Biggest danger while hunting at night.

[scott]

My son has never wanted to go hunting at night with me, he is young and figured he was scared and didn't want to go.  I never forced him, so this year he came to me and said he is ready to try it at night.  My wife never had any concerns about him hunting from an early age, squirrels, deer, chucks, or turkey.  But when we were getting his equipment together i could tell she was a little upset about it.  so i asked her and she said she was worried about him going out in the dark.  I explained how i would carry the gun and only turn it over until we started calling and be standing behind him the whole time and call all the shots.  she felt better about it.  I feel that it is safer at night than during the day because you are so aware of everything.   But i was reminded of the true dangers of night hunting yesterday morning.  I was driving down 81 at 5a.m. and this guy on the road must have been plastered, he was all over the road.  How many on here have seen this at 2 or 3 a.m. while predator hunting???   

[uncle buck]

I never saw anyone out there drunk...Except when I stop in to Sheetz or Rutters or WAWA for a coffee or food at 2:00-3:00 AM.  Many a drunk are in there or people who are on something that's for sure..So....watch him well when your going across the parking lots in the convenience stores..

Now you do have to watch those woodchuck holes out there at night...Small leg can get broke real easy going down into a hole..Tell him to shine his light down as he walks to illuminate the ground a bit...

Also.......in this day and age...Don't hunt on public lands with him at night...Hunt the private lands that people know you have permission to hunt on..

There are times when you have to be cautious when your with your family...

Like...I would never take my wife or daughter on the Appalachian Trail mushrooming..

[foxtrot]

Like my wife said the people that are out running around at 2 in the morning are probably up to some kind of mischief.There are dangers at night but for the most part it is a quiet peaceful time to enjoy the sights,sounds and smells of the great outdoors.

[uncle buck]

One of the neat times to be predator hunting is in February...The winter sky is filled with many stars..You get to see a lot of shooting stars that time of the year...I do remember a meteor exploding one cold February night.  I see it explode and the gases and smoke turned all green...Later a scientist published a request in the local paper..He wanted to know if anyone saw that happen. SO there I was I get to see something that not many saw that night...I did contact him and told him just what I saw in the Heavens...Um I did not tell him that after the explosion that I had a green finger nail stuck under my eye lid.. However .....see there are some neat things you get to see but you have to be out there.....


oh ya....Never ever go predator hunting on the weekend that falls near Halloween...I did call two drunks in one time that were partying over at the next farm house...Now that is when I thought I was a goner....

[uncle buck]

 Want the hairs on the back of your neck to go straight up?..Wait until you find the letter "C" burned into half of a large Oak tree. From the outside into the center. The letter "C" still smoking.....I ain't afraid of no ghost...But Witches ah maybe? Watch for the letter "C" burned into a tree in a forest near you...When you see it now you know what happened there....

[uncle buck]

Brother Tom and I have had so many adventures together night time hunting... Why we were once approached by the police on a cold snowy winter night....Neighbors...called the police on us.. Because in the daytime ...They saw all of these people holding hands and circling around in the middle of the field we were now hunting in...Gee you have heard of the Blair Witch Project  movie...I'm starting to think...They need to make the Cumberland Witch Project...So they the police investaged us to see if we too were going to dance around that same there field too....

[scott]

how about the love sick buck?

[predator77]

The most dangerous thing when night hunting is people. Drunks,people parking and people speeding to your location because they heard a gun shot and of coarse all of these peoples adrenaline is flowing and are not afraid of confrontations.

[bigben]

never had drunks out where I hunt atleast that I can tell.  the biggest fear for me is stepping in a chuck hole and breaking a leg or spraining something severly or even falling asleep and driving off the road.  this year I hunted by myself more then usual.  I would say over 75% of the time I hunted this past year was by myself with the majority of it being more then 50 miles from home while hunting and driving home after hunting all day and night sometimes 24hr shots can take a toll on ya.  the trick is knowing your limits and dont push em.  if your tired take a nap.  the most important thing at night is to try to make sure you can eliminate most any problems ya might have before they happen.  be prepared for the things ya can and know what to do when things happen that you cant control. 

[Bees OBrien]

my fear at night is usually about every sound lol knowing full well nothing can really hurt me but still im a bit jumpy especially when im night calling in bear country or sasquatch country

[Whitefeather]

I called in a bear the night of opening day in Tioga county 2 weekends ago.  Wasnt to freaky until the big guy headed towards me and stood ground even though I was barkin at him.  He was only 25-30 yards away.  Big sucker too.  I had a bunch of stuff to pack up and it was difficult to try and keep a light on him while I packed.  If you dont remember it was really dark that weekend.  Had to come back later to retreive my power dogg.

[foxpro51]

People think you poaching deer. Who and the heck would poach a deer? The only thing i want to drag out of the woods at my age is a squirrel. LOL

[dreamcatcher]

I hunt alone 99% of the time. Only twice have I hunted with a partner at night. Both times with one or both of the Monko brothers. I have had only one confrontation, while hunting with Tom.
And Jim you're right about the February or January sky. It is amazing.

[stickbow]

No dangers here, i take my time on every move. I walk slow.

[uncle buck]

It's never the land owners but their neighbors....I set restraints one Jan on land I had permission on....Set was just along the tree line.  Caught a red trying to scoot along that edge... However the neighbor happens to see the fox along the edge of the tree line... Him and kid  a 16 year old kid that also traps the land with leg holds. walk up to the fox... Now the kid was a trapper yet... He says to the guy snares!!!.. Snares are not legal...The guy shoots the fox with a 2506.. Blows a big hole into it...They check my trap tag.. Call my home...Kid gets real cocky with my wife...I'm out checking traps but did not get to this farm yet...Kid pulled my other cable restraints.. Three other traps disturbed... I show up and the neighbor looked into his hunting book and sees that cable restraints are legal. ...Kid is no where to be found now of course.  The guy, neighbor want to pay me for the fox. Of course I did not take his money.  I started to think long and hard if I should call the warden on these two guys...The older guy showed remorse.. I did tell the landowner about it months later and he told me he would talk to the kid!!!I figure I would not want to upset the landowner...Lose a place I could trap, hunt fox, rabbits, chucks, etc on. The fox was destroyed.  One thing I don't like is a WISE A S S kid calling my wife like that and being cocky to her when he was the one breaking the Pa Game Laws.......


What struck me funny was as I was walking away from the older neighbor guy.  He yells to me.  "WILL YOU TAKE ME PREDATOR HUNTING SOMETIME?"