Red/Blue tracking lights

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I hear this is the best idea for finding blood trails in the dark...has anyone used these lights?... Would it be worth the money to invest in one?....Red and Blue combo blood trailing light.

[BILLY D.]

SKEETER

i have a surefire g-34 and the blue filter and yes they work.....however if you don't have good tracking skills they aren't much use, they won't turn you into an instant daniel boone.

always carry extra batteries as these type lights either work or they don't. they don't get dim like a standard flashlight does. they just go out. period.

i was a meadow muffin last year and arrowed a deer when i should not have. i won't shoot anymore unless there is at least an hour of daylight left. stumbling around the woods in the dark is not my idea of fun and games. to look at me you might presume i'm fairly healthy. but in the past i've had two broken vertebrae in my neck and have had two back surgeries in the last three years. i'm a train wreck waiting to happen but there is no way i'm giving up my hunting. my heart and mind screams to be in the fields this time of year.

bone up on tracking skills and something else you might want to look at is the device that picks up heat. i don't know at what parameters they work but i have heard from others that they do work well in the field. that is an aquisition i'm looking at , maybe this year.

good luck, pardner.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Billy I don't do to bad at tracking after the shots..before I retired the only time I could get in the woods was right before last light and have done most of my tracking/ finding well after dark but I have seen these lights and thought they might lend a hand during those real tough times when the critter is trying to loose it's stalker.
I bought one of those heat seaking gizmos long ago...and sent mine back...it wasn't a cheap one either...what I found out with them (reports from others too) is if you happen to be using it during daylight hrs, you will see the critter laying there with the naked eye about the same time it reports....I found out if the critter goes into thick brush as most wounded will if it can, it won't pick it up till you have a clear view of critter anyhow....I would save my money on that one.
I can relate to the health and lookin otherwise. I have had 5 heart attacks, 3bypasses, have 4 stents implanted and just a yr ago wrenched my back when an 80 yr old man tripped and was falling backwards..yep, I caught him and am still havin problems with the lower back thing..now the ticker thing I can handle, I just shoot some nitro (just good thing wife don't know just how much of that I use) and fly into it but it was even hard to stand while fishing today (no place to sit when wading)..some day will get it checked out...daughter is an xray tec and they didn't see anything broken/cracked but????...I do get a kick out of someone that will ask me to do something for them because they had a heart attack...lmao...I don't even say anything but when the wife finds out about that...oh oh....lmao...she hates it when I do things like hunting or the Erie,Pa fishing trip today by myself..I just say look for the crows in a few days..will find me...besides that, my cell phone has a tracking device they can pinpoint if needed...happy hunting....and I will check into one of the red/blue lights. Thanks...oh ..are some pix of the steelhead from Erie today...not the biggest but is the first run of the year...young ones...like the old bull and the young bull story???.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Erie fish in the fishing forum that is....and seeking not seaking.(spell) .the brain can't keep up with the fingers at times.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

update. Ok after tagging my last deer of the year, I got out the fancy red/blue/white light tracking gizmo.....I tried each and every light combination on the thing and am glad I didn't have to rely on it in the dark. What I did find out that works fine are the blue blocker sunglasses. It makes the red jump out like a light itself. As for the blue light, red light and white one, it didn't make any difference to me......then maybe my eyes are starting to go too...after reading my one post here about 5 heart attacks, I did manage to add one more to it...6 now..the first saturday of buck season after a good day in the woods alone, got back to truck, started home and bam..hit me hard....made it home but not to the house...darn heart attacks anyhow....getting to be a pain about a foot and 1/2 lower anymore....still got fixed up in time to harvest my last deer a week later. yeee ha.......anyhow..try the blue blocker glasses for blood ....I have looked on the ice while ice fishing around a hole.....naked eye looks like no fish were taken or caught.....till you put on the blue blockers.....and then the red shows up....wow.

[Swift]

Talk about a long term follow-up.

[Dom]

Boy, glad you's are doing 'ok' for lack of a better word!! And glad you're enjoying life.

