A friend and i used to have a rat shoot on a farm many years ago. he bought a lamp that you couldve signalled Batman with and unsurprisingly unless we were quick, when the lamp went on, the rats would scarper.
He then purchased a red filter for it and the difference it made was amazing.
This was before NV was commonplace though so i think if the funds were available NV would probably be the most efficient method but then sometimes its the challenge thats the fun part. Unless of course you have a real vermin problem and ruthless efficiency is what you need.
As i said though i've never used NV so i can only go from what others say on that subject.
Good luck and enjoy your ratting!