Balancing sleep with time hunting

[Rich M]

I even nap in the tree when doing all day sits for whitetails. season before last I climbed tree at 2, fell asleep, woke up at 4 and shot a buck that was feeding behind me. Just how it goes sometimes.

 

[HighUintas]

I do not hike out earlier that is for sure.

no need to return to camp mid day for September seasons if that is what OP is asking about. I wonder why you are not already napping during the day out there which would make your wuestion moot. Nothing beats a nap on the mountain.

Have almost never returned to camp midday only to hike back in same afternoon. I hunt till I run out of active elk options then position wherever makes sense and take a good nap on slow days where I am not too busy getting somewhere to hunt or actively stalking/calling elk.

For Sept elk, guys are NUTS if they are mostly not hunting midday when on elk. easy enough to get a great nap as well while out amongst the elk. “Camp” hold no appeal to me at all so just never jonesing to be “at camp”.

I definitely don't return midday to camp. In most cases, I have hunted my way back to camp or the truck near dark, so that I'm leaving the last likely place for an encounter as it hits end of light. I'd rather be sitting in a great spot until last light.

I'll just have to start napping more.

It tough and there is no easy solution.

1. Eat dinner while you are out hunting. May or may not be practical depending on the situation. I also don't want to eat a heavy meal and then climb 1100 feet in .8 miles. So, kind of depends, but sometimes it is an option.

2. Start rehydrating your meal just before you start biking back to camp. It will be ready as soon as you get back, reducing time spent awake. Also, really long rehydrations in the hour or hour+ range tend to make most meals even better.

3. Sleep closer to where you are hunting or on your glassing point. I often face the dilemma of hiking 1.5-2 hours vs. camping. Heavier pack, but you can wake up 15 minutes before glassing light and be behind some optics with a cup off coffee vs hiking 1.5 hours in the dark. I'm slow to get going in the morning and don't like to be rushed. and then, of course, you partener will invariably have to take a dump at the most inconvenient moment. Its nice to eliminate that, but not always practical. You will definitely get more sleep, often by as much as 3-4 hours, which is huge.

Generally my lunch and dinner is a dehydrated or freeze dried meal, which causes a big waste of time unless I'm able to glass while doing it. In my archery area, there is no glassing and it's all dark timber sitting or still hunting. I haven't yet tried the cold/warm long soak method, but I may have to to save some time.

I have considered just backpack hunting my archery area to save time, but it seems there's zero good places to sleep due to fear of blowing elk out. It seems the elk bed or feed in just about any place... There's lots of options for food and water... And the terrain is such that the wind constantly switches and swirls so that it would be hard to find a place to camp that wouldn't inevitably have my scent flowing into a sensitive area.

 

[180ls1]

Bring a sleep/eye mask. They are like $3 and 1oz, it'll help your sleep tremendously.

 

[HighUintas]

It sounds like I need to work on getting a nap in! I usually don't because I'm too worried about missing hunting time. But if I'm not in the prime spots until end of legal light, then I'm not maximizing hunting time anyway.


One thing, is that I'm glad i left a little early Saturday evening. It has been storming off and on all day. My route into that area is as short as possible and also planned to minimize scent spread .... Straight up a ridiculously steep and long climb with some mossy boulder fields. The boulders were all wet heading back and I fell hard multiple times despite being very slow and careful. I absolutely wouldn't have wanted to do that in the dark.

 

[CorbLand]

My problem isnt early mornings and late evenings as much as it is mid day. Man, mid day when its hot and nothing is moving is just brutal and I cant seem to nap for hours on the mountain. Mostly just sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up.

 

[Poser]

Here’s one: you have the weekend and the. It’s back to work on Monday. How many of y’all hunt Sunday evening until it’s dark, hike out and drive home vs. calling it a day in the early afternoon on Sunday?

As for myself, I’m calling it a day come around 1-2 PM most every time.

 

[lyingflatlander]

Try meth, I think it worked great for a lot of those missing 411 folks. You can go days without a nap.

 

[180ls1]

My problem isnt early mornings and late evenings as much as it is mid day. Man, mid day when its hot and nothing is moving is just brutal and I cant seem to nap for hours on the mountain. Mostly just sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up.

Try the sleep mask. That said (I'm a terrible sleeper in general) but my mountain naps are short as well.

