I went out tonight but by about 7:00 I wasn't able to see my cross hairs without spending a lot of time with my spot light on. We have a lot of cloud cover on what otherwise would have been a moonlit night. If I had called one in it would have been gone before I could have shot. My question is do you guys only hunt when you have snow or a well lit night by the moon? Should I be switching to a shot gun in these conditions?
Another night hunting question
- Thread starter jmason
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Sendero_Man
Well-Known Member
I hunt anytime except pitch black nights. I have found, over the years, that they aren't out as much on pitch black nights.
Shine your light off and on to scan for critters. Once you have one in the light, never shut it off. Keep the eyes in the halo of the light until it is close enough to determine what it is. Then, drop the center of the light on the potential target for recognition.
Works great. That is why I love the dimmer switch on my Lightforce too. Keep it low, longer battery life and then turn it up to see and confirm target. Invaluable in my opinion.
Good luck
Shine your light off and on to scan for critters. Once you have one in the light, never shut it off. Keep the eyes in the halo of the light until it is close enough to determine what it is. Then, drop the center of the light on the potential target for recognition.
Works great. That is why I love the dimmer switch on my Lightforce too. Keep it low, longer battery life and then turn it up to see and confirm target. Invaluable in my opinion.
Good luck
Texas Hunter
Member
I schedule my night hunting during the full moon. It is plenty of light to shoot varmints and hogs as long as they're not in the shade. It has been very successful for hogs. I use Leupold VXII scope and Ziess 10 x 40 binoculars.
So you find that the light doesn't bother them as long as it's not directed on them? If that's the case at what distance do you feel the light becomes an issue?
We currently have about 3/4 moon but also have cloud cover.
We currently have about 3/4 moon but also have cloud cover.
Sendero_Man
Well-Known Member
Correct. Keep them in the bottom edge of the light or the halo. When they are in your comfortable shooting range and close enough for proper identification, drop the light and see what you have.
Lights are all around us at night. Farmers light posts, barn lights, headlights, etc. The coyotes up here don't seem to be bothered on a continous light source. The flick it on and off thing. Totally different story.
Distance is a issue that is never the same. Every animal will act different. No two the same.
I have shot them at 10 yards and still coming and had them hang out as much as 500-600 yards and not come closer.
Lights are all around us at night. Farmers light posts, barn lights, headlights, etc. The coyotes up here don't seem to be bothered on a continous light source. The flick it on and off thing. Totally different story.
Distance is a issue that is never the same. Every animal will act different. No two the same.
I have shot them at 10 yards and still coming and had them hang out as much as 500-600 yards and not come closer.
Well I might have screwed the pooch tonight. If what I saw were yotes the light didn't bother them. They were within 200yds but I switched to an open sight gun because of clouds and worrying about the amount of time it took me to get on target with it being as dark as it is tonight. I didn't take any optics like DA! I had my range finder on my belt until this last stand and thought what am I going to do with this? I know now! They appeared way too small to be deer but I just couldn't be 100% with my eyes. Put that mistake on the list of things that won't ever happen again.
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