Tracking light

I might have already mentioned this, but...

A while back, a neighbor shot a big buck and apparently did a poor job of it. He asked me to help track the deer, and it was well after dark. I thought I should try out the Milwaukee M12 hand held light I have in the house, so I grabbed it and an extra lithium battery and went over there. We never found the deer (just a flesh wound, I think), but tracked small blood spots for at least 2 hours. That light is amazing. It puts out a lot of LED light, and the beam is consistently bright in all spots. Absolutely the best light I have ever used for tracking. Never needed the second battery.

That's a nifty bit of gear.

I used a small UV light to check for bark scorpions when I lived in Las Vegas (they will fluoresce under UV light). They're also handy for checking bed linens for bodily fluids.

Coleman Lantern is what we always used.

I'm on my second Petzl (no fault of the company) LED headlamp and will never track with a handheld lamp again if I can avoid it. Also, the small $1.99 LED handhelds from Harbor Freight put out a ton of light and weigh almost nothing; they're handy in packs and glove compartments.

Well, I hear you guys, but this light is far and away better than anything I’ve tried in 60 years of deer hunting. It wasn’t just the great beam and brightness, but the fact that the battery lasted for hours without dimming. I’ve had good lights in the past, but they never lasted that long or worked this well.

I have an old Ryobi hand held light that I use in the workshop or when looking in dark places on tractors and such. Had it for years. Not a great light, but I decided I needed another one. Well, they don’t make it any more, so I wandered around Home Depot, and all I could find was the Milwaukee M12 light. I already had batteries for my drill driver, so all I needed was the light. Took it home, plugged in a battery, and Holy Mackerel. So, buy one or not. I just wanted you guys to benefit from my experience. If the light had not been that outstanding, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.

Man, I hope you're a law enforcement detective and don't need this on a daily, personal basis.

I thought this was gonna be about tracking during the day. I was going to say to find the sign it is best that while the sun is low on the horizon to track /cutsign going into the sun. Later as the sun gets higher and brighter you may need to circle until you find the best light.

Yes, the one carrying the lantern is often the first one to find the deer missed earlier with the spot beams. IMO, the eyes and mind are far less likely to miss the smallest details when an area is flooded with light.

You guys are a tough sell. This light throws a very wide beam and is way better than a Coleman lantern. But, Ok, stick with what ya got.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't lead a horticulture.

'Bought my wife a Coast flashlight at Home Depot (1400 lumens) yesterday, so she could see and call the dogs up better outa the back yard when I'm gone. Some folks just will not embrace technology.

Which light are we talking about?

I was thinking this also ... but could be a traveling man checking bed linens of hotels on the road.

The hands down best tracking light is a shoulder shot. Find them every time...

Unfortunately, this year a grandson made a bad shot on a buck, and hit it too far back.

Wish we'd had a better light for tracking, but we didn't.

I put my son in front following the scant blood trail... I was following behind him with my thermal scanner. Tracking through thick growth with 5' high gordo grass. Trailed it about 350 yards through that crap, and son lost trail and when I caught up, he was looking on the line we'd followed, and I scanned 360* and saw the buck with the thermal about 15 yards off the line we'd followed.

Never would have found that buck that night without the thermal. Could have brought my dog out the next day, but that doesn't make for great eating.

I'll have a better light next season. And hope I don't need it.

Kdkane asked a good question. I had never said which light I have. It’s the M12 light, number 49-24-0146. There are plenty battery options, but I have the ones that are the M12 6 amp hour batteries with the wide base, which lets me stand it up when I need to.

It isn’t a big bulky light, which is part of why I like it. I bought the first one for the travel trailer, not knowing how good it was. Then, when I realized that this small light puts out amazing light, I got another one for the house. And, because of the brightness and wide beam, I grabbed it to help track that deer. Because I didn’t know how it would work for tracking, I put all my other useable lights in the ATV basket - just in case. When I got to where he said the deer had been standing, I found that the light it put out was excellent for finding blood drops. And thank goodness the light lasted for a couple of hours, because when we finally gave up, I had no clue where we were in relation to my ATV. If the light had gone out, we’d have been in a pickle. It was not a moon lit night. I had an extra battery, but don’t remember if I had it on me.

I’ve tracked with many different lights over the years - lanterns, big flashlights, little super bright flashlights - and this is hands down the best. This isn’t any sort of commercial. I just wanted to tell you guys about the light that surprised me so much.

If one of you guys buys this light and really doesn’t like it or thinks it doesn’t measure up (which would actually shock me), I could use one more, so send it to me and I’ll buy it. I could use one for the workshop. The Ryobi light works Ok, but can’t measure up to this light.

Thank you, sir. I have many of the battery powered Milwaukee tools so a good light will be a nice addition to the set.

No, but if you stay in hotels, you want to know how clean the place is before you lie down.

I second the Milwaukee lights Bosch makes some good ones too

Could not agree more! Well that and my 7 mag.

Very true regarding shot placement. And forgive me if I brag a bit, but all the time I’ve had the light, I have never needed it for tracking anything I shot. I think the neighbor had a touch of the dreaded buck fever. I haven’t kidded him about it.

For those who are red/green and blue/green color blind, a Coleman lantern offers the best light.

Sold me to give it a test, just not sure how much cost an extra battery will be, or what batteries it comes with

Update: we were without power for 3 days. Had the Generac till I was out of butane. Then it got dark at night. Thank heavens for that Milwaukee M12 light. I had one and the wife had the other, and we gave them a workout outside and inside in some bitter weather. Note that the head of the light swivels from 90 degrees to straight up. You can light up a room with that light if you point it up. As much as I liked it before, it’s way better than I had imagined.

Get the 6 amp hour battery, so you can stand it on its base. No, it’s not cheap.

I use a match.

I've got a bunch of M18 tools and each and every one of them is completely badazz so I'd expect nothing less out of the Milwaukee lights.

When your are color blind, red/green and blue/green, the Coleman lantern is the best there is.

I just use a candle.

A low magnification thermal spotter is the best tracking tool. I use a FLIR Breach.