Red headlamp for walking in, in the dark?

[steeliedrew]

I have a clear cut I like to hunt and it's highly beneficial to walk in an hour before first light. sometimes deer bed over night in the cut. my question is, will using a red head lamp screw my chances of getting in mostly undetected? It's just too easy to snap twigs when you can't see anything. addicted2hunting found that out today when he was walking into his spot. He snapped a twig and he had two deer snort wheezing at him. he grunted at them and one circled down wind of him to try and figure out what he was. 

I'm going back in there soon and I'm thinking I could get to the ambush spot pretty easily with a red headlamp. Anyone have success with that?

[h20hunter]

Tagging this one.

[_TONY_]

Never liked walking with the red light setting on my head lamps... I've just used my regular head lamp and tried to get setup an soon as possible.

[Heredoggydoggy]

According to articles I've read on animal vision, colored lenses on a light only reduces the intensity of the light.  They can still see it.  Another article was about some hunters that found that red or green light was making videotaping night hunts hard, so they went to white lights and saw NO DIFFERENCE in the behavior of the animals.  My personal experience with lights is limited, but in general, I've found that lights arouse an animal's curiosity and attract them, if anything. 

[steeliedrew]

oh hey Tony, didn't know you were on this forum. I don't really have a problem seeing with the red light setting but I'm just trying to figure out if the deer can actually pick up on what's going on? Can they see the red light? I'm not so worried about the deer that may already be bedded in the cut that I may jump.  My main concern is deer that may already be making their way towards my spot and could choose to go elsewhere if they saw something.

[MLHSN]

Could get an army surplus gortex bivy bag off of ebay for $20.  with a cold weather bag go in before dark the night before and crash.  You could be sitting right there come morning...

My experience walking in the dark is that I have to go at least 30 min. with complete darkness for my eyes to adjust.   If you get out of your truck and expect your eyes to adjust completely after 5 minutes, it's not going to work.  Have you ever slept under the stars in the backcountry? Ever notice how you fall asleep and can't see past your flashlight beam but wake up in the middle of the night and can see pretty well?  Your eyes do adjust quite a bit in the first 5 min. but I think it takes 30-60 min. to get fine-tuned.  Just my  , YMMV.  In the Army I always had to use red light.  A human can see red light quite a bit less far away then white.  I spent a lot of time looking at maps with my hands shielding a red light.  Not so much fun, especially if you write on your map with colored  alcohol markers.

[JimmyHoffa]

Red is better in terms of counter detection.  Red has higher frequency/shorter wavelength, it will attenuate faster. 

[_TONY_]

oh hey Tony, didn't know you were on this forum. I don't really have a problem seeing with the red light setting but I'm just trying to figure out if the deer can actually pick up on what's going on? Can they see the red light? I'm not so worried about the deer that may already be bedded in the cut that I may jump.  My main concern is deer that may already be making their way towards my spot and could choose to go elsewhere if they saw something.

Hey, man... If you do quik scans with your lamp as you're walking in and you happen to be un lucky and light something up just kill your lamp, sit down, and listen... Most times they won't know what to think and just keep coming in.

[crazysccrmd]

To a deer any source of light when it's dark will attract attention. Try using red chem lights with most of it taped over. Tie/zip tie it on top of your boots with the overhanging sides having exposed light on the bottom. This will give you enough light to see where your foot is coming down as long as you're moving slowly but not broadcast it everywhere you move your head like a headlamp would.

[Heredoggydoggy]

I just got a blue lens cover for my flashlight.  2 reasons:  1, I'm told that blue is good for following a blood trail in the dark.  2, Back in 1966 there was an espionage TV show called "Blue Light", the reason being that a blue light beam couldn't be seen from the side, and was used by spies for that reason.  (My devious mind liked that!  )

[MadHatter]

I use red because it preserves my night vision, so if I turn on my lamp I can still see in the dark. 5 years of working on ships gets you pretty used to doing things in different colored lights... Used red on the bridge, blue below deck and green on the mess deck... You should see scrambled eggs under green light... Looks nasty...

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[crazysccrmd]

You should see scrambled eggs under green light... Looks nasty...

The light doesn't matter - military eggs even look gross in the dark

[deaner]

not hard to find headlamps that offer red green and white light.  and yeah, the red or green will not damage your night vision as much as a bright white. also it will draw less attention from road hunters that might be driving by where youre hiking in to hunt.   better safe than sorry i say, go for the dim colored lights

[MIKEXRAY]

My red light setting is not bright enough to walk in.  I use the half setting white ,  I don't scan around but keep looking down and walking to my stand.  I get there quicker instead of taking time / trying to be quiet. I also get there an hour early and I think an hour of quiet time is plenty for them to quiet down. I also think it depends on where you hunt. Where I hunt there are tons of hikers / campers and the deer & elk seem more acceptable to seeing people moving around. If I was hunting a deserted farm / private property no one visits, I would be a lot more careful as someone walking around would be much more foreign to the animals. Mike

[colockumelk]

Here is what Amy Aviation says about seeing in the dark. 
DARK ADAPTATION: The process by which the eyes become more sensitive to low levels of light. 

