Author: DigitalFOV

Founder and Chief Innovator at Digital FOV, LLC

Best Rifle Scopes for Old Eyes: Optics for Poor Vision

An rifle scope clip-on that lets you see your scope's crosshairs on a rail mounted display in real time.
An rifle scope clip-on that lets you see your scope’s crosshairs on a rail mounted display in real time. Mounts on any rifle or crossbow scope and you do not even have to re-focus it.
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“I have taken the system out a couple times hunting and it seems to be working as advertised. We are able to use it in much lower light conditions than previous devices that we’ve been using. Have not had a chance to be successful at hunting yet however when we do get some video I will share it with you. Thank you”

John Fritz,
North American Squirrel Association
Outdoor Fun For Seniors and the Physically Challenged

“The best way I can describe this thing is by simply saying IT IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! I killed 3 Coyotes with it the first night I used it. They never even new I was there and the vision on the Digital Crosshairs 1000 were crystal clear. My average shot was right at 200 Yards and at 11 p.m. the view was almost like daylight through my screen. I only wish now that I had gotten the recorder for it because I could send you some awesome footage of this thing in action. Best product on the market for the money, hands down. Great product Henry and keep up the good work.”

JMACK– https://bit.ly/ODTreview

The optics work beautifully. We took a lot of film using them on our Texas Life Hunts. Off to Sedgefield for the Buckmasters David Sullivan Life Hunts Jan. 9-11 and we will use them there as well. Can not thank you enough for your kindness.

Larry F. Hart
Buckmasters American Deer Foundation
BADF National Director, BADF Disabled Hunters

“This is an amazing product and the customer service is amazing. My son has a genetic eye disease and has just Peripheral vision now he is able to shot his rifle and crossbow again. This is the first time in ten years he will be able to hunt again. Thanks Digital FOV.”
Tommy Godeaux – Google Review

The elderly population in the United States is increasing rapidly. By the year 2030, approximately 70 million Americans will be over 65 years of age.

Loss of vision among the elderly is a major health care problem: approximately one in three elderly persons has some form of vision-reducing eye disease by the age of 65.

With Digital Crosshairs 1000, vision impairment associated with a decreased ability to target with a scope will no longer will make you put down your guns.  The four most common causes of vision impairment in the elderly are age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy. Digital Crosshairs 1000A displays your rifle scope’s field of view (crosshairs) on a rail mounted targeting display so you no longer have to struggle to look into a scope tube. Welcome back to hunting!

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Best Scope Options for Shooters with Poor Vision or Old Eyes – Hi-Lux Optics

New rifle scope adapters for hunters with macular degeneration?

Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A
Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A

Age-related macular degeneration

There are two types of age-related macular degeneration:

  • Dry (atrophic) macular degeneration is by far the most common, occurring in 80-90% of cases.1,2
  • Wet (exudative) macular degeneration strikes in only 10-20% of cases. It is less common but much more serious. 1,2

Within these two main types, the severity can vary greatly depending on various factors such as genetics, environment, and age.

Adaptive rifle scope adapter for disabled hunters
Adaptive rifle scope adapter for visually disabled and blind hunters

Stargardt disease

Stargardt disease, also called Stargardt macular dystrophy or juvenile macular degeneration, is the most common inherited macular dystrophy for both adults and children and affects one in 8,000-10,000 individuals.3 Often times, vision loss slowly occurs during childhood or adolescence, but for some individuals, it may not occur until adulthood, such as in patients with fundus flavimaculatus.

Myopic macular degeneration

Digital Crosshairs 1000A adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters
Adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters

Myopic macular degeneration (MMD), also known as pathological myopia or degenerative myopia, is closely associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV), which is the leading cause of visual impairment in those younger than 50 in the US.4 In highly myopic, very nearsighted, eyes, the ocular tissues (retina and choroid) are gradually stretched as the eye elongates. In some individuals, this stretching may lead to structural damage.

Dry AMD is a slow deterioration of the cells of the macula, often over many years, as the retinal cells die off and are not renewed. The term ‘dry’ does not mean the person has dry eyes, just that the condition is not wet AMD. The progression of dry AMD varies, but people often carry on as normal for some time.

Blind Hunters? – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Believe it or not, people with all sorts of handicaps hunt. This includes the visually impaired. I remember years ago we had a special education student who was blind and his father wanted him to take the hunters’ safety class.

We thought he was crazy but apparently the man was not as crazy as we thought! Some states will license the visually impaired to hunt.

I was not able to find information for Pennsylvania but Iowa, Michigan and Texas all allow the visually impaired to hunt. Other states don’t have statutes against it.

How does this work? I mean really? I would not want to be down range of a blind person with a gun.

Source: Blind Hunters? – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

 

New rifle scope adapters for hunters with macular degeneration?

Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A
Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A

Age-related macular degeneration

There are two types of age-related macular degeneration:

  • Dry (atrophic) macular degeneration is by far the most common, occurring in 80-90% of cases.1,2
  • Wet (exudative) macular degeneration strikes in only 10-20% of cases. It is less common but much more serious. 1,2

Within these two main types, the severity can vary greatly depending on various factors such as genetics, environment, and age.

