What color head lamp do you guys run? Red, green, or white? Thinking of investing in a good headlamp but wonder if the color of the light really matters or not?

Depends on what you are hunting, I guess. I use red for entry and exit, because whitetail deer can not see reds. Thier eyes do not have the rods and cones that respond to reds. Hunters used to wear red for safety, but hunters orange is much easier for us to see. Thier eyes are much like cattle, and gather in a lot more light than ours, but they see poor detail, so movement is what they see best. White and green would be no real advantage.

I prefer a green light and have had good luck with it.

This is a good question. As it starts to get dark, our pupils start to dilate "expand" to let more light in and enhances our ability to see. Granted not great, but anything you get is better than none at all.
Yellow and white light will cause your pupil to constrict. A normal person will take 22-25 minutes to get their natural night vision back. When you use red light or red filter lens to produce the red light. Your eyes will constrict, but much less than other light colors. Meaning, you should have your natural night vision in 8-12 minutes.
Basically when you are up before the morning dawn and stealthily enter your games territory, you don't want to be blind because your eyes constricted more than necessary and by the time you get your normal vision, it is too late and you have missed your games last important movement. I have seen many use regular yellow/white light and when they reach their destination they are so blind that they start to light up the area with their flashlight to see what's going on. Game will bust you and disappear. Many will say there is nothing out here, when someone else shoots a nice animal, they reply, he got lucky!
Other colors such as blue, help in seeing blood easier .
Always have at least two forms of light with you, such as a head lamp and pen light. Try to coordinate them to use the same type of batteries. Keep a couple of extra fresh set of batteries with you in an insulated compartment. Such as neopreme case. Cold will kill your batteries. Get in the habit of putting your equipment in the same place always. No fiddling in the dark to find reserves etc...
Best of luck to you.

I use white since I can see best with it and I don't want to trip over anything in the dark. Since you said "hiking" and not "walking a short distance to your deer stand" I avoid hiking in the dark where I think I might bump animals. If I'm hiking in the dark I'm covering ground to get from one place to another and the noise is most likely what will spook the animals, not the light. I use the red option (if my headlamp has it) for finding stuff in the dark in camp when I don't want to ruin my night vision.

I think I hike more in the dark than in the light....

I use a white light...

I'm here ^^^^^ I use the brightest light I can find. Really like the Black Diamond Icon. I don't go in 'at daylight'. I'm where I want to be significantly before daylight whether it be deer stand or elk hunting. I've tripped/fallen way too many times trying to be stealth. Over the years I've noticed animals move a short distance away when approached in the dark. I've walked to within 20 feet of deer in heavily hunted PA woods - in the dark. At daylight or close to it - gone. I've done the same thing with elk and bears - even ran into a mountain lion one night on the way out. I guarantee you'll want a bright light when a kitty is playing games. At the end of the day, I'm not walking off a cliff, falling into a creek, walking into barbed wire, or any other such hazard trying to be stealthy.

HIKING IN THE DARK: Get used to it. Tonight drive away from lights of your home town and take a short walk into the woods. Sit down and wait for your eyes to become accustomed to the darkness. You might be surprised by how well you can see in the dark. It's rarely pitch-black at night. Starlight, moonlight and light pollution from cities/towns all make it easier to see. I carry a flashlight and a head lamp but I try to avoid using them except in an emergency because every time you turn the light on, you ruin your night vision. I don’t buy into the red lens theory. I think elk can see a point of light that's brighter than everything else no matter what color it is. After leaving the truck, I don't start hiking immediately. I sit and wait for my eyes to become accustomed to the dim light. Then if I can, I walk without any supplementary light. When there's snow on the ground and a little moonlight, things are pretty bright. But if there's no snow and it's overcast, then the hiking can be very slow. I like to hike a route in the day time so that I can become familiar with it, then I know what I will encounter when I hike it in the dark. It's also easier to hike in the dark if you pick a route with some kind of reference like a fence line, trail, ridge line, sandy creek bed or old logging road. It’s also a good idea to use a small straight stick or a trekking pole, like a blind man’s cane, to feel the ground in front of you when you can’t see it. BTW that trekking pole can make a passable rifle rest that’s better than taking an off-hand shot. I like to sit and listen to the sounds of the night because my ears pickup so much life that I don't see in the day time.

KC

Do you paint your poles or sticks white?

White light for to and from stand

Remember also products like "bright eyes " reflective tacks. Very little light needed to follow a path so marked.

I use bread crumbs......

Hiking in before daylight and hiking out after dark are standard if you hunt an ideal spot at first and last light. My exception is that once in awhile I bivvy out a few steps from a good spot, maybe just over a ridge crest.

