Sad Story but a lesson learned

[OwnerITO]

Hiya again all: I have not shot anything this year but I have seen 7 deer (five does and two bucks-the one was a brute in body and antler) I have two doe tags in the area I am hunting so when my friend and I went out I informed him of this. He managed to put an arrow into a doe at 30 yds. He said when the arrow hit it made a loud smacking sound, same as if you hit a softball with a bat and was trying to get a home run with it. Anyways, we waited 45 minutes since he said it was a really good hit by what he was seeing. So, on the blood trail we get and three hours later and no blood we admit defeat. (Right afterwards we got promptly lost in the dark for three hours. NOT FUN!!!) Anyways, I noticed that he had a flashlight that was brighter than mine and he was picking up more blood from the area than I was. I got into reading about these blood trailing flashlights and after the very mixed reviews on them I will not buy one. The most common answer I was seeing was to use a super bright flashlight or even a Coleman lantern. Since I am not going to be carrying a lantern on me I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on a brand of flashlight that was portable and also super bright (in case this happens again.)

[mikew]

Hi,
Sorry to hear of the lost deer.

Read this thread:
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2 ... flashlight

-Mike

[Pydpiper]

MMmm, flashlights..

[aerostarp]

OwnerITO wrote:

I got into reading about these blood trailing flashlights and after the very mixed reviews on them I will not buy one.

I had first-hand experience with these when my two buddies used them to track my doe a few weeks ago. They come with 2 lenses - one red and one white. The red one made the entire illuminated field appear red and did not distinguish between blood or anything else. Everything looked red. It was only useful when you used the white lens but then you could use a much cheaper flashlight for that. Both my friends who bought them would not get them again.

[Pydpiper]

There is no such thing as a blood trailing flashlight, the color spectrum is all wrong. The best you will get is the Coleman lantern. Other than that just buy a dependable flashlight and count on your eyes.

[TPM]

The red one made the entire illuminated field appear red and did not distinguish between blood or anything else. Everything looked red.

And that's exactly what it's supposed to do. Red filters are not for blood tracking despite what some manufactures say. They simply allow you to use some sort of illumination without screwing up your night vision. A blue filter can help make blood look very dark but nothing beats a good white light. Personally I don't like a flashlight to be too bright as it does mess with your night vision. Nothing beats a Coleman lantern for field dressing though.

[Ben S.]

Coleman Lantern is the best. The sound he heard (loud smack like a baseball bat) could very well have been the bolt hitting the front shoulder bone. If that is the case, that deer could still be running around.

[warningshot]

few years back we shot a deer at 15 yds max with about 10 mins of shooting light left .... a few specs of blood at the scene but nothing after ....took us an hour to find it 100 ydrs from the first shot...we were able to find it using our little mini mag lights but after that we went and picked up some high power lights ...

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html

i personally have a inova t4 rechargeable 125 lumens ...which gets the job done and as a backup light i carry a streamlight propolmyler luxeon 4 AA light as well

[Golden Eagle]

I use the ones that come with the Battery Power tool kits for tracking. I myself have a Craftsman and a Ryobi kit and both came with the lights and have two rechargible batteries each. [ The spotlight type, not the floresent] I have sort of a reputation for helping people find their Deer and usally get a couple calls a Season to help and I grab one of these lights and the xtra battery and am good to go.