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 at Owen Farm Hunting Preserve

Source: Hog hunting – sporting goods – by owner – sale

Owen Farm Hunting Preserve offers a great hog hunting experience by day or at night using Digital Crosshairs Night Vision Clip-on.

Located in South Georgia, check them out at alapahahunting.com

R Connolly – YouTube coyote hunts with Digital Crosshairs night vision

Source: R Connolly – YouTube – YouTube

View lots of night vision coyote hunts by R. Connolly using Digital Crosshairs 1000R night vision clip-on at the link above.

Digital Crosshairs turns any rifle scope into a digital IR night vision scope in less than one minute with no re-sighting required.

Order or learn more at www.digitalcrosshairs.net or call 404-590-6513

Digital Night Vision, Intensifier Tube, and Thermal Scope Comparison

Generally Speaking

We think Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on is a great choice but here is some general information to think about when deciding on a night vision product.

Night Vision Clip-on - Digital Crosshairs — Night Vision Clip-on – Digital Crosshairs

It don’t have to cost thousands of dollars to kill a few hogs in the dark!

About Night Hunting-

All dedicated night vision and thermal scopes will cause temporary night blindness after looking through them in the dark. Your eye pupils will shrink from the light in the scope and will take a few seconds to re-open and adjust to the darkness. Only exception are Digital Crosshairs and NiteSite products that use LCD displays.
It is very hard to judge distance when you are in the dark and your only field of view is through your night vision device.
No night vision scope is as clear as a high quality day vision scope. It is the best of both world using a clip-on.
Check with your night vision manufacturer about maximum caliber weapons they support.

Digital Night Vision

Pros	Cons
Gen 2 or better equivalent at lower Cost. More natural image, easier to identify target than thermal	IR reflects off leave & brush affecting visibility
Use Day or Night	Smoke and fog decrease visibility
Tougher, more rugged	Requires IR illuminator for optimal use
Cost less than thermal and Intensifier tube technology	IR illuminator has faint glow that may give your position away
Clear target identification at 50 to 150+ yards	Optics do not compare with high quality day scopes
Many have video output and/or record capabilities	Some have programmable features may not be practical in fast pace hunting situation
Fast startup time, sometime instant on	Camouflage is often still effective.
Can see through windows
Better visibility in rain than thermal
High contrast black and white night vision image
CMOS night vision sensors do not have limited life span like intensifier tubes and thermal

Intensifier Tube (I2) Night Vision

Pros	Cons
More natural image, easier to identify target than thermal	Fog, smoke and dust obscures the image
Gen 3 on has longer range than most digital night vision	Larger/Heavier
Cheaper than thermal optics	Worthless during the day or in lighted rooms
Benefits from IR illuminator but Gen 2-4 intensify light without IR	Camouflage is often still effective.
	Sensitive can be damaged if exposed to bright light
	Bright lights and fire stacks will cause them to shut off for protections
	Limited lifespan
	More expensive than digital night vision
	Cannot handle large caliber weapons
	Optics do not compare with high quality day scopes

Thermal Night Vision

The major difference with thermal-IR is that thermal-IR is emitted by an object instead of reflected off it. No light source is required with thermal.

Pros	Cons
See in any lighting conditions – Day and Night	Nearly impossible to positively ID person except with most expensive equipment
See through smoke/fog/dust/sand	Image requires some training to interpret
See through leaves, brush and thin materials	Hot objects like rocks and hot building in urban areas will wash out human and animal heat signatures
Track residual heat (handprints, footprints)	Long startup/warm up time
Works in absolute darkness	Thermal optics cannot see through windows
Give off no light, will not give your position away	Extreme cold can affect the quality of a thermal image
Long range target acquisition	Generally more expensive
Many have video out capabilities	Larger and heavier
Fast target acquisition	Does not work in rain, misty, very humid conditions
Durable solid state technology	Optics do not compare with high quality day scopes

Closing thoughts

To some extent, buying night vision is like buying a car. There are some really good choices out there and a few lemons. One thing to remember, you can’t see in the dark so if you plan to move around stalking none of these will help you get around.

Digital Crosshairs night vision clip-on has an LCD display that give off just enough light that you can see where you are stepping, but not so much as to alert the animals you are hunting.

Check out our video at: https://youtu.be/Ayu8AYZApJQ

IR Illuminator Batteries Can End Your Hunt

Digital IR night vision scopes are getting very affordable. With a good IR illuminator, hunters are seeing 100 to over 200+ yards in the dark. But “Digital” means electric! One detail that can ruin your hunting weekend is getting poor quality batteries or heading out with under charged batteries.

