Back in my youth I coon hunted a little, had a 20 pound battery and headlamp (and some hard going Walkers and Black and Tans) been out of it for years.

I now have a nice little mixed breed pup that turned up on my doorstep, my wife taught him some manners but he still acts like he wants to bay up a varmint.

What's the deal on these new high tech lights? "Sure Fire" is the name I'm thinking of.

SureFires kick butt, I carry a Nitrolon G2 every day at work and about 50% of the rest of the time. They suck up the batteries, but they are nice. Last I checked, the best place to buy batteries is from surefire. There are 4 of us that have at work and we buy them by the gross

Ahhh...the days of our youth. I spent many nights followin a pair of Walkers myself. Wadin in the mud, seemed like coons always lived in the middle of a slough. Also ran a pair of Aire-dales. They couldn't track a elephant but they new if they followed those Walkers, they would get to play with a coon....for those who don't know, an Aire-dale is a mouth full of teeth with fur wrapped around it.

I'll second jb on Surefire. Also look at Streamlight. Underwater Kinetics makes a few excellent lights as well. Speaking of light, I have the old Carbide lantern my Dad carried and it still works.


Good memories friend, can almost hear those hounds.

I'll go with SureFire, and I don't hunt coon or much of anything else at night.
There are several types of LED lamps that last longer. Some fit on the bill of your hat with 5 beams, and others you can wear on your head with elastic bands while carrying your large battery on your belt. Dog mushers use them up here in Alaska. Try Cabella's, or Rae's Harness Shop, or Heaven forbid... REI Co-Op. Keep in mind REI gives money to the other guys.
Brownells has three different brands of weapons and hand held lights including Surefire.

Memories is right. I was in my twenties when I hunted coon and I could zip over a mountain after my Red Bone or Plott like I was a deer. Now I'm lucky I can walk to the end of the street. ha ha ha
Ahhhh, the good old days.

I had a wheat(?) light with the big rechargable battery. Hunt all night and come in in time to get ready for school. And the snake infested swamps we waded through in the dark. Man! Talk about fun.

Would also second the idea of two lights. There is small LED lights that mount on your head/hat with harness/straps that are great for navigation. Then for weapons lights I would use a Surefire mounted onto the weapon for the final shot when needed. Occassionaly I'll mount a Surefire P6 onto my Ruger 10/22 by using a Surfire universal mount (clamps around barrel and has a single rail) then use a 1" Weaver scope ring around the light and attach it together. Also use a pressure pad switch and mount that on the forearm.

Then again I also use a M4 with light for serious use.

http://www.hunt101.com/img/325945.jpg

CD

Last time I took a class at Gunsite, we had a night firing exercise. It was a clear sky and no moon. One of the R.O.'s showed up with a big SureFire that seemed to have a truckload of the 123 lithium batteries in it. He was able to illuminate the option targets well enough for us to hit them from 300 yards. He explained (he was a LEO) that they were finding them useful for stunning gremlins in night entries. Just flash it in the BG's eyes and he is confused (and blind) for awhile.

Though not up to the SureFire tac lights in brightness, I've been impressed by how bright the Coast LED-Lenser lights are. These use a columating lens. I picked up one of the LL7736V² models at Lowe's. Not nearly as bright as my SureFire, of course, but in a pinch. bright enough in your home to shoot with. Having had three SureFire incandescent bulbs burn out on me, I now use the Coast as a backup. I haven't seen one of the SureFire LED lights up close. Much brighter, I'm sure, from their catalog descriptions. That may be my next purchase. The essentially indefinite life and shock imperviousness of LED's has a lot of appeal.

When we would put up small square bales of hay at night by picking up them out in the field with a Farris Wheel hay loader at night, we would use mag lights that took 2 AA batteries in a headband that adjusted to the size of your head with velcro to see out in the field at night.