Blr243 wrote:Thanks for the help Re link posting. I thought someone would kick in with that. Helpful friendly bunch that u are. Now back to my red light thingy; There’s mention in that article that mammals can’t see red because it’s completely out of the range of wavelength that they can see ....remember those headlights that are mostly white but there’s a button and u get a faint red glow.? And they are useless when walking so I got a stronger specifically red beam as my main walk light ....first thing I noticed was the response from my leashed dog that normally walks 6 feet in front of me .... he absolutely hated walking in it’s broad beam even though it was shining on his back as he was walking fwd in the same direction as me. I fought and argued with him for about half hour before he got used to it. Perhaps it was casting some freaky shadows. Another time when we’re camped in the dark beside my Ute I thought I wanted to see what the light looks like from another’s POV so I sat the red head torch on top of my Ute and walked about 30 metres away then swung around and walked back to my Ute. But on my return my dog started growling at me as if I were an intruder. So he obviously saw the red beam on top of my Ute and thought it was me there standing still. He’s very used to seeing that light on my head because we go everywhere with it. So this is real life info that is contrary to the science article Tuesday night I will be in the pig paddock s for a week so I will do some more real life testing. After a couple of nights I might have it worked out.
Hey BLR...
Im not a big believer in what "science", or "the experts" say about different coloured filters for spotlighting either...
Most of my shooting is done under light--i just love spotlighting--& i shoot a big property in the Mallee here in SA that is frequented all too often by poachers (3 or 4 fuk heads, of which (going by sound) have a 222/223 and a 12Ga off the back of a ute blasting what they can irrelevant of being able to make the shots or not) & the bunny's & foxes are very well educated to what a light means.
Ive been on properties where ive had to pull up 200 yds away from known bunny & fox hot spots, & look through bino's/range finder to see them getting a little titchy, but ANY coloured filter, or ANY distance away from said vermin on this big property i have access to, makes no difference what so ever...they know light period...!!...white (orange/halogen), red...or green...makes no difference at all...as soon as light hits them they are off...!
I have to pull up as far away as possibe, & ease the light on to them...eventually they get used to it & the bunnys will come back out to play...
I have tested it many times where i can walk up to bunnys (within 60 yds) & as soon as i switch on even a red light they ping out of the paddock like a subsonic 22 off a lump of limestone...!!
The one thing i have found though, is that i get the best results with the green filter...whilst i think foxes are a little more edgy with a green vs a red, they are certainly more placid with green than white (halogen), but most importantly the green has much more penetration than red...
What i mean is, for example, shooting a cattle property where calves are kept in closer proximity to house, ive whistled in foxes under red & not been able to shoot them as close as 90 yds away due to not being able to identify them in long thick grass as not being a calf laying down...but can identify & shoot them in the same spot at 180 yds with a green...
Green filter seems to penetrate deeper into stubble/grass, giving me the best over-all 'shot rate' if you will on game...
Sure, red light reflects eyes at great distances, & the pink eyes of a bunny are a dead give-away under halogen, but for us genuine blokes that go the extra mile to do the right thing & pass up a shot for fear of knocking over the loose farm dog/sheep/calf/stud/steer etc etc...i now just use green...
I was talking to a guy recently who was telling me he took an experienced shooter out & he had a crack at a fox under red filtered light--said he was a great shot as he hit it between the eyes at 150 yds...when they got out to it, it was a young Fallow Spiker...
(..yea he's a great shot-
-cant tell a fox from a deer laying on dirt at 150...
)
With all due respect to "science", & the people who do these tests in a laboratory with somewhat 'domesticated' animals under completely controlled conditions, im a big fan of utilising my own acute observational awareness of the behaviour of what i hunt...
And as you've already been told by your good mate Diesel...animals can see red, or at the very least, are very aware of surroundings being illuminated when a 'red' light is turned on..at the very least, they are aware something is different...
Im a believer, that the reaction of our prey under light is more reflective of how they are normally predated, along with their mood at the time, rather than the colour of the light we use.
A prime example of this is with fox whistles...i think to say a fox cant see a red light is just as naive as saying a fox will always come to a 'tenterfield' whistle...
I will say though...a red light when climbing in the swag on one of those insect swarming nights is a must for getting to sleep without being gang-raped by 2167 different species of flying crawlies...!!
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...