Hunting at night can sometimes be preferable to hunting during the day, though it seems like it would be more difficult. For example, hunting duck just after dark can help you track them to feeding spots.
What do you need for hunting at night? One of the most important accessories required for hunting at night is a proper flashlight. This should be durable, shock-resistant, and give you different light modes depending on the situation.
With the above in mind, we’ve got five of the best flashlights for hunting at night. Make sure you’ve got these flashlights in your backpack so that you’re able to scout and hunt in an area with greater ease.
Best Flashlights For Hunting At Night – Reviews & Buying guide for 2022
Editor’s Choice: Bushnell LED Tactical Flashlight
Specs
- Material: Aluminum
- Power Source: Battery Powered
- Luminous Flux: 400 Lumen
This is the best flashlight you need when outdoors at night. It’s very bright, helping to light your way even if there’s no moonlight outside. It’s built with three light modes and it comes with a half-press power button.
This comes in handy when you need a quick burst of light to check your surroundings without leaving the flashlight on constantly.
The three light modes are blue, white, and red. The blue light, with a viewing distance of 7 meters (23 feet), reflects blood in the wild so that you can track animals. This is essential if game was shot but not killed to safely track it and humanely end its life to prevent it from suffering.
Its red light helps to lessen eye strain from bright white lights at night. The red light also makes it easy to check your devices and see in the dark, while it also gives you 13 meters (42 feet) of visibility.
Its white light mode comes with a beam distance of 107 meters (351 feet), so you’ll be able to properly scout your hunting area, ensuring you know where to wait for game. By toggling between the different light modes, you’ll have all the visibility you need to plan for a successful hunt.
Pros
- This Bushnell LED tactical flashlight has a 400 lumen output.
- Use it right out of the box since two AA batteries are included.
- It’s built strong with a one-meter (three foot) impact resistance and it’s made with aircraft-grade aluminum.
- Made for weather conditions with its IPX4 weather resistance rating.
- Its red light mode is ideal for being gentler on your eyes in low-visibility conditions than harsh white light.
Cons
- This flashlight isn’t completely waterproof so you have to be careful when hunting near rivers or streams.
- Some people who have purchased this flashlight have said that it is susceptible to corrosion.
- If you keep the white light mode on, it’ll only last for two hours and 15 minutes.
Runner Up: POVAST Zoomable Flashlight
Specs
- Material: Aluminum
- Power Source: Battery Powered
- Luminous Flux: 1200 Lumens
This is a powerful flashlight that provides you with 1200 lumens. Interestingly, it has a green light beneficial for hunting at night because the human eye is more receptive to green light than red.
Green light also provides more contrast in your surroundings, so it’s especially useful when night-hunting game with darker fur.
This hunting flashlight comes with five modes: high, middle, low, strobe, and SOS mode. You can adjust the range to wide or long, making it versatile depending on your situation. The strobe and SOS light modes can certainly keep you safe when you’re outdoors at night.
Not just reserved for hunting, this Povast flashlight can be used for various indoor or outdoor night activities. Some people who have purchased this green flashlight even use it to work indoors at night as it’s easy on the eyes.
By preventing the harsh white glare of traditional flashlights, this green flashlight will help your eyes better adjust when you switch it off and on.
This is vital because every second counts when you’re on the hunt and you don’t want to miss your chance to make a successful shot.
Pros
- This hunting flashlight can be charged easily via USB for increased convenience.
- There are red and green indicator lights so you know when it’s charging and when it’s fully charged.
- Batteries are included so you can use it right out of the box.
- The flashlight beam can easily be adjusted by its precise mechanical rotary collar.
- Water-resistant with it’s IP65 rated.
Cons
- The on/off button might be small to some people.
- There have been some issues reported with its charging indicator light.
- There have also been issues reported with the flashlight’s focus light.
Best Value For Money: UltraFire A100
Specs
- Material: Aluminum
- Power Source: Battery Powered
- Luminous Flux: 900 Lumen
This affordable, tactical flashlight will save your hunting budget but it won’t compromise on quality. It’s been rigorously tested during production and has many high-quality features that you’ll appreciate when hunting.
With a 900 lumen LED light, it’s certainly powerful for hunting at night. It comes with a red, green, and white glass lens to easily choose the color mode depending on your hunting mission. For example, if you want to avoid scaring off game in your surroundings, you’ll want to use a green light.
This hunting flashlight comes with five light modes: high, medium, low, strobe, and SOS. It’s also equipped with three brightness levels, adapting to different situations. This UltraFire flashlight is water-resistant, making it versatile in various weather conditions.
Pros
- With a zoom feature, you’ll be able to get a spotlight or wide view of your surroundings.
- There are extra accessories, such as a holster for easy carry, a bicycle-mount stand, an AAA holder, a battery plastic tube, a USB charger and cable, and a tool box.
- This flashlight’s belt holder has a strong flex clip that can be secured to waistbands, belts, and straps that are just under 2.4 inches wide.
- The flashlight is constructed out of aluminum alloy so it’s strong enough to withstand impact as well as wear and tear.
- It has a convenient rechargeable battery.
Cons
- The batteries are not included.
- This flashlight has a rubber covering on its button that may come off after some time.
- It requires you to replace the glass lens to change the light color, which may be slightly more time-consuming at times.
Alternative: YXQUA 10000 Lumen
Specs
- Material: Aluminum
- Power Source: Battery Powered
- Luminous Flux: 10000 Lumen
This flashlight has an LED chip that produces an ultra-high output of up to 10000 lumen, making it the brightest, most powerful hunting flashlight on our list of reviews. It is about as long as a smartphone, and dissipates the heat to ensure a high lumen output.
