Tazman

Well David, CD & myself must be weird, I grew up in the sticks and my little brother and I used to go for walks in the woods at night. Like David, to me slipping through the woods or along the edge of a field in the dark is an exciting feeling, especially when you slide by a deer in a field and all they do is watch you walk by. I have to admit there is a spot I will be hunting this year that I have found bear tracks at that I may feel a bit nervous about until the sun breaks, but hey my night vision is good and I can always dive into the river!!!! One thing you learn when walking throught the woods at night is how and why deer take the easiest route, when there is plenty of light you tend to take the shortest route where you are going, but in the dark you go with the flow of the land and the trees and brush, without fail if you walk in the woods at night you will find yourself on a deer trail.

Jason N

Happens to me every time....that whole " path of least resistance" thing!

I' m not a big fan of going in or out of the woods in the dark, but I do it everyday I hunt. I hunt near clearcuts a lot.....there are a lot of bears in those clearcuts....I don' t like bears -- or the thought of crossing a sow with cubs at 6am or 7:30pm....spooky![]

wimp

When I first started bow hunting, my Dad walked me in to my stand ONCE in the darkness, the next time I was on my own. No flashlight, just dark thick woods. I didn' t do too bad finding the tree, I was off about 10 yds. I' ve had a few run ins over the years with some startling night time adventures, and toss in the fact I have bears in my hunting area and I get a little spooked now and then. I much prefer walking in, in the dark, than walking out at night.

MA Jay

Funny you mentioned that Tazman, about always ending up on a deer trail if you walk in the dark without a light. 1 of the things I have learned to try if you are blood trailing a deer and you have lost the blood (after you have tried a long time to find it again!) go back to where you lost the blood and back track the blood trail for about 50 yards then turn off your light and wait for your eyes to adjust then work your way down the trail you know is the right path in the direction the deer was heading, and just kinda let the natural lay of the land and easiest path guide you in the direction the deer was heading. We have picked the blood back up or found the deer several times this way. Without the light I tend to notice the temperature changes you find in pockets of the woods .. and hit deer always seem to move towards the coolest places.

I love being in the woods in the dark with no light. It' s 1 of the few times I get the chance to use my other senses over sight ... in a weird way it' s kind of exciting, if that makes sense.

BobCo19-65

Walking in the woods in the dark doesn' t bother me at all. But, if I am walking in the dark, my stands are placed appropriately. I will not walk long distances off the trails in the dark or though brush. I do this mainly because I don' t want the sppok the woods up first thing in the morning. All of my morning stands are easy to get to and not far off the trails. The stands that I have that are a mile in or through heavy brush won' t get hunted in the morning. In these stands, I' ll go in the afternoon, and hunt the evening till dark.

But lets think about it, hunting should be fun. I hate to look at hunting as a job where you have to be there in a certain fashion. If you don' t like the woods in the dark, then wait till the light just breaks. You may find that you can get in the stand quieter then in the dark, which could be beneficial to you. I know a few hunters that do that and they are just as successful as anyone.

rockytop

I enjoy the night woods, although a friend of mine lost his eye because he couldn' t see the limb until it him in the eye. Except for that experience, I think the woods are awsome at night and I really like it on a full moon when you can see enough to get around and also see all the shadows and such. Heck, I might go walking tonight.

Rack-attack

SISSIES...SISSIES....SISSIES[]

Legacy357

U HAVE A WEAPON IN YOUR HAND.....what do u have to fear? especially when i am gun hunting. if anything ever happened i could just shoot it. plus i never use a flashlight anyway. spooks too much game.....so tough it out u wimps[X(]

WV Hunter

The dark doesn' t bother me at all. In early and out late are the usuals where I hunt. Of course in WV and VA, we don' t have many things that want to eat you[] [:-]
My buddy that lives out west, says he regularly gets the creeps now since he had a mountain lion stalk him one morning in the dark a couple years ago.
About as nervous as I ever got was when I was helping my brother in law drag out a bowkill about an hour after dark, and a small pack of coyote' s were running around us the whole time...all the way down the mountain. That was a little freaky...there was no moon at all, and we could only hear them. They never got closer than probably 40yds (we think)...but that was close enough.

benhuntin

Well, besides the alligators, water moccassins, copperheads, coral snakes, diamond back rattlers, timber rattlers, pygmy rattlers, and black bears,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,a walk in the dark is a PICNIC down here.[][][:' (]

I' d be happy to do a swap hunt with you.

Ya' ll havent experienced raw,rugged hunting unless youve hunted a Florida swamp.[][X(]