Am i daft??

[Scotty99]

Put a thermal on your wish list for later on, not on your need to have list for now. Given you are just starting out use your natural eyesight backed up with binos and concentrate on developing field craft. Use the wind, learn to walk quietly, stop often and scan look and listen. Condition your eyes to pick up movement even the flick of an ear or tail in the cover. Get a good knife that will hold its edge and you are pretty much sorted with what you have got.

 

[Sol]

Friend is very anti-thermal however I find the idea (and when I previously utilized them) at differing properties incredibly useful.
Its down too how you treat them logically you can use them too see every deer and shoot them, or you can utilize them for the great management tool they can be.

Like I'll say it myself at the moment or ground whilst the population is fine there's no real inherent sense in what age classes are shot, Its just whatever deer Is seen and Is close by Is shot where a thermal would probably give us significantly more close range opportunities we otherwise dont see, If your driving for deer too you can peep your head out the window and look ahead instead of reliant on being inline with the vehicle the time you spot them.

Riding around as a back seat passenger spotting with the thermal for foxing even though some estates can have absolutely awful ground and I'm bumping up and down 24/7 I was able too still pick up foxes where deer in daytime with binos I really struggle, saying that I did manage too see one 300+ yards out last night but that's an abnormality.

 

[TheOldTool]

There is a real thrill in finding your deer and stalking in to where you are up close. The word pertaining to what we know as a 'thermal' wasn't invented back then. Great day,left him alone and found a much bigger black buck that came home with me.
I would have a free thermal btw.

View attachment 468044

That's a stunner.......

 

[GBR66]

Never even considered colour blind, that must make it tough!!

Reddish, brown deer don't "pop out" against green background for me, the odd thing is once you have spotted them you can keep on spotting them. Genuinely weird!

 

[Ratel]

Being ancient I still don't posess one, too much money for the short period of life left.
Having said that I shot for years with iron sights 60+ years ago, made you stalk better. I have two young chaps help me one has a spotter the other doesn't, mind you he has eyes like a Sh..house rat. I don't like looking through the things so no thankyou, but try one and see what you think then start saving your pennies.

 

[TringSaint]

Don’t ever try one then

I have and I find it tips the balance too much in my favour to make it a fair stalk.
I kill deer on every outing so why buy a thermal??

 

[Dazb1967]

As a new Stalker, there is so much bloody kit to go at!!
with an unlimited bank balance it would be great.
But looking at the essentials, ive a Knife, Rifle (243 Tikka T3), decent scope, Mod, sling, sticks, Binoculars, and recent purchase. a range finder.

I am however holding back on a piece of kit that many on here would now seem essential, Main reason being, i want to learn as much as i can about deer and take the odd one as i go.

As you may have guessed im missing a Thermal. My above question (am i daft) is aimed at avoiding one for the time being as i do see that nearly every single video i watch, or person i speak to mentions they have and use one.
Verdicts welcome.

Time moves on, A long time ago it was Bow and Arrow or a spear, Then a gun then a gun with a scope and now there's a thermal.
I travel a long way and pay quite a bit money for my stalking, I don't sell the deer I eat everything I shoot so I will use whatever method to get me a deer and that is literally all it is one deer, even the thermal doesn't guarantee you one but it certainly helps you spot things that you would never see with binoculars alone if a deer is just inside the tree line or bedded down

 

[Dazb1967]

The fact that there are so many mice up trees is the first thing that surprised me when I started using thermal.
As you say, fascinating!

Also the squirrels, Whilst out foxing it's surprising the amount of Squirrels still out feeding through the night and the amount of mice feeding in the hedgerows is unreal

 

[Bowland blades]

As a new Stalker, there is so much bloody kit to go at!!
with an unlimited bank balance it would be great.
But looking at the essentials, ive a Knife, Rifle (243 Tikka T3), decent scope, Mod, sling, sticks, Binoculars, and recent purchase. a range finder.

I am however holding back on a piece of kit that many on here would now seem essential, Main reason being, i want to learn as much as i can about deer and take the odd one as i go.

As you may have guessed im missing a Thermal. My above question (am i daft) is aimed at avoiding one for the time being as i do see that nearly every single video i watch, or person i speak to mentions they have and use one.
Verdicts welcome.

