Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Coyote, Small Game, Varmints => Topic started by: yottie on January 14, 2011, 01:45:59 PM
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Hopefully the hunting coyotes at night has been put to bed until next time. I've never tried it but am soon going to try it..My question is what is the best kind of light to use on coyotes? I've seen on videos guys using just plain white spot lights and some use a red one. I would think that at least the white light would spook them instantly. Or do they do the 'deer in the headlights' thing? what peaked my interest in night hunting was a ad I saw in Amercan Rifleman. It was from lasergenetics.com, it is a green laser light that you mount on your scope and puts a sharp wide beam out 250 yards. So basically when you look through your scope it pretty much looks like night vision. The site video looked darn impressive to me. Sure beats any night optics in the price department. Appreciate any comments. thanks
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Have a portable spotlight, or they CAN write you a ticket for harvesting wildlife with aid of a motor vehicle. I'd really know the laws and prepare to be pulled over everytime you are in the field spotlighting, as it draws great attention. Good luck.
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:yike:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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We use a light force. And yes be prepared to be pulled over and questioned.
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:yeah:
We use light force and so do thousands of Austrailians and New Zelanders... AWSOME off road lights for rigs and SWEET spotlights that plug into cigarette lighters & batterie packs They light up Yotes farther than i can shoot. :twocents: 600+ yrds
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The green laser light does not work below freezing! Lots of guys have had problems with it. I highly recommend the xlr 250, get the red light, comes with a scope and barrel mount. You can clearly see to shoot through your scope 200-250 yards. However do not scan with it, you'll need a seperate light for scanning. I would recommend the smart light, it can see eyes 300-400 yards and has a burn time of 20 hours on high and 34 hours on low. It's a hat light with no wires or bulky batteries. It's the cats meow! :) The xlr 250 runs $139 and the smart light is $150. If you want I can post a link for either or both. When you are walking out to your stands follow the same rules you would during the day, be quiet, don't skyline yourself and watch the wind. Keep movement to a minimal. Turn your scanning light on before you start and leave it on. Once you see eyes, put the main part of the beam above their head. Once you VERIFY what they are and they are in range turn on your kill light. Bang, dead yote or cat!! Make sure you do not tresspass. Most of the time yotes can be called into shotgun range at night. I have a feeling if they do tweak night hunting rules there is a good chance it will be shotguns only at night, with that in mind you may just want to buy the xlr 100, perfect for shotgun ranges and less expensive.
On a side note, I probably night hunt 20ish nights a winter for the past 14 years, never been pulled over or stopped even once. Have a copy of the regs and follow common hunting rules and safe gun handling and never take a shot unless you are 100% of what your shooting at and what is down range behind your target and you'll be fine!
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? for you guys getting stopped. Are you spotting from the road while in a vehicle?
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I would love to hunt at night, never did it here in Washington, just Nevada where you have the luxury of seeing for miles.
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Thanks for the info Machias. I cant get those lights but the technique is gonna help me out.
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I have run a lot of lights. I have the best luck with qbeam spotlights. There are others that are better but for the range and money. The 1mil direct plug works great for me. For a portable the Cyclopes works good. Here is my take on the red light/white light. There has been years i have spent over 80 nights spotlighting. So i have been around it for awhile. The white light will always out shine the red lens. If you are using a 500,000cp light its going to cut it to 250,000. And at extended ranges its harder to focus on the animals and make them out. The red lens does have a advantage with stealth. A lot of critters around here are educated with spotlights. So the white lights can and do spook more critters around here. The big difference that i have found is with the cats. Cats are very funny at night. A lot of time with the white light the cats will shine then turn there heads and look away. Hard to find them if you cant see there eyes. Then when the light moves off they will look back. With the red lights the cats tend to stare more but still blink a lot. I have been stopped many times and if you are doing things right. There is no problems with spotlight yotes and a few other critters. Make sure you read and know the laws before you even think about trying it.
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I'm not going to be spotlighting from a vehicle. As i mentioned before at lasergenetics.com they have lights the size of a scope that clamps on top of your scope. It shoots a green laser 250 or more. there is a subzero model for cold weather. no need to carry anything, battery,spotlights, wires nothing. the larger model will light out even further. thanks to you all for your imput.
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I'm curious about those Laser Genetics lights. If you get one, give us a report. I have a Lightforce spotlight that plugs into a power port in my truck. (They don't call them cigarette lighters any more) That sucker will turn a hillside into daylight real quick. I lit up a hillside one night from the drivers side and saw a coyote near the top of the hill. My buddy got out, and by the time he got done fiddly-farting around the coyote ran over the hilltop. A little ways down the road my buddy go into the truck bed to put weight on the rear wheels so we could get out of a snowdrift and get turned around. I considered leaving him back there for the ride home, but that would have been considered homicide. :bash:
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Heredoggydoggy sure thing. I'll be the guinea pig and buy one. I've got more money than brains. It looks good in the video of the guy shooting a yote. Eyes light up like p holes in the snow. Adjustable beam is a plus. You don't have to light up the area like a prison break. My hunting buddy will never let me forget buying one. Mr. Gadget that's me.
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Heredoggydoggy sure thing. I'll be the guinea pig and buy one. I've got more money than brains. It looks good in the video of the guy shooting a yote. Eyes light up like p holes in the snow. Adjustable beam is a plus. You don't have to light up the area like a prison break. My hunting buddy will never let me forget buying one. Mr. Gadget that's me.
Sent ya a message Yottie
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Quite a few guys have already been the guinea pigs over on Predator Masters forums, you might check with them before buying, I don't think guys were very happy even with the cold weather model. Just a thought.
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Agree with what Machias has said....get the xlr 250 LED and be done with it. The xlr red or green LED does not lose 50% of the brightness because the color comes from the LED not a shade in front of the lense. :twocents:
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Thanks Machias and Gramps. It's too late. I've already sent away for it. I guess i'll just have to see for myself. I've learned no matter what the item, person, place or thing not everybody is going to like it. We all have our expectations so I won't shoot too high and be disapointed all that much. :chuckle: thx again
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Sounds good, let us know how you like it.
