"Night Hunting"

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An Introduction to night hunting by Red Barbarossa

I would like to begin this night hunting section with a few points about safety.  Make no mistake; night hunting is difficult, even under the best of conditions.  If you are the type of hunter that only gets out a couple of times a year, you have some homework to do.  The most important thing is to be thoroughly familiar with your firearm. 

Night hunting is typically done in pairs.  The team members will alternate between the “lighter” and “shooter” positions.  Your hunt partner can be an ideal hunt partner or a total detriment to the hunt.  If I am night hunting with a new person and they start fumbling with their rifle or handgun, I am immediately done and they are going home.  It only takes one mistake and somebody can be seriously injured, or worse.  Do not even think about night hunting until you know your firearms as well as you know your own body.  Every function should be a part of you and safety is always a primary consideration.  If you need to practice in a dark room, do so but make certain that there is no ammunition anywhere in the room. 

After each stand, hunters should clear their firearms and acknowledge that fact aloud to their hunting partner.  After removing your magazine and checking the firearm’s chamber, a simple, “I’m clear” shouted to your partner tells him that your firearm is safe.  Even after clearing, treat every firearm as if it were loaded and always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. 

One last safety note is ammunition.  Make sure if you are shooting your 22-250, you only have 22-250 ammo with you.  Don’t have different caliber ammo with you and take the chance of attempting to load it.  I have been on night hunts where a fellow hunter struggled to load his rifle, only to later find that he was trying to chamber the wrong caliber cartridge.  Only bring ammunition for the caliber you will be shooting and you should stay out of trouble. 

Common Questions  If you have never hunted at night for predators, I am sure you have lots of questions.   You may be wondering what type of light to use and how to conduct a 360-degree search.  You may be asking yourself; when do I turn on the light?  How fast do I cover 360-degrees?  Do I light constantly?  What am I supposed to see?  How can I tell one animal from another?  What do I do when I do see glowing eyes?  How can I be certain my target is what I think it is?

The very first thing you must consider is how to pick a spot for your stand.  (NOTE:  Predator hunters call each spot they are hunting from a “stand”).  You must consider a variety of factors when you pick your stands.  Some things to consider are wind direction, terrain, large objects close to you (trees, big rocks, tall bushes) and general 360-degree visibility.  What you don’t want is tall shadows dancing around your stand area once you begin lighting.  Those moving shadows cast by large, close objects may spook an incoming predator.  Also, an approaching animal can use those shadows to hide from you when you are attempting to place your shot.  Large objects close to your stand will also reflect light back on you.  It may be enough light for a finely tuned predator to see your outline and bust your stand.  Even at night, remember not to skyline yourself.  Don’t have a light source behind you (city lights and sky) or you’ll look like a giant finger puppet.  Coyotes hate giant finger puppets.  If you pick a spot to make a stand and any of the negative factors I mentioned are evident; move on to another area. 

Coyotes are very clever, wary animals.  Unlike bobcat and fox, a coyote will almost always circle downwind to see if the sound he is hearing smells like prey.  If he gets down wind and he smells Bubba Gump instead of Jack Rabbit, the game is over for Bubba.  Yes, the coyote usually sneaks downwind during the day to check the death screams out, but he will surely go downwind at night.  Of this, you can be sure.  Your stand should afford you an unobstructed line of sight downwind but your best option for success is to place your shot before he gets downwind of you. 

The Stand  It’s wonderful to have a 360-degree view with no obstructions out to 200-yards.  This can happen frequently when western desert hunting but it is not typically the norm elsewhere.  In some areas, you may be lucky to have an unobstructed 50-yard radius.  The plain fact is that whatever your area offers, you must learn to make the best of it.  There are pros and cons to all situations and your skills as a hunter will help you to overcome any adverse geographical features.

One of the most important tools for night hunting is your hunting light.  It should be lightweight, offer both a white and red beam, be energy efficient, not cast side flare and offer you a means to adjust the light’s intensity.  Different areas call for different lighting techniques and you will soon realize that your predator hunting light is as important as you firearm.