Adaptive rifle scope adapter for disabled hunters
Adaptive rifle scope adapter for visually disabled and blind hunters

Stargardt disease

Stargardt disease, also called Stargardt macular dystrophy or juvenile macular degeneration, is the most common inherited macular dystrophy for both adults and children and affects one in 8,000-10,000 individuals.3 Often times, vision loss slowly occurs during childhood or adolescence, but for some individuals, it may not occur until adulthood, such as in patients with fundus flavimaculatus.

Myopic macular degeneration

Digital Crosshairs 1000A adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters
Adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters

Myopic macular degeneration (MMD), also known as pathological myopia or degenerative myopia, is closely associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV), which is the leading cause of visual impairment in those younger than 50 in the US.4 In highly myopic, very nearsighted, eyes, the ocular tissues (retina and choroid) are gradually stretched as the eye elongates. In some individuals, this stretching may lead to structural damage.

Dry AMD is a slow deterioration of the cells of the macula, often over many years, as the retinal cells die off and are not renewed. The term ‘dry’ does not mean the person has dry eyes, just that the condition is not wet AMD. The progression of dry AMD varies, but people often carry on as normal for some time.

Hunting? For the Visually Impaired?

New rifle scope adapters for hunters with macular degeneration?

Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A
Blind hunter Colt Weber with Digital Crosshairs 1000A

Age-related macular degeneration

There are two types of age-related macular degeneration:

  • Dry (atrophic) macular degeneration is by far the most common, occurring in 80-90% of cases.1,2
  • Wet (exudative) macular degeneration strikes in only 10-20% of cases. It is less common but much more serious. 1,2

Within these two main types, the severity can vary greatly depending on various factors such as genetics, environment, and age.

Adaptive rifle scope adapter for disabled hunters
Adaptive rifle scope adapter for visually disabled and blind hunters

Stargardt disease

Stargardt disease, also called Stargardt macular dystrophy or juvenile macular degeneration, is the most common inherited macular dystrophy for both adults and children and affects one in 8,000-10,000 individuals.3 Often times, vision loss slowly occurs during childhood or adolescence, but for some individuals, it may not occur until adulthood, such as in patients with fundus flavimaculatus.

Myopic macular degeneration

Digital Crosshairs 1000A adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters
Adaptive rifle scope clip-on makes shooting easier for visually handicapped shooters

Myopic macular degeneration (MMD), also known as pathological myopia or degenerative myopia, is closely associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV), which is the leading cause of visual impairment in those younger than 50 in the US.4 In highly myopic, very nearsighted, eyes, the ocular tissues (retina and choroid) are gradually stretched as the eye elongates. In some individuals, this stretching may lead to structural damage.

Dry AMD is a slow deterioration of the cells of the macula, often over many years, as the retinal cells die off and are not renewed. The term ‘dry’ does not mean the person has dry eyes, just that the condition is not wet AMD. The progression of dry AMD varies, but people often carry on as normal for some time.

Blind Hunter Harvest Mule Deer & Elk With Adaptive Scope Clip-on

Assisted blind hunter, Colt W. with friends harvested mule deer and elk using Digital Crosshairs 1000A adaptive day light scope clip-on for visually challenged, assisted blind, and handicapped hunters.
Photos of my friend Colt W. who has now successfully used your sighting mechanism twice!  Once for a mule deer, and yesterday we were able to harvest his elk!  The sight work beautifully (I was with him for the elk).  
Colt tells me he got his deer from a blind,
but when we were scouting for elk yesterday we found a big herd here in Estes Park on a piece of property were he could take a shot.  There were about 150 animals in the herd, and the bulls were pushing them pretty hard (i.e.: moving pretty quickly). We finally got a good broadside shot at 120 yards.  With the daylight filter in place, the viewfinder was clear and I was able to help Colt take his shot.  Very clean!  One-shot kill. 500 lb cow.
“As someone who assists a blind hunter, I LOVE your product.  Thank you!” Bill A.
Digital Crosshairs 1000A adaptive daylight scope clip-on attaches to any scope and adds an LCD targeting display that show the scope’s field of view in real time.
Adaptive Scopes

Night Vision Hog Hunting AR15 Build

Digital Crosshairs 1000 Night Vision on 762/39 AR15
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.

Best Hog Hunting Calibers
Best Hog Hunting Calibers

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
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.

Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on
Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on

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
Night Vision Hog Hunting with Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on

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
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

Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on with harvested hog

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

www.digitalcrosshairs.net

or call 404-590-6513

New Bill Allows Blind Sportsmen to Hunt with Illegal Adaptive Equipment – COOL BLIND TECH

A bill was sent to the House floor Friday that will create a special type of hunting permit specifically for blind and visually impaired sportsmen.

The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 2597, which would allow legally blind people to hunt with the assistance of a sighted, permitted guide. It would also allow for the use of certain adaptive equipment, which is currently illegal.

“So in effect, we have the assistant acquiring the target … selecting t…

Source: New Bill Allows Blind Sportsmen to Hunt with Illegal Adaptive Equipment – COOL BLIND TECH

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Adaptive Shooting Clip-on System

Digital Crosshairs 1000A
Adaptive LCD Targeting Display for Standard Scope!

Digital FOV’s adaptive shooting device helps physically and visually challenged sports men and women enjoy hunting and shooting sports.

Digital Crosshairs 1000A, an easy to install rail mounted video display that puts the view of a rifle, crossbow, or pistol scope’s crosshairs on an LCD display that is easy to see from any angle.

https://www.digitalcrosshairs.net/product/adaptive-hunting-devices

Or Call 404-590-6513