Night Vision Hog Hunting AR15 Build

Digital Crosshairs 1000 Night Vision on 762/39 AR15

When I get ready to go night vision hog hunting this is the beast I reach for!

A lot of talk on all the boards about what the best hog gun is. In my opinion if you consider knock down power, accuracy out to 200+ yards, and ammo affordability the 762/39 AR15 wins hands down.

My hog gun is pretty spruced up and really gets the job done.

The scope specifications include 6-24x50mm, side focus, 30mm tube, Mil Dot reticle, and lock turret. It is a quality no name scope I found on Ebay with great glass. I can see .22 caliber bullet hole on the target at 100 yards easy.

The AR15 lower is Anderson Arms multi-caliber with an upgraded Rise RA-434 3.5 lbs single stage flat trigger that I just love! The upper is a Bear Creek 762/39 with the 16″ stainless steel barrel and 1:10 twist.

For night vision I am using Digital Crosshairs Night Vision clip-on, 1000R model with the sound and video recorder. It gets me 200+ yards of night vision with this scope and I can use all the magnification power of the scope with it.

Hog Gun 762-39 AR15 on table — Hog Gun 762-39 AR15

I have heard complaints about 762/39 cal AR15s having problems feeding ammo. Not a problem at all for me with DURA-MAG magazines. These sturdy steel mags have feed perfectly for me with no jams at all. Some of the other mags I tried did occasionally jam which is not acceptable on a hog hunt!

This gun is not at all particular about ammo and I just shoot Wolf Polyformance 123 GR HP. I am not the best shot and can get 1″ to 1.5″ groups with this ammo at 100 yards depending on how well these 60+ year old eye happen to be working that day. Best of all it averages only 40 cents a round.

Learn about Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on products at:

www.digitalcrosshairs.net

or call 404-590-6513

Best Hog Hunting Gun For 2021

Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on with harvested hog

The best hog hunting gun for 2021 is the AR15 in the affordable knock down caliber of 762/39.

Lots of articles are written every year about which rifle or cartridge is best for hog hunting. Everyone has an opinion. Just like cars and trucks, brand loyalty plays a big part and let’s be honest, most of the web articles on the best of anything are really paid advertisements.

I am a hog hunter. I have hunted with .223, 30-30, 300 blackout, 6.5 Grendel, 762/39 and 12-gauge shotguns. As a hog hunter, I want a semi-auto with knock down power. It is just no fun searching around at night in the brush for wounded or dead hogs that ran 50 or 100 yards after you shot them. Yea, some will read this and say they can kill a hog with a .22, sure with the perfect shot. If you ever get the pleasure of feeling the adrenaline running down your body standing in a field full of running wild feral hogs, forget that perfect shot.

When I night vision wild hog hunt with my buddy Andy at Owen Farm Hunting Preserve in South Georgia, it sounds like a war zone with his AR15 and mine rapid firing at wild feral hogs stampeding across dark fields in every direction. It’s just too much excitement. That is what night vision and thermal scopes were made for!

You can sit in a blind with night vision overlooking a bait site, walk and stalk after dark in fields, hunt hogs with dogs, or even from helicopters. Night hunting using night vision, thermal or just a green light is getting very popular and a must for any hunter’s bucket list. I use Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on because it lets me keep my great glass optics for daylight hunting and use the same rifle+scope setup at night with no re-zeroing necessary.

Digital Crosshairs 1000 Night Vision Clip-on

You may be surprised that my go-to rifle of choice, and in my opinion the best hog hunting gun for 2021 is the 762/39 AR15 platform. I have hunted with several different guns. To be honest, there are many great hog hunting guns but in this year’s environment, which ones can the average hunter afford to shoot. The cost of ammo today is something to be considered. I love my Grendel but it cost 70 cents to $1.50 every time I pull the trigger. Most other calibers heavy enough for hogs are also pretty pricy. I use Wolf 762/39 HP which does the job well out to 200+ yards, has knock down power, and best of all is affordable at a cost of about 40 cent a round.

