Walking out at night

[mad_angler]

I just got back from a rifle hunt in Wyoming. I realized that I don't like to walk out at night...

If I have a trail and the weather is nice, I don't have an issue.

But the weather was bad two nights (rain one night, cold snow another night). And I had to bushwack those nights. I was hunting alone and already sorta cold/hypothermic due to glassing until the end of shooting light. I made it back to camp. But I didn't like it. It seemed that one good fall or something could turn the evening into something much more serious.

I kept hearing @Cliff Gray telling me that I needed to stay out to be in the 5% that kill 95% of the elk. But...

Do folks adjust their plans based on terrain or weather?

 

[OregonSteeler]

Depends on how much killing an elk is worth to you...

 

[Dos Perros]

Sometimes the thing you do isn't fun in the moment but is fun later upon reflection.

 

[voltage]

If you would like, I can have my Dad call you and belittle you for not hunting until last light. That always worked for me....

 

[SuperDUECE22]

this is by no means a shot at you, its just a quote that rings true more times than not:
“Winners are those people who make a habit of doing the things losers are uncomfortable doing.”

 

[199p]

What you should try and do is get out in winter when its dark and raining and just get more comfortable with it.

Also, I'm not sure if you can do this over there, but use some flagging tape on a few marker trees just to give yourself extra confidence that you're going the right way.

 

[ianpadron]

If you don't like wandering around off trail in the dark that means you have a properly functioning deep brain lol.

2 tips:

- a good buddy changes everything, helps morale and is a huge safety asset in case something does go wrong

- the more time you spend wandering around the woods at night, the easier it gets, especially a specific area. When I was in my prime in terms of days hunted per year, most of them solo, I didn't consider any part of the mountain or time of day off limits. I'm just as physically capable now, but not as familiar with the new country I've been hunting, big difference in my willingness to romp around after dark compared to my old stomping grounds.

 

[180ls1]

It's not mandatory, if you don't like it just accept the tradeoff and move along or find ways to make it work for you.

No one perfectly optimizes every aspect of their lives but you should at least give it your best shot.

 

[go_deep]

I just kill elk in the morning, then I don't have to walk out at night.

You just get more comfortable with it over time.

 

[Packer9037]

Definitely feels like our odds of seeing/killing elk go up the greater percentage of legal shooting light we spend on the mountain hunting. Also feels like the more willing we are to be uncomfortable with terrain/weather/light, chances are we're going to spend more time on the mountain than the other guy which should also give us a better chance to see/kill elk.

Sacrifices must can be made to increase our success...especially when a jabroni from the city puts his tent up at the trailhead two weeks before the season in a drainage you've been scouting all summer!

 

[mavinwa2]

Hiked out of the woods to vehicle or camp many times near 11pm. Meat in my pack. Back when compass & folded map was necessary, good headlamp too and a hunting partner(s). Unless a new area, didn't use map very much, as I knew the usual areas hunted well. But in the dark, compass yes, to check headings.

These days it's more comforting to have my InReach & Garmin map system, cell if signal available and Onyx mapping.... especially since I'm mostly solo these past 4 years!
but I still carry a compass & whistle.

I've gotten turned around a few times over the years, in the dark all looks so different & a moon makes it eerie.
Best advice, slow down and don't panic or move too fast.

 

[LostArra]

I just got back from a rifle hunt in Wyoming. I realized that I don't like to walk out at night...

If I have a trail and the weather is nice, I don't have an issue.

But the weather was bad two nights (rain one night, cold snow another night). And I had to bushwack those nights. I was hunting alone and already sorta cold/hypothermic due to glassing until the end of shooting light. I made it back to camp. But I didn't like it. It seemed that one good fall or something could turn the evening into something much more serious.

I kept hearing @Cliff Gray telling me that I needed to stay out to be in the 5% that kill 95% of the elk. But...

Do folks adjust their plans based on terrain or weather?

Did you find elk?

 

[mad_angler]

Did you find elk?

I did. With escouting, I found a set of clearings about 2-4 miles from the road and 1,200 feet lower than the road. I carried a spike camp down and set up camp. That evening, I found a group of 2 bulls and a group of 4 bulls. All 6 would have been an easy shot but I only had a cow tag. I also found a mixed group of about 30 elk but I didn't see them until shooting light was over.

