Hiking in the dark

[Guest 300ultramag.]

Hiking in the dark is like just like hiking in the dark but at night. Should be gtg.

[LovinthehuntAz]

Always wish for the best I always have a little something of out good lord in my pack . I always have a few good words with the good lord before heading out and ask for a great day in watch over us as we are in his country and hands

[trphyhntr]

Hiking in the dark is like just like hiking in the dark but at night. Should be gtg.

Bring over whatever you're smoking

[Hawkeyehunter]

Thanks everyone. I'm on the road headed out. I brought my banjo repellant. Wish me luck.

[Edge]

 

Hiking in the dark is like just like hiking in the dark but at night. Should be gtg.

Bring over whatever you're smoking

he'd never get there

[cjl2010]

1st guy wakes em up, 2nd gets bit

[MAVinWA]

along with other items already mentioned,

I wear my clear lens shooting glasses to protect my eyes when hiking on trails in the dark.

[tjhunt2]

I can't express this enough, carry at least 2 lights and extra batteries. Good luck!

 

TJ

[Guest 300ultramag.]

Good luck! Keep us posted

[ThomC]

Does everyone know what IOWA stands for? And when you add in the dark while glossing you have a recipe for disaster. Maybe you meant flossing.

[Physch]

I usually hunt down on the border and typically only hike out into the forest during the day. I have driven one of the roads at night and run into traffickers walking right up the road, so out hiking and running into that doesn't sound interesting to me.

 

Funny story though. This year I hunted a different area further north and the weather turned really bad on the fifth day (snow, sleet, rain, repeat). I handled well for the first night of bad weather, but decided to pack out the second night. Mind you I had about 70lbs of equipment with me as I was bivy camping (meaning not walking that quietly). I typically carry 2 small hand held flashlights and 2 headlamps just to be safe. This night I had my headlamp on and started walking. Made it about 1/4 of a mile and was breaking through brush, trees while walking down an arroyo. It was a new moon, so it was pitch black. I walked into a group of over hanging trees and looked ahead and had two eyes staring at me. No joke; the hair on my body stood up. The eyes took a few seconds and then decided to crouch down. I was expecting it to run away, but it stayed there staring at me. The eyes were no more than 15 ft away. Finally after 5-10 seconds it turned up into the darkness and disappeared. At that point I could positively identify it. My sidearm was under my sweatshirt and was inaccessible with how the backpack strap sits over it on my hip. I have always wanted to see a mountain lion, this turned out to be a little closer than I was hoping for though. It turned out to be a really cool interaction. I was and am very surprised that it did not run off with the noise I was making or when it initially saw me. For the rest of the hike out I yelled 'hey bear' every few minutes. Looking back I don't think that it was sizing me up, but instead trying to figure out what I was.

[Edge]

Back when I was a lot younger, 5 of us decided to head up the Peralta trail to a spring back in the Superstitions. It was dead of summer and we met at the trailhead around midnight. I was the only one whom thought a flashlight might come in handy so I led the way.

 

The guys behind me were stacked like a conga line going up the rocky single track, it was pitch black out. Less than a half mile up the hill, I screeched to a halt seeing a rattler coiled up in the trail two feet in front of me. One by one the guys crashed into the guy in front of them like a train pile up, pushing me closer and closer to the snake.

 

By the time the last guy slammed into the human wreckage, I was forced to leap the serpent. I'm not the most athletic guy but my friends say I verticaly cleared that buzztail with several feet to spare.

[AZ8]

A couple years ago on my turkey hunt, I was walking a known two track we've always used. No headlamp. There's a fork about quarter mile in that takes a different route. We always take the right fork. I know everything on that two track. I could walk it in the dark.

 

So, with some moon light, I trudged along. All was good. Unbeknownst to me, while listening to gobbles, I missed the fork and kept walking on the left trail. Things didn't look right. The landmark trees never appeared. But I chalked that up to the dark. My quick pace had me on schedule.

 

Then BAM!!!! I'm laying flat on my back, looking up to the stars. My forehead is burning with pain. I sit up and discover a golf ball size knot on my forehead! Ended up hitting a low hanging L-shaped pine branch hanging over the trail.

 

Didn't get a turkey that morning.

[chico]

All good responses, IMHO I prefer to move where i am going as soon as I can see in front of me. I have moved in full darkness and with first light. I have to wonder how many animals I have walked by for the fact that I could not see being that it was dark.

Moving slow and with first light getting to where i want to be I have picked up animals that I probably would have walked by had it been dark. Either way do what best suits you, good luck and good hunting.

[bhuntin]

I nearly browned myself,almost stepping on a big ol nasty badger in 9 ,out in a big ol prairie while walking under a full moon.