Using Scope Mounted Night Varmint Lights

[BigN]

I've been coyote hunting for about 15 years and have been very successful but I rarely have hunted at night. This season I'd like to hunt more at night and see what happens. I went out tonight and just got home. Nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. I find myself scanning with the red light maybe more than I should be. Do you guys only hit the lights when you hear something or scan automatically at regular intervals? On a side note, I use a Primos Alpha Dogg Caller. The remote is brightly lit at night. Does anyone cover it with anything, red gel paper or the like?

 

[Dinosaur1]

Tried it just once when there was moonlight. Called one in but we had no light on either gun and were in corn stubble. He went away from us about 200 yds & sat down and barked at us. We can only hunt with shotgun or rimfire at night here in Mi. So didn't have that kind of range. We have lights now so we're going to give it another shot but we're still going to wait for the moon and snow.

 

[KC45]

I've never hunted coyotes at night but I've hunted hogs at night many times.
What we do is keep the light off and just listen. You'll be surprised how much and far you can hear on quiet night. Once you have an idea an animal is moving use the light to find it but instead of just point the light at the area I point it above the area I want to see and slowly bring the light down. If possible just use the edge of the light to see instead of using the center of the light. I usually don't keep the light on more than a few seconds at a time. Once the location is confirmed the shooter gets ready and light is again pointed above the target and slowly lowered until target is lit up. Finally we've found green lights to be just as effective as red and green light will light up further.

 

[Outlaw Man]

The green light doesn't disrupt your low-light vision more than the red?

Never night hunted, myself, but I am curious for hog hunting in the future.

 

[KC45]

Like red light, green light doesn't kill night vision. Blue also works well but green penetrates further than red or blue.

 

[Outlaw Man]

I wouldn't go as far as saying green and blue are "like" red. The human eye's cones and their lack of sensitivity to red light (I'm probably oversimplifying here) account for its night vision preservation.

I was just curious if the method you're using contributed to mitigating the effects of the green light.

Absolutely green will be more effective at longer distances than red or blue.