Best IR Wavelength?

Brad W

Brad W

New member
I know a lot of people are concerned about animals seeing their IR. Is this really a concern? 850nm is picked up by ccd and cmos sensors better than 940nm and should be well out of the visible range for most animals. They may be abe to see the led glow but I can't imagine the spot or much less the beam. I could certainly be wrong though...it's happened before.

What do you guys think/use?
 
I have been burning the heck out of em with an 850 the last 6 weeks and have never had one act like he saw it. Now deer I have had act spooky when burned with it.
 
I use an 850. They have to see the glow I can see it. I wouldn't think it would alarm them and wish the coyotes I've seen had the same reaction I've seen in many of the videos and come in without a care in the world but they still seem hesitant.

I know they see the glow from my trail cams, both are Bushnell and one is way brighter than the other. Their reaction on video tells me they see it, yet DoubleUp has a bunch of videos with IR lights at his bait site and the coyotes seem to care less.

I'm gonna put a 940 in another pill soon and see if things change.
 
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I have walked out 50 yards and looked back at my 850nm illuminator and I can see it. It has a very noticeable glow. I have had coyotes and foxes stop in their tracks when I turned it on.
I have noticed that if the animal is way out when I turn it on, and if they don't spook then, they don't seem to be bothered by it as they come in. But when I turn it on an up close animal they very often react. I try to halo the animal until I'm ready to pull the trigger.
Even with the glow the 850nm is my favorite.
 
pmack, those videos are mostly shot from a big 850nm light mount on the back of my shop. It is about 38 yds. from where the light is mounted to the bait pile. That is why you don't see the IR whiteout from the smoke coming out of the barrel. It is mounted about 12 feet high and coyotes never pay it any attention. I do have an 850nm light (HTRN's Infinity) mounted on the rifle in case I have to shoot one that goes out of the area covered by the big 850 light on the shop. It is 95 yds. from where I shoot to the bait pile.

I also have a 940nm light from HTRN that works quite well with the Photon. While not quite as good as the 850nm light, I know that I can shoot to 150yds. and maybe 180yds. with it. The glow is fainter and it is hard to see beyond about 40 yds., but it is still visible closer than that. I believe that 6mm06 has one that works quite well with his 6.5 Photon as well.
 
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The last 3 I have called in at night have spotted something and locked up or left before I could get a shot. Whether it is me, the back glow from my homemade NV screen or the IR I don't know. What I do know is, I can see it. I know coyotes see and have a negative reaction to my trail cams IR. Bobcats also see the trail cam IR but have mixed reactions from curious to alert.

I think it is only dumb coyotes that don't react to IR, dumb is dead. They are all smart where I hunt LOLOLOLOL.
 
I tried a 940nm t20 illuminator and found it to be too dim for my liking...that's with gen3 nv. 840 is now my favorite. I don't know about them spooking although that might be because I've rigged up some homemade halo shields for both my t20's. No spooking yet this year so I guess it works pretty well. I used toilet paper or paper towel cardboard tubes along with a clip-on honeycomb glare reducer for binoculars. Behind the honeycomb portion I have two layers (cut circles) of dark window tint. The tint softens the glow but still allows a lot of ir to pass thru. I will have to take some pictures and post how I put together.

 
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Around 850 seems to be the concensus which was my thought as well. It seems odd that people have experince with deer seeing it because deer can't really distinguish those higher wavelengths (why blaze orange works) so it would seem that they shouldn't see it at all. I guess they must see a very faint glow but they are skittish enough that that is all it takes. I've been trying to figure out how to diminish the glow but in reality I don't think it's possible without reducing output. Breaking it up with the honey comb is an interesting idea though.
 
I'm new to this NV with IR thing so I'm not speaking from experience, but here is what I think:

1. We know coyotes cannot see in the IR spectrum.
2. We know you can't have coyote come in in the dark and then turn the light on - he will spook and haul tail.
3. We know IR lights emit some small amount of red light (that's why we can see the red). If we can see that, the coyote can see it. I suspect it is the same as using a light: If you have the IR on/visible to the coyote from the beginning, he will know it's there the whole time and not be alarmed. If he sees a little red light pop on 50 yards away he is going to skadaddle.

I like that honeycomb idea - if you can get enough light where you want it and obscure the red glow from downrange visibility, you can turn it on and off as you please.
 
Check out Kevin's T-20 infinity at HighTechRedNeck. It is an adjustable T-20 that goes from 1% to 100%. You can see eye shine when first turning it on with no detectable glow. It is great. You can turn it up to whatever level you want to full power full glow to any level with no to very low to moderate glow in lens. I've had many lately stop as I turn it on and go to full power lately so have been waiting till the very last to turn it up if I think I need to. Still can see there eye shine at lowest level and turn it up slightly to get more light out there. Just think they are a little more wary at this point in the year after most of the easier ones have been shot. Haven't experienced to much freezing at other points in the year as I have lately. Really like this thing as it gives you any amount you will need. Totally covert to extremely bright IR light. Best of both worlds. He developed it himself. Check it out.
 
