fact or fiction?

Just go buy night vision!! seriously though, I use white lights 99% of the time. Occasionally i will use a red lense for foxes, but the majority of the time I can tell no difference. I like being able to see what I'm shooting and white is the best way to do that,...unless you have night vision.
 
I have always believed no animal was color blind because their sight is so much sharper than ours. Just my opinion but weather they see certian lights is speculation at best, because until we can see throught their eyes we will only have opinions at best.
 
White lights can be seen for miles around in open farmland and that can lead to ranchers, nosey neighbors, and game wardens spoiling your hunt. Red lights are MUCH harder to see especially by game wardens in airplanes looking down for poachers.
 
I'm not trying to say anyones way is right or wrong, this is just what I believe from my own experiences using both red, & white light. I hunt public, & private land.

Intensity of the light is the main factor as others have already mentioned not the color used. If you have a very powerful red light (high intensity) it will scare animals at the same rate as a white light of equal intensity. If your red light is dimmed enough to not scare animals, then take the red filter off and reduce the white light so that the white intensity is equal to that of the light with the red filter on it, results should be similar with either setup. I believe the dimmer the light no matter the color is the key to avoid spooking animals. I keep mine so dim that I can't even tell that it's on unless I shine it on an object or the ground at about 30 yds or less, but believe me it will pick up eyes at great distances, & the animals never show any signs of spooking. When they get in close I brighten the intensity of the light just enough to identify & shoot, they do show signs of spooking as the lignt gets brighter, regardless of color.

Test out what I've said above by leashing your yard dog to something, so that he won't be able to follow you. Turn your light on him at about 30 yds, and dim your light down regardless of color so that you can barely make out the outline of his body. Now walk backwards, & see how far you can detect his eyes, it will amaze you when you get so far out that you can't even tell where your shining your light but, the dogs eyes will still light up like fire when you scan across them. Notice the position of your dimmer, & simply set it in that position when scanning, turn it up to identify & shoot. If you hunt open ground you may want your initial settings to be a little higher. If you will use your light like this regardless of color, all you'll have to worry about spooking the varmint is your scent.
 
As far as I'm concerned Todd and rockinbbar hit it on the head. When I started calling in 1964 no one in California that I knew of used a red lens and we all killed a bunch of critters. When I started we used a standard spotlight bulb with a reflector pan over the filament which eliminated the need for a hood on the light. Scanning for eyes was done with the halo of the light. When the eyes were spotted the shooter was alerted. The shooter set up for the shot by putting the crosshairs on the eyes and when he was ready he said, "Burn 'em." The main beam of the light was dropped on the critter at that point.

In later years I got a light made by Jim Dougherty's hunting partner, Ron Holdstock. The light had two bulbs. One for scanning for eyes and the other for the shot. The top light was for scanning and would only illuminate the eyes. It worked great and did not spook the animal. IMO a rheostat is an extremely valuable tool to have and my Lightforce has a great one.

I've tried the red lens thing but I have trouble picking up critters when the light isn't reflecting from their eyes so I leave it off. Lighting really isn't all that difficult to master.
 
As for the color thing, I can tell you from a very scientific source. Coyotes can distinguish some colors. We know most animals are color blind but they can tell colors by shades. It does not make any difference to them at all what color it is. They see a light. They are no more scared of white light than red or any other color but they are curious. A coyote can tell when a car is coming or going from the white or red tail lights. The movement of the light really needs to be monitored. If you know where your coyote will come from put the light up or down but do not move it and you will see more animals. I know this because I am almost totally color blind so I see what the coyotes sees and a white or red dim light off in the distance is ignored as long as it is steady. Burn them or move it a lot and you will get a reaction.
 
Originally Posted By: daddyfleaAs for the color thing, I can tell you from a very scientific source. Coyotes can distinguish some colors. We know most animals are color blind but they can tell colors by shades. It does not make any difference to them at all what color it is. They see a light. They are no more scared of white light than red or any other color but they are curious. A coyote can tell when a car is coming or going from the white or red tail lights. The movement of the light really needs to be monitored. If you know where your coyote will come from put the light up or down but do not move it and you will see more animals. I know this because I am almost totally color blind so I see what the coyotes sees and a white or red dim light off in the distance is ignored as long as it is steady. Burn them or move it a lot and you will get a reaction.