As to light, KC nailed it. Hike without any artificial light if possible. I grew up in desert and we would hike all night sometimes without any flashlight. However, in our rain forest timber with overcast, often I can't see well enough to walk without a light. Red light for heading in before daylight, for two reasons already stated: preserve my low light vision in dim morning light, and avoid spooking game.

A cougar kept me company one morning on a pre-dawn hike on the Olympic Peninsula and I tried calling it. It seemed to have no fear at all of my puny red light but it would retreat the instant I turned on a white light that was brighter. Whether they see it or not animals usually pay little attention to red light but they usually avoid white light.

When hiking with a headlamp, hold it low in your hand and you will stumble less than if you wear it on your head. The low angle shows bumps and roots by their shadow that you do not see if the source of the light is near your eyes.

Well, there is one more reason to use a bright white light that no one has mentioned. Hunting public land and not wanting to be mistaken for game, especially in low light situations at dawn and dusk. Your fluorescent orange won't help in low light. Lots of times there's enough light for me to find my way but not enough to make out anything other than shapes. Even when I don't need it I'll keep the light on in those situations.

This is just one reason I use a brite white light.

Walked up on this guy Saturday night between the stand and the truck.

All of you no light guys or low light guys can walk in the dark any way you wish

You and me on the same page.................

I've run into a enough weird things and situations in the dark trying to be stealth. Get in early, stay late, use lights to get in/out after dark. You can use all the red, green, purple, pink lights all you want but you still aren't covering your noise or scent. Animals might be multi-sensed. <G>

Yowza! that's no fun!

Beautiful snake. I like to keep my distance but think the coloring on copperheads is incredible.

I ride in to about a 1/4 mile of my hunting spot using a white light.Red when I am actually walking in close. Got to be careful I use the white light so I don' t get a stick in the eye.The mule learns to follow it and you don't go turning your head to the side off the trail. Damn mule will follow it.

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm thinking the white light will be the way to go!

For the short walk into a stand I use a red lens flashlight. The red is a carry over from my army days as its what was used to preserve night vision back in the day. I mark the path in and out with bright eyes or the twist tie reflectors. For the short walk into/out of a stand I like a flash light because I can control the direction of the light and keep it pointed down so it doesn't flash all around.

For hiking a long ways where spooking game isn't an issue, A white light head lamp is my choice.

Copperheads and rattlesnakes like tedthorn posted keep me using a white light when temps are up...which can be upper 70's in the coldest months (same month may be in single digits at times but both of those are extremes). Lots of places where I climb in the ground will be level with my face/chest right in front of me and I'll be using my hands a lot. I'm not scared of snakes but I am scared of being bitten by one. A bright white light helps me see what's there before I put my foot, hand, or walking stick down. Bow season is open now and it's in the 80's so snakes are out. Perhaps green or red spook less game but I'd assume if they can see one they can likely see the other. There are cooler nights with a moon that I can walk on the roughest mountain side without a light...and there are nights so dark I can't see my hand in front of my face. Some of the ledges, bluffs, rises between flats, and rock strewn areas on the mountain sides, along with limbs, briars, etc require a light on anything but the brightest of nights. Walking down a fairly open trail or the edge of a field is different than a wooded mountain side. Light or no light, if I'm going to be hunting out of a stand or from a set spot, I like to be there 1/2 hour before legal shooting light....but that ain't always the case.

We also use a white for walking but we usually get in well before shooting light, which gives our eyes time to adjust.

Got bitten by a rattler a few years back but that was in daylight, backtracking a path we had taken just a few minutes prior, and, fortunately, not far from the truck. Dark would not have helped matters at all. In any case, it is not recommended.

We also hunt where the DPW nee CPW say if you've been there three days you've been stalked by kitty at least once. We've only seen one but can't help wonder how many times we've been watched.

Have taken several falls on steep talus/snow/ice/mud slopes, again in broad daylight and again darkness would only have made things worse - especially when the truck was not close.

Once we get where we are going we switch to red or green.

That is pretty much the way I do it as well.

And another good reason to wear gaiters has been added to the list.

I don't agree with the colored lights at all, work with what helps you the most. Deer can see in the dark, so regardless of light they are seeing, or hearing you. Period.

I've walked right past deer at night with white light, it MIGHT be that they can't see you very good, or they are comfy in the dark or anything else, but they don't seem to care as much as during the day.

I've also had deer walk under my tree while I was getting settled in the stand just after turning the light off.

Get there, get settled and sit quiet.

Hiking miles like out west, do what gets you there safe.

What color for a nuisance skunk that I have been trying to kill at night?
(sorry for the minor hijack).

Let him get his own light.

There is a good reason why airplane cockpit lighting is red because it doesn't kill your night vision. I like a red LED headlight for walking in the dark because up high like that you don't risk getting poked in the eye.That headlight does have a white light switch that I like for really lighting up the area, but I've been busted by deer using a white light. My favorite flashlight is a green LED that I carry low at waist level if I'm not using the headlight. Mostly I just use my GPS and navigate in and out that way.

