Headlamp Light Color

[CaptPrice]

I worry about deer seeing my headlamp when I’m walking out to set up in the dark morning hours. I know playing the wind and getting in sneaky are important, and using a headlamp is unavoidable, but there’s no way deer don’t notice.

Does using a red- or green-colored light help?

 

[dist1646]

Wear a white T-shirt and they will not pay any attention!

 

[Sampson]

Red or green are less intrusive to the deer. Use whichever works best for your vision in the dark.

 

[Muleskinner]

Deer are pretty much color blind they can see red and green but not like humans. They can see a bit of blue but again, not like humans...they can't differentiate between shades so their color vision is very limited

 

[rob-cubed]

Red light allows you to see, but not ruin your low-light vision or be as obvious to other animals.

 

[PIT BULL]

I use a Streamlight Stylus with green light, hooked to my hat. I also use 1"x1" square pieces of old signs and mark my way with them, to my stands. Both ways, in and out.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Take the light off your head when your walking in and save it for your head when your working or to drag one out. Get a lamp with a belt clip or tie string to it and attach to your belt loop so its pointing down. That way when you move a small beam with bounce around on the ground so you can see your feet and or the trail your on. A lanyard for your your neck will work too if you like to climb leaving your hands free for a second point of contact till your safety-ed off or controlling your weapon.
If you lose your hat or knock the light off it you can get missed up trying to catch it, if it's on a lanyard your gtg just not with para-cord or something that wont break if you get snagged while its around your neck. Use a propane or gas fired lantern for a hard tracking job the soft light will show blood easier.

 

[Inigoes]

If you have a green light and try to blood trail with it, don't!

When you mix the colors green + red, that equals black. When looking at the forest floor there are a lot of black shades with a green light.

A good cyan colored light will work to guide you and blood trail.

 

[lazarus]

If you have a green light and try to blood trail with it, don't!

When you mix the colors green + red, that equals black. When looking at the forest floor there are a lot of black shades with a green light.

A good cyan colored light will work to guide you and blood trail.

Cyan is best for blood tracking. A strong white light will work too.

Deer don’t see red well and are red green color blind (they are NOT red-green and blue color blind. They have two cone types that see near UV and blue and green to yellow. Far red is not visible to deer).

http://www.atsko.com/how-game-animals-see-smell/

Humans see from 400-670nm. Deer are from 350 to around 620nm.

The difference is humans see for crap last 450 and 650. Deer see for crap past about 605. It’s a hard cut at around 350nm (near UV) for deer as shorter wave lengths their cornea blocks it completely.

As the graphic in the link shows, deer can see blaze orange (it does NOT appear black), but it’s a very, very dull color. Looks yellow to them, but the equivalent kind of deep yellow that like a deep burgundy red would to humans (IE very close to Near IR).

Not sure on exact spectrum of most LED red lights for use at night, but pretty sure it is right around 650nm. So deer won’t be able to see it at all.

Deer can absolutely see green light. It’s near their peak spectral response for their green-yellow chromatophore (come)

My suggestion is, use a red light. But in general, use as little light as possible as little as possible. If the night is bright enough I don’t use any light walking in.

Last year Eastern Shore I got this at a Walmart because I forgot my headlamp back home. Works really well. Very bright. Run time is good. Charging is funky. Even if I’ve only used it a few minutes it wants to try to charge for like half an hour (but from dead it only takes about 90 minutes for a full charge).

One thing I love is the red light is really bright. Red light as mentioned doesn’t effect your nightvision (rods cant see red light, so they don’t wash out from it). However, we don’t see red well. So 100lm of red light is a lot dimmer than 100lm for white, green or blue light.

Anyway, it’s 40lm of red and 300 of white max.

By comparison almost all other headlamps I’ve found are 2-10lm red light. It’s enough to walk a trail, but don’t expect to see more than about 15 feet in front of you on a dark night. 40lm of red light, and it’s a narrower angle rather than the wide angle lenses most red lights have, you can actually see down the trail maybe 60-70ft. Actually let’s you see around and find your way if you aren’t on a fixed trail.

 

[cww]

Simple answer, yes. Red for me, I’ve had deer within 20 yards with me standing motionless and light on

 

[GrimReaper]

Get some NVGs

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[lazarus]

Simple answer, yes. Red for me, I’ve had deer within 20 yards with me standing motionless and light on

Similar experiences here. Green, blue, white they’ll run off. At best they can be “spotlighted”, but they of course see it and will run off. Most red lights they can’t see at all and either react to noise you are making or their night vision is good enough on a brighter night that they see you anyway.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Last good buck I killed was the weirdest thing I had ever seen.
When I finally got up to it and rolled it over to have a look I noticed it had two holes right through it’s front hooves.

I think it was from where it had it’s hooves crossed up in front of it’s face to keep the light out of its eyes.

Haha, Best Pitch swamp -1984

 

[Derwood]

Red. But the best move is to keep the light off as much as possible. I keep a the most powerful compact spotlight I could find and the most powerful headlamp I could find in my truck for if any nighttime tracking. Once I've got a deer down, I don't care about spooking the spot. But for walking in, even in the woods, I like to let my eyes adjust to the darkness for a few minutes and then get as far as I can without any light at all.

 

[lazarus]

Red. But the best move is to keep the light off as much as possible. I keep a the most powerful compact spotlight I could find and the most powerful headlamp I could find in my truck for if any nighttime tracking. Once I've got a deer down, I don't care about spooking the spot. But for walking in, even in the woods, I like to let my eyes adjust to the darkness for a few minutes and then get as far as I can without any light at all.

I also keep a small AAA lantern in my pack for field dressing. Hang that on a low branch over where the deer is and use my headlamp for directed light. I’ve been taking my Streamlight Protac 1AA with me also. Not the brightest, but a bright headlamp plus 150 or so lumen lightweight flashlight is nice for tracking.

 

[BlueHeeler]

Get two VERY bright white flashlights and hold them at arms length.

Car headlights freezes them every time.

 

[lazarus]

Get two VERY bright white flashlights and hold them at arms length.

Car headlights freezes them every time.

But you gotta make revving sounds and run towards them really fast.

 

[Sirex]

I don't think it matters. If you get a cardboard box and shape it like an automobile and sling it over your shoulders with two flashlights upfront as headlights the deer will literally run right up to you and bump into the front of your costume.

 

[cww]

Red. But the best move is to keep the light off as much as possible. But for walking in, even in the woods, I like to let my eyes adjust to the darkness for a few minutes and then get as far as I can without any light at all.

I did that once with a bright moon and had some a$$hat take a shot at me, bullet close enough I heard it go buy, way before legal time. never again will I walk thru a field with no light at all.

 

[Scrounger]

While the new stuff maybe “better”, I still like the old military angle head flashlights. They are waterproof, have a clip so one can hang it on the belt or a shirt pocket. They come with filters; I use red to preserve night vision. Come with a spare bulb and have a loop for tying a cord to.