For instance, if you are hunting in heavy cover, you’ll want to dim your light way down so it doesn’t cast hard shadows or cause reflecting light from nearby bushes to illuminate you and your shooter or frighten an inbound predator.  This is true no matter what color light you are using.  Red, amber and green lights, if too intense, will cause problems if they are too bright in heavy cover areas.  Believe me, it does not take much light to illuminate a predator’s eyes.  In heavy cover, the action will be up-close and personal so be prepared for action.

Open country night hunting requires different lighting techniques.  You’ll need a little more light but the key word here is “little”.  Don’t be tempted to blast the surrounding area with red light so you can see a predator approaching from 400-yards away.  You will surely spook them.  Use a minimum amount of light and when the animal does come in, don’t worry, their eyes will still light right up.

Another consideration is the movement of the light.  Keep the light moving in a slow and steady motion that will cover your 360-degree hunt zone in about 10 to 12-seconds.  Keep the center of your light’s beam on the horizon and do not light up the foreground close to your stand.  Remember that lighting up close will cause reflected light to illuminate you and the shooter.  It doesn’t take much light for a predator to make out your human features.  If you make that mistake, you’ll never even know they were there.

Running the Light  Go to your starting position, usually to the rear, turn your low-intensity light on and begin lighting all the way clockwise or counter-clockwise to start your lighting circle.  Keep the light’s motion smooth and steady and use your body to twist around.  Be sure to make complete circles and don’t get artistic with your light’s beam.  Keep the center of the light’s beam on the horizon and the “halo” from the light will be enough to illuminate the predator’s eyes.  Don’t be tempted to cheat.  Always make complete circles and repeat the motion exactly, every time.

If you have an animal’s eyes in the light’s halo, don’t even consider turning off the light.  Keep the light’s halo on the animal until your shooter is ready for the final ID and the kill shot.  If you move that light, fumble around with it or turn it away from the predator, there is a very good chance that the predator will be able to see you and it will be game over for you and your shooter.  

Coyotes and cats react differently to being hit with a light’s beam.  Some won’t seem to mind at all and others will be very light shy.  It’s always best to err on the conservative side and consider all predators to be light shy.  Always, always be aware of your light beam’s direction and do not shine it directly at the predator until your shooter is ready for the final ID and the shot. 

Remember that once you have that predator’s attention, he is going to try very hard to see and smell his prey.  Any sudden movements, noises or actions that differ from what originally brought in the predator will cause him to leave.  If you catch the predator upwind, you’ll have to be very careful and move the light slowly when attempting to follow him through various forms of cover.  Don’t move the light back and forth, up and down or any other way that will cause hard shadows to jump around and spook the predator.  If you are not sure where he is, just keep sweeping slowly and hope you see him before he sees you. 

At night, you won’t necessarily know exactly what the terrain looks like.  The predator may be moving through a wash, around bushes, behind a berm or just plain not looking at you.  We call predator’s that flash intermittent eye reflection “blinkers”.  It’s frustrating when they play “now you see me & now you don’t” but with experience you’ll usually figure out what that wily coyote is up to.  He will never come back upwind unless he is leaving.  So, if he blinks you, keep smoothly lighting the downwind side with enough “halo” to pick up his eyes again.  This is the advantage of using a “lateral-beam” light because you can cover the downwind side without moving the light at all.        

A night stand can be performed from a hunting rig (with a roof hatch) or right from the ground.  The use of a hunting vehicle (where it is legal by law) is a great advantage because it puts your eyes up higher and allows the lighter and shooter a much better view of the surrounding area.  Most hunt rigs are equipped with MP3 calling systems with speakers located under the vehicle.  They also have 12-volt accessory plugs for lighting and other hunt-related goodies like a 360-degree rifle rest, a green laser to mark the location of the kill and a misting system to release skunk scent, coyote or bobcat urine.  By releasing some scent downwind to cling on bushes, etc., it might delay or confuse the coyote’s sense of smell a bit and help to mask your human scent.  If it works, it won’t last long though so if the predator starts to move downwind, attempt to shoot him before he gets there. 

