Afraid of the dark??

[Johnny Bravo]

It's funny....I hate walking in the dark to the stand, but once in the stand I have zero fear.....AND when antelope hunting you don't need to get up in the dark.

 

[Wildabeest]

When I as a kid, my dad would leave me at my stand and then head to his. He’d stay at his stand until (well after!) legal shooting light ended and then come get me. I’ll admit those 20-30 minutes were by far my least favorite part of hunting. But it was a good learning experience, and being alone in the dark has never really bothered me since.

 

[BenP]

Literally tonight I was moving car seats between vehicles and sneaking in presents into the house when I thought I heard a noise but couldn't distinguish it with a beanie on my cold ears. All of a sudden the dog started barking and growling like crazy. Did I jump? Not exactly but I spun around and grabbed my flashlight out of my pocket real fast.
Turns out the neighbors down the road were being loud... probably drunk or something.

Being alone in the dark doesn't bother me, it's the thought of not being alone that does. But typically don't have any issues, biggest worry is stepping on a snake or coming across a bobcat.

 

[brymoore]

I grew up not liking the dark. I hated sitting in the dark deer hunting waiting for dawn or walking out after dusk. The fears of a childhood going into a dark basement with lights with hanging strings I had to jump to reach. I’d turn on a light and the next light would be on the edge of the dark and my fear factor. One light after another to get the whole, long basement lit.

Whatever dark nerve that was is dead. I guess you could say I grew up. I’ve spent so much time maneuvering or camping in the dark it’s second nature now. This fall my headlight died coming out and I hiked the last mile in the dark. I’ve adjusted to hike in the dark a lot after my eyes are adjusted. Sitting in the dark waiting for dawn is easy.

I’m not concerned about animals either. I’ve had deer rub against my tent at night and bears walk nearby, lion growling moment, wolves howling in the dark. Statistically, they’re not going to mess with me unless something stupid happens. I’m not talking about grizzly because the danger from them is much worse. Luckily, I don’t spend much time in grizz country.

 

[Mule Kick]

I love being outside in the dark. Mostly I love the night sky. The Milky Way, meteor showers, northern lights. Midnight snowshoeing is glorious. I prefer to go without a light, and just let my eyes adjust. I also feel like my ears pick up more when I don’t have a light to distract me.

Between hunting, working and recreating I spend quite a bit of time outside at night. I can occasionally give myself the heebee jeebees but generally I’m more worried about people than animals. That said, I’m not too keen to return to a kill in the dark in griz country. Probably waiting for daylight to do that unless absolutely necessary.

The only time in recent memory I can recall getting fairly spooked in the dark was calling coyotes at night in the Breaks a few years ago. I had been set up and calling (with the thermal) for a while, and started hearing a weird, high pitched kind of sound coming my way. Kind of sounded bird like, kind of domestic cat like but I was dozens of miles from any human house or facility. I had no clue what it was, but instantly had a prickly back-of-the-neck feeling I didn’t like. I do a lot of bird work and was positive it was not any of our bird species. It was clearly on the ground and coming towards me, but I couldn’t see anything with the thermal. I started backing up to see if I could get a better vantage but there was apparently enough cover and terrain that I still couldn’t see anything. This went on for 10-15 minutes. My best guess was it was inside 75 yards and I couldn’t see anything. It eventually started circling around me, to the point that it was going to be cutting me off from the truck so I said F it and looped a hasty semicircle back to the pickup. I kept scanning around myself as I went, and never could see anything but holy shit, I had a really bad feeling.

Next morning googling trying to figure out what the hell that was. Came across some videos of Mountain lions “chirping”? Didn’t know that was a thing, but damn if that doesn’t sound like what I heard. I’ve never heard that sound before or since. My lizard brain was sure sending alarm bells, even though the sound itself was pretty non-threatening. But I did not like the way it was moving and circling around me out there. So whether it was that or like some little harmless rodent, I have no idea but yeah, freaked me out at the time.

Couple yrs ago a buddy and I were hunting elk in November. Late afternoon we started hearing this growl like ‘Meow’ sound (for lack of a better term). It’s a fairly open semi logged area but enough cuts in the terrain where you can’t see real far. We kept hiking around and probably heard the sound a dozen times in about 2-3 hrs. It always sounded like it was about 150-300 yds away and we were never very concerned but puzzled because it was unlike anything we’d ever heard before!
When we got out to service we looked up ‘mtn lion sounds’ on YouTube and it was most definitely that! Apparently females do this when they’re looking for a mate..?