UCRN: I 100% agree with your thoughts about the coyotes detecting the light when it is switched on but I have some thoughts on the other points. Our eyes are not like the eyes of other animals. Our sensetivity to various wavelengths is different. What we see when we turn on IR may be very very different or completely invisible to other animals. Also IR leds really do not emit red they just emit a lot of IR which we are very minimally sensetive to and perceive as a deep red. If you look at the spectral output graphs of leds you will see that they can produce light that varies only a few nanometers from the average wavelength for a given power input.

All that being said I would love to see some videos of coyotes being spooked by the light.
 
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This gets debated about every 6 months or so. Coyotes cannot see the IR beam or the spot that you are putting on them, however, they can see the IR glow/source just like you can see it. They generally don't come unglued like they do when conventional light hits them (in our neck of the woods in IL) but it will stop them and turn them sometimes. I have also had some come completely unglued at the sight of it too. I have some video of them seeing and reacting to the IR glow, I'll see if I can get a clip posted soon. Kevin
 
Originally Posted By: weekenderNow that is some ingenuity right there, I like that CML. Please share the links and pics for "how to".

I will get some pics posted this weekend. I think the honeycomb and shade help hide the ir signature when viewed from an angle. It is still visible when looking at it head on though.
 

I use a 940nm spot light at my coyote bait site. It is mounted on a tall 4x4 post that is roughly 25 yards from the bait pile, but I can see coyotes up the hill maybe 30 yards away. I turn the 940 on to see what's there. It has no red glow at all that I can see, absolutely none. Once I spot the coyote with the 940, I then turn on my 850nm T-20 that is mounted on my rifle back at the cabin.

The coyotes will look at the source and no doubt can see the red glow, but most don't seem bothered by it. The 850nm light hasn't been on all the time and I turn it on when I am ready or near to take the shot.

Below is an example. I deployed the 850nm light around the 3:00 mark in the video.









This is another example. The first coyote didn't mind the 850 light, but the second one at the 3:42 mark didn't like it.
This coyote has always been nervous anyway. It looked at the red glow twice and started to leave.









Here is yet another coyote that wasn't bothered by the 850nm. Notice the 2:11 mark.









I conclude from the several times I have observed coyote behavior, that most are not affected by the red glow.
There are exceptions. I guess coyotes are individuals and have their own tolerance level.


 
Originally Posted By: Brad WUCRN: I 100% agree with your thoughts about the coyotes detecting the light when it is switched on but I have some thoughts on the other points. Our eyes are not like the eyes of other animals. Our sensetivity to various wavelengths is different. What we see when we turn on IR may be very very different or completely invisible to other animals. Also IR leds really do not emit red they just emit a lot of IR which we are very minimally sensetive to and perceive as a deep red. If you look at the spectral output graphs of leds you will see that they can produce light that varies only a few nanometers from the average wavelength for a given power input.

All that being said I would love to see some videos of coyotes being spooked by the light.

So are you saying IR light is not seen by coyotes??

Buy an IR trail cam and watch their reaction.........their will be a reaction. A reaction is a event caused by a stimulus. Without the visual cue their is no reaction. A trail cam may cause an audible reaction but in the field a coyote don't hear my button at 100 yards.


Originally Posted By: 6mm06
There are exceptions. I guess coyotes are individuals and have their own tolerance level.


I agree 100% with this.

 
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Coyotes used to spook sometimes when I was using trail cameras with visible IR lights. When I say visible I mean the led's had a faint red glow. My two cameras on the bait site now are blackout and the coyotes don't pay any attention to them. Through the Photon, I can still see the IR light and glow, but I can't see it with my naked eye at night. The coyotes never notice these cameras when they come on.
 
Originally Posted By: pmackOriginally Posted By: Brad WUCRN: I 100% agree with your thoughts about the coyotes detecting the light when it is switched on but I have some thoughts on the other points. Our eyes are not like the eyes of other animals. Our sensetivity to various wavelengths is different. What we see when we turn on IR may be very very different or completely invisible to other animals. Also IR leds really do not emit red they just emit a lot of IR which we are very minimally sensetive to and perceive as a deep red. If you look at the spectral output graphs of leds you will see that they can produce light that varies only a few nanometers from the average wavelength for a given power input.

All that being said I would love to see some videos of coyotes being spooked by the light.

So are you saying IR light is not seen by coyotes??

Buy an IR trail cam and watch their reaction.........their will be a reaction. A reaction is a event caused by a stimulus. Without the visual cue their is no reaction. A trail cam may cause an audible reaction but in the field a coyote don't hear my button at

Well if you want to get technical they don't see IR. They detect super high intensity IR sources (like the trail cams which I agreed about in this thread) but that doesn't mean that you consider IR within their visible specrum. UV is out of our visible specrum but you can still detect it with the eye at the bulb. The visible spectrum tapers off and in a practical sense there is some of it which is beyond our perception except in high intensity situations EX Leds.
 
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Originally Posted By: Brad W
Well if you want to get technical they don't see IR. They detect super high intensity IR sources (like the trail cams which I agreed about in this thread)

How do they detect it?
 
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