- At North American Whitetail,
we talk a lot about habitat management and herd
or population management.
And these are both important
and vital to having a healthy, thriving deer herd.
But you can have a quality whitetail population without
practicing another realm of whitetail management,
and that is predator management.
Coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears,
and even wolves in some locations are all
predators on whitetails.
- So I'm a hunter, but I'm also a farmer.
I have livestock chickens,
and so one
of my main concerns is predators and environments.
Everything from coyotes to raccoons,
getting into my chicken house and eating all the eggs.
So I do a lot of different things to manage those predators.
And one of those things is hunting at night,
especially against coyotes that are really smart.
They, for one thing,
they get very nocturnal if they're pressured at all.
And also they get very brave at night.
They're not quite as cautious at
night 'cause they own the night.
- The coyote is most effective at killing white tails
and eating white tails around the fawn drop.
This occurs in most regions from May throughout June,
and obviously it varies a little bit
depending on where you are.
So if you want to be effective
and actually have a positive impact on your white tail herd
by managing coyotes, you should hunt them in the weeks
and months leading up to the fond drop.
One of the most popular
and effective tactics
for managing coyotes is hunting at night
with thermal optics.
And if you're looking for a high quality thermal optic
to use to hunt coyotes on your farm site,
mark's RTH mini thermal Riflescope is a great one
for whitetail hunters to use.
The RTH mini thermal is lightweight
and compact, meaning it's not gonna be a burden for you
to lug around your farm at night when
you're looking for coyotes.
One incredible feature about the rathe mini thermal
riflescope is the lin red sensor
with 1400 yard detection range,
which is gonna satisfy almost any encounter you're
gonna have with a predator.
It has three and a half hours of battery life on video mode,
and it has over four hours of battery life on preview mode.
So whether you're out there filming
or just looking through the optic, it is gonna have plenty
of battery life for you.
And that far detection range means you're gonna be able
to see any predator
that is within your accurate shooting range.
- One of the challenges with hunting at night is really
understanding the depth and how far that target is away.
There's no visual clues for you at night.
You can see that animal in your thermal,
but you might not be able to see other visual cues
that let you know how far the distance is.
Your depth of field's kind of taken
away when you're hunting at night.
So one thing that I've found
that really helps is using a thermal
that has a built-in laser range finder.
One thermal optic I've used in the past
and I've really enjoyed using
because of that laser range finding capability is the Pulsar
Thermon two LRF XL 50.
One thing I really like about
that Pulsar Thermon is the imaging quality is great.
It also has a picture in picture function that you can see
that actually gets you more accurately on target.
And also that laser range finding capability.
I can figure out the range of that target
and make that accurate shot.
So the Pulsar Thermon two is really user friendly
because it's user selectable.
You can pick through a number
of different verticals which you like.
You can look at color temperatures of what that target wants
to be, whether you want a black image
or you want a red image to show the heat signature.
If you really wanna extend your season
and have a good time,
I would suggest trying hunting at night.
Get yourself a good thermal optic.
It's so much fun and it's a great way to control predators
and help the wildlife populations in your area.
- So when you're out on your property this hunting season,
this fall in your're pursuing white tails,
keep an eye on your trail cameras.
Keep count of how many coyotes you see on your property
during your hunting excursions,
and keep all of that at top of mind leading
to next fawning season.
That way in January, February, March,
and even into April,
you can focus on properly managing the coyote population in
your area for the benefit of your white tail herd.