You can also do night stands on foot.  Just last weekend we did a series using our RedHunter hunt light, a small 12-volt jumper pack, mouth calls and shooting sticks.  We’d park and walk into the wind until we got about 300-yards away from the vehicle, making sure the predator would not encounter the vehicle when it went downwind.  I was the shooter and called while John worked the light.  Once he picked up eyes, I would grab my rifle & shooting sticks and John would tease the predator in closer using simple lip squeaks or a mouse squeaker.  You can get very steady using a standing position and shooting sticks and we did just fine.  For cover scent, I bought an old wide-mouth Thermos at the Salvation Army store and put a pound of ground beef and water in it.  I let it sit for a week until it got nice and ripe.  We’d open that batch of nasty VooDoo and set it just downwind of our stand.  It seemed to work well. 

We always begin every night stand by simply shining the light around before even beginning a calling sequence.  Once and a while, you’ll pick up eyes right away because there was a predator very close.  It also allows you to check out the area and take an educated guess at where the predator will come from and where he will most likely try to go to see you better or sniff you out. 

Sounds  Next, we add “lip squeaks” or use a small squeaky toy for a few minutes to see if that attracts anything close by.  After about 3-minutes of that, we’ll do a low-volume calling sequence using a mouth call or the MP3 in the rig.  (A note on calls:  recorded calls never seem to sound as good as a mouth call.  The frequency response from a mouth call will always trump any speaker you can rig up.  Also, mouth calls are never the same each time.  If you are in a heavily called area, your mouth call will be your best bet for success).  Keep in mind that no coyote or bobcat wants to encounter a 300-pound jackrabbit.  Keep your calls on the lower volume scale and you’ll have much better luck.  A rule of thumb is that the closer the cover (woods area) the lower the call volume should be.  In open country or desert areas, louder calling may be necessary.  You’ll need to judge for yourself what the terrain is and how much sound will be bounced or absorbed by objects in your stand’s vicinity.  Once again, experience is the best teacher and it is better to err on the low volume side.  You will be amazed at how far that call will travel on a still evening.  

Some predator hunters never call at all; they simply use a howler.  The cow-horn howler seems to have the most natural tone and once you learn how to use it, it’s a whole lot of fun when you get a dialog going with one or more song dogs.  When you learn how to “coyote trash talk” you can be quite successful and aggravate the heck out of them.  Then, they have to come on over and attempt to kick you out of their territory.  For that territorial reason and others, coyotes will aggressively approach a strange howl.  It has worked for us many times when the coyotes would sound off but be slow coming in.  A challenge howl, a lonely howl or simply a Ki-Yi is all it takes sometimes to bring in one or two.  Try howling because it is lots of fun.

How Long?  How long should you stay on stand?  Well, that depends upon many factors.  Keep in mind that coyotes sometimes come in very fast but bobcats usually take their sweet time.  If you are calling a wide open area, 12 to 15-minutes is a pretty good length of time.  If the cover is heavy, you may want to call a bit longer.  We often wonder how many stands we quit when there was a late comer on its way.  You just never know for sure.  The night hunting advantage is the fact that if they are there, you can see their eyes light up.  You don’t have that advantage when daylight hunting so our day stands are typically a bit longer.

The Method  Let me get back to some lighting basics.  When the lighter picks up a predator’s eyes, he will tap the shooter to alert him that he’s got eyes.  Avoid talking because your voice may be heard.  Some guys don’t know how to whisper or they get so excited when they see those evil eyes coming in that they forget and speak loudly.  Pre-arranged hand signals work best so work out your own means of hand signals with your partner long before the hunt.  (In many ways, predator hunting at night with a partner is like dancing.  You should work together smoothly and without having to wonder what your partner will do next.  Both of you should know when, how and what to do no matter if you are playing the role of the lighter or the shooter.)  

Once the lighter has the predator’s eyes in view and the shooter begins to track them, don’t be surprised if the eyes disappear from time to time.  If the eyes disappear, the lighter needs to remember where the predator was headed (most likely down wind) and attempt to stay on the trail without moving the light in an erratic manner.  Don’t freak out and start moving the light back and forth, up and down or here and there.  Erratic lighting will just create a bunch of shadow puppets to scare the predator and he will most likely take off for greener pastures.  When in doubt, continue to calmly scan 360-degrees, keeping the main beam on the horizon and using the light’s “halo” to pick up the reflection in the predator’s eyes.  With luck, you’ll pick up the predator’s eyes again and be able to get your shooter a shot. 