Feral hog populations are exploding in the United States, especially in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. What other big game can you hunt day or night, and year-round in many states. What every your choice of rifle or caliber, enjoy the hunt!

Learn about Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on products at:

www.digitalcrosshairs.net

or call 404-590-6513

Night Vision Hunting 101

Hunting with a night vision scope or night vision clip-on is a great way to hunt hogs, coyote, and other nocturnal predators.

Night vision uses projected invisible IR light that animals and people can not see to brighten up a field for viewing . Many of these systems can see 200+ yards in total darkness. The distance they see is mostly dependent on the power of the IR illuminator used.

Hog seen at night using Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on — Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on

Unlike thermal scopes that see heat signatures, night vision scopes see IR and other light that is reflected back into the scope. Reflected back is the key phase here. I was recently hunting a very large peanut field in South Georgia. We used a thermal monocular to scan the field for hogs and spotted a group of them about 500 yards away. That is way too far for the IR night vision on my gun. Remember, night vision sees reflected IR light so in order to see something 500 yards away you would need an IR illuminator that was powerful enough to shine 500 yards. It is possible but would weigh a ton mounted on a rifle so gets impractical. That is why I use a hand held thermal monocular when walk and stalk hunting large fields and need to scan over 200 yards.

Scanning horizontally across a field with night vision is different from looking down at a feeder. It goes back to reflected IR light. When I was standing in that peanut field in the dark, my IR illuminator was reflecting off the ground and peanut plants. Above the peanut plants was 500+ yards of nothing but darkness, nothing at all to reflect back off, that is, until I found the hogs.

So, let me paint the picture. Night vision looking at black hogs in a dark peanut field. Everything from the ground up appeared brightly lite up from the IR. The black hogs gave a good contrast from the bright peanut plants but were less distinguishable from the black background of the horizon above them. If they were white or brown hogs, they would have been much clearer against the dark background.

If I were in a stand looking down at these hogs the background would not be the horizon, it would be the peanuts and soil. A much better contrast. See the difference. If I were standing in the field looking toward a tree lined edge of the field the trees and brush would make a good reflective background to see the hogs versus looking into an open field.

The moral of the story here is, no matter what night vision scope or scope clip-on product you use, the quality of your view will only be as good as your IR illuminator light source.

Learn about Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on products at:

www.digitalcrosshairs.net

or call 404-590-6513

Night Vision Hog Hunting Cost

Night vision hog hunting can be costly but for some of us the thrill is well worth it. Night vision hunting is quite different than hunting during the day. For one thing, you don’t have to hide, the darkness is your blind. Think about it, most predators hunt at night for this reason and so do I. It a real thrill!

But what does night vision hog hunting cost? In addition to your rifle or crossbow and scope, you will need night vision equipment. There are a lot of choices when it comes to this. Thermal scopes, night vision scopes, digital night vision scope and night vision scope clip-ons pretty much cover your rifle optics choices. Hand held thermal monocular are a great addition if the budget permits. This lets you easily scan the darkness without having to raise your gun and look through the scope. This is just the equipment cost and to be fair some hunter on a low budget use a powerful green or red flashlight to find their pray. For occasional hunters most outfitters offer the option of renting night vision equipped rifles for the nights hunt.

Night vision hog hunt pigs getting skinned after hunt

The cost of night vision hunting after you get the equipment is still pretty costly. See the table below for the cost of my hunt this week at Owen Farm Hunting Preserve in Alapaha, Ga. This is was a good deal. Many hunters pay that much just for the outfitter. You can save some cash by processing your own hogs but for $50 each I rather pay someone.

Alapaha Night Vision Hog Hunt 8/10/21
Hog Outfitter	$ 300.00
Processing 2 Hogs	$ 100.00
Hotel	$ 77.00
Gas	$ 40.00

Total	$ 517.00