Disclaimer: Please don't take my comments personally or think I am trying to cause you any heartache.

I hunt coyotes across the Midwest, including West Central Illinois and have become quite proficient at it. Night time hunting has always offered it's own challenges and Southern Indiana truely offers some tough and tight calling... situations rarely seen in Central or Northern Illinois (or Indiana). Over the years I have pounded my head against the wall with nighttime K-9's and prodominantly been a daytime hunter to remain succesful. Last season I began experimenting with night vision very similar to that you have described. A little more pricey, a little more cutting edge, but very similar.

The result of my experience and research has lead me to believe that what you are offering is not worthwhile to most predator callers. Night vision removed some headaches in hunting the darkness but it created others.... those other headaches seem to be magnified by your plan of removable aiming devises and backup spotlights.

Point by point, here is what I see happening. As you have listed them 1-6 I will respond.

1.) This detachment is a problem. Like it or not, I've played with various methods of aiming devises and without a stationary crosshair you are costing yourself coyotes. Especially if your experience with coyotes/night vision or firearms is limited. You'll find MOST hunters are lacking in one or more of those fields.

2.)This is very true, IR backup is a miracle to even the best night vision. Unfortunately a seemless attachment method such that the crosshairs and beam are together (handsfree) is hard to come by. If you do have that- and it's a must- you'll find those batteries fade relatively fast. I go through IR batteries once or twice a week... I hunt quite a bit though.

3.) True. I'm not certain how you are aiming this weapon... but if you intend to use an IR laser you will find animals do see it.

4.) True. I have picked up and identified incoming coyotes at 700 yards with my system.

5.) True. Assuming you have good NV and are using the IR backup. There is a night/day difference in GOOD GenIII and DECENT GenIII. A couple thousand dollars to be exact.

6.) False. Success is not increased by hunting more. I think most nighttime hunters educate far more coyotes than they do in daytime conditions... therefor making them harder to hunt in the daytime. It is fun to be out there- and I hope everyone gets to experience it- but the learning curve of night time hunting can be very expensive to the average predator caller.


I hope your venture works out well. I think you are a little ahead of your time right now... as many predator hunters haven't taken the leap into $3,000-5,000 investments for something they can use only at night. Most guys are still hunting half a dozen weekends a year, so their addiction hasn't justified that type of investment. I'm speaking about the majority here, there are certainly guys like you and I who have invested tens of thousands in the sport.

I have been filming night time hunts with the newest GenIII technology for almost a year now. I have some very good footage... and I have a great market for that footage. I am president of a company called Hunt Films, INC. which accepts all types of footage from all types of hunters. If you look at www.Huntfilms.com you will find some of our preliminary footage. That footage is being shown for free right now (I believe) while we test out different functionality and construct our website. Next fall you will be able to log onto that site with a membership and view tons of great footage, including GenIII Night Vision predator hunts.

If you'd like to discuss some of these things in person feel free to shoot me a private message. It sounds like you're looking at a road I've been down, maybe I can save you some lumps on your head! LOL!


PS: Check out the link below for some still frames from one of my GenIII coyote kills.
http://midwestpredator.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6041018811/m/5531070202