wigwamitus
LSB Active Member
Tips from Night Vision Kindergarden ... Part One ...
In February 2013, I started going out at night. I had just gotten a used PS-22 and I wanted to learn to move and see and shoot at night on our new 120 acre ranch in Wabaunsee County Kansas. I had determined that it order to be successful moving and seeing and shooting at night, the most important thing I could do, was spend a lot of time outside at night, moving and seeing and shooting. For some reason, I grabbed a nice straight cottonwood stick out of our creek bed that is about 5 foot long, that was one of the smarter things I did with night practice early on. I also had a pair of gen1 "yuko" goggles" that was one of the dummer things I did early on. And I had a 2000 Lumen light with a red filter.
So for my first night, I headed out with the stick, the flashlight and the goggles. I promotly ran into a tree. After about an eighth of a mile, I took off the goggles and realized I could see better without them. I only used them again 2 more times and those times were much later. So I was walking with the walking stick and the red light and my mark I eye balls (MKIEB). After 2-3 nights, I realized I didn't need the light to walk in the open pasture. The MKIEB and the stick were enough. Even on dark nights, with no moon, I can walk in the open pasture, because there is enough ambient light to be able to make out tree lines and major terrain features and the stick prevents me from tripping and falling and with practice I'm able to go about 80-90% as fast as in the day time. I got to the point, pretty quickly, where I only turned the light on if I needed it. Which became never, if just moving in the pasture.
The creeks and woods was a different story. Moving in the creeks and woods around here is not easy even in the day. There are lots of branches and lots of fallen branches on the ground and lots of rocks too, especially in the creek beds. I started out in the winter, so the vegetation was not as thick as in the summer and there were no ticks. I would learn about them later . I held the stick out in front of me and about a 45 degree angle. That helped me locate branches and not bump into them with my head. I started wearing clear safety glasses as insurance that I wouldn't get poked in the eyes. But it was slow going and I could not tell direction very well. The red light did not help. One time I went in a big circle and knew I needed something different. I then got a 3 lumen Red, Green, Blue, White light and that did the trick. With the 3L green light in the woods, I could move at day light speed. I also got two compasses to help me maintain direction. I later learned other ways to tell direction.
In these early days of night walks, the stick was the most important piece of equipment. And if I start to fall, the stick can prevent it. In fact, I do not think I've ever fallen when I was carrying the stick at night. I cannot say the same about the day time. I cannot count the number of times I've fallen in the day time. But I practice falling on purpose and so far, I've never hurt myself, even though I've taken a few bad falls, but most of my falls are not bad and the falling practice helps with those as does going up and down hill sides properly. And I do fall a lot in the day time, mostly when going up and down slopes but also when moving too quickly in rough pasture. When carrying rifles and pistols I need to think about how to move up and down slopes to avoid falling on the guns if I will fall but that is part of what I think about. That is one reason I carry my pistol on my right side, so it will be on the same side as my rifle. Then I move in such a way as to fall away from that side if I must fall.
I brought the PS-22 out with me as a handheld monocular sometimes. In those days I had a cheap 3-9x "Aim Sports" scope, which was pretty worthless on my rifle (in those days I had one Sig716 7.62 rifle) but was useful with the PS-22 mounted directly on the front objective of the scope. I could move , stop and look. And in the right conditions this would help me see things I could not see otherwise. But it did not help much with navigation either in the pasture or in the woods. It was great for star gazing and I started looking at the stars more and more.
The first time I looked up and saw this big fuzzy swath across the sky I noodled for a while and then decided that must be the Milky Way. I'd never seen the Milky Way before, but what else could all that be? After getting back to the house and googling I determined sure enough, that was the Milky Way. Then I needed to find Andromeda as I had seen Andromeda when I was a a kid. I'd say I got lucky and found it pretty quickly. It wasn't until later that I found out the trick of using Cassiopeia to find Andromeda although in present times, I can usually look up straight at Andromeda without having to use Cass as a cruch. So if stars are visible, I don't need compasses and I don't need compasses in the open pasture either, but in the woods a compass helps keeping to moving most quickly in the direction you are trying to go. You have to deviate a lot in the woods around trees and gulleys and the compass still has its place. Somtimes even from the woods, you can see the stars and moon well enough, but on cloudly nights you cannot. In the late summer fall, early winter I use Cass/Andromeda and in the late winter through early summer I use Orion. And of course when the moon is visible I can use the moon to help maintain direction. I've just scratched the surface of learning the stars, but at least I've started. Oh, the big dipper is up there, but for some reason I don't use it as much, I should I think on balance it is more visible than either Cass or Orion.
The moon, when high enough in the sky and otherwise visible, is like a giant flash light over my head. I don't think it matters much how much moon there is, a sliver works, if it is high enough in the sky. I have moon rise and moon phases charts posted on my wall beside my desk, so I am always cognizant of what might be out there. Of course the weather intervenes a lot. But when the moon is there, no NV needed for moving on foot or in buggy for open pasture. It is almost day time. No stick, no lights, just MKIEB. Not true for the woods, still need help there. But the moon can be used from the woods for navigation, at least from the woods around me.
I read that as we get older we dramatically loose the ability to see at night. Well it would be great to be young again as I think I can see great at now even now and I am an olde man! The youngsters must be almost blinded at night they can see so well!
For the buggy, if there was no moon, I bungied a 30L RGBW light on the front and mostly ran it on Blue. Red was not bright enough on dark nights and green was overkill. I suspect this light would have been invisible at the distance where the buggy could first be heard. But I've driven close (25yds) to deer and coyotes (50yds) and Turkeys (5yds) with the buggy at night so it doesn't scare them way as much as I would've expected.
