Sporting Gun UK – May 2019

50 SPORTING GUN M AY 2019 http://www.shootinguk.co.uk

INSTRUCTION

Foxing

A

ttheendof 2015 I wroteabout

theuseofthermalimagersas

spotters.I statedthatI’dbelost

if I didn’thaveone.Myopinion

hasnotaltered.Therewasa timewhen

I usedtogooutwitha nightvision(NV)

monocularhangingfromanelasticchest

harnessanda thermalimager(TI)aboveit

ona sling.I neededbothbecausetheimage

producedbytheTIwasn’tgoodenoughto

properlyunderstandthelandscape– the

low-resoutputsoftheday simply didn’t

showenoughdetail.

Ofparticularconcernwasthelocation

ofdeadground– if youcan’tseeyourfoxes

untilthey ’rerightinfrontofyou,there’slittle

userunninga callerasyou’lllosetoomany.

Thesedays,however,theimagesproduced

byTIshaveimprovedtothepointwhereI

nolongerfindit necessarytocarryanNV

spotteraswell,whichisgoodbothfrom

weight and wallet perspectives.

Pointers

Ifyouarenewtothermalspotters,then

therearea fewpointerstohelpyou.First,

it’svitaltogettheunitadjustedtosuityour

eyesoryouwon’tseemuchofinterest.The

wayI doitisI selecta largeobject,suchas
a tree,thatisa reasonabledistanceaway.I
thenlooktowardsitandtwistthefrontlens
untilI’vegotthebestfocus.ThenI switch
totherearlensandtwistthatbackand
forthuntilthepictureisasgoodasI can
getit.I keeprepeatingtheprocess until
everythingiscrystalclear.
Itisreallyimportantthatyouonlydothis
ona finedrynight.If theairisparticularly
wet,you’llstruggletomakeanythingout.
OnthoseoccasionsI consulttheweather
forecastandif it doesn’tlookasthough it ’s
goingtogetbetter,I stayathome.
Totakethematterfurther,thermalswill
usuallyseethroughfogverywell,solong
astheairisrelativelydry.Theproblemis
thatwhileyoumaybeabletoseewhere
yourquarryisthroughtheTI,youmaynot
beabletoseeit sufficientlywellthrough
theriflescopetoshootit.BothNV(fromany
PATRICK infrared illumination you use) and visible-

HOOK

Thisfoxisclearly

outlinedbutrange

can be deceptive

Dark matters

Thermalimagersareanessentialpieceofkitwhenyouarehuntingatnight,

saysPatrick Hook, who explains what to expect from your equipment

“Youmay beable tospotyour

quarrythroughtheTIbut

notwellenough through the

riflescope to shoot it”