Hiking in by flashlight...

[cvandervort]

Okay, I do not have cat vision, so I usually hike by flashlight when I am trying to get into a spot first thing in the morning.
My question for any amateur biologists out there: if deer are nocturnal, wouldn't hiking by flashlight spook them? If so, would a different colored lense (red/orange) be any better?

[ICEMAN]

Well, even in darkness, you can't just walk right up to them without spooking them.... Less light is better, but...

I usually hike in with a headlamp, low setting aimed low just in front of my feet.

[snowpack]

If you get a clip on head lamp and put it on your belt, it will show trails better...casts shadows and such.  Kind of like tracking at morning/evening vs noon.

[TheHunt]

Make sure it is red or green light.  That will help some.. Keep the light on the ground.  Light is light when it if flashed in anyone's or any deer's eyes...

[wildmanoutdoors]

I still move very slowly. You never know were they will be.

[Skillet]

I'll only use a light if I absolutely need to.  Much rather stumble a little in the dark than signal to all the deer/elk in the area that I'm coming for them. 

Walked right up on a spike elk a few years ago in the moonlight under the trees.  He probably thought I was just another elk or something on the trail.  He just meandered off when he was done staring at me.  Wouldn't have happened with a light of any kind...

[cvandervort]

Yeah, I spooked an elk (I think...sounded like a horse) last year hiking in at 430am. I figured it PROBABLY had something to do with both of us peering around with our LED lamps. We stopped on the trail, it thundered off through the brush.

[huntnnw]

OUR eyes are bad in the dark..people make the mistake that animals have issues seeing at night like us humans...they would all be dead if they saw like we do by predators. They say ungulates with a little moon can see better than a human in the daylight! I beleive it I have messed with deer in treestands in the dark and they pick up movement just the same at night or day.

 I hike in with headlamps, 90% of my hiking is not in elk country or where i am hunting. With my track record of running into bears, moose and cougars I have a light on and the biggest reason I where my head lamp now is porcupines!! I have almost stepped on them not wearing a light

[KopperBuck]

I rode out of the mountains last night for almost 2 hours. Lucky for me my horses see in the dark. I tried it with a headlamp once, did not go well. Too many dancing shadows, so now I just turn em loose.

[Ridgeratt]

Go find yourself a flash lite that has a Red lite and use it.

The Navy has rigged for RED at night so it must have some reason.

Even my fishing boat has Red lights for nite fishing.   

 

I also think that the color spectrum won't let animals see the red so it doesn't effect them.

[Skyvalhunter]

If you are in the area at dark where you know the deer are it's better to hold off till it starts getting light. Saw many a guy go into an area on the trail with the wind direction wrong jump the elk and that was the last they saw of them.

[Mudman]

Hats off to you night Walkers.  I use a headlamp and 4 cell maglight!  I don't trust cats. They follow people. 

[Okanagan]

Have hiked up a trail in the dark many many times to be at an optimum hunting spot by or before shooting light, and killed game within minutes of legal light sometimes.  If done well, plusses outweigh negatives.

I have a red headlamp and as said, carry it in my hand rather than on my head when walking, in order to cast shadows from bumps and see them better rather than stumble over them.  Red light does not seem to spook game as much and it retains my night vision.

As corroboration, a cougar paralleled me as I hiked in on a super dark night one opening morning in the Olympics, and cried and yowled at me over and over.  It had no fear of the red light but would retreat instantly when I switched to a longer reaching white spot.   I called it in close twice, just hoping to see it, once with the dim red LED on and once in total darkness.  My puny headlamp at the time would barely show my feet to walk with red LED and had a weak spotlight that would shine 30-40 feet.   The first time I switched on the spot too soon and the cat quickly retreated and then started crying at me again.  The second time I waited until I could hear the intake of it's breath before each cry, but in the brush I still didn't see a thing when I turned on the spot.  I had a rifle in hand and believe I had a good ratio of fear/respect/curiosity (right mix for me anyway  )  I didn't want it closer than 25 feet but wanted it close enough to see with my puny light.

All that to say that hiking in by dark can be effective, does not necessarily spook game (if you think about your approach etc.) and that a red light is definitely helpful for human eyes to retain night vision and probably does not bother animals IME.

 Just thought of an elk herd that I stumbled onto when it was too dark to shoot though I could pick out bulls with binos.  Messed up but they didn't spook much, and killed the herd bull a few hours later half a mile away. 

[Okanagan]

Hats off to you night Walkers.  I use a headlamp and 4 cell maglight!  I don't trust cats. They follow people. 

True dat!  Big cats follow people so frequently it would freak out nearly everyone if they knew how often.  It is a cat thing.  Curiosity.  It does not mean they intend to attack, though they are so unpredictable you have to respect them.  In snow, mud, dust I've reversed and found lions following me a number of times, but most surfaces in WA won't show tracks even if the one being followed notices such things.  I rate the danger like I do lightening, rare but very bad, and carry on (prudently  ) rather than let it keep me from outdoor activity, day or night.


 

[Ridgeratt]

whats the difference in the following you and cutting your track in daylite when you walk back and see them as to at night?
 Have walked a ridge and on my way back out had cat tracks in mine in the snow. Who knows how many times they didn't show up in just dirt!!

Back in the early 90's they were relocating the bad Bears from Yellowstone to the Idaho / Montana border in an area I hunted. I knew they were there and did see a few Grizzly's at a distance.
I took off one morning to get to a open chute that I had glassed a huge bull in for a few morning so as I wandered Blissfully along in the light of the moon on a horse trail I without a flash lite I was thinking . Hey I smell like an Elk and I'm plodding along minding my own business. What if I sound like and Elk? So in my infinite wisdom I turned on my mini mag flash lite. Well I had wandered in to a heard of elk in the bottom and since I smelt just like them they weren't scared until one of the elk had a flash lite!!!
All Be goodness broke loose I had elk running every way but straight and I'm doing my best to shine the light in there eyes and blinding them.  Flashlight went towards the stars and I stood still until the woods got silent.

Guess I'm just not that scared of things that go bump in the night.