The Noxpix H75R and some musings from a Hog hunting trip to Oklahoma

"You can usually smell them when they are this close and you're downwind... Do you hear them?"

"Dinks?" Walter reflexively whispered, his aging mind confusing the tall wet grass, sticky night air, and rifle with a night vision scope brandished close to his chest for the countless nights he spent on point patrolling rice paddies in the Delta. On this night, it wasn't a M16 with a starlight scope; it was a Q Minifix with a Noveske prototype 300 Blackout barrel and Nocpix H75R thermal scope with a built-in rangefinder and ballistic calculator and he wasn't in Vietnam hoping to get the jump on a column of VC; he was in the rolling hills of southern Oklahoma looking for feral pigs.

"Oh, yes, of course—the hogs..." Walter corrected. "Yeah, I can hear them..."

"Yes, they are up against the fence line, moving right to left..."

Walter set his tripod down, found the leading pig, ranged the lead pig, waited for the red X calculating the drop for 200 yards to populate below the 50-yard zero, ranged again to confirm, settled the red X at the base of the skull, accounting for a little wind drift, and sent a 188-grain Discreet Ballistic Solos expander towards the pig at just over 1,000 FPS. A second later, Walter watched the pig drop through the 640-core thermal sensor paired with an OLED screen on the H75R.

"Shit, what I would have given to have one of these during TET... I could have stacked more VC than malaria..."

Recently, Walter and Donny headed down to Oklahoma to spend a few nights hunting with the boys from Iray USA. Walter was shooting a combination of hot loads and subs out of his prototype Noveske barrelled Minifix with the soon-to-be-released H75R, and Donny was slinging 6 ARC out of his DDF 14.5 Noveske with an Iray matte sitting in front of his day optic. Here are a few lessons learned:

Built-in laser rangefinders and ballistic calculators are paradigm-shifting tools when it comes to hunting at night, especially when shooting subsonic. Prior to Walter's trip to Oklahoma, he thought that subs were only for hunting at 100 yards and in. Now, after putting a half dozen pigs in the dirt at ranges from 100 to 270 yards and verifying the system on steel out to 600 yards, Walter will most likely exclusively bowl with subsonics while hunting at night. The advantage of the pigs not realizing the source of the squealing and subsequent follow-up shots at grazing pigs is substantial.

Shot placement is everything. Shoot a pig in the ear with 300 Blackout subs, and it will drop in its tracks. Shoot a pig with 6.5 Creedmoor in the liver, and it's gone. If a bowler wants to recover a pig, shoot it in the head—preferably at the base of the skull/spine area. Heart and lung shots won't put a pig down within 25 yards.

Donny loves the matte and day scope combo but wants to incorporate a rangefinder into his system—most likely on a diving board. He cleaned up on three pigs in the same sounder and got his first yote, all in the same night.

It's one thing to shoot a mover at 100 yards and in with a 6mm traveling in the mid two thousand FPS; it's a completely different ballgame shooting movers at a few hundred yards with subs. Through the thermal, the slow-moving solid copper projectiles arced in like illuminating mortars on the night of January 31st, 1968. Walter advises bowlers to save their ammo and only shoot stationary critters.

Walter has shot and owned a dozen thermals. In years past, these experiences left Walter wanting more. The optical quality has improved so much in recent years, with the image outpacing the engagement range of the system. The H75R is the first thermal that Walter has ever used that does exactly what he wants. The integrated rangefinder and ballistic calculator are incredibly useful. Even if a bowler doesn't want to shoot a critter at range, the ability to range helps immensely with identifying what an animal is. The ability to switch between zeros and ballistic profiles allowed Walter to swap mags and effortless shoot both subs and supers. If you range it, it is no dream!

Walter’s ideal night hunting rig: A Noveske Barreled Q Minifix, H75R, A mag of 188 Selous for Driscreet Ballistics and a Mag of hotloads, and a Silencerco Scythe STM.

The image on the H75R is truly impressive, and Walter wouldn't hesitate to zap critters out to 500 yards. It's a total package, and in the age of Moore's Law, tariffs, and the rapid development of thermal technology, Walter would happily buy and use this setup for three years. It's that good. The future is now!

Donny would like to remind bowlers that some new bumper stickers are available in the webstore.