Another very important point to remember is that if the light is not on the same plane as the shooter, the lighter may see the light reflecting in the predator’s eyes but the shooter won’t.  When attempting to position the shooter for a shot, the lighter needs to hold the light right along side the shooter’s scope, just forward of the scope’s rear eyepiece.  Also, the lighter must not touch the shooter or he will risk bumping him and ruining the shot. 

Shooter Ready  As soon as the stand begins, the shooter must be ready to take his shot at a moment’s notice. That means his rifle scope caps are up or off. His variable power scope setting is at its lowest setting, a round is chambered and the rifle’s safety is in the “safe” position.  The shooter should also keep his finger out of the trigger guard until he is ready to shoot.  Once a predator is spotted, the team works together to track and dispatch the predator.  The lighter is the key person however, because he will always direct the shooter towards the animal’s eyes. 

When the predator is within range and is being tracked by the lighter and the shooter, the lighter will automatically move close to the shooter and position the light next to the rifle scope.  Now the lighter will lip squeak or make another curiosity noise to hopefully stop the predator so the shooter can draw a final bead.   

At this time, the shooter will flick off his rifle’s safety and whisper “burn him”.  (Burning the predator means that the lighter rapidly switches his hunting light from a low intensity red light to a super-bright white light).  Instantly, the predator is bathed in bright, white light and the rifleman has just a few seconds to positively identify his target and take the shot.  Sometimes the predator will only stick around for 3-seconds and other times they’ll stand there for 30-seconds.  It’s a roll of the dice guys so if you are the shooter, I’d plan to get that ID fast and shoot while you still have a target standing there.  There is no time for screwing around with your scope, safety, bolt, or any other piece of equipment.  The shooter had better know his firearm and know his target because the moment of truth has arrived. 

Keep in mind that range is hard to guess at night.  Especially when all you are looking at is a set of glowing, red eyes.  It is almost impossible to ascertain for sure how far away the target actually is.  Harder still, is to find that exact spot where the rifleman hopefully put that predator down. 

Once the shot is taken, the light man must keep a sharp eye on the exact spot the animal went down.  The shooter now makes his firearm safe and reaches for the laser marker.  I purchased a kick-butt green laser on eBay last year but prior to that I had a cheapo from Harbor Freight Tools that worked OK.  I mounted it on a magnetic stand that was adjustable so once the shot is taken, the lighter can direct the laser beam to where the shooter dispatched the animal.  Once the laser is pointing the way, a reasonable search pattern can be executed with an accurate base point. 

It's a Hit!  When the shooter takes his shot, a hit is usually heard.  It sounds like a baseball bat slamming into a side of beef.  There is no mistaking a solid hit.  The hard part sometimes is retrieving the dead or wounded animal. 

A note here about the typical coyote’s will to live.  It is beyond your imagination.  We have seen shooters take shots that left heavy, foaming blood trails but Ol Wiley is nowhere to be found.  I could elaborate more but I don’t want to get gruesome.  Suffice to say that coyotes are one tuff animal and you had better hit them in the head or smack in the boiler room or nothing will be there when you search for you predator.  They are true survivors of the first degree.

Alrightie then, let’s say you and your partner did everything right but the stand was seemingly “dry” and no predators were called in.  Your scanning is not quite through.  Usually, “breaking the stand” (calling it quits) is agreed to by mutual consent of the team members.  Just to make certain nothing was over looked; the lighter will kick on the “burn light” and scan the area using the bright, white beam for about five or six revolutions.  While doing these last passes with the burn-light, the lighter will lip squeak or use a mouse squeaker in the hope that eyes will appear.  We always do this just to make certain we don’t have a coyote “hanging up” several hundred yards away or a bobcat moving in slowly. 

This end-of-stand burn process does not always find a lurking predator but it happens enough that we make sure to burn the area every time before leaving.  If you are lucky enough to pick up eyes this way, remember to keep conditions the same.  Don’t reduce the light’s intensity or switch to a red beam.  Simply keep the predator’s eyes in the light’s halo and when the shooter says, “burn him”, lower the light beam to the predator and let the shooter take the shot. 

