Spotlighting or shining is a method of hunting nocturnal animals using off-road vehicles and high-powered lights.
The most common vehicles used are light four-wheel-drive trucks and utilities. A team consists of at least three persons, the driver, the shooter and the spotter. The shooter and spotter stand side by side behind the cab, holding onto a bar at the front of the tray or on top of the cab, which allows them a good 360 degree view. The spotter sweeps the surrounding countryside with a powerful hand-held lamp with a tightly focussed beam. Experienced spotlighters can recognise different animals by the colour and spacing of their eyes, which shine in the beam. Fox eyes for example appear reddish while those of sheep appear blueish; Horses and cattle have far wider spaced eyes.
The spotting and shooting often take place from the moving vehicle. Experienced drivers on familiar territory (such as farmers in their own paddocks) may turn off the vehicle headlights to minimise the distractions.
In western New South Wales, Australia, for example, this is the most common way of culling feral foxes. The shooter on these hunts would typically be armed with both a shotgun and a high-powered rifle.
