Hunting Light Evolution

[airedale]

At a young age I was introduced to night  Coon hunting with dogs and was bitten by the bug right from the get-go. One of my favorite things was listening to the oldtimers get togethers and them spinning their yarns of Coon hunts in their past.  The more interesting subjects they toughed on was the equipment those guys used in the early days and especially the lights they had to find their way through the woods and Coons in trees at night.

 

The real oldtimers used nothing more than a plain old kerosene lantern to traverse the woods, when they got to their treed dogs they had no way of shinning the tree tops to spot the Coon so they brought with them a saw or an axe and toppled the tree to get the Coon.

 

Things improved as they started carrying carbide miner's lamps which use carbide and water to form acetylene gas which burned fairly bright inside a polished reflector. They could project a usable light beam that would shine the tree tops well enough to spot the Coon's eyes so they could be shot out instead of having to take down the tree.

 

The next big improvement was the Coleman lantern that really puts out light and with a reflector attached could also shine the tree. The main drawback of the Coleman was it was a bit bulky and cumbersome. 

 

Night hunting really took a turn for the better when Koehler brought out their 4 volt lead acid electric battery powered "Wheat Light" for miner's. The battery was rechargeable hundreds of times, the light would burn for many hours with decent brightness and it was fairly compact and light, it was a mainstay in the mines and crossed over well for night hunting use for many years.

 

Since the late seventies night hunting lights have been constantly improved upon and so much better than they once were. Lead acid batteries have pretty much gone by the wayside giving way to first rechargeable nicads then nickle metal hydrides to lithium. Bulbs have evolved also, Halogen, Xenon and now bright LEDs never blow that last about forever, all in all night lights have never been better than now. I have a plug in spotlight for my Wick light that is as bright as an aircraft landing light.

 

Spending the amount of time in the woods at night as I have following my dogs and doing some varmint hunting one can probably say correctly as my wife does that I have gone off the deep end when it comes to hunting lights. Like I tell her all one has to do is spend the night in the woods in freezing temps and having to stay until daylight to walk out because of light failure and they would know where I am coming from. They also come in handy when the power goes out. Besides I just like and enjoy collecting and messing with those old lanterns and carbide miner's cap lights, it's fun.

 

Anyhow this is the time of year I do maintenance on my equipment and I was working on charging and cleaning up some of my lights old and new, I thought about their history and snapped a photo of the tip of the iceberg, some of the old to new for any folks that may be interested such things.

Al

Edited January 8, 2018 by airedale

[moog5050]

Cool stuff Airedale.

[sodfather]

Great read I remember an old movie called 

Where the red fern grows . Old time coin hounds and hunters 

[Pygmy]

I still have my Dad's carbide light...It looks just like the smaller one in the photo.. Has a little hook on it for attaching it to your hat or coat..

One of my Dad's coon hunting buddies used one for years..You had to put water in it to form the gas from the carbide "rocks"...When his light ran low on water, he would pee in it...Dad used to give him hell because of the smell...Hehehehe..

[airedale]

Got the little Just Rite Miner's carbide lamp cleaned up, put a few pieces of carbide in the chamber and water in the top and she fired right up. I have never hunted Coon with any of my carbides but I have picked up night crawlers using one.

Al

[Pygmy]

26 minutes ago, airedale said:

Got the little Just Rite Miner's carbide lamp cleaned up, put a few pieces of carbide in the chamber and water in the top and she fired right up. I have never hunted Coon with any of my carbides but I have picked up night crawlers using one.

Al

Looks just like my Dad's....You didn't PEE in it, did you  ??...Hehehehe..

[rachunter]

My father has that blue lamp. He used it when him and his buddy's would go spearing through the ice out on the bay[saltwater] they would come home with all kinds of creatures berried in the mud.He had a few lamps that screwed onto a big battery.I love going over his house and seeing stuff hanging/sitting in the same spot from forever.lol

[Steve D]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 10:16 AM, airedale said:

The more interesting subjects they toughed on was the equipment those guys used in the early days and especially the lights they had to find their way through the woods and Coons in trees at night.

It is sure amazing how far they have come in such a short amount of time.

[Red]

Where the red fern grows is a good book and a good movie. 

[Robhuntandfish]

On 1/8/2018 at 10:21 AM, sodfather said:

Great read I remember an old movie called 

Where the red fern grows . Old time coin hounds and hunters 

noooooo.......thats the movie that makes all men cry!!!  gets me every damn time.  Cant watch it even though i love the movie! 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I had my girls read the book, they were NOT HAPPY at the end lol

[WNYBuckHunter]

On 1/12/2018 at 6:44 AM, Robhuntandfish said:

noooooo.......thats the movie that makes all men cry!!!  gets me every damn time.  Cant watch it even though i love the movie! 

Do you watch it in the back of a carpeted truck while eating quiche?