 

[CorbLand]

Try the sleep mask. That said (I'm a terrible sleeper in general) but my mountain naps are short as well.

I will try one.

I sleep great in my bed. I am a napper and have been for all 32 years of my life. I could take an hour or two long nap everyday if I had the time to do so but once I am on the mountain...nope. I do a little better if someone else is with me. If not, it seems like every little noise wakes me up. I am not scared of the mountain or anything. Hiked in/out plenty of times in the dark alone but something about sleeping just doesnt work well for me.

 

[Winnie]

We travel a long distance to hunt out west. I do not like driving all night. It seems you can never really recover from that and pay for it all week. Everyone wants to get there as early as possible, but I personally want to stop about 11 pm, hit a hotel, then off again by 6. Those 7 hours of good sleep may really pay dividends during the week in a lot of ways (more alert, better decision making, not sleeping in, not quitting early, and just plain feeling better).

 

[khunter]

I definitely don't return midday to camp. In most cases, I have hunted my way back to camp or the truck near dark, so that I'm leaving the last likely place for an encounter as it hits end of light. I'd rather be sitting in a great spot until last light.

I'll just have to start napping more.




Generally my lunch and dinner is a dehydrated or freeze dried meal, which causes a big waste of time unless I'm able to glass while doing it. In my archery area, there is no glassing and it's all dark timber sitting or still hunting. I haven't yet tried the cold/warm long soak method, but I may have to to save some time.

I have considered just backpack hunting my archery area to save time, but it seems there's zero good places to sleep due to fear of blowing elk out. It seems the elk bed or feed in just about any place... There's lots of options for food and water... And the terrain is such that the wind constantly switches and swirls so that it would be hard to find a place to camp that wouldn't inevitably have my scent flowing into a sensitive area.

You may be overthinking. You gotta Sleep/camp somewhere. in the context of a large Elk terrainarea just pick a sensible spot and don’t worry if some elk might walk by it and be spooked by your scent when you are there.

An elk bumping into Hunter’s camp is just gonna skirt around and go about his business and not likely to scram 10 miles away.

If it is an elk hunt you’re talking about, what state are you already hunting elk this early? Utah?

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Here’s one: you have the weekend and the. It’s back to work on Monday. How many of y’all hunt Sunday evening until it’s dark, hike out and drive home vs. calling it a day in the early afternoon on Sunday?

As for myself, I’m calling it a day come around 1-2 PM most every time.

That one is tricky. If I'm only hunting the weekend most likely I'm within 5hrs of home. Before kids I would be pushing the envelope and hunting the evening.

Now I like to be back if possible to help out and unpack/unwind before the workweek.

 

[Split toe]

Hunt with camp on your back, then when it gets dark setup camp and spare yourself the miles hike back to camp. This saves a lot of time and energy!

 

[khunter]

Here’s one: you have the weekend and the. It’s back to work on Monday. How many of y’all hunt Sunday evening until it’s dark, hike out and drive home vs. calling it a day in the early afternoon on Sunday?

As for myself, I’m calling it a day come around 1-2 PM most every time.

I am getting home late at night and “recovering” at work versus missing hunt time. Only exception is if I have a high profile or sensitive work project that has to have my absolute best. Not doing this week after week but the occasional weekend or longer hunt with work next day I am putting max effort into the hunt.

 

[IdahoElk]

Sleep from 10-4 unless a cow is in heat and bulls are going crazy all day.

 

[Raghornklr]

Sleep deprivation has been the go to method for years. Still kicking , so no sense in changing.

 

[Will_m]

Double nicotine pouches FTW

 

[flathead#2]

Pfft!!
One hour drive up to my lease.
Made 17 trips last season.
All afternoon till dark.
Too old for that before daylight stuff.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

I nap in the field. Usually around mid day.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

I will try one.

I sleep great in my bed. I am a napper and have been for all 32 years of my life. I could take an hour or two long nap everyday if I had the time to do so but once I am on the mountain...nope. I do a little better if someone else is with me. If not, it seems like every little noise wakes me up. I am not scared of the mountain or anything. Hiked in/out plenty of times in the dark alone but something about sleeping just doesnt work well for me.

Same here. Somehow a fly or ant crawls across my face every time I'm about to drift off, and then I'm awake again.