Dont bother with the thermal just yet , instead get into using the binos you have ( learn to stalk well first ) too many folks are walking around with a thermal glued to their eye ! Yeah i have a thermal they are very good but its very easy to miss out parts of the learning chain. I only recently got a thermal after many , many years stalking .
I am currently learning how to best employ the thermal by trail and error, to be fair they have only just got going , however i feel the big risk is missing out the all the other skills that skilled stalkers have been doing for a heck of a long time

 

[NoIDeer]

Get the thermal if you want but most importantly learn to look, use the thermal to give you a clue where to look.
Don't just use it to find your quarry, as written above you'll get to see loads of animal behaviours you hadn't got a clue were happening.

I reckon the thermal gets me 20% more deer than without but the best bit is walking and stalking is just as effective as waiting in a hide or high seat.

 

[dryan]

You don’t need a thermal. Mine was in for repair earlier this year and I shot just as many deer without it, that said it involved more work glassing which was quite enjoyable, like I did for decades before thermals.

 

[jammygunner]

Not an essential deer stalking tool and you would happily get by without one. Look through or use for a while and you will want one!

 

[Devon Stalker]

Try to avoid for as long as possible, you will
Get more satisfaction from using binoculars and you will be slower moving though the woods, so will see and learn more.

I did get one in the end. I was the last of our group. You do start to depend on them to much. If I do forget it , you feel lost without it. But soon realise the fun of using glass again.

What Jon said. My thermal ran out of batteries the other day and it was nice to go back to a slower pace for an evening. Thermal makes a big difference if you have a cull target and need to hit it. But as Jon says, when starting out far better to take it easy and learn lots about deer behaviour along the way. That will set you up well for the future.

 

[Dazb1967]

I use my binoculars on a daily basis whilst out walking and very often come across deer on hedgerows etc and manage to stalk up to them to watch them, You don't need to be out with a gun over your shoulder to learn how to stalk and watch their habits and this public land is accessible to everyone.
Couple of questions for the OP, are you paying for you're stalking and do you travel, If you do then use whatever necessary to help you because it can be a very expensive hobby, If you don't travel or pay then crack on with the kit you have because it can also be quite a cheap hobby once you have the kit and have no other outlay.
Just go out there with your binoculars and admire the countryside and learn even without a gun, I learnt the hard way and stalked rabbits with an air rifle or 410 way before I got into deer stalking and before thermal came along

 

[HonestJohn]

As a new Stalker, there is so much bloody kit to go at!!
with an unlimited bank balance it would be great.
But looking at the essentials, ive a Knife, Rifle (243 Tikka T3), decent scope, Mod, sling, sticks, Binoculars, and recent purchase. a range finder.

I am however holding back on a piece of kit that many on here would now seem essential, Main reason being, i want to learn as much as i can about deer and take the odd one as i go.

As you may have guessed im missing a Thermal. My above question (am i daft) is aimed at avoiding one for the time being as i do see that nearly every single video i watch, or person i speak to mentions they have and use one.
Verdicts welcome.

Thermal - waste of time and money unless you are desperate to shoot deer, or under obligation to reduce deer population. Then, it can be helpful..but it will reduce your enjoyment and skill sets of fieldcraft.

To enjoy recreational stalking, binoculars, a rifle that shoots where you point it, a knife, is all you need.

 

[Dazb1967]

Thermal - waste of time and money unless you are desperate to shoot deer, or under obligation to reduce deer population. Then, it can be helpful..but it will reduce your enjoyment and skill sets of fieldcraft.

To enjoy recreational stalking, binoculars, a rifle that shoots where you point it, a knife, is all you need.

Surely the whole Idea of going stalking with a gun over your shoulder Is to get a deer, Otherwise as I said above you can still go out with a pair of bins and watch and learn about deer and other wildlife without pulling the trigger.

 

[Deerhunter22]

Honestly if you have good ground with deer it’s a pointless tool I think, there’s a lot of fun in just glassing for deer n spotting it normally.

The thermals are ideal if a jobs to be done I.e management
But once you go to thermal you’ll struggle to give it up, you do certainly spot a lot more

 

[Jimbo99]

Whilst I use a hand held thermal spotter and it comes into its own when stalking in woodland when spotting deer can be really hard, I have also had some of my most enjoyable days when Ive left it behind! Stalking without a thermal forces you to slow things down which is seldom a bad thing in my experience

 

[Dan Newcombe]

Deer stalkers managed fine for many years without thermal. Don't see them as an essential piece of kit, only an aid. You'll be fine.

Deer populations suggest that we haven’t been doing a great job for quite a long time

 

[sillbeam]

Deer populations suggest that we haven’t been doing a great job for quite a long time

Maybe you.
It also depends how you view deer, are they trophies, a source of income from meat , or pests.