• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Ever get scared while in the woods alone in the dark?

bubba g

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
307
I hate to admit this but I still chicken out sometimes staying in the woods until dark when I'm by myself.

I took a walk through the woods the other night just to get used to being out there by myself so I'm ready for the season. I'm walking along not afraid at alI. I happen to shine my light off to my left and theres a set of orange eyes looking at me from about 30 yards away... they look pretty far apart so whatever it was was pretty big..

I'm figuring bear, or possibly a buck bedded down... I shine the light on it for about a minute, and it doesn't even blink... finally I say screw it... I'll throw a stick towards it so it will run away, and I'll be able to tell what it is... I toss a good size stick that lands about 10 feet away from it, and it doesn't budge. I pick up a rock throw it... it lands even closer... still doesn't budge...

After that I got out of the woods...

About an hour later I get curious to see if it's still there so I go back into the woods... it's still in the same spot... watched it for about a minute then got out of the woods... just as I get out I hear at first a single howl, then a pack of totes howling like crazy...

The yotes were in a different spot from where i saw the eyes...

Sounded exactly like this video
 
Its perfectly a normal reaction to be scared. I think alot of guys with limited woods experience get that way. I don't know if your woods time is limited and please don't take offense. For me personally I charge on through without any issues. I recognize danger and then evaluate what to do. The woods is definitely a different place at night i think unless you spend alot of time in those conditions it will always have a level of fear. I am still waiting to walk in on a bigfoot or something at that point im all about the turn and tuck tail!!!
 
Its perfectly a normal reaction to be scared. I think alot of guys with limited woods experience get that way. I don't know if your woods time is limited and please don't take offense. For me personally I charge on through without any issues. I recognize danger and then evaluate what to do. The woods is definitely a different place at night i think unless you spend alot of time in those conditions it will always have a level of fear. I am still waiting to walk in on a bigfoot or something at that point im all about the turn and tuck tail!!!

Not offended... you're right I don't have a lot of experience... only been hunting for 3 years... unfortunately I've never had anyone to hunt with.. so it's not like I have been out in the woods in the dark with someone else a bunch of times so I know what to expect... the places I hunt I never run into other hunters either so I'm definitely completely alone out there...

Another time I forced myself to stay until dark a bear showed up and it took me about 5 mins to get him to leave...
 
Not a whole lot to be worried about here in southern Lower penninsula Michigan. No bears or large predatory animals. The deer will be more scared of you than you are of them. Never had a coyote willingly get close to me either, and I don't think they are particularly aggressive in this part of the state as some make them out to be. Darkness never bothered me much though so being in the woods At night is not the worst thing that could happen to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think it's more common than people admit. I myself, not afraid of the dark, but I have scared myself a couple times. One that comes to mind, I was walking out one night with a cheap dim headlamp and crappy little flashlight. I knew where I was so it wasn't a big deal. I was walking through a cutover and I kept catching something in the edge of light moving. As I turned my head to the left, I see this big black thing come rushing in to my flank, my heart stops, I scream like a little girl! I had forgotten about my dim headlamp and what I was catching was the shadow of my bow in my left hand swinging, well as I turned my head it was the shadow that was rushing up on me hahaha! Took a good 2 seconds for me to comprehend all that in the moment but then I busted out laughing! I've come across bobcats, coyotes, and all sorts of critters in the dark, but they don't bother me, but my shadow got the best of me that night! In the end, don't worry if it freaks you out a little, obviously you're not too much of a chicken if you stood toe to toe with it and even went back to look for it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Also....I hunt a 100 acre wooded lot that a friend of mine owns. There's a small old family cemetery on it....one night it was exceptionally foggy and a full moon and the wind direction caused me to enter at the cemetery. It just looked and sounded like a horror movie set :)
 
We hunt in an area with bears. To get to one of our watches, you have to cross a flooded creek bottom with lots of deadfall and uprooted trees. There are tons of shadows in the dark and nobody in our group likes going through there. Every root balls shadow looks like s bear


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have fearlessly hunted around bear, wolves and mountain lion's but the one time I was truly scared was in South Dakota when I came across two huge free range black angus bulls in the dark. I was skirting along the edge of a 400 foot canyon with nowhere to go but straight down. They were very aggressive and fighting at the time then their attention turned to me. Luckily after a few minutes they lost interest in me and I was able to sneak away in the darkness. I know how unpredictable bulls can be so I lucked out in that situation.
 
