Predator Season 2025-2026

I know a couple guys up here that night hunt with thermals and or night vision...tie up a lot of money fast, but looks like a lot of fun!

Great job Mr JZ.
I only put down a nusience fox after four long nights of coyote hunting.
I have plenty on camera so I know they're out there.
Hopefully the change in temp and moon will have an effect on the coyote in my area.
SJC

Caught this little bastard trespassing behind my barn the other night.
His skull is currently out getting turned into a European mount.

Well my season started off slow being it was so hot and bright with the Harvest moon.
It got luke warm as the temps cooled and Harvest moon went away and I was able to drop two females.
Before that happened I was dealing with major heartbreak as dogs were showing up in places I couldn't shoot them.
This is a video of a dog that wouldn't budge from an anti hunting neighbors property.
SJC

After dealing with the non cooperating dogs I went back to the cabin and took a little siesta.
I got up and went cruising around when I spotted two dogs in a field I could hunt.
Unfortunately after the shot my rifle jammed as my elbow hit the side of the UTV causing me to short stroke the bolt.
That caused me to lose sight of where the dogs ran off to.
I knew I connected as only one dog left the scene, but I couldn't find the one I dropped till the next day when the landowner and I went out and spotted vultures circling.
SJC

The second dog I got in woods that were just logged about an hours drive north.
The leaves made it a quick and challenging shot, but the 20-250 is a laser beam and I put it right in it's ear.
SJC

Banner weekend and a personal best for us with eight dogs dropped.
Five on Sat at two locations and three on Sunday at one location.
Didn't recover the non photogenic third dog Sunday, but it dropped and was still for a good amount of time.
When we went to retrieve it a heavy blood trail was going into multiflora thorn bushes so it's staying there.
Needless to say the farmers and landowners were very happy with the results.
SJC

I like these post you guys put up. I also just met a guy selling night equipment at the gun show. Its highly interesting for a guy like me that only has a cheap set of Chinese thermal binoculars. If you're willing I'd like to see a good daytime picture of the rifle set-ups. Wondering if these large scopes are odd to get a natural sight picture so high off the receiver.

Bustedknees said:

I like these post you guys put up. I also just met a guy selling night equipment at the gun show. Its highly interesting for a guy like me that only has a cheap set of Chinese thermal binoculars. If you're willing I'd like to see a good daytime picture of the rifle set-ups. Wondering if these large scopes are odd to get a natural sight picture so high off the receiver.

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I first bought a Gen2+ nightvision scope a little over 12 years ago with the intent of mounting it on a bolt action .204 Ruger. I quickly found out that the scope would not work on that rifle because of how high it sat. No way to get your cheek down on the stock. So, I did what every red blooded American does, I built an AR15 rifle from the ground up, chambered in .204 Ruger. I mounted the NV on it and that was my first giant leap forward in night hunting. Prior to that, the bolt action .204 wore a really good daytime scope with either a red or green light attached. Of course, back then we used a cassette player with screaming rabbit sounds too...none of today's fancy electronic calls. Next giant leap was a Foxpro. Well, actually, I bought a GIANT POS electronic call and sent it back for a refund first, but that's another story. The Foxpro was a HUGE improvement. Then, as areas opened up to hunting with bigger calibers, I built guns in .223/5.56 and I bought a FLIR thermal. The FLIR was a good scope, but went through batteries fast and I quicklt outgrew it's capabilities. I now own a InfiRay RICO scope and a InfiRay ZOOM handheld mono. They share the same batteries and have the same button layout and menu which makes switching from one to another very easy. I'm happy with the performance of the InfiRay products, although I had a bit of an issue with the RICO

Oops ! Gotta work now. I'll finish this and post pics when I get home this afternoon.

Bustedknees said:

I like these post you guys put up. I also just met a guy selling night equipment at the gun show. Its highly interesting for a guy like me that only has a cheap set of Chinese thermal binoculars. If you're willing I'd like to see a good daytime picture of the rifle set-ups. Wondering if these large scopes are odd to get a natural sight picture so high off the receiver.

Click to expand...

I only use night vision for navigation.
With the plethora of cheap thermal scopes available it makes no sense to purchase night vision or digital night vision.
One reason I prefer the tube style scopes is that they use the same 30mm scope rings as a day scope and can be mounted lower than the box style scopes.
All of my bolt rifles have stocks (Boyds At 1 and Pro varmint in Pic) with adjustable cheek pieces on them now.
The Savage Impulse rifles have receivers with a built in 20Moa rail so even the box style scopes sit lower and I was able to use the high cheek piece of the Accufit stock to fit my needs.
It also helps having a large melon head.
SJC

Finally back to finish my thoughts. Long day. Where was I ? Oh, yeah...the RICO. After about a year the RICO developed an issue where it would no longer keep an accurate time/date stamp. I sent it back and basically they returned it saying they couldn't repair it. But, they packaged it so poorly that the eyepiece was damaged in transit. Again I returned it with the demand that they fix the time/date as well as the eyepiece. My attorney's handwritten letter and business card as well as a copy of their 5 year warranty in the box. They did actually fix the time/date problem, and repaired as best as possible the eyepiece, and returned it to me, again very poorly packaged. So, honestly, I'm not thrilled with the customer service I received. The ZOOM mono is a newer generation and has been superb. No complaints at all. I suspect that InfiRay has worked the bugs out of the newer scopes by now. They have a reputation of being an excellent scope at a reasonable price. I hope their customer service has improved. Would I buy another ? I'd like to say yes, but I would be lying if I said I would without at least a bit of hesitation.

So, now to show-n-tell.

My first dedicated predator setup. T/C Venture .204 Ruger with kill light attached


Then I built this from the ground up. .204 Ruger Wilson Combat barrel, wearing the Gen2+ nightvision


After that, I built this .223 Wylde using a Wilson Combat upper and topped it with the RICO thermal


And finally I built this just to match my snowcamo clothing. .223 Wylde, Ballistic Advantage barrel. Currently wearing a great daytime scope, but the RICO gets transferred onto it sometimes.


All were purposely built for predator hunting. All have ARCA rail plates to attach the gun to a tripod ( except the bolt gun, no ARCA on that )

How well did I do with my paint job ? You be the judge...

Thanks to all. Very impressive gear!