Basically you have three types of vision. Photopic, Mesopic, and Scotopic.  Photopic is what you use during the day.  It uses cones to see color.  Mesopic is like during the dawn dusk or full moon and uses cones and rods to see.  Scotopic is during the night and uses rods which produce rhodpsin to see.  During the day or with bright lights your rods don't work because the light bleaches out the rhodpsin. 

So this is how the dark adaptation process works.  You jump out of your truck at 5 AM on a moonless night.  Since you have been starring at your headlights and the dome light while getting ready as soon as you step into the dark you are blind.  Because your rhodpsin is bleached out and innoperable and your cones only see color.  Now since its dark out the rhodopsin slowely starts to come back in which is why you can slowely start to see better. 

The Dark Adaptation process takes 30-45 minutes before you become fully desensitized to light.  That being said using a red lense light is still going to take 30-45 minutes to fully become dark adapted.  Where the benefits of a red lenses comes in is this.  If you are fully de-sensitized and you turn on a bright white light it will take you up to 30 minutes to re-dark adapt.  But a red lenses light will only require up to 5 minutes. 

In short your initial walk in you won't really gain much in the amount of time it takes to get dark adapted.  But once you are dark adapted a red lense light requires a much shorter time than a white one to re-dark adapt. 

Now as far as walking out in the dark after sitting all day.  If you are exposed to sunlight for 2-5 hours your rhodopsin will be so bleached out that it will take up to 5 hours to reach your max level of dark adaptation.  Wearing sunglasses can prevent your rods from getting super bleached out.

[Broken Arrow]

This is an intresting post to follow. I was of that mindset...using a red light to get into my areas several years ago. Then one trip I somehow misplaced my light and had to go in with out any illumination. Here is what i learned. Going in with out a light, makes you SLOW WAY down....similar to the same speed or maybe even slower when i spot and stalk. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and what i couldn't see i felt. if that makes any sense. I was much more aware of my footing and sound in the darkness. Today I never use a light on the way in. I do however on the way out, though that's because i know I'll have now shot opportunities in the hours to come and usually I'm tired and just want to get out where stealth is not high on my priorities.

[deaner]

okay then one more thought on this.  when i was at the taxidermist in november another guy came in with a male cougar.  he said he was walking in just before light with his green headlamp on.  he turned around to see a cat in his green light 5 feet behind him.  if he hadnt had the headlamp on......

[TriggerHappy]

I have had a cougar in the head lamp before. quite a thrilling couple of moments especially when the cougar blinks its eyes. i wasn't able to kill mine but for this reason i always use a white head lamp to get to into my area, then work my way into where i hunt at first light or in complete darkness. I guess it also depends if your starting out 4 or 5 miles away or just parking your truck and heading out into a clearcut.

[MadHatter]

Funny thing is that I left the house opening morning for deer season with my red headlamp going, as soon as I turned around I saw two red eyes staring back at me about 20yds away. Turned out to be my 2012 buck. But I will say the red light didn't spook him one bit. He looked up, saw me and kept eating... I actually had to chase him off so the round passing through didn't hit my car or shop... I am sure I looked hilarious opening morning yelling and waving my arms as a buck.

But the red light didn't even seem to phase the deer... It also helped me to not destroy my night vision when I clicked my lamp off to see through my scope in the low light for the shot.

Probably sent while sitting on the ferry... While using Tapatalk 2

[JackOfAllTrades]

For reasons that Colockum spelled out, yes, the red light is better for 'your' vision recovery as dawn progresses. But as others have stated, the deer don't care. You're likely busted by the noise and the wind at night just as fast as during daylight. If you want a chance at some better night vision, as soon as you wake up, put an eye patch over your dominant eye. When you get to the trail or even part way through, using your red light, you'll be able to see much better when you uncover the eye.
 
Warning-  You'll have to manage your balance and depth perception when walking the trail/driving a bit more in earnest when your eye is covered.
 
Me?  I use my white light on low or nearly no light at all well before I need to be on stand. By the time dawn comes around, my eyes are recovered pretty well.
 
-Steve

[WSU]

I don't use a light.  Your eyes adjust to the point where you can see where you are going unless it is really dark.  On the average night you can see plenty.