Good IR illuminators usually runs on rechargable 18650 lithium-ion batteries. As your batteries drain in voltage, your illuminator gradually gets dimmer and dimmer. Remember, the human eye can not see the infra red light from your illuminator so except for the performance of your night vision scope, you have no indication that the brightness of the illuminator is decreasing. A battery with a low mAh rating when charged will start off bright, but the voltage will drain faster than good batteries. Get setup and then 20 minutes or less into your hunt you start wondering why your system is not working as well as you expected it to. Digital IR night vision and I2 (intensifier tube) night vision benefits from the IR illuminator light. When the IR dims, your system dims. I stress this point. It would be better if the illuminator just shut off but it doesn’t. A hunter would know its time for another battery if it just shut off.

The 18650 lithium-ion batteries sold today are labeled from about 2100 mAh (milliamp hours capacity) all the way up to over 9000 mAh. So if you order the 9000 mAh batteries from China on Ebay you should be ok, right? That is what I thought but after doing some research I discovered that 18650 lithium-ion batteries can not physically be made to go that high. The offshore manufacturers are actually selling a lie. They just lie about the mAh rating for marketing purposes. After all, how many people know that much about battery technology except electrical engineers.

XTAR VC2 battery charger

With the average battery charger you don’t know the real mAh rating of your batteries or the charge level. Don’t risk your hunting trip, get something like the XTAR VC2 USB LCD Screen Battery Charger Capacity Tester. It has an LCD display that show the batteries voltage and mAh level so you know for sure and don’t have to risk bad batteries messing up a great hunting weekend.

Get good batteries and a good battery charger/tester. That way, a $2.00 battery won’t mess up a priceless hunting opportunity.

Order the XTAR VC2 Tester/Charger at Digitalcrosshairs.net

Related info:

How to tell a fake 18650 battery:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-know-a-fake-18650-battery/

Review of 18650 Batteries:

https://mycooloutdoorstuff.com/which-18650-battery-is-your-best-choice-the-buying-guide-and-recommends/

Digital Crosshairs 1000 – Why not at Bass Pro Shops

Hog hunt in Washington County Ga. with Grunter Hunters

We get asked often why Digital Crosshairs 1000 is not sold at Bass Pro Shops, Cabelas, or other big box retailers. Here’s the reason.

If we sold at big box retailers they would want a 40% or greater discount from us which would result in a higher cost to you.

Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on mounted on Nikon P223 3-9x40 scope — Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on mounted on Nikon P223 3-9×40 scope

Ever wonder why these stores have such a liberal return policy? When you return something they just send it back to the manufacturer and don’t pay for it. It mean nothing to the retailers bottom line but for a small manufacturer it really hurts. We all know people who buy from Walmart, use it for a while and then take it back. We have a return policy that let’s you try our product on your scope to see how it works, but this is just for a limited period of time after you receive it.

Those “Black Friday” sales you love are not just supported by the store, the manufacturer has to chip in also. We rather give you a fair price all year than boost our price so we can reduce it seasonally. These sales are often only possible because of very low cost offshore manufacturing.

Speaking of being a small U.S.A. based manufacturer, most of these big retailer want their suppliers to lower the cost/price as low as possible which means manufacturing offshore, probably China. Digital Crosshairs is made by Digital FOV, LLC which is a U.S.A. based company and we plan to stay that way as long as possible. As long as we don’t have to give half our profit to Walmart or another retailer, we can stay U.S.A. based.

So if you don’t see us at Bass Pro Shops, Cabelas, The Night Vision Guys, or Optics Planet this is why. We are small and trying to give you the best price and service on a quality product.

Digital FOV, LLC is a small company in Stone Mountain, Georgia and we are alright with that. Call us up and say hello or ask about our night vision products. Guarantee you will speak to a real person every time.

New Digital Crosshairs 1000R Night Vision Clip-on with built in DVR

Digital FOV, LLC just release a new version of Digital Crosshairs 1000 IR night vision clip-on that includes a built in DVR recorder that also plays back right on the rail mounted display. It is the only night vision clip-on that lets you take the night vision shot and then play it back right on the rail mounted display.

Priced at just $750 but compare to units that cost thousands more.

www.digitalcrosshairs.net or call 404-590-6513

Digital Crosshairs 1000R

Learn more at www.digitalcrosshairs.net or call 404-590-5613

This system has a built-in microphone for recording the sound of your hunt as well as video. Now your friends can see and hear the shot.