The Coyote  At night the coyote is very, very wary.  Sure, occasionally one will run right in at night (if he's starving to death) but normally the coyote takes his time and does his absolute best to analyze the situation.  Some big-shot animal behaviorists say dogs and coyotes don't have the capacity to "think" things through.  I disagree wholeheartedly.  Any of you that own smart dogs know they have the capacity to think things through.  I can see it in my dogs face and facial expressions.  There's more going on there than straight "instinct". 

I'd venture to say that coyotes are even a bit smarter than domestic dogs.  They have to be to survive in the varied urban and suburban environments they presently inhabit.  If they have been called and shot at before, they have learned a thing or two about our little game.  We refer to those coyotes as "educated" animals.  These educated coyotes have experienced the calls and lights before and they are nobody's fool.  They will keep their distance and if they get downwind of you and get a sniff of human scent, they disappear immediately.  The American Indians called the coyote the Prairie Ghost because of its ability to appear and disappear.  Once you start hunting them, you'll see first hand how they earned that name.

Usually the eyes of the approaching coyote will come in rather smoothly as he stops trotting and closes the source of the sound.  Make no mistake, a coyote can pinpoint the sound's source from 300-yards away.  Once he closes to about 200-yards of the sound, he begins to really slow down as he works his way in.  He will then use every bit of available cover to his advantage   If he happened to be upwind of the call when he heard it, he will no doubt begin slowly circling your position to get downwind for a sniff or two.  His eyes usually remain pretty steady as he moves through the cover.  Do your best to slow or stop him using curiosity sounds, barks and rodent squeaks.  Do all you can to stop him so the shooter can get a shot.

The Fox  Mr. Fox is not anywhere as smart as Ol Wiley coyote.  At night, the fox usually moves in pretty quickly and his eyes typically have a bit of bounce to them.  The fox is not as concerned with smelling the prey (although they often go downwind on you too) and they don't seem to spook as easily when human scent may be evident.  We have had several instances where the fox will run right up to the hunt rig.  A friend of mine even got attacked by a gray fox while calling.  Instead of the old "smart like a fox" saying.  I'd vote for "smart like a coyote."  Fox seem to answer to the higher pitched and bird sounds.

Bobcats  Cats of the wild mimic household cats in many ways.  Cats are cats and in many ways they behave the same.  It is rare that a cat will come in quickly at night.  Usually it takes a bit of calling to get their attention and a whole lot of work to coax one in for a shot.  I have worked some cats for 45-minutes before being able to get a shot.  If you are very lucky and calling in a terrain that cats inhabit, you may have one nice and close that will answer the call with big, red, close eyes.  Cats can be very light shy so keep the light as dim as possible when working one.  It does not take much light to make their eyes glow so use only the amount of light necessary to see him.  Cats don't seem to care about human scent at all.  They will come at you from any direction.  Cats respond well to bird sounds and high-pitched predator calls. They respond very well to daytime bird decoys.

Questions  If you have any questions regarding hunting predators at night, drop me or John a note and we will be happy to answer them for you.  If we don't know the answer, we'll try to find somebody that does.    

Nothing is more challenging than predator hunting at night.  Your predator hunting light is a primary tool that serves right next to your rifle.  The perfect predator hunting light should be comfortable to use, have the right beam width and perform flawlessly in the field, year after year.  We have designed the RedHunter Ultimate Coyote Hunting Light to meet and exceed all of the predator hunters needs.  We can say, without reservation, we custom make and sell the best predator hunting light available anywhere.

When night hunting for predators, the RedHunter Ultimate Coyote Hunting Light (U.S. Patent Pending) is unmatched for balance, features and innovation.  It is not mass-produced "one size fits all" hunting light.  It is specifically made to hunt coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and other night predators where a versatile, variable intensity, dual-color beam is necessary.  When the moment of truth arrives, a pull of the RedHunter Ultimate Predator Hunting Light's trigger instantly transforms a mild red beam of light into an intense white beam that illuminates the target for a final, positive ID and your kill shot.

 

The new lateral beam model weighs just 1-pound, 4 ounces.    This light's exclusive "lateral beam" means quicker predator eye acquisition and less eye strain for the hunter.

 

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