Over the years I have been a great advocate for digital day and nightvision but I have never claimed that it was better than day glass for deer stalking in fact I have pretty much been against standalone thermal for stalking deer for a number of reasons.
1. Species ID and Sex ID, condition and age ID is almost impossible even with high end thermal.
2 Thermal bleed in thermal often doesn't show what's in front of the deer making it hard to see if it's a safe sot or not. Often thermal gives you a false sense of confidence
3 With Thermal people will shoot in conditions they wouldn't normally such as in fog etc. And that might not be safe.
4. Even high end thermal struggles with environmentals and detection of safe back stops etc.
So that just a few of the downsides of thermal as a standalone scope but the technology has come along way but many of these concerns still exist.
Digital day vision in colour etc has also come a long way, better battery life, lighter units and 4k technology for example has made it more accessible for the stalking market, along with the law being changed in Nov 23. Stalkers can now record their shooting, document their misses and learn real time what went wrong and also keep a video of the deer they shot when they had their successes.
That's all well and good but has digital come enough of a way to surpass clear glass, the long and short of it is that in some ways it has and others it hasn't.
Most digital Scopes come with laser rangefinders and built in bullet drop calculators now, so to that respect it has surpassed the use of day scopes. Ok, you say but we have that in the Burris Eliminators, Burniston XTR, the Swarovski DS, yes you do, but, look at the price of those compared to your average day/night vision scope, and there's another benefit of digital, you have done with a day's stalking and you now wanna go foxing after dark, just clamp an IR torch on, switch to nightvision and away you go.
Now in this respect to day glass the digital Scopes are in someways a game changer, yes no need for to carry extra kit like a rangefinder etc, but, you cannot beat the reliability of day glass, the clarity daytime with day glass and the experience of day glass, well not yet that is.
With the new range of 4k scopes coming out many stalkers are gonna be suckered into throwing money into this new tech, and they should but only if it meets the needs of you.
I have heard the phrase "Game Changer" thrown about a lot these days and I have used it a couple of times myself, but, that phrase hasn't been used properly.
There is a big hype over this new Hik Micro Alpex 4K Lite scope and how this is a game changer. It's not ! and for guys on here it is not a stalking scope or a centrefire one, please don't think it is. The eye relief needed to see the screen properly is too close for a CF rifle even a light recoil one. Even Hik say it's for airgun and rimfire ONLY.
It is a good scope for £650 compared to the tech that was available 3 years ago, but there is better and cheaper on the market that you can use for deer stalking on a centrefire.
On a couple of recent videos I have done you will get a good idea of what to expect from a digital day scope.
Here is one
In that video I have been as honest as I possibly can . Also check out the Sika stalk one too.
As stalkers we are always held to a higher standard when it comes to personal ethics and morality, and rightly so. We have all been forced into a world of deer management, not just as a recreational sport but as an obligation, and because of this everyone of us find ourselves having to shoot more deer than we would normally do and for some it is more deer than what they would like.
Due to this we find ourselves in a world where we are looking to move away from traditional glass and stalk. The need for shorter stalks and long range shooting has become the norm, we are looking to push that extra hour in the morning and night to the max, and in doing so we are asking for the equipment to help. Thermal spotters in the pocket are normal now, before it was just us commercial forest managers that used them, digital Scopes with Night vision tech, even thermal Scopes are becoming a common sight on a recreational stalkers rifle these days.
The game is changing, the tech is NOT game changing.
But hey check out my videos, makes you think about what the future is .
ATB
DT
1. Species ID and Sex ID, condition and age ID is almost impossible even with high end thermal.
2 Thermal bleed in thermal often doesn't show what's in front of the deer making it hard to see if it's a safe sot or not. Often thermal gives you a false sense of confidence
3 With Thermal people will shoot in conditions they wouldn't normally such as in fog etc. And that might not be safe.
4. Even high end thermal struggles with environmentals and detection of safe back stops etc.
So that just a few of the downsides of thermal as a standalone scope but the technology has come along way but many of these concerns still exist.
Digital day vision in colour etc has also come a long way, better battery life, lighter units and 4k technology for example has made it more accessible for the stalking market, along with the law being changed in Nov 23. Stalkers can now record their shooting, document their misses and learn real time what went wrong and also keep a video of the deer they shot when they had their successes.
That's all well and good but has digital come enough of a way to surpass clear glass, the long and short of it is that in some ways it has and others it hasn't.
Most digital Scopes come with laser rangefinders and built in bullet drop calculators now, so to that respect it has surpassed the use of day scopes. Ok, you say but we have that in the Burris Eliminators, Burniston XTR, the Swarovski DS, yes you do, but, look at the price of those compared to your average day/night vision scope, and there's another benefit of digital, you have done with a day's stalking and you now wanna go foxing after dark, just clamp an IR torch on, switch to nightvision and away you go.
Now in this respect to day glass the digital Scopes are in someways a game changer, yes no need for to carry extra kit like a rangefinder etc, but, you cannot beat the reliability of day glass, the clarity daytime with day glass and the experience of day glass, well not yet that is.
With the new range of 4k scopes coming out many stalkers are gonna be suckered into throwing money into this new tech, and they should but only if it meets the needs of you.
I have heard the phrase "Game Changer" thrown about a lot these days and I have used it a couple of times myself, but, that phrase hasn't been used properly.
There is a big hype over this new Hik Micro Alpex 4K Lite scope and how this is a game changer. It's not ! and for guys on here it is not a stalking scope or a centrefire one, please don't think it is. The eye relief needed to see the screen properly is too close for a CF rifle even a light recoil one. Even Hik say it's for airgun and rimfire ONLY.
It is a good scope for £650 compared to the tech that was available 3 years ago, but there is better and cheaper on the market that you can use for deer stalking on a centrefire.
On a couple of recent videos I have done you will get a good idea of what to expect from a digital day scope.
Here is one
In that video I have been as honest as I possibly can . Also check out the Sika stalk one too.
As stalkers we are always held to a higher standard when it comes to personal ethics and morality, and rightly so. We have all been forced into a world of deer management, not just as a recreational sport but as an obligation, and because of this everyone of us find ourselves having to shoot more deer than we would normally do and for some it is more deer than what they would like.
Due to this we find ourselves in a world where we are looking to move away from traditional glass and stalk. The need for shorter stalks and long range shooting has become the norm, we are looking to push that extra hour in the morning and night to the max, and in doing so we are asking for the equipment to help. Thermal spotters in the pocket are normal now, before it was just us commercial forest managers that used them, digital Scopes with Night vision tech, even thermal Scopes are becoming a common sight on a recreational stalkers rifle these days.
The game is changing, the tech is NOT game changing.
But hey check out my videos, makes you think about what the future is .
ATB
DT
% agree new stalkers in my opinion are missing out on the pleasure of sitting spying and taking in the full experience, but NV and thermal do have a place, I only use them when I need to.
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