I have fearlessly hunted around bear, wolves and mountain lion's but the one time I was truly scared was in South Dakota when I came across two huge free range black angus bulls in the dark. I was skirting along the edge of a 400 foot canyon with nowhere to go but straight down. They were very aggressive and fighting at the time then their attention turned to me. Luckily after a few minutes they lost interest in me and I was able to sneak away in the darkness. I know how unpredictable bulls can be so I lucked out in that situation.


Glad we don't have mountain lions around here...

Those bulls must been pretty scarry...
 
I bring a headlamp just incase but try not to use it I prefer the cover of darkness when I enter and exit the woods. I also have only been hunting a few years but was never uncomfortable in the woods at night . Until one night in total darkness Im just finishing up putting my pack togeather after coming down from the tree and I hear a fox scream must have been within ten yards of me my heart froze and I nearly shat myself. Could not find that headlamp fast enough it was s very humbling moment
 
I was walking out of public land, along a fire road an hour after dark. With my dim little flashlight, I start to catch glimpses of something odd about a tree up 30 yards in front of me and on the side of the trail. There was an elbow sticking out from behind it.
Not knowing if it was a buddy trying to scare me or what I just kept the light trained on it as I kept walking forward, tensed for "something"

When I started to get parallel my light came around the tree and its some guy in his 40-50s, regular street clothes hiding behind this tree. He just says "boo" and walks off without a light, down the dark trail the way I had come
weird...I had my knife ready the rest of the way

I'm more worried about getting shot in the dark on public land than I am of the wildlife. Were I hunt, I am the monster in the woods
 
We don't have many bears. I have been stalked by a bobcat. I have had a large alligator crawl under my stand just before dark. When I was younger I was always in the woods at least an hour before sun up. The spookiest mornings were just slightly chilly and fog started rolling in.
The silliest scary moments are the worst. If you have ever walked into the middle of a large covey of quail in the dark and they flushed you know what I'm talking about. I've done it several times now and still about turn inside out when it happens.
 
I hate to admit this but I still chicken out sometimes staying in the woods until dark when I'm by myself.

I took a walk through the woods the other night just to get used to being out there by myself so I'm ready for the season. I'm walking along not afraid at alI. I happen to shine my light off to my left and theres a set of orange eyes looking at me from about 30 yards away... they look pretty far apart so whatever it was was pretty big..

I'm figuring bear, or possibly a buck bedded down... I shine the light on it for about a minute, and it doesn't even blink... finally I say screw it... I'll throw a stick towards it so it will run away, and I'll be able to tell what it is... I toss a good size stick that lands about 10 feet away from it, and it doesn't budge. I pick up a rock throw it... it lands even closer... still doesn't budge...

After that I got out of the woods...

About an hour later I get curious to see if it's still there so I go back into the woods... it's still in the same spot... watched it for about a minute then got out of the woods... just as I get out I hear at first a single howl, then a pack of totes howling like crazy...

The yotes were in a different spot from where i saw the eyes...

Sounded exactly like this video

https://www.amazon.com/STANLEY-SL10...UTF8&qid=1505649238&sr=8-4&keywords=spotlight

Try one of these, it'll help you figure out if it's a bear staring at you, or if it's just some reflective tacks. Plus you can just tell your buddies/wife it's for blood tracking deer.
 
You can fight off most things if you needed to.
Now, if you hear a banjo out there at night - RUN like hell !!

Sent from my SM-S820L using Tapatalk

In the area where you told me you were moving last year , that's a serious concern. Lol.
I just bought another little place in Pickens county also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For those that use headlamps (myself included) I would suggest one with a green or red filter on it. It seriously reduces game spook especially on deer. Granted you won't be able to see as far as with white light but you can see none the less and when you turn the light off you won't have that blindness or period of adjustment back to the night.
 
Back
Top