About the lights -- I've tried the blue filter, which I have as a swing cap on a surefire. Like Billy said, it's not a cure all, but it does make wet blood shine or stick out better, and only in the dark. I wouldn't necessarily just give up all shots within an hour to darkness, and no, it's not fun stumbling through the briars in the dark. I will go back in the morning if I can't follow the trail or it gets in the brush, an/or find someone with a bloodhound. Now that's one animal that's worth his weight in gold!! Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[BILLY D.]

Dom

I was about to apoligize to skeeter because I left out a somewhat important fact. I'm green color blind. I don't know if that helped me pick up a blood trail or not. I don't know if the blue filter and grass combination spectrum would look different to my eyes. Like Joe Friday I only try to report the facts.

Hey Swift

I was taught in the military that the sign of a good supervisor is follow up.

skeeter, we got to get together for a hunting trip. Between you and I we'd have everybody within 40 miles laughing. Awhile back I was out chasing 'yotes and I like to hunt by Cross Country skiing. I have a sling similar to the ones the Biathlon skiers use for my rifle. I parked my truck and took off optimisticly looking to have some fun. Wrong rancid bacon breath. I got a couple miles away and had to cross a fence. Piece of cake right? Took off my skis, stood the rifle against the fence and started my body through the fence and felt this stabbing in my back. Tried to straighten up and had a back spasm. Couldn't straighten up to save my soul. Not only that my left leg felt paralyzed. Had some rope in my backpack secured the skis, stapped on the rifle and went back to the truck on my hands and knees. Certainly an enjoyable hunt. And like a true dumbie I have a standard transmission so actuating the accelerator, brake and clutch pedal with my right foot was realy fun. 52 miles of that crap was about all I could stand to enjoy.

I also have a Cell Phone. I carry two extra batteries as close to my body as possible to keep them warm. I also have a CB in the truck, just in case.

Any way we would be an adventure in the field, now all we need is a squadron of paramedics to try and keep up with us.

Have a good one bud and keep your six covered.

Best wishes, Bill

[Dom]

Hey Billy & Skeeter, when you's get together for your hunting trip, DO NOT forget the camera crew. The way it sounds and the way I figure it, after that video hits YOUTUBE you'll both be rich!! But as they say, money can't buy everything, so as long as you can still get out there hunting, you are rich.

Billy, I know it's not funny, but I could just picture you on all fours crawling back to your truck!! Way to hang in there, stay well, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Oh boy Billy...funny how ya head for home in a time like that..lol...Once crossing a stream I jumped from rock to rock and right in the middle of a stride, my foot slipped and stuck between 2 rocks but I kept going...yep, broken leg in 3 places. Hands and knees back to the jeep. Probably not as far as you had to travel. The jeep was also a stick shift. I just put it in gear and rode the starter till it took off then didn't need clutch..but every time I hit the gas or shifted, the leg bounced around in there...but made it...home...not the trip to the hospital with the wife banging the gears was another thing. Just glad you get to enjoy things ...the outdoors....just 2 days ago I was back in hospital for a fine tune-up on the ticker and fishing the next morning...so my thing is...when someone says they can't do something, it is because they never wanted to do it in the first place.....Enjoy life..I still do. First aid kit in tow.

[Catfish]

When you guys get together let me know, I want to be there with a video camera. I`ve had several fall and other misshaps but the only time I ever ended up in the hospital was when I was chopping out shooting lanes with my hawk and rikochet it off a limb and into my knee while abt. 15 ft. in the air. I wouldn`t have went in for stiches but didn`t like the insurance co. I had at the time and they pd. 100 % on emergancy room calls.
Boy, I just had another thought, I might even be able to come close to keeping up with you guys, the young guys I`ve been hunting with lately walk faster than I can run, so I usually just end up on a stand. I guess that`s what happens when you get old and fat.

[Dom]

I hear ya Catfish, where's the race? Think it was in Czech a couple years ago, pretty good hills, wouldn't call em mountains, but I take them at my pace. All you're gonna do when you go racing up those hills is end up drenched in sweat anyway. That ain't no more fun for this country boy, I'll get there when I get there, Waidmannsheil, Dom.