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Thread: Spotlighting tips and tricks

  1. #1
    Member kukuwai's Avatar
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    Spotlighting tips and tricks

    I've been getting into a bit of spotlighting. Its all pretty new but a fun winter activity once the snapper leave the bay .

    Mostly small game. Ie possums, rabbits and hares.

    Luckily we have access to some large blocks of land threw work. The land owners have so far been great. The last fella just gave us the gate code on the condition we left a sign when we were in there....



    Gotta love that sign. Bit different to the usual no shooting ones

    So what type of spotlights do you guys recomend ??

    I currently have a maxtoch sniper, brought 1 year ago direct from ali express (it was advertised as de dommed) @gadgetman just outa interest how many lumens would this be ?? We find this to be fantastic at picking out the possums eye. You can spot them a long way off.

    My mate has an old school (400 candle power) spot which clips to the truck battery. It throws a yellow light which seems to be a lot better at picking up the hares eye. Question....how many lumens is 400 candle power ??

    @nightshooter you must have something to say what do you recomend ?
    @Angus A what type of light are you using?

    @ anyone else.....your recommendations are welcome....

    For us we are about 50/50 shooting off the truck and walking.

    Even made this last weekend to clip on to the truck.



    Other thoughts were a truck tire tube on the roof, or a wool fadge? Any ideas/recommendations welcome.

    Any tips or tricks you have to improve our nights out would be greatly appreciated

    Cheers fellas

    Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
    Last edited by kukuwai; 30-05-2018 at 10:18 PM.
    mikee, FatLabrador and BeeMan like this.
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  2. #2
    Member gadgetman's Avatar
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    Your Maxtoch is probably about 1250 lumens or 100 candlepower. If the output of the spotlight is correct then it would be roughly 5000 lumens.
    kukuwai likes this.
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  3. #3
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    Scan slower. Give them the chance to turn their eyes to you.

    Sent from my WAS-LX2 using Tapatalk
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  4. #4
    Member kukuwai's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=Feather or Shoot;711079]Scan slower. Give them the chance to turn their eyes to you.

    Yea that's a good call.

    We usually just see them on the tracks while driving. There is a lot of cover off the tracks but if we can spot them in the scrub they often do just sit (hunker down).

    Ive also noticed that looking down the line of the beam is key.

    I am mostly driving or looking down the beam of the maxtoch.
    Often I can see the eye but the shooter cannot despite being 2-3m to the left or right.
    Feather or Shoot likes this.
    Its not what you get but what you give that makes a life !!

  5. #5
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    Yeah, hold it to your head, look down the beam.

    Sent from my WAS-LX2 using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Member nightshooter's Avatar
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    @kukuwai,i use a 170 light force with a 75 watt bulb mounted on a motorbike helmet. you need to move the light slow enough to process what you are looking at,a lot of the rabbit's etc i shoot i don't see the eyes but them moveing around when in the light.
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  7. #7
    Cook Angus_A's Avatar
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    I use a cheapie 85 dollar one of trademe, despite being cheap it's ridiculously bright, find possums 200m away very often. I have a very bright torch on my gun (again, cheapie thing but has worked well) for once i locate the possum. Spotlight link below.
    https://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/hun...3abb76ac291718

    This is the torch i use on my rifle, cannot recommend enough for the price. Replace the battery with a genuine Panasonic though because the chinese '4300mah' battery it comes with is RUBBISH
    https://www.wish.com/product/5a9929ea1b3a822c08162a6c

    A dude we hunted with a few weeks back used nothing but a head torch, a stupidly bright one but only that nonetheless and the light on his rifle. That combo worked so incredibly well that i ended up purchasing one myself, will report on my findings soon but according to him it was easier to spot them because your light was always in line with your vision.