Night Vision Hogs at 150 yrds using Digital Crosshairs 1000

Digital Crosshairs 1000 IR night vision IR clip-on uses the latest high definition IR night vision digital technology to give you results like this for only $600.

It clips on to any scope and turns it into a night vision scope with visibility often beyond 150 yrd.

Un-like mid-range and lower cost expensive thermal, you can clearly identify game. Unlike Gen 2+ use it in the daylight too. Digital is the future!

Learn more about Digital Crosshairs 1000 at www.digitalcrosshairs.net or call 404-590-6513.

This video was shot using Digital Crosshairs 1000 at Owens Farm Hunting Preserve in South Georgia.

FAQ Digital Crosshairs 1000 Night Vision

FAQ

Recently we got some good questions from a prospective customer in South Carolina regarding Digital Crosshairs 1000 night vision clip-on that we felt are worth sharing.

Will it work on my Nikon Buckmaster 2 scope that is 4x12x40 for all the zoom ranges?

Answer: 1

I should work fine with your Buckmaster. It will work on the low magnification of 4 – 5. It may work with the higher magnifications but it probably will not. On some scopes brands it does, some it does not

It will adjust for all magnifications on scopes that have AO (adjustable objective).

When using night vision on your scope, un-like in the day light when you can scan with your eyes and then target in with the scope, the only thing you are going to see is your scope’s field of view at night. The higher the magnification, the narrower your field of view. You will probably want to use the lowest magnification to get the widest field of view.

We are concerned that the LCD screen will light us our faces and make then visible to deer when we are in our stands. Is this a problem? Can the screen be located below the gun to hide the light from view better? Is the cable long enough to move it down below gun while siting in a tower stand?

Answer : 2

The screen is easily adjustable for brightness and contract, you can dim it. We also ship a red screen protector with your kit which some hunter like to use to turn the glow from white light to red light. Also, your face will be about an arm’s length from the display when mounted on your gun.

The screen is held in our proprietary mount by a thumb screw that you can loosen to detach the screen. It has 16” of cable in the wiring/battery pouch designed to allow you to locate the screen away from your gun. We can also sell you an extension or you can purchase a standard 4 pole extension cable.

How long does the battery last? How long to recharge battery?

Anwer: 3

The battery will last about 6 hours on a full charge. It takes 5 to 6 hours to charge. The battery is removable so you can purchase spare batteries from us for just $40. It is a re-chargeable lithium battery and we provide a charger for it.

The illuminator runs on one 18650 lithium battery. We provide two with the kit and the charger. These batteries will run about two hours. You can purchase them on the internet for $3 to $20 each. The better ones will run up to 5 hour on a charge I am told by some customers. You can also add a pressure switch to your illuminator so it is not on all the time. Another note from experience, if it is below 40 degrees out, keep your batteries in your pocket to stay warm. I was in a stand one night for hours and it was 28 degrees out with my batteries on the floor. Guess what happened, they all went dead.

Can we get an extended warranty past 1 year?

I can give you an extended 2 year warranty on the illuminator, LCD, camera clip-on and wiring harness. We do not give a warranty on the batteries because people can miss-manage them. The LCD, like your phone, is not warrantied for water damage or abuse. A replacement battery is $40 and a replacement screen is $50 for customers. Our goal is not to make money on repairs, it is to keep you in the woods hunting!

Can we get a discount for buying say 4 or 5 at once?

Answer: 5

Yes. $550 each

How long does it take to mount the system on a rifle? We are thinking about taking it with us and mounting it in the field as it gets dark.

Answer: 6

Once you attach the picatinny rail adapter to your scope, it takes less than 60 seconds, really.

What I would do is mount the battery pouch to the scope or stock of your gun ahead of time. This attaches with Velcro and that sound you may not want to chance deer hearing.

When it gets dark, attach the clip-on to the eye piece and mount the screen and illuminator, then just plug them in.

7. Can you get extra batteries

Yes, the battery just slips into the power pouch. You can disconnect it and replace it with a fresh battery at any time.

8. Can I use this system during the day?

Yes this system can be used day or night. It switches to night vision automatically and sun light does not bother it at all. The night vision is black and white. Day vision with the DC1000 works well however the colors are not realistic. With our Sony based system you get excelent color during the day and black and white night vision.

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Learn more at http://www.digitalcrosshairs.net