# Hunting > Varminting and Small Game Hunting >  Spotlighting tips and tricks

## kukuwai

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

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## gadgetman

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.

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## Feather or Shoot

Scan slower. Give them the chance to turn their eyes to you. 

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## kukuwai

[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.

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## Feather or Shoot

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

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## nightshooter

@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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## Angus_A

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  :Pissed Off:  it's incredibly annoying and they don't come down on their own.

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## Angus_A

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

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## northdude

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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## bully

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.

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## planenutz

> 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.

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## Angus_A

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.

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## piwakawaka

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

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## gonetropo

> 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

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## gadgetman

> 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.

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## northdude

> 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


Fukn spell check I'm impressed with it for the weight not sure what one it is hand held with lithium battery to pick it up it doesn't even feel like there's a battery in it

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## quentin

I went with a Maxtoch 2X with a new driver board so I can use 7V - 20V input. Gives me 4 modes instead of the maxtoch 3 mode driver. Additional mode is moonlight mode, which is enough to read my watch, reload a magazine etc. I also wired it up so it uses a LiPo 16000MaH battery for a whole week of light without a recharge.
It's rifle mounted, with the battery in my backpack.
The additional range of the 2X is used to ensure a clear firing zone - I hunt around orchards, and some of the neighbors have stock.
Never tried it from a vehicle, but it's been a rock solid performer for shooting rabbits and hares for the last few years. Previous to that I was using a 150mm 35W HID, which in comparison was rubbish. It was heavy, hummed, got hot, chewed battery, and the colour was too white.

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## North guy

> 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


It pays to put something on the clips or the inside of the bonnet to act as insulation though as I know a few people who have had some interesting times to say the least when the clips weld themslves to the bonnet.

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## csmiffy

if its just possums there are a few rechargeable ones out with a pretty decent output and 3-4 hour run time under a hundy. nice little lights too.
Night sabre do one but would have to go look at the box in the shed to check output.

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## PillowDribbler

Anybody done a switch upgrade to a lightforce spotlight.

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## Sideshow

Get some of this to add to your frame to rest your rifles on :Thumbsup:  comes with a half cut seam just cable tie in place works a treat.

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