I can't walk to all my stands. The place is 6 miles long. But I never park close. Always walk at least a quarter mile. I don't use a light, but carry one. I think you can see better in the dark once your eyes adjust than if you keep turning a light on and off....and I don't want to spook something across the way that might not otherwise be concerned.

Snakes are my biggest concern, but I generally wear leggings in the warm weather. As others have said, quail will get you going in a hurry. Sadly, we don't run across them much anymore.

yotes don't freak me out but last year we had what seemed like a pack of them stupid things tracking me and my boy out of the woods for about 1/4 mile. I'll admit....I was puckered purdy good and it was pitch black....safety was off

IMO, the safety issue cannot be overlooked when it comes to walking without a light. Some people are much more afraid of the dark than others, even to the extent of firing into the dark to scare away whatever they think it is that's after them.

A remember a specific incident that occurred in Mississippi many years ago when a guy shot and killed a MDWFP officer who was trying to catch him hunting at night. The shooter was the son-in-law of the landowner and was walking back to his wife's house after hunting a food plot reportedly at night. According to local news accounts made soon after the incident, he heard the officer making noise in the brush and fired multiple times in an attempt to scare away what he thought was some wild animal.

While this case is unusual, I think it does bring to focus the danger that goes with walking in the woods at night during hunting season without a light.

The shooter received a 20-year sentence and died in prison in 2001.

I'm on edge when walking in the dark in TX but nothing has ever happened yet. Now, when I go to Montana, that's whole differnt ball game. I have a 454 Casull that I carry on me to convience the grizzlies they're in the wrong for looking at me like a porkchop...

Last year I was walking to my stand with a green light on to be stealthy. I walked right on to a skunk and actually touched it. We both took a couple steps back and he trotted off while I stood there for a few minutes in disbelief. From now on, I walk in with a white light and shine it back and forth. I have been sprayed by skunks 3 times in my life and I know how lucky I was.

That could definitely make it more difficult to remain in camp, or worse, get momma to let you back into the house.

I hate those green lights. Everything blends together in the dark...I was in Kansas and had set up a new pop-up two weeks before. Never hunted it. First morning, I was heading to it and had the green head lamp. Was looking into the woods and everything blended together.

I knew I was getting close when I lifted my head to look around and saw two BIG GLOWING green eyes staring me in the face. I rarely use lights and I am not scared of the dark...but that rattled me. Turned out that the previous hunters thought it was a good spot and had put two reflective tacks about head high and 3-4" apart

I do it all the time. Only bad incident I had was literally walking into a black baldy cow that was laying in my path. The toe of my boot hit her hoof, then she jumped up and so did I! lol

I don't walk in to the stand anymore. I just use a zipline and glide on in.

I walk the last 100 yards backward. That way werewolfs, chupas and zombies think I have already left the stand.

This! I can relate exactly! I hate hate hate a damn spider! I'd rather fend off a pack of rabid, starving coyotes or wrestle a 50 foot rattlesnake in my ground blind than deal with ONE spider!


*is something on me?*

A long PVC pipe attached vertically to the front of an ATV with stretch cords works great at keeping spider webs off the face.

There is a guy that works where I was working that was chased up a tree by a big bore. He threw his bow at it to buy some time to climb. The bore destroyed the bow and hung out for a half hour waiting for him to come down from the tree.

Are you really less likely to spook deer by walking in the dark, or does it just make you believe that it does?

Yes, hunt yotes enough at night and you will see deer are a lot less spooky at night

Without a doubt. Deer in my area are much less leery at night, sometimes even curious. If they see me during the day, they run like I shot at them, but at night they will stand 40-50 yards away and watch.

Drive a wheat field during the day and you will clear it. We go rabbit hunting and will drive and shoot all over the wheat field at night and it will still have deer on it.

Absolutely...they are far less weary in the dark...

No arguement from me.

Just a personal choice and not judging others, but I value safety at the expense of spooking deer.

You think that it is unsafe to walk in the dark?

Yes I do, during hunting season that is.

I always carry a light when walking at night for the same reason I always wear an orange vest when walking during the day. I haven't found a person yet who can clearly see orange in the dark.

Obviously, it's not wild animals that I fear most, but those who are most eager to shoot at something.

As you grow older, you realize that safety and protecting your ability to provide for your family is far more important than any deer you might wish to put on a wall.

Yes, he already said that and offered a story he thinks backs it up. I don't agree with it, but I'm not gonna argue with him over it. Life is too short.

Guess I missed the story

If you recognize the use of an orange vest as increasing hunter safety during daylight hours, you probably need no further reference in recognizing why a light serves the same purpose at night.

Perhaps a point not to be missed in all of this is how the availability of expensive scopes with good light-gathering capability has extended the shooting hours of some hunters well beyond the "30 minutes after sundown" rule that was once common. A good light helps ensure that guy who is eager for a trophy and likes to stay well past that, doesn't make a mistake.

I recognize the need for an orange vest in the day in certain places and certain situations. I do not wear an orange vest at all times in the woods, therefore I do not use a light in all places in the woods.

That seems much like the construction worker who tells his supervisor that he prefers to wear his hard hat only when he feels he needs it.

I'm guilty myself because I seldom wear a safety harness when hunting from ladder stands. But I know that I should. But since I have no control over that guy who might mistake me for a deer, I make no exception when it comes to an orange vest during the day, and a light at night.

The most important way to end EVERY weekend deer hunt is being physically able to return to work on Monday.