Judging distance at night, a good skill for hunters
Precisely eyeballing distances after dark does not come naturally to humans. Here’s one way to improve your distance-judging skills.It was early evening when a prime red fox responded to my calls and was closing the distance from 100 yards away. I continued lip-squeaking, enticing him closer with each squeak. We played this cat and mouse game until I guessed he was 30 yards out. The time to shoot had arrived! One shot from my 12-gauge and the fox ran off into the dark and out of my life. How could this be? Out of curiosity I marked a tuft of grass where the fox stood and paced off the distance -- 43 yards! Once again I had incorrectly estimated the distance.
That hunt took place over 30 years ago when I was still somewhat “green,” but I learned a valuable lesson that night that I never forgot. I had to learn how to judge distance at night if I was going to be a successful fox hunter.
Night Vision
The first thing you notice about night hunting is the lack of color. We see shades of gray, brown, and black, but very little color. Also, everything seems “closed-in” all around you. This combination of feeling closed-in and lack of color are what causes us to lose depth perception, resulting in misjudging distances. It’s like being in a boat in the middle of a lake. It’s difficult to judge distance over open water. The same holds true at night.
Check Your Light
Before you can learn to judge distance at night, you have to know what kind of beam your light produces. Is it a small hand-held light, a 6-volt headlight or a large spotlight?
Your light source determines how much of the area in front of you is illuminated at a certain distance. This is a critical component to the equation, and one, which you must understand to be able to accurately estimate distance.
Try the following exercise to help you learn to judge distance, simply by the size of your light beam. During the day, in an open field, place markers at 20, 30 and 40 yards from a base location. However, feel free to put them at distances related to your hunting situation. I like this setup (20, 30 and 40 yard markers) because that’s the distance I shoot most of my fox.
When all markers are in place, return at night to your base location. Shine your light towards each marker and take note at how it appears in the light beam. How bright was it? How much area around it was lit up? I was amazed at how far away the 40-yard marker looked. Always remember—objects appear farther away at night.
The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice in visualizing how much area your light source illuminates at a given distance. Also, for this exercise, it’s very important to use the same light you will be hunting with.
- Predator Xtreme
That hunt took place over 30 years ago when I was still somewhat “green,” but I learned a valuable lesson that night that I never forgot. I had to learn how to judge distance at night if I was going to be a successful fox hunter.
Night Vision
The first thing you notice about night hunting is the lack of color. We see shades of gray, brown, and black, but very little color. Also, everything seems “closed-in” all around you. This combination of feeling closed-in and lack of color are what causes us to lose depth perception, resulting in misjudging distances. It’s like being in a boat in the middle of a lake. It’s difficult to judge distance over open water. The same holds true at night.
Check Your Light
Before you can learn to judge distance at night, you have to know what kind of beam your light produces. Is it a small hand-held light, a 6-volt headlight or a large spotlight?
Your light source determines how much of the area in front of you is illuminated at a certain distance. This is a critical component to the equation, and one, which you must understand to be able to accurately estimate distance.
Try the following exercise to help you learn to judge distance, simply by the size of your light beam. During the day, in an open field, place markers at 20, 30 and 40 yards from a base location. However, feel free to put them at distances related to your hunting situation. I like this setup (20, 30 and 40 yard markers) because that’s the distance I shoot most of my fox.
When all markers are in place, return at night to your base location. Shine your light towards each marker and take note at how it appears in the light beam. How bright was it? How much area around it was lit up? I was amazed at how far away the 40-yard marker looked. Always remember—objects appear farther away at night.
The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice in visualizing how much area your light source illuminates at a given distance. Also, for this exercise, it’s very important to use the same light you will be hunting with.
- Predator Xtreme
The older I get, the more problems I have with night vision, even while using tools for it.
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