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Flashlights for Blood Tracking

cybball

cybball

Well-Known Member
I know there have been quite a few threads on here about this. I'm really needing a new light. My petzel headlamp sucks for tracking. Yellowish dull light doesn't do it. Lots of threads talking about buying new lights. What do you guys think about those lights you bought having tracked deer with them? I need something that works really well, lasting batteries and holds up to being thrown into my pack. I don't like lugging around my big mag light and honestly, the light seems kind of dull.

Thoughts?
Thanks!!
Jason
 
Look at the newer head lamps with LED bulbs. Petzel has a new line out that the head "band" is a coated wire that winds up and takes up no space in a pack. For really difficult tracking jobs, I am going back to get the Coleman lantern.
 
I use a blood tracking light that I have had for years, I believe it was a Gerber? I would have to look when I get home...I am Red/Green color blind, so unless I call out my friends (who usually runs the blood trail and finds my deeer) I either am walking blind in daylight just looking at tossed leaves and such..or at night, kick out that light and can actually see a blood trail (absolutely crazy to me)
 
I have found it to be much more difficult, if not impossible, to track a blood trail w/L.E.D. than with the older style yellow light...the filament bulb. The blood appears to be black under L.E.D., which, it seems, is one of the 3 primary colors on the ground in the fall. Don't know if anyone even makes them now-a-days but if you can find yourself an old-school flashlight and snag some extra bulbs if possible (maybe Grandpa's stash) you'll be amazed at how much better it is for this specific application.
 
So your saying with the today’s newer and brighter led lights it’s harder to see blood trail at night?
 
Oct-Lull... I'm w/you on that. Great light for field dressing at the end of the trail as well. However, because of the potential fire hazard and depending on the terrain, I only use a lantern when it's a group effort. The lantern carrier does only that.
 
I agree that LED is usually horrible for trailing. That's mainly because the color temperature which is usually higher(whiter/more blue). They do make the LEDs in the lower color scale but more for residential/commercial lighting. I'm still looking for the perfect trailing flashlight myself. As said you can't beat a lantern but that isn't the best for solo or two man track jobs which I prefer.
 
Look into a Zebralight. As bigbuckhunter mentioned, the reason most LED lights suck for blood trailing is because they are usually a cooler color that washes out other colors, making blood hard to see. Zebralight makes lights in a neutral white, and it makes a huge difference.

Another reason a lantern works so much better than a standard flashlight is because a lantern is a nice even light with no beam concentration. If you look at a flood or floody (my personal favorite) version of a zebralight, they beam spill is perfect, with no hotspots.

They are a little spendy, but they are built very well, use 18650 batteries with insanely long run times, have multiple settings from super bright to very dim. I use mine all the time for more than just hunting/tracking... grilling in the dark, mechanic stuff, getting wood from the woodpile, you name it.

http://www.zebralight.com/H600Fw-Mk-III-XHP35-Floody-Neutral-White-18650-Headlamp_p_184.html
 
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