I've done that, when opening day was so foggy, you couldn't see a trail no matter what light was used. I have a Magellan meridian gold for that use.

Just stepped on a copperhead last week but at dusk in tall grass. A good reminder to watch where you put your feet and hands or to wear snake boots.

Red is best for me but I like ones with a filter that you can remove quickly. I used to avoid any lights but after having run into literally: Angus bulls, feral hogs and javelina I tend to use a light more these days. Areas like the Olympic peninsula are down right dangerous to walk around in pitch darkness. I fished too late one evening and with no light I think I fell partially into three deadfalls nearly breaking a leg and a fly rod on one. I kept thinking if I fell all the way into a deep one no one would ever find me.

Did you actually spot the snake with your lamp, or some other way? I'm surprised you would see such a well-camouflaged critter on the forest floor with a headlamp.

Ted

Yes

When I'm leaving the woods in warm temps Im looking for snakes

I always walk with no light at all.

The purpose of a light is to see sheit, I don't wanna kinda of see sheit. White all the way. Light is your friend.

To me this is a recipe for future disaster

We use a red headlamp to see. It makes the eyes glow on critters.

I don't anymore, too many grizzlies prowling around now.

I use an old Petzl headlamp with blue-green filter walking in to my spot. Years ago, the Navy changed from red to blue-green interior ships night lighting and it seemed to be easier to see well without washing out night vision. PS: I don't walk anywhere in the dark when Jake NoShoulders is about in warm weather.

This is why I don't carry a headlight. I use a flashlight instead. Holding a flashlight low to the ground makes it harder for game to see and easier to pick up the height of what's in front of you. I use white light. It reflects off my hunter orange and makes it easy to see what I am for a hunter. Under normal conditions, I hike to and from the stand with a 2 AA flashlight hooked between my fingers of whatever hand is on my rifle sling. Lately, I've been using a flashlight with a built-in 'biner that hooks to my possibles bag, my belt or my suspenders.

With my hunting spot in CO I try not to use any lights at all unless I need to, but it is also about 10 minutes from where I park to where I start to hunt (I like to go after the game other people overlook and walk right past). Then I just stand at the edge of where I want to begin, and listen, while waiting for hunting light. Normally enough light out that I can generally see what I need on the way in, dark adaptation takes 30-45 minutes at first, then if you do turn on a light, can take anywhere from 5-45 minutes to get it back depending on intensity and duration. If I do use a light, I prefer red.

Climber3256: I use an adjustable white light head lamp and use the lowest setting for travel in the dark.
I have walked right up on both Moose, Deer and Elk at times (by right up I mean 40 - 50 yards) when they could easily have moved off prior to my getting that close?
I suggest you get a light with adjustable beam brightness - which ever color you choose.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If I lived in snake country there would be no sneaking in and out, light or not, just a steady trail of gunfire to and from the truck.

I've used both headlamps and flashlights and prefer the flashlight. I can keep it on the trail instead of flickering all over the woods as I'm moving my head around.

I'm with Steelhead. Old Ephraim hangs out in a lot of the places I hunt, and if I bump into HIM and things get serious, I want to be able to SEE his ass and hope my bright white lite blinds him;)

I like having both and mainly use the flashlight for the reasons you mention. It is nice to have a small clip light on the bill of my cap if needed for places where I use both hands and especially if gutting one after dark.

Flashlights do have some advantages but I don't carry one because I prefer a headlamp and try to carry as little as possible. I like hands-free. Taking apart an elk or deer after dark with a flashlight in your teeth sucks.

As does climbing a steep hill in brush, etc.

My thoughts as well....flashlights are for the house and truck

Sounds similar to me. If there is any moon, I usually can start walking in about a half hour before legal shooting time. If there is a full moon, I could walk in anytime. I can't remember the last time I turned on a light walking in, once I am off a road. No snakes or grizzlies in my area.

I quit hiking at night without a bright white light when a few years ago, I was going back to my truck in the dark, something ahead of me just didn't look right. Turned out it was a big skunk, headed my way.

BTDT and it sucks. Plus you slobber all over the flashlight. Pass on the flashlight for in woods applications.

I put clips on all my flashlights so they can attach to a hat brim.....

Yeah but they're always attached to your rifles during deer season, what's up with that?

We don't have whitetails here so almost no hunting is done from stands other than bears over bait. Our hiking in the dark is mostly on trails to get back from the road a ways or coming out at the end of the day. The exceptions, of course, are when we get something down late in the day. For this kind of hiking in the dark, we very seldom need both hands free.

On the first and last days of deer season on public land around here, a strobe light, cowbell, and knee cymbals are about right.

More cowbell!!