Thread: Hunting torches red light vs white light

I am lucky enough to have a private block where we hunt fallow. I have spent a bit of time playing with red light hunting torches vs white lights. Up until now my conclusion has been that the red light seemed to disturb the animals less than the white light. However I have just come back from a couple days hunting on that block and my experience during that time has given me reason to rethink my conclusions. This time around I found that the animals were reacting to the red light, they did not like it and were moving as soon as the light was on them. the one downside with a red light is that it does take a little longer to get target acquisition particularly at ranges over say 150m, even more so if there is no eye shine because the deer is looking elsewhere. So after experiencing that issue on the first night I made a change to a white light, what I found was the deer did not seem to react any more than with the red light and the added bonus is that target acquisition is faster because of the better illumination. So even if the deer react equally to red vs white lights you are way better off with the white light because you can get get the shot away faster due to better target acquisition. So right when I thought I had the whole thing sussed I get this curve ball which throws my theories out the window.
It has been a while since this subject got some air time so I am interested in input from other hunters experiences.

tested both red and green on a mates farmed deer last night and they were paying attention to both. not sure if because they were inquisitive or they could see it actual.
have shot deer and driven around under red years ago but that was like a candle behind red celophane compared to led these days.

green is easier on my eyes than the super white led lights

Can only repeat what I've written before. Rabbits/hares seem less shy of red light, but definitely not 100% of the time. Pigs don't seem to mind red light at all. Don't know about deer. Maybe it comes down to what colour light has spooked them previously?

I've ended up with red, green and white lights and have shot a few deer (farm land) and more than a few rabbits (orchids and vineyards)
If any animals have been lit up with a spotlight and been shot at they get light shy REALLY QUICKLY. Regardless of species.

White, easy to scan with and fast target acquisition. I guess it's because humans are used to seeing in that spectrum. Holding the animal in the light will tend to make them move away. (Mudgripz era Maxtoch 2X shooter)

Green, again easy to scan with and the eye shine is outstanding. Green light on grass/tussock is really odd, depth perception can get a little tricky. Seems to confuse the animals as they tend to hold better (Convoy C8 from Piercing the Darkness)

Red, slightly harder to scan with I've found. Eye shine isn't quite as good. Possibly because the animal doesn't tend to stare back at you. Less range, simply due to the physics of the red spectrum. I've had animals look up then go back to feeding with the red light on them. (Convoy L21A from Piercing the Darkness)


Having a mixture is quite handy, depending on the block I'm working I'll change it up with different colours. Partly because I can and I think it makes a slight difference.

The green and red light's I got from Jacob at Piercing the Darkness are excellent value for money. Can't recommend the guy highly enough.
Perhaps @Padox will be able to shed more light on the matter over the next couple of weeks with green vs white lights. (pun intended)

Originally Posted by Joe_90

I've ended up with red, green and white lights and have shot a few deer (farm land) and more than a few rabbits (orchids and vineyards)
If any animals have been lit up with a spotlight and been shot at they get light shy REALLY QUICKLY. Regardless of species.

White, easy to scan with and fast target acquisition. I guess it's because humans are used to seeing in that spectrum. Holding the animal in the light will tend to make them move away. (Mudgripz era Maxtoch 2X shooter)

Green, again easy to scan with and the eye shine is outstanding. Green light on grass/tussock is really odd, depth perception can get a little tricky. Seems to confuse the animals as they tend to hold better (Convoy C8 from Piercing the Darkness)

Red, slightly harder to scan with I've found. Eye shine isn't quite as good. Possibly because the animal doesn't tend to stare back at you. Less range, simply due to the physics of the red spectrum. I've had animals look up then go back to feeding with the red light on them. (Convoy L21A from Piercing the Darkness)
Joe_90 I tend to agree with your thinking about a animals reacting to the light after being light up in the past, they learn faster than I have given them credit for.

Having a mixture is quite handy, depending on the block I'm working I'll change it up with different colours. Partly because I can and I think it makes a slight difference.

The green and red light's I got from Jacob at Piercing the Darkness are excellent value for money. Can't recommend the guy highly enough.
Perhaps @Padox will be able to shed more light on the matter over the next couple of weeks with green vs white lights. (pun intended)

I might have to give the green light a try. I know this subject has been given a good thrashing here in the past. However right when I thought I had the whole subject well and truly sussed I find animals reacting in a way I have not seen before which gives me cause to rethink the whole issue. Agreed on the service and products offered by Jacob at Piercing the darkness. I have bought quite a bit of gear off him now. great product, great prices.

yeah jacob has awesome little torches and damn cheep batteries
which reminds me I have to get some more batteries off him some time soon

I appreciate the comments on here towards me, thanks guys

I would like to share that I have managed to get Convoy to offer more brightness levels for the red light. If anyone wants an upgrade to an existing red torch, it'll cost $10 plus postage.

The operation would be the same as a few models with the 12 mode groups a user can select. I prefer group 10 for 4 modes or group 12 for high only.

2-3 lumens
35
110
280

12 Selectable Mode Groups:

1. 0.1%, 1, 10, 35, 100, strobe, bike strobe, battery check
2. 0.1, 1, 10, 35, 100
3. 100, 35, 10, 1, 0.1
4. 1, 20, 100, strobe, bike strobe, battery check, SOS
5. 1, 20, 100
6. 100, 20, 1
7. 0.1, 1, 10, 50, strobe, bike strobe, battery check, SOS
8. 0.1, 1, 10, 50
9. 50, 10, 1, 0.1
10. 1, 10, 35, 100
11. 100, 20, strobe
12. 100% only

The only disappointment is the 0.1% level being of no use with this LED, it's like 0.1 lumen. Still beats the previous red operation by a mile.

Previously it was a high of 280 lumens with an optional low level of 18. I bet this new driver with the levels in between will make it less noticeable for deer.