Night Hogs Feel Sightmark’s Wraith Mini Thermal

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I used to think that thermal optics were something that only the military had access to and that hunting in the dark was reserved for spotlighting poachers. Then I learned about Sightmark’s Wraith Mini Thermal and the feral hog infestation in Texas.

It wasn’t that long ago when thermal optics were prohibitively expensive, relegating them to the realm of fancy toys for the wealthy. While it’s still true that you can spend more on a thermal scope than most people spend on their first car, Sightmark has changed all of that with the Wraith Mini Thermal.

I’ll admit that I was skeptical at first. First off, the unit itself is pretty compact. A lot of other thermal optics are considerably larger. How much technology could you really fit into such a small footprint? Then there’s the price. At just under $1,500, I thought this was going to be a case of “you get what you pay for.” I was wrong on both counts.

In the interest of absolute transparency, Sellmark (the parent company of Sightmark) invited me out to their ranch in Texas with one of the specific goals being to put the Wraith Mini Thermal to the test. After trying it out for myself, I own one—and I paid for it with my own money; no industry freebies here.

Before heading out into the field, we took some time on the range that afternoon to get familiar with all of the features that the Wraith Mini Thermal has to offer. You may be wondering how a thermal optic can be used during the day, but it's important to remember that these units operate based on temperature differences. Just because it’s light out doesn’t mean that things are all one temperature. You can still use this optic to shoot during the day and get a good thermal sight picture.

For this particular hunt, the Wraith Mini Thermal was mounted atop a Modern Outfitters MC6 carbine chambered in 6.8 SPC loaded with Hornady’s 120-grain SST bullets. Getting everything dialed in was super easy. The digital display in the unit has an easy-to-follow menu that makes establishing your zero foolproof. Shoot a round or two and then move the digital crosshairs to your point of impact. That’s it. As an added bonus, you can save up to five different weapon profiles in the scope, which allows you to easily switch between rifles while maintaining zero. 

Weighing just over 19 ounces and measuring 6.6 x 3 x 2.9 inches, the Wraith Mini Thermal can be easily mounted on any rifle in any caliber up to .308 Winchester. Unlike other scopes that use separate rings for mounting, this one has a built-in Picatinny rail mount. So long as you’ve got a section of rail, you can mount it on your gun. That has made the Mini Thermal super popular on AR rifles. It’s what I used at the Sellmark Ranch and what I use with my personal thermal optic.

Powered by two CR123A batteries, you can get more than four hours out of the scope in normal preview mode. If filming video—yep, you can capture your hunt with a micro-SD card—you’ll get about three and a half hours out of the batteries. For most people, that’s plenty of runtime. If you expect to be in the field for a lot longer or simply don’t want to mess with battery changes, you can get a mini QD battery pack that mounts to a rail and plugs into the Wraith Mini Thermal via USB. With a fully charged battery pack, you can expect to get 12 or more hours before needing to charge the pack. If you run it down to empty, then you can switch back to battery mode and get even more time in the field.

Once set up in a blind with the sun tucked into bed for the night, I raised my hand to my face and couldn’t tell how many fingers were in front of me. Getting situated behind the rifle, which was locked into a tripod, my eyes adjusted to the Wraith Mini Thermal’s display and the whole world was visible once again. Since I had arrived at the blind during daylight, I knew exactly what I was seeing in the dark. There was absolutely no confusion or disorientation; I knew what trees, rocks, feeders, and trails were around my setup. I could see each one in perfect detail thanks to their differing heat signatures.

There are five different color palettes to choose from. My personal preference is for the white-hot setting. I found it to be the least taxing on my eyes and the easiest to readjust back to the darkness when not using the optic.

With a detection range of 1,400 yards, you can pick up a heat signature at some serious distance with this bad boy. Using the 2-16x digital zoom, I could easily pinpoint a heat signature and then zoom in to see what was making it. At 300 yards, I could differentiate between feral hogs, coyotes, and armadillos. Inside of 100 yards, you could see the heat distinction between a whitetail deer’s head and its antlers in perfect definition.

When the hogs finally started making their way to the feeders, I heard them before I saw them. Then, with the Wraith Mini Thermal up to my eye, I could see their heat signatures moving through the woods. It was wild to see the heat differentiation between not only the trees and vegetation and the hogs but also between the different-sized hogs.

Knowing that my optic was perfectly zeroed, I had no problem bringing down the first hog. As the night wore on, I also took out two others in different spots. Each time, I knew exactly what I was looking at and was able to place my shots precisely where I wanted them thanks to the Wraith Mini Thermal. The world was nice and bright in that display, confirming each time that the hogs were down. Then, when I sat back from the gun, the world went back to black and I couldn’t see anything with the naked eye.

It was pretty darn cool getting to hunt in the dark, knowing that I was doing so safely thanks to the Sightmark Wraith Mini Thermal. Since I ended up buying one, I’ve used it multiple times on friends’ properties to help with predator control. Every time someone new looks through it for the first time, they always come away with a huge smile on their face. Heck, I still do, too.

Generally speaking, sighting in a thermal optic is no different than any other type of optic. If you’ve ever gone through this process with a traditional scope or a red dot, then you can do this. Even if you haven’t, though, you can still do this!

You’re going to shoot a few rounds, see where they land, and then adjust your point of aim so that it meets up with your point of impact. With the Wraith Mini Thermal, you do this by keeping the crosshair on the point of aim (the center of the target) and use the arrows in your display to move the red adjustment reticle to the bullet hole or the center of the grouping of bullet holes if you took multiple shots. That’s all it takes.

If you’ve got concerns about being able to see the target properly and want better heat signature differentiation, there are a few ways you can do this. One is to get a disposable hand warmer and staple or tape it to the center of your target. That will provide an immediate heat signature for you to aim at. This works for both indoor and outdoor shooting situations.

No hand warmer and working on an outdoor range? No problem; head to the kitchen. Take out your roll of aluminum foil and cut two, 2-inch-wide strips that are each long enough to make crosshairs on your target. With your foil crosshairs on the target, place it downrange and give it a few minutes for the sun to warm up the foil. Once it has absorbed some heat, you’ll be able to easily see the foil heat signature juxtaposed against your backing target and you will have something easy to spot and aim for.

Regardless of which method you choose, the process is the same. Shoot a few shots, see where they land, adjust the optic, and shoot to confirm.