In February 2013, I started going out at night. I had just gotten a used PS-22 and I wanted to learn to move and see and shoot at night on our new 120 acre ranch in Wabaunsee County Kansas. I had determined that it order to be successful moving and seeing and shooting at night, the most important thing I could do, was spend a lot of time outside at night, moving and seeing and shooting. For some reason, I grabbed a nice straight cottonwood stick out of our creek bed that is about 5 foot long, that was one of the smarter things I did with night practice early on. I also had a pair of gen1 "yuko" goggles" that was one of the dummer things I did early on. And I had a 2000 Lumen light with a red filter.
So for my first night, I headed out with the stick, the flashlight and the goggles. I promotly ran into a tree. After about an eighth of a mile, I took off the goggles and realized I could see better without them. I only used them again 2 more times and those times were much later. So I was walking with the walking stick and the red light and my mark I eye balls (MKIEB). After 2-3 nights, I realized I didn't need the light to walk in the open pasture. The MKIEB and the stick were enough. Even on dark nights, with no moon, I can walk in the open pasture, because there is enough ambient light to be able to make out tree lines and major terrain features and the stick prevents me from tripping and falling and with practice I'm able to go about 80-90% as fast as in the day time. I got to the point, pretty quickly, where I only turned the light on if I needed it. Which became never, if just moving in the pasture.
The creeks and woods was a different story. Moving in the creeks and woods around here is not easy even in the day. There are lots of branches and lots of fallen branches on the ground and lots of rocks too, especially in the creek beds. I started out in the winter, so the vegetation was not as thick as in the summer and there were no ticks. I would learn about them later . I held the stick out in front of me and about a 45 degree angle. That helped me locate branches and not bump into them with my head. I started wearing clear safety glasses as insurance that I wouldn't get poked in the eyes. But it was slow going and I could not tell direction very well. The red light did not help. One time I went in a big circle and knew I needed something different. I then got a 3 lumen Red, Green, Blue, White light and that did the trick. With the 3L green light in the woods, I could move at day light speed. I also got two compasses to help me maintain direction. I later learned other ways to tell direction.
In these early days of night walks, the stick was the most important piece of equipment. And if I start to fall, the stick can prevent it. In fact, I do not think I've ever fallen when I was carrying the stick at night. I cannot say the same about the day time. I cannot count the number of times I've fallen in the day time. But I practice falling on purpose and so far, I've never hurt myself, even though I've taken a few bad falls, but most of my falls are not bad and the falling practice helps with those as does going up and down hill sides properly. And I do fall a lot in the day time, mostly when going up and down slopes but also when moving too quickly in rough pasture. When carrying rifles and pistols I need to think about how to move up and down slopes to avoid falling on the guns if I will fall but that is part of what I think about. That is one reason I carry my pistol on my right side, so it will be on the same side as my rifle. Then I move in such a way as to fall away from that side if I must fall.
I brought the PS-22 out with me as a handheld monocular sometimes. In those days I had a cheap 3-9x "Aim Sports" scope, which was pretty worthless on my rifle (in those days I had one Sig716 7.62 rifle) but was useful with the PS-22 mounted directly on the front objective of the scope. I could move , stop and look. And in the right conditions this would help me see things I could not see otherwise. But it did not help much with navigation either in the pasture or in the woods. It was great for star gazing and I started looking at the stars more and more.
The first time I looked up and saw this big fuzzy swath across the sky I noodled for a while and then decided that must be the Milky Way. I'd never seen the Milky Way before, but what else could all that be? After getting back to the house and googling I determined sure enough, that was the Milky Way. Then I needed to find Andromeda as I had seen Andromeda when I was a a kid. I'd say I got lucky and found it pretty quickly. It wasn't until later that I found out the trick of using Cassiopeia to find Andromeda although in present times, I can usually look up straight at Andromeda without having to use Cass as a cruch. So if stars are visible, I don't need compasses and I don't need compasses in the open pasture either, but in the woods a compass helps keeping to moving most quickly in the direction you are trying to go. You have to deviate a lot in the woods around trees and gulleys and the compass still has its place. Somtimes even from the woods, you can see the stars and moon well enough, but on cloudly nights you cannot. In the late summer fall, early winter I use Cass/Andromeda and in the late winter through early summer I use Orion. And of course when the moon is visible I can use the moon to help maintain direction. I've just scratched the surface of learning the stars, but at least I've started. Oh, the big dipper is up there, but for some reason I don't use it as much, I should I think on balance it is more visible than either Cass or Orion.
The moon, when high enough in the sky and otherwise visible, is like a giant flash light over my head. I don't think it matters much how much moon there is, a sliver works, if it is high enough in the sky. I have moon rise and moon phases charts posted on my wall beside my desk, so I am always cognizant of what might be out there. Of course the weather intervenes a lot. But when the moon is there, no NV needed for moving on foot or in buggy for open pasture. It is almost day time. No stick, no lights, just MKIEB. Not true for the woods, still need help there. But the moon can be used from the woods for navigation, at least from the woods around me.
I read that as we get older we dramatically loose the ability to see at night. Well it would be great to be young again as I think I can see great at now even now and I am an olde man! The youngsters must be almost blinded at night they can see so well!
For the buggy, if there was no moon, I bungied a 30L RGBW light on the front and mostly ran it on Blue. Red was not bright enough on dark nights and green was overkill. I suspect this light would have been invisible at the distance where the buggy could first be heard. But I've driven close (25yds) to deer and coyotes (50yds) and Turkeys (5yds) with the buggy at night so it doesn't scare them way as much as I would've expected.