Night hunting weapon choices?

[Bowhunter57]

When you're hunting at night, what's your choice of weapon?
Scoped Rifle?
Shotgun?
Handgun?
Other?

I'd like to hear your reasoning for your weapon choice.
Thank you, Bowhunter57

[Lawdog]

Doesn't matter if it's daytime or nighttime I use one of my scoped rifles.  Lawdog
 

[Jerry Lester]

I also use a scoped rifle. I have on occasion used a shotgun, but 99% of the time you'll catch me holding a scoped rifle on my night calling stands.

Open sights are a pain in the butt when trying to use a light at night time. Handguns put you at a major disadvantage, scoped or not at night. Shotguns work good, unless the animal hangs up slightly out of range, which is very common(for me anyway) at night.

The logical choice for my night hunting is a light weight scoped rifle. With good optics(lower powers), and duplex crosshairs, it's very easy to get on target quickly. It's also possible to actually view the animal instead of shooting at eyes, which allows you to identify the target. There's no quicker way to loose your hunting rights on a place than to accidently shoot the owners dog, or cat while after predators.

My rifles wear fixed 6x scopes. This power is just about a perfect compromise between enough power for longer ranges, and still low enough for good light gathering, which is a neccesity for night hunting.

[Feez]

Well you asked for a reason so here it is.
Shotgun - because I don't know what the heck I'm doing!  
Learned everything I know right here and a couple instructions that come with callers.  Every fox I've ever seen is on the move.  Usually running fast away from me.  The only ones I got were running straight for me or straight away.  The sounds must be ok because they do come in along with owls, house cats, etc.
But I have no idea how you make them stop, and there's no way I'd ever find them in a scope

[Jerry Lester]

Feez,

Sounds to me like they're either seeing you, or smelling you when they get within range.

Watch the wind, and don't let your light shine on you, or your equipment. Keep your light slightly above the fox(enough to see his eyes), and when he gets within range, drop the main beam directly on him. If you're not using a red lense, you need to get one, as it makes things go a lot smoother.

You also may be using too much volume when they get close. That'll spook a fox as well.

Hope that helps some?

[OrangeWing]

I have shot way over 1000 raccoons using a 10/22 with a scope all at night.  I use the Remington subsonic 38gr. hollow points. I have never had one get away yet.  Low noise & not too messy.