It has four indicator lights that will show its remaining power meaning when there is one indicator light on, the flashlight is at 25% and should be charged.
This prevents you from being left out in the dark during a hunt, especially if you can’t replace its batteries outdoors.
This flashlight can be rotated to adjust its zoom features. It also comes with floodlights that ensure large-scale lighting, and two flash modes such as SOS emergency rescue and jump reminder.
There are many accessories included, such as a battery, a battery sleeve and holder, a lanyard, USB charger, and a case.
Pros
- This flashlight is waterproof so you can use it in harsh weather conditions without worrying about it becoming damaged.
- The aluminum alloy construction keeps it strong and resistant to impact.
- The flashlight is textured to make it anti-slip, for greater user-friendliness.
- It comes with a portable hand strap for increased convenience when carrying it around.
- The battery is rechargeable.
Cons
- Although it’s waterproof, it should not be immersed in water.
- The temperature of the flashlight can rise when using its brightest setting, though this is a normal state of operation.
- Some people have said this hunting flashlight is a bit heavy.
Alternative: Ulako Single Mode Flashlight
Specs
- Material: Aluminum
- Power Source: Battery Powered
- Luminous Flux: 200 Lumen
The last thing you want to do when hunting is to spook your targets. This green flashlight prevents that from happening while preventing glare so that you can better see your environment.
What’s great about this hunting flashlight is that you can use it in two different ways: it works as a flood beam if you need to increase your view of a large area, or you can also use it as a spot beam when focusing on a specific area.
It provides you with enough light so you can see about 150 yards ahead of you. It’s affordable, runs on one AA battery, and it is easy to use with a simple on/off button rather than multiple modes.
This flashlight doesn’t have many frills, which makes it easy for anyone to use. You won’t have to battle with finding the right light mode when you’re pressed for time and want to be discreet during a hunt.
Pros
- This hunting flashlight has an aluminum alloy casing so it’s durable and resistant to wear and tear.
- A skid-resistant design allows for a comfortable, better grip.
- This hunting flashlight has a zoom feature so that you can better focus, or expand, on your environment.
- It’s easy to switch from one focus to another, so it’s user-friendly and tactical.
- Even though this flashlight is bright, it doesn’t create glare that can hurt your eyes.
Cons
- This flashlight runs on batteries, which aren’t included.
- Some people don’t like that the flashlight spot beam is square shaped.
- Others have reported that the flashlight’s on switch isn’t as intuitive as it should be.
Hunting Flashlight FAQ
Now that we’ve featured five of the best hunting flashlights to enable you to see game at night, set up your hunting site without any issues, and prevent being detected by animals in the wild, you have a better idea of which one to buy.
However, you might still have some questions. Let’s check them out.
How many lumens do you need for a hunting flashlight?
A flashlight that has between 200 and 500 lumens will be enough for outdoor activities such as fishing and hunting. These are not always suitable for nighttime activities, though, when dealing with cloud cover at night or you’re hunting after sunset.
While this amount of lumens will be ideal for task lighting, you’ll need a more powerful flashlight for night hunting. So, if you want a lot of light, you should aim for a flashlight that has around 1000 lumens.
This is great for a variety of hunting tasks, such as when you need to set up your hunting site, track game, and see your surroundings better so that you can strategically place decoys for attracting game to your hunting site.
For an even more successful hunt after dark, a flashlight that’s between 1200 to 2500 lumens will provide you with enough light for serious hunting activities as it can light up to approximately 1,000 feet of your surroundings.
Although it may seem the more lumens a hunting flashlight has, the better, there is something else to consider. Having lower lumens can be good for you if the game you’re hunting can see the light and/or becomes easily spooked by it.
So, around 1,000 lumens is ideal. It won’t scare away game while also giving you enough visibility of your surroundings.
What is the best light for hunting?
As we’ve seen in our flashlight reviews, hunting flashlights come in a variety of light colors, such as red, white, blue, and green. They all have their advantages.
- Red light is a good hunting light that is difficult for animals’ eyes to detect, so it will decrease their ability to see you. A red light protects your vision and provides visual contrast so you’ll find it easier to see animals in your hunting area.
- Green light is also a valuable flashlight color for hunting. It’s less detectable than white light so it’s less likely to scare off animals such as deer. A green light is gentle on your eyes and it improves your night vision by increasing contrast.
- White light gives you lots of illumination but it can be harsh on your eyes. It can also scare away game that you’re hunting, if not careful and tactical.
- Blue light can make you a much more successful and humane hunter. Blue light can highlight a trail of blood on the ground, so if you’ve shot a deer but only wounded it, you’ll be able to track it successfully so you can end its life humanely. Another great thing about blue light is that it’s the only color that can cut through fog.
Seeing as though different flashlight colors have different hunting benefits, you might want to make use of all of them. This is why buying a flashlight that has various colors in one unit is advantageous.
For example, if you want to set up your hunting area, you can use the white light. On the other hand, if you want to scout the area without alarming game, the green light is worth using. You’ll have everything you need to make nighttime the best time to hunt.
Conclusion
If you’re hunting at night, you will need to ensure you have a powerful, durable, and versatile flashlight.
In this guide, we’ve answered some important questions and we’ve featured five of the best flashlights to help you better scout your hunting area, to prevent scaring off game, or to signal for help.