    Would recommend you bring a broom handle with a bit of coat hanger on the end of it or something similar, the amount of fucking times a possum has wrapped itself around a branch upon meeting its maker it's incredibly annoying and they don't come down on their own.
    Last edited by Angus_A; 31-05-2018 at 05:02 AM.
    "A party without cake is just a meeting" - Juila Child

  8. #8
    Cook Angus_A's Avatar
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    Oh also one of these makes plucking a whole lot more pleasant. I've found it damn near indispensable on particularly long possum shoots on foot.

    https://www.wildoutdoorsman.co.nz/pr...ack-Chair.html
    "A party without cake is just a meeting" - Juila Child

  9. #9
    northdude
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    I use one of the big light force ones for off a vehicle light looks a bit yellow but it out throws my led stuff don't run it off the cig lighter put heavy alligator clips on it and go straight off the battery also just got a cordless night sabre and unimpressed with that as well
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  10. #10
    Fulla
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    When you jump out and rest on the bonnet, be aware of scope height, you can shoot the bonnet if your not watching the barrel, iv seen it and it makes it hard to shoot straight after because your still laughing at your dumb mate shooting his truck. Haha.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by bully View Post
    When you jump out and rest on the bonnet, be aware of scope height, you can shoot the bonnet if your not watching the barrel, iv seen it and it makes it hard to shoot straight after because your still laughing at your dumb mate shooting his truck. Haha.
    Sage advice. And you're right, it takes years to stop laughing.

    As others have noticed too, the cold white beams are great but they don't light up the eyes as well as the warmer yellow light of the traditional spotlights. Instead of looking for eyes you actually need to look for the animals. Unless you're directly on the eyes with LED and HID lights they don't reflect the same and I find they also seem to reflect dew-drops more often too. That said, I still prefer my 240 mm 'satellite dish' HID.

    I always used to wonder how it was my mate could see possums/rabbits I couldn't pick up and it took me a couple of years to understand that his helmet-mounted spotlight was the advantage he had over my handheld. Having the beam up near your face gives you a much better chance of picking up a reflection. Of course with the LED/HID lights that's no longer so important but till relevant.

    Reflection of the scattered light off your vehicle roof is another problem you can encounter, especially with a white or lighter colour paint job. It buggers your night vision. Mitigate that by building a bit of a platform out over the roof to rest your gun and store your ammo on. Incorporate a power outlet in the framework for your spotlight and it keeps things tidy, avoiding that sudden darkness that comes with somebody accidentally pulling the wires apart.

    And FFS, put a fuse in the line to your handheld spotlight. I can tell you some good stories that demonstrate the importance of this. Needless to say it gives you years of campfire entertainment, laughing about the misfortunes of others.... so long as it's others you're laughing about and not yourself.
    gadgetman, Angus_A, 308 and 2 others like this.

  12. #12
    Cook Angus_A's Avatar
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    A good way to practice i've found is go through areas you know to be possum dense with no lights on at all, full moon nights are great for this. Look for shapes and listen for sounds and point your light when you think you've found something. I started picking up way more possums after i started practising this. Just the other night i got two out of one tree before we'd even started walking because i saw a couple black blobs on the branches with a tail hanging down.
    planenutz and kukuwai like this.
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  13. #13
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    Have found holding your torch/spotty under your chin helps so the beam is on the same angle your eyes are looking makes it easy to pick up the reflection of the animals eyes rather then holding the light lower and angling it up or from the side. Same as how you pick up more wearing decent headlight

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by northdude View Post
    I use one of the big light force ones for off a vehicle light looks a bit yellow but it out throws my led stuff don't run it off the cig lighter put heavy alligator clips on it and go straight off the battery also just got a cordless night sabre and unimpressed with that as well
    i have to repair them, the "night sabre" comes in multiple models all of which have a different output and colour temperature. which one do you have ? a i have a few spare "heads" if its a colour temperature issue

  15. #15
    Member gadgetman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by planenutz View Post
    As others have noticed too, the cold white beams are great but they don't light up the eyes as well as the warmer yellow light of the traditional spotlights. Instead of looking for eyes you actually need to look for the animals. Unless you're directly on the eyes with LED and HID lights they don't reflect the same and I find they also seem to reflect dew-drops more often too. That said, I still prefer my 240 mm 'satellite dish' HID.
    De-doming of LED's gives a warmer/yellower light, which we find really good, as well as increasing the beam intensity. The yellower beam cuts the air so much better, not reflecting back at you so much from dust and moisture particles in the air. With a whiter light the shooter next to you can often see more in your light than you can because of reflections.
    planenutz likes this.
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