 

[Pucky Freak]

Dark city street…
Deep in the woods…
I’m that bump in the night.

 

[np307]

I didnt start hunting until college. At first there was definitely some fear of animals but probably more so a fear of getting lost. Over time, both of those kind of faded. Fear of animals faded as I learned how animals behave and fear of getting lost faded as I became more comfortable with GPS, a compass, and the places I hunt. Lots of times, especially during turkey season, I walk in without a headlamp now.

 

[Moserkr]

Dark city street…
Deep in the woods…
I’m that bump in the night.

Exactly. I find late night walks in the woods alone rather peaceful. I avoid cities now but grew up around them, they don't bother me.

Story time though... I was in 8th grade on a extracurricular trip to Peru to spend a week in the rainforest, then a week hiking to Machu Picchu. On the rainforest part we did a night hike in the jungle. The guides in the front had the flashlights, so you stayed in your group of around 15 people, following the person in front of you down a dirt trail. The guide would stop and we would gather around to loom at bugs and critters as he found them with the light. There were 3 groups walking on different trails around camp.

As we were nearing the end of the hike, all of a sudden the blood curdling screams of 3 teenage girls ripped through the jungle, making everyone stop and listen, hairs standing up, a sense of fear overwhelmed us all. We were told there are jaguars that stalk these woods. Our guides take us back to camp and when we get there we find out what horror had happened.

The girls were in the back of the line following the group when the leader stopped to show something he found. As the line of kids stopped, the last girl felt something bump into her butt.... she screamed as she swatted the face of the large creature, her friends screamed, and they went running past the group. What did the guides light see?? Nothing more than a friendly Tapir!! It was actually really cool, the Tapir hung out at camp for the next few days letting people, me included, pet it. The girls did not appreciate the joke it played on them though. The Tapir was just having fun on a hike with friends that night, thought he was people. A tapir below for reference - you can see why the girls were afraid!! They are good sized animals.

 

[SaskHunter]

I'm not afraid of the dark, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a "run up the stairs in the dark" demon who looks like this:

 

[rjthehunter]

I don't think comparing a Navy Seal who is hunting & being hunted by other humans is necessarily a fair comparison.

That being said, when I was a little guy bowhunting with my dad, we had a specific spot we hunted a lot. His stand was 1/4 yards from where we'd park the truck, and my spot was about 150 yards further down the trail than his. Back then (10-12 years old) I was certainly leary. After years of walking around in the dark I got over it. It's probably different for others, but that's my experience.

Griz country with a down animal is a different story. I still wouldn't call it scared. I'm just a lot more careful and aware.

 

[Tradewind]

Nothing like walking in the pitch dark on a narrow trail in heavy cover in bear country and having a dam grouse explode out of the pine tree next to you.
Or coming across fresh bear tracks in the trail ( in the dark) and having a moose charge through the heavy cover further down the trail and all you see is a dark spot.
Hunting the past couple years in none bear (mostly) territory, never crossed a track at least. Safe enough to the point where I left the pistol in the truck. Had a mountain lion screech at me in the dark. The sound was so bizarre I though it was another hunter F'ning with me until I crossed the tracks in the snow on the way back in.
Call it what you want, but it's a necessary evil (in bear country) to get where you want to be at first legal shooting light. I like seeing mule deer eyes in the dark because most likely a predator is not around

 

[Nuts]

Nothing like walking in the pitch dark on a narrow trail in heavy cover in bear country and having a dam grouse explode out of the pine tree next to you.

Ok that one does startle me. I had a buddy this year I sent him a pin to archery hunt about a mile back in. It was pouring rain. But it was the rut. He decided to sit on the ground instead of take a climber. He got to the pin. Walked over to a blow down and when he sat on it a doe was bedded against it on the other side. 2'-3' away. He didn't see it when he sat down. He felt and heard it as it launched from its bedded position. Only then did he turn his headlamp to see it running away. He sent me a picture of the bed right beside him.

 

[nrpate05]

I don't mind walking in the woods in the dark. Walking in the dark in grizzly country is a different story. I'll still do it, but it definitely feels different. If I am with hunting buddies, that feeling of fear pretty much goes away.