of the woods and it's quite challenging, but once you see them we can figure out the direction of travel and set up that way. It's always a cat and mouse game of getting ahead of their direction of travel and hoping they pop out, but we do catch ghost images and 'hits' that we have learned to pay close attention to. Yea we get fooled by a tree stump that may light up, but we have become pretty good at picking up the real vs fake outs. This is why I always try to put it right behind the ear if they run 5 steps there is a good chance you don't ever find them with palmettos up to your waist. I am currently running the entry level Pulsar thermal. Buddies are using a Trail and a Zeus they struggle with it as well.

 

[jglass]

I see what you're saying. Still I was hoping that if a dead or wounded hog had holed up deep in a thicket then the thermal would still show a hot black or white spot that contrasted with the surrounding vegetation. I guess " line of sight " is the deciding factor.

Yes, there needs to be gaps and holes in the vegetation to see an animal in there. I can see mice running through the jungle as long as there is a direct line of sight regardless of size. This is half the fun of thermo is seeing the tiny specs of light through vegetation and determining exactly what animal is causing the specs. I have learned from the speed of the moving specs and number and size of specs what the animal actually is.

The one thing I have not figured out is how to determine size of a hog through the thermo site other than the features and movements.

 

[wigwamitus]

In the summer, I can't see too far into my woods or as easily thru the tree lines ... but in winter, I can see much deeper. But regardless ... often, I see "pieces" of critters ... 10-15 splotches of the critter moving thru the woods and sometimes I can get an idea of the size and sometimes not ... just by continuing to watch ... but I can't shoot it until it comes out into the open somewhere, because it might be one of my cows (or a deer, still a NO SHOOT at night) !! They do move thru the woods sometimes.

But even if thermal isn't perfect ... it is way better than NV. My PVS-30 is hardly usable unless there is a big moon up in the sky signing down into the woods. But otherwise, the illuminator just bounces off the vegetation and makes it harder to see.

So be glad thermal can do what it can do.

 

[jglass]

I also have a night vision scope. With night vision I can see the markings on the hogs and know if I have pictures of them on the trail camera. No hog markings seen on the thermo. My night vision scope is mounted on an AR-15 .223 that I loan to my guest hunters. I also have a night vision monocular. Some people like the night vision while others prefer looking into the pitch darkness. Of course, everyone loves looking through the thermo. Takes time and experience to be ok with looking through a scope for hours and hours at night.

 

[theblakester]

FWIW the W1000 would put out a crazy big bloom around the animals. The image quality isn't very good and it's huge and heavy but that thing was the king of detection.

 

[437]

I got 5 Thursday night back in the tall grass thought of you eforman. The cows have been moved for the bulls to do their thing and that opened up our prime hog area where we have grass about chest to over head high. I was scanning from about 9 feet up and caught those 'ghosts' i have not seen since last spring was exciting to catch that glimps knowig they were in there. Got on them 2x in different areas and I literally had to drive up to within 10 yards to see down in and get heat with thermal to find my kills. Using a flashlight couldta taken forever though thermal still better. I believe a drone would have shown a lot more pigs than we got on! Was fun to hear them getting ornery wiht each other fighting and squealing was like that video the guy put up recently where the boar flipped the piglet out of the way man they were so feeding insane for us.

**going back out tonight with a friend who has a 640 Zeus will see if that helps us pick 'em up any better.