Are current powerful flashlights effective for self-defense against wildlife in the forest?

I have only found topics that are years old, and I am interested in real experiences.

Has anyone encountered a situation where you used a powerful flashlight for self-defense against wild animals in the wilderness (woods)? What is its effectiveness, and is it better to use a strobe or a sudden flash of bright light? I’m more interested in personal experiences. And is it better to aim directly at the eyes with a thrower or use a powerful flood light?
Of course, I know that the most important thing is to try to avoid encounters with wild animals, to make enough noise in the forest so that animals will avoid you if possible, and to walk in a group. But in case an animal starts running towards us, I’m interested in whether you have tried using a flashlight to deter an attack and what your experience has been.

Specifically, we are talking about the Nitecore SRT9, Wuben X-1, Acebeam X75, and hopefully next year the Acebeam W35, which I will be carrying with me for night searches in the forest.

None. Light just make them more angry.

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It works for stray dogs on the street. Not sure about an angry lion or tiger trying to eat you, or a rhino charging at you thinking that you are in his territory. My suggestion is not to try this.

:smiley: I’m talking about bears, wolves, wild boars and foxes rather than tigers and lions in the region where I am :smiley:

Still sounds pretty dangerous for me! :rofl:

Maybe an 8 D-cell Maglite…

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Wear the Coat Of Many Hooks, just like The Wily Porcupine.

If that doesn’t work, that’s what the Mighty Horns are for. Lower your head in an aggressive manner, and…

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:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: by the way, of course we are carrying guns, but hoped to find less intrusive and invasive ways :crazy_face:

What sort of foxes do you have where you live? The ones in Australia will either do everything they can to avoid humans or are semi domesticated and can literally be hand fed.

Depends how hungry they are.

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Need someone to test the effectiveness of their flashlight against a charging rabid grizzly bear and report back here with their findings.

Any volunteers? :crazy_face:

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My dog will just stare straight into the beam lol

I get mixed results. They don’t seem to immediately scare animals away. Not the ones I’ve used it on anyways. It’s more like, it gets annoying eventually so they walk off. I’ve never seen anything immediately turn and run.

One time I was in the park at 5am with my dog, I hear a noise, and I swear to Jesus there’s a skunk running straight at me. Legit beeline straight towards me in full waddle-gallop from like 20-30 feet away.
My reaction time was actually quick for once, pointed a 250,000cd thrower directly at its face, which I think is approximate to staring at the sun.
It literally did not even break stride. Was still running straight at me. Then I stomped my foot or something, can’t remember exactly, made a noise of some kind, and it immediately turned and ran.

I’m from the UK and have only limited experience, but while in Canada, a bear bell, bear bangers and bear spray were recommended.

A bright light might help situational awareness.

I always wonder why people try to get this kind of info from a bunch of strangers on the internet.

How about, we all tell you a bright light is a brilliant idea and will ward off all vicious animals. With your new found knowledge, you’ll enjoy being in the bush and think we are great. If you get eaten, it’s not like you’re going to come back here and complain, it’s a win-win situation…

TBH I’m deeply sceptical about the idea of a light being effective for self-defence.

Your best bet in terms of animals is that they’ll see the bright lights as you walk and avoid you.

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bears

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If the animal was intent on attacking I think the best you could do would be blind it by shining the light directly at it and then at the last minute make like a matador.

I’d one encounter with a dog approaching to me slowly and barking, for sure not to play with me. I’d Sofirn SC31 Pro in hand and run boost on him. He just stopped and I moved away still pointing light at him.
I think the powerful light is better than nothing. For sure you can blind them and get few precious seconds to do something. Also in this way you can hunt some animals:

Some pepper spray etc. will be better but often we have the light in our hand :smiley:

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At least with light you won’t surprise them. But if you don’t know they are there and they see you keep approaching they are going to view you as a threat. They may run or they may not. It probably depends on a lot of factors. Especially if they have young ones to protect. You probably won’t know that when the encounter takes place. They have probably encountered man-made light at night before so that’s not really new for them. Most dog stories are probably not really dogs that wanted to attack. They just wanted to bark and act tough and scary. So I don’t know if you can read much into those. Most wildlife encounters are probably going to be the same thing. If they don’t back down immediately it doesn’t mean they want to attack. But you won’t know that. Your first instinct is going to be
to shine it at them.
I don’t know if it helps a whole lot. If you’re shining it at them and they’re not backing away it’s hard for you to back away without turning the light around to see where you’re going. So you definitely need more than a light.

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I’m thinking that animals are pretty individual when it comes down to it. One bear might run away from lights while another might run towards them. I agree with Lightbringer, the only way a light is going to have a consistent effect is if it’s heavy enough to wack something with.

I don’t know about wildlife, but many years ago, my neighbor’s pit bull got into our yard, and I used a flashlight to keep it away from me.
Because it was so long ago, the flashlight wasn’t very bright (compared to today’s flashlights), but it still worked well to keep the dog away.
The pit bull mortally wounded my mom’s German Shepherd, but at least I was safe.
I do not trust pit bulls or pit bull owners to this day, but that’s an entirely different subject (that I will not be getting in an argument about.) :slightly_smiling_face:

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