I can pretty much go along with most of what you said, but the part highlighted I ain't buying at all. They ain't quite that intelligent (yet).
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Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOGWhite lights can be seen for miles around in open farmland and that can lead to ranchers, nosey neighbors, and game wardens spoiling your hunt. Red lights are MUCH harder to see especially by game wardens in airplanes looking down for poachers.
Spoken like a true California predator caller
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Who makes a good 12 volt dimmer anyway? Grizz
 
Todd
I do not know much about what a predator sees and am not sure any one does. I hunted with a white light for a long time and still do a little. But the red lens lets you get away with more light mistakes like shinning a light on your partner or on a tree in front of you and reflecting back on you and just maybe is easy on the predators pupils for there night vision. If I were to try and kill the most in a night possible from hunting on the (ground) I would use a red lens. Experienced callers that can read a predator a little and are trying to get good video a white from above ground will help a lot in good footage and a lot of kills. But to the guy on the ground with a red lens his night vision is lost when the white light is turned off. A red lens lets a hunter pupils dilate correctly to see in the dark. A white light the hunters pupils dilate to the white light and hunters lose there night vision for a little when the light goes out. I’m not sure the white light does not cause some of the same problem to the predator. But hunters should hunt with what ever light they like, but I think a few amateur mistakes with a white light on the ground will cost some people a few predators. Also I have watched some or your TV shows and all good stuff for sure. Keep up the good work.
 
Over about a five year period, the ratio of animals that we called yet managed to get away has steadily decreased. It doesnt matter if you call hundreads of animals up every year if most of them are getting a pass. We have just about ran this topic into the ground, and it always seems to get into the same old argument. The color of your light makes absolutly no difference. The brightness and intensity of your spotlight, no matter what the color, be it red, blue, green, amber, or even purple is whats important. Too many guys think the reason their red lights work is because of the special "magic" behind that mystical red, when in fact they are simply just using a softer light making it easier for a predator to look at. Its that simple! For the open minded hunters on this site who are willing to experience an entire new world of night hunting, then giving the white light a try might be a great option for you. For the guy who have been successful year after year with their red lights who have no "need" to change anything then don't! I do understand that using a white light goes against everything that predator hunters have ever been tought, however I'll bet if you told the guy that invented the wheel that tires would be made of rubber one day instead of stone, he would probably laugh and say thats impossible and it won't work because stone is whats been successfully used for ever! I would probaly tell him, "rubber tires arent for everyone", lol!! If it works dont change a thing, if it dont then I guess you need to try something else.
 
I've been night hunting exactly 32 years. I've used amber and red. Still learning. Allways looking for an edge. I'm open to trying a white light. I'd still like to know who makes a good dimmer? Grizz
 
Grizz, we use a lightforce bps on all of our lights and they work really well. They will sometimes have a few issues from time to time, but for the most part they have been a huge asset to our success. The biggest advantage to the running your light on the dimmer reguardeless of the color is having complete control over your light. With filters it isnt as important, but attempting to use an unfiltered light it's a neccesity. You can get these dimmers from AP at all predator calls. The next video will have a complete and thorough segment on lights and the different tricks we have learned through what little experience we have in this sport. I dont take for granted and truly respect guys like yourself who have layed the groundwork for this sport so to speak, cause thats why the sport is what it is today. All of us, including myself are learning new things every year and thats what makes this such an incredible sport.
 
Why he11...I'll try anything to kill more vermin! Thanks for the info on the Night Force dimmer. Guys in the clubs out here in Ca have tried different reostats (spelling) in the past and there allways seemed to be issues. They never lasted long. I'm certain they have improved over the years. Grizz
 
A coyote can tell when a car is coming or going from the white or red tail lights.

What I meant by this is that a Coyote can tell the difference between the Lights in Front and the Lights in back. I am very color blind but I can easily tell the difference. Now if the Headlights were out and the Amber Lights in front were on, I can not tell if I am looking at the front Amber or the Red back of the car.

Believe me a Coyote call tell if the car is coming or going and he don't need the lights to tell him.
 
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