IR laser is the last thing I have yet to purchase.....but have some home renovations coming up....can I get by on the cheap with a 100 dollar red/green laser?

Not to sure but they dont run from red lights so id imagine a red laser wouldn't be any diff.

Hogs are more likely to see the source of the laser than where the laser is hitting.  The same is true for other light sources.  I've always set up with a mounted light that has a red filter turn the light on while pointing the light away from the target then bring the light over and blammo....

Don't use a green laser if you are talking about with a night vision scope.

A standard low power red with a piece of exposed camera negative or a slice of old school floppy diskette over the aperture will dim it down considerably through the night vision. Add layers till its the correct brightness and you are set. I used this to method to kill hundreds of rats before i got a IR laser.

No Ir laser needed.

Brent

well that's awesome advice.  Is it possible to still see the illumination out to 200 yards?  Also, for what you described I could use one of the "beamshot" or "lasershot" set ups where the laser is a tube mounted on the rail...

Yep this works with any red laser. I didn't have good results with green, YMMV.

If you are really handy, you can hack into the pressure pad and insert a potentiometer for a brightness control.

If you cant find any 35mm film negative (the black exposed pieces) or diskette, a piece of x-ray film works as well and offers different degrees of darkness to play with. It will take some experimentation to get it just right.  Also what may work perfect at 200 yds may be too bright up close.


I went to the hardware store and found small rubber caps that fit over the end of my laser nice and snug, and drilled a hole in that. Then i cut a bunch of small disk sized pieces of negative. I put one layer in one cap, two layers in the next cap etc. The cap keeps the film pressed against the aperture.   It works pretty darn well if you don't wanna spend a ton of cash.  Keep in mind most cheap lasers don't hold zero for shit on anything but rimfire, and i finally gave in and bought a real IR unit.

As always be careful using lasers and night vision, even a low power laser can burn a spot if left on for very long, and even faster up close or point blank. Think economy. Have fun!


Brent

I threw a green ND3 on a small group from about 100 yards and they ran immediately.  I was told that animals couldn't see the red color but others they could recognize as something not natural. I'm going to try it again soon to see if I can improve on utitlizing it.