This experience was part of the motivation for this thread. I didn't want to hunt until dark and then spend 3-4 hours hiking back in the dark. Spike camp worked well

 

[RockAndSage]

I just got back from a rifle hunt in Wyoming. I realized that I don't like to walk out at night...

If I have a trail and the weather is nice, I don't have an issue.

But the weather was bad two nights (rain one night, cold snow another night). And I had to bushwack those nights. I was hunting alone and already sorta cold/hypothermic due to glassing until the end of shooting light. I made it back to camp. But I didn't like it. It seemed that one good fall or something could turn the evening into something much more serious.

I kept hearing @Cliff Gray telling me that I needed to stay out to be in the 5% that kill 95% of the elk. But...

Do folks adjust their plans based on terrain or weather?

OP, there's a bit of a fine line between masculine grit and being f*cking stupid - and too many guys get themselves hurt or killed each year by not knowing what that line is. And, frankly, by hearing the voice of their dad/coach/influencer in their head. Or, once you get past a certain age...your own experienced voice pushing you past where you should, because you know what you "can do", without realizing you're not as capable as you once were.

The problem is, the only way to really know where that line is, is for you is to push yourself up to and past it enough times to learn, and to have enough regular experiences to keep an understanding of where that line is fresh in your mind. And the reality is that that line is much farther out than what our minds think it is...yet we don't learn that unless and until we're pushed way beyond what we thought we were capable of. And very few people are capable of learning that on their own, safely - it generally requires being pushed. By authorities, peer-pressure, or threat of humiliation.

We're supposed to do this early with safety nets, like healthy dads doing it with us from the time we're little kids on. Coaches/trainers/instructors of different types, and military experiences, further that process. Some jobs, too.

But if you don't know where that line is, you either quit too early, or get yourself in trouble. Discomfort and danger are not the same thing. Being cold is discomfort - hypothermic is dangerous.

It takes experience to build that judgment and discernment.

If you don't know where that line is - build in safety nets, like an In-Reach, a buddy, and more skill, knowledge, and experience.

 

[5MilesBack]

I love the hikes out at night. I don't care as much for the morning hikes in, in the dark. For hiking out I'm a "shortest distance between two points" kind of guy, and I roll.

 

[TaperPin]

Bushwhacking at night isn’t something we normally do the other 51 weeks of the year, so it sounds reasonable that it’s a challenge, but it gets emotionally easier the more you do it. Bushwhacking skills also grow with use.

However, even in good weather if you hunt a long way from camp, sleep deprivation is a real thing. I’m an early riser so usually I can’t sleep anyway well before the sun comes up so that’s an easy choice. I may be leaving before elk come out of the trees, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still hunt the timber on the way out. It’s like dating before apps were a thing - if you aren’t going to stay up late dancing, where can you run into girls earlier in the afternoon or early evening.

 

[mtnbound]

I just got back from a rifle hunt in Wyoming. I realized that I don't like to walk out at night...

If I have a trail and the weather is nice, I don't have an issue.

But the weather was bad two nights (rain one night, cold snow another night). And I had to bushwack those nights. I was hunting alone and already sorta cold/hypothermic due to glassing until the end of shooting light. I made it back to camp. But I didn't like it. It seemed that one good fall or something could turn the evening into something much more serious.

I kept hearing @Cliff Gray telling me that I needed to stay out to be in the 5% that kill 95% of the elk. But...

Do folks adjust their plans based on terrain or weather?

As a SAR responser I have rescued countless folks who said they should have started heading back earlier but did not. Don’t get sucked into this just be hard BS that some influencer is spewing.
Use your brain, gut and do what feels right especially in hazardous terrain or weather conditions. There will be other days to hunt. A bad decision can mean you don’t get another day in the elk woods.

As a hunter, I would say you have better odds at killing something the more time you spend in the woods and you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and the more experience you have the easier it gets. Keep your pack ready for an unexpected overnighter, practice building hasty shelters and fires, have multiple headlamps( numerous rescues are from the lack of artificial light) and move slowly and deliberately in hazardous conditions regardless of the time of day.

 

[justinspicher]

I don’t like walking in the dark because we have lots of cats here. The last time I walked out in the dark I found a momma with three kittens and a dead elk and she wasn’t happy with me being in her area. She charged me and my warning shots scared her off. I ran the last 600 yards to my truck under a headlamp in through the woods. Now I just cruise out before it’s dark. Being dumb with get you dead and on the