Tactical Naps - It's about time

[Jimmer Negamanee]

Ever get up early, hike for an hour in the dark to get to your glassing spot, and after glassing for hours feel the urge to lie down, stretch out, pull your cap over your eyes and have a quick sleep?  Ever been shed hunting and after hiking for half a day feel the urge to curl up on a bed of comfy pine needles for a siesta?  Well, don't feel guilty anymore or let anyone call you lazy, unfocused, or unmotivated.  You're taking a tactical nap. 

My book of tactical advice is not exactly a best seller but I've been taking back country naps for years and, at the risk of seeming immodest, I'm really good at it.  The Army is finally on board with the latest update to their health and fitness manual.  Sleep is restorative, rejuvenating, and healing.  I'm happy the military is realizing that.  And I'm glad I have a new name for it; the tactical nap.  Here's some info:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/us/army-naps.html

This link contains some of the research and practical advice.

https://www.pdhealth.mil/news/blog/tactical-naps-when-napping-can-be-good-you

 

[CouesPursuit]

I shot my first big game animal after it woke me up from a tactical nap. I am in full support. 

[AZbowhntr]

Been doing it for years.  I have almost tipped my tripod with binoculars over from my head nodding off more times than I can count.  That is the sign that a tactical nap is needed.

[n2horns]

dang, my boss calls me lazy, now i can tell her its a tactical nap!

[Edge]

An acquaintance of mine took a tactical nap while guarding nukes on an AFB.

He woke up to find his M-16 missing and Dishonorable Discharge papers already filled out and waiting on his commanders desk.

Glad this sort of life changing discipline doesn't happen hunting, I often take 40 or 50 winks.

[bigorange]

Ever fall asleep in your glass and wake up when your forehead hits the binos? May or may not have done that a few times. LoL

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Some of my best big game opportunities have come after a good tactical nap!!!!!

[CouesPursuit]

These 2 spikers also woke me up from an advanced tactical nap 25 feet up in a tree on the August opener just after noon this year. 

 

[Outdoor Writer]

I was hunting in Unit 1 in the 1960s and decided to take a rest in the middle of a meadow that was about 100 yds x100 yds. I leaned back against a stump with my rifle across my lap and promptly dosed off . A 1/2 hr. later, I awoke and heard a kind of chewing sound. When I glanced to my left, I had two really nice mule deer bucks feeding about 5 yds away. Unfortunately, I had an elk tag in my pocket. 

One other time on the Kaibab, I was hunting above the Houserock Ranch on the Eastside Game Trail. It got really windy one morning, so I headed to the lee side of a steep canyon to have a smoke and a sandwich. I found a nice protected nook to hunker down but quickly fell asleep after I ate. When I woke, there was a doe bedded about 10 yards to my left. She was looking away and up the canyon. I could see a 4x4 buck working his way in the bottom with his nose glued to the sand. I waited for him to get parallel with me and turned his lights out. The doe was so surprised by the blast from my .264 that she went butt over tea kettle when she took off down the slope. 

[biglakejake]

thanks for this thread...a great memory came back to life.  bear hunting in the 1990's on a mesa above salt river canyon i was tired and so were my eyes from  glassing.  I came on this tank that looked like a california beach with all the prints along the edge-but not people prints-bear toes!  i hunkered down under a big shaggy and promptly fell asleep.  i woke up and realized the movement that woke me was coues deer.  4 coues bucks-one that was well over 100"-were drinking ten yards away.  they jumped away when my head moved but came back for more water after i quit moving and didn't make eye contact.  beautiful bucks. 

lee

[Saguaro]

Naps are the best.  I love to doze off in the field.  There’s been a few memorable naps.  One was where I fell asleep in a push down area and woke up with a coyote a few feet from me.  It scared both of us when we made eye contact.  A few times I was in deep sleep and the sound of wings flapping woke me up when a crow flew down to check me out and hit the brakes and flew away 10 or so feet from me.  Then a few times I woke up to something running away.  Don’t know if it was a deer or elk.  I’m sure they were walking close by and either saw me or smelled me and took off.

[Swivelhead]

Always end a tactical nap with "amen."  Especially at work.

[10Turkeys]

I always thought that a nap was part of being in the woods.

[PRDATR]

Usually from 10 to 11.

[HorseHunter]

For sure, naps in the field are the best especially if you can avoid the unseen ant pile.