Tweakers and stray dogs are my biggest concerns where I currently hunt.

Nothing else bothers me too much.

grew up in mills and only place I've seriously hunted all my life plenty of cats around apparently. I have seen a few in the last 30 years down there along the Colorado river outside of Goldthwait and in between Mullen and Zephyr on the brown Mills County line. The memories of seeig them get me thinking a bit. But as mentioned so far this season had a covey of quail (great to se them coming back) scare the crap out of me and another night I had walked halfway back to my truck in twilight. Two steps after I turned on my headlamp finally I almost stepped on a copperhead that thought it was a good idea to slither toward my headlight. I ended up shooting the snake in half with my bow in the dark I have the video from my go Pro On my stabilizer I am still waiting to upload. It is very dark in the video but it's funny look into the camera and realize my video was running and shined my headlight on about 6 inches of snake behind the head trying to get away still and the back half of the tail.

I pig hunt at night, so I'm used to stalking through the woods in the dark. Snakes are about all I worry about, so I do wear snake boots or gaiters unless it's below freezing.

The only time I have ever been truly scared as an adult was a few years back. I was 25' up in a tree stand, just off the river bank, with NV, IR Illuminator, headlamp, AR with 30 round mag, and a pistol on my hip...by most definitions, I was the baddest thing in the woods! About 1:00 AM, the wind suddenly died down and when it did, the woods got absolutely quiet. No birds, no yotes, no insects, no armadillos...nothing. After a few minutes, I could hear the water flowing in the river. Something about the quiet got under my skin and the longer I sat there, the worst it got. It was a long 1/2 mile back to the truck. It was everything I could do to keep from flipping the safety off as i walked back.

When I was a kid I was terrified of being in the woods in the dark because my dad and everybody else we hunted with tortured me to no end talking about sasquatches and all that stuff and they were always doing things to scare me. It took me a long time to get over it but now I am at peace with it. I only use a small flashlight going in and out just to make sure that I don't step in a hole and sprain my ankle or worse.

I night varmint hunt and go by myself when my buddies are busy.one of them said he would never hunt at night alone and thinks I am crazy.

I love the suspense of walking to the blind in the dark. I have had pigs and coyotes run within 30 feet of me, javi's smacking their teeth, and all sorts of unidentifiable animal sounds but never a confrontation at all. But it will put you on alert really quick.
My worst scare was while walking to a blind I fell three feet into a hole where water had washed out the soil under the surface. It looked like firm ground with only a few inches of soil and a huge hole under it. I didn't get hurt at all, but it sure shook me up. I was actually happy to hit bottom, as I climbed out I was thinking that I was mighty glad that hole was only three feet deep.

I always ask my 15-year old son how many of his friends walk through the woods in the rain in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone coverage at 5:00am in the morning with guns? There are a lot of spooky sounds at night BTW, hence ghost stories since time started.

We both have green LED flashlights or headlamps when needed.

like a ninja

this morning after walking through the woods I then got into the water and walked to my blind... little gator thought he was funny popping up next to me while tossin out decoys... i named him leroy.. he knows how to stay and follow.. cute lil fella

Walking in the dark using all your sense is the best proof we are top of the food chain other the opposing thumbs and logical reasoning.

But this boy does not like the dark woods of E Tx. I can be dropped off anywhere in W Tx and survive just fine. Duck hunting on some swamp off of T Bend with big lizards spooks the crap out me.

I am not a fan of it. No problem with a flashlight, but that kind of defeats the purpose...

This would get my attention....

Many years of chasing behind coonhounds made me comfortable being in the woods after dark. It's the sight of eyes glowing back at me at ground level that I find unnerving. It's why I despise those reflective stickers that some hunters leave on trees and bushes on public land.

Not a problem as a rule. Carry a rifle and a headlamp....for me I can get turned around on the very dark times when raining.

As a youngster who had to walk to and from the stands from camp - and some were quite a ways - I had to trust what my elders always told me.....everything in the woods is more scared of you then you are of it. There were plenty of times as a young kid walking back after an evening hunt that I questioned this theory but once I learned to trust it as the truth, it became much easier over time. I do remember a few times my imagination getting the better of me though and the evening walk back being a bit nerve racking. I wasn't allowed to start my walk back before complete darkness for safety reasons of not being shot. As a kid, my biggest fear was my imagination running wild.....as an adult, my biggest fear in the dark - and daylight - is a rattlesnake. I have walked very near hogs bedded in a cedar thicket during bow season, and without a firearm, a couple times in pitch black darkness and to hear them start snorting and growing was a bit spooky....so I just picked up the pace and hoped for the best.

It's always good in the hood, till you hear a lion scream or what sounds like 2 boulders slamming together and you remember the bear pic on your Buddy's Gamecam

You should probably get to know a few. I'm sure they're not as dangerous as you imagine them.

Opening morning this year walking to the stand I felt wet. Same thing this past weekend. And it looks like a 20% chance I'll feel wet next weekend too.

Happy!

Warm weather bow season, snakes booger my mind up. Cold, no worries. Ducks or quail will make me lose my thought for a second. Last Sunday morning I bumped a deer bedded in a tree I was passing. Never saw it, just hoped it was not a shooter. I can't see for crap, but try not to use a light unless I have to.

As for the felines, from most of the pics I've seen I'd say you rounder boys are safe.

The way i see it.. Carry a pistol. Better safe than sorry. Just because it has never happened does not mean it wont.

Especially with wolves and big cats. It just might save your life so you can live another day with your EGO.

At my current lease I feel comfortable, we have little to no hogs thus far and no large cats roaming the ranch that I'm aware of. I enjoy my walk in the dark through the woods, it's the walk across the workplace parking lot I dread.

Warm weather gets me looking for snakes but on most mornings I can see good enough not to use a flashlight. My dad told me when I was a kid that there is nothing in the woods thats bigger or badder than you are of course he had never hunted where bears or mount lions are present but its a good mind set to have when you hear a twig snap.

I was broke of the "dark woods fear" at a very young age hunting with my grandpa deep inside the Davy Crockett. He told me something that I've never forgotten: "If you aren't scared of the woods in the daytime then you shouldn't be at night. The same dangers are there whether it's light or dark"