Toombsy Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 I have just been for a short walk with a powerful handtorch to see what's out and about on my permision. First time I've done this. There was a lot of life around the perimeter of some maize. I saw three different colours of eyes in that maize, but they vanished into the thick of it before I could determine what they were. There's a chance that one of those critters could have been a cat, as there's a caravan park quite closeby. Can anyone help with a short list of vermin's eye colour when they are caught in a lamp? Rat, fox, rabbit, muntjac? Thanks a lot for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Near by impossible to say what to be honest with you.. You must never shoot at a pair of eyes.. - Some idiot round here did. It was a police dog handler, he missed the dog and put a .22lr round through the copper! Edited February 23, 2009 by garyb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyCM Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 horse, owl, sheep, badger, dog, human (with or without eyewear!)........the list goes on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Fudd Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Near by impossible to say what to be honest with you.. You must never shoot at a pair of eyes.. - Some idiot round here did. It was a police dog handler, he missed the dog and put a .22lr round through the copper! so he didnt actually miss then?? simple answer is dont shoot eyes, only shoot if you can identify the target 100% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toombsy Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 I would never dream of shooting anything I couldn't identify. I just wondered if there was any specific eye colour for any given animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MM Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Near by impossible to say what to be honest with you.. You must never shoot at a pair of eyes.. - Some idiot round here did. It was a police dog handler, he missed the dog and put a .22lr round through the copper! bloody hell, when did that happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 bloody hell, when did that happen? I'll try and find a link... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2...15875-16335289/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 You can tell more by judging both colour and behaviour. Fox eyes vary in their shade of green, however they will only give you a fleeting glance. Same applies for badgers, if you happen across any. Ground-nesting birds, deer, cattle, hares, cats and domestic dogs, will sit usually unblinking in the beam of a lamp, showing green relections from their retina. Rabbits' eyes also reflect green, but they will scarper at the sight of white light. Go out with a powerful, red-filtered light and you will pick up more detail. If you know the land that you shoot over intimately (and you should) you'll be able to marry up tracks, burrows and other features to the eyes you are spotting, and be pretty confident that it's X species you're looking at. You can never be too careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triscrx Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2...15875-16335289/ Bit of a short story anyone know the outcome of this story? Surely they werent prosecuted for attempted murder?! Just stupidity.. Baldrick has a very good point above, Knowing eye colour is one thing but you should have the confidence 100% prior to pulling that trigger that you have a safe backstop and the target is what you think it is, if there is even 1% of doubt then its not a safe shot.. Always better to wish you had taken a shot when you do get an I.D than regret taking that shot for the rest of your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyCM Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Eye colour is a bit of a subjective topic isn't it? Most of us use: white light, of various strengths and concentrations (flood or spot light) red filters amber filters green / blue........... I take a good set of binoculars lamping with me, not night vision but good quality, they may be heavy (along with battery, lamp, rifle, sticks) but have ID'd many a fox (and other night movers) extremely safely. Cheers AndyCM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toombsy Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Thanks a lot - there are some very useful tips there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Eye colour is a bit of a subjective topic isn't it? Fair point, I forgot to qualify my comments. I use a 100w white light for lamping foxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Baldrick, Strange you say green eyes for a fox? I've always seen foxes (with a white light - lightforce/or with my old Deben Blue eye) red/orangy. Muntjack/rabbit/badger i agree - green/light blue even. i was always told to beware of white eyes! (usually not what you want to shoot)! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I use a red filter on account of most quarry being pretty lamp shy around here. The downside of this is that all eyes look orange/red in varying levels of brightness. The filter attenuates the beam too, so anything at range can be particularly difficult to make out. Great care must be taken! To highlight an example recently, I was skirting around the side of a very large field that should, according to the farmer, have been empty. On scanning the beam around the field I picked up a fairly bright eye at fox level behind some scrub at the very far edge of the field. I sat and watched it for a while, as it disappeared and reappeared constantly about a foot off the ground. However at no point did I see two eyes together which led me to believe what I was looking at was not a fox as it probably had eyes on opposite sides of its head. The eye seemed too bright to be a sheep escapee from the next field. In the end, out of curiosity mainly, I stalked up to about halfway, took the filter off my lamp and lit it up. And there as plain as day... a horse! It was feeding away, hence it's head was close to the ground, it's shape was broken up behind the scrub and against the hedge behind it and under my red light at that range it was simply invisible. It turned out that one of the women who rents a stable at the farm had not taken the horse in that night as usual for some reason and it had gone for a wander! It certainly opened my eyes to the tricks that light can play at night as at no point while I was sitting there observing did I consider what I was watching could be such a large animal. It also highlights how important it is to take the time to observe without being tempted to have a squint through the scope because even with no intention of firing I think anyone would feel pretty stupid to have to admit to having pointed a loaded rifle at something other than what they are intending to shoot.... especially if it had turned out to be a person! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Baldrick, Strange you say green eyes for a fox? I've always seen foxes (with a white light - lightforce/or with my old Deben Blue eye) red/orangy. Muntjack/rabbit/badger i agree - green/light blue even. i was always told to beware of white eyes! (usually not what you want to shoot)! T Yep, right from the weakest shade through to a distinct greeny green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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