Ever get the heebie-jeebies while hunting in the dark?

rickyrick

New member
I have, usually by items shifting, during the time that I haven't quit fallen to sleep yet. lol

but I have been scared by unknown noises to the point I went in for the night. I'm a crappy hunter and doesn't cost me nothing and I can go out often
 
Yep it is common for me... Usually is caused by hearing a critter scoot past out of sight but often it has been a hog or deer coming at me... we both get quite a rush when we finally see each other.

Now, Junior is absolutely un nerved by owl and coyote howls...

If you ever wake up a peacock, you will likely FREAK!!:eek:
Brent
 
Not that I can remember. I've had strange things happen, but I'm pretty comfortable in the outdoors.

Far moreso than I am in social settings. While I realize that there are reasons for societal "niceties", there's no such need in the outdoors. I know where I stand with any critter I come across, and I don't have to pretend to like one that's trying to get to my backside.

A yappin' coyote can seem like mighty fine company compared to backbitin' people critters. At least he'll tell it like it is. ;)

Daryl
 
I don't fear the night, I fear what hunts at night!;)

Never been afraid here in the US, I grew up in South Africa and there I had a reason to be afraid at what hunts at night..:eek:
 
nope, ive had all kinds of animals walk across me while setting for fox/coyote.

had a coon growling at me for a while once, it would keep changing positions so i thought i was surrounded by a pack of angry somethings.
 
I'm not afraid of any thing in my neck of the woods, but, when it's pitch black, and something makes a sound I'm not familiar with, it is easy to let the mind run rampant. I'm pretty sure Bigfoot has been stalking me for years... ;)

The Bigfoot thing is actually a running joke with my hunting partner that I bring up every deer season. I mean, I doubt Bigfoot actually even exists although I like the thought that he does.

Anyway, I told my buddy, very seriously mind you, that it would be a VERY bad idea for him to dress up in a Bigfoot costume to try and scare me before dawn. A VERY, VERY BAD IDEA. :). I doubt they exist, but, if at the crack of dawn one steps in front of me, I'm taking it out!
 
From Hagar: I don't fear the night, I fear what hunts at night!

Never been afraid here in the US, I grew up in South Africa and there I had a reason to be afraid at what hunts at night..

Similarly, I've never lived or hunted in areas that had night-time predators that would generally consider me as on the menu. Therefore, I'm much more comfortable in the woods at night than I am in most urban areas at night. Apart from the occasional falling limb or deer jumping out of its bed, not much startles me in the woods.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure I'd feel different with lions, tigers, and bears as my neighbors.
 
Once after watching the Blair Witch Project. Another time when I was walking out of the woods and something told me to look down as just as I was about to step on a opossum that decided to come back to life and made jump 3 feet in the air.
 
Sad to say

I would be lying if I said no! so Yes I have had the BA-JEES scared out of me on many a dark nights in the woods! Always seems to happen when I'm making turns along a standing corn field. I seem more times then not to come face to face with deer and scare the crap (lucky not really) out of both of us in the dead of night! I know that nothing is going to happen, but it still gets me everytime!
 
Had a Bow Hunting buddy that would not go out by himself to and from a deer stand. Always waited for me to walk with. He had rented some prime deer and turkey country and I mean there were some big fat Iowa bucks in there. One morning, we were walking to our stands and I was tryng to talk him out of his fears. I told him that the only critter to be feared out there, was a Skunk. We never walked with flashlights and while I was giving my talk, there in front of us, on the trail, was a large animal. I had already talked myself into seeing a skunk and at that time, my knees buckled a bit. It turned out to be a Possum and he just looked up at us and I'm sure he was wondering what the big deal was. My buddy was just afraid of the dark and don't know if he ever got over it. I'll never forget that moring. .... :)


Be Safe !!!
 
Jup. When you start hearing things you can't explain it's scary. When everyone starts seeing the same thing and no one can explain, it gets really ugly, as in you can track the group by the droppings
 
Some times. Depends on what it could be. One time when I was done posting for deer it was pretty dark, and a wolf started howling real close. At least it seemed close. Maybe 100 yards but it stood the hair up on the back of my neck. My partner who was farther down heard it also and new he was real close to me. He got the truck and meet me coming out. When I first heard him I started talking real loud so he new I was there, but about thirty seconds later he started howling again. Other than that no, and I dont now why that bothered me really but it did. Seems like things change to there advantage when you lose that light.
 
I am uncertain of the heebie jeebies, but I have had a major adrenalin over-load.

I was alone coon hunting with a hound that would coon, but loved the bears. She was baying a bear in an area that had recently been logged and full of hardwood tree tops. The bear was backed into a top and I was attempting to get my dog off the bear. Black bears have a reputation of charging or fleeing a light. The charging part puts you on edge an gets your 22 loaded to the limit. As I snuck closer and closer I almost stepped on a partridge, correctly called Ruffed Grouse. As the birds wings beat my chest and the air fanned my face, coupled with the roar they can make taking off, my adrenal glands decided that there was no use in retaining any adrenaline. So they dumped. After I had metabolized two or three quarts of it I was able to catch my dog as the bear bolted.
 
It took many years before I figured out that genetic luck had given me night vision that was above average. I've always liked the night. About the only thing for which I've been cautious is rattlesnakes. No moccasins or going barefoot at night, thank you! But I've always loved to rat around the boonies at night. All manner of fun things going on, if you're smooth-moving and quiet.
 
Youp,
That is why we call them, "Thunder Chicken's".
I bet they even startle the yotes and such when they take to the wing underfoot!
Been a long time ago, but when I was young we had a long wooded driveway and the neighbor had a large mutt dog that wasn't a bit friendly. That mutt would flank us all the time about 10-15 yards in the brush and at night that really scared the crud out of me.
Now a days I always look forward to a night under the stars during hunting season alone. Even the wolf howling didn't bother me. That is starting to cause me some concern to where I carry almost all the time now.
So like Kreyzhorse posted, our imaginations can run wild if not kept in check.;)
 
The first time I went out to bow hunt, I was wearing a head lamp with a couple red LED's. I got about halfway to my stand, in the pitch black, when I hear this really loud noise that sounded like someone blowing their nose. I look up, and I see 2 red eyes glowing, bobbing around looking at me in the dark. Scared the absolute jebus out of me, to the point where I, um, quickly exited the woods and went back to bed. I now use the halogen setting on my headlamp, and make a little bit more noise than I did that first time, so I don't sneak up on anything again.
 
Climbing down from a tree in the dark, on a dead quiet evening and suddenly hearing coyotes barking and yipping will make a person pause on the way down the tree, I can tell you that.
 
I had my two young sons up in the mountains west of Challis, Idaho. We were staying in a camping area with a bear warning sign. I had a gun but kept the fire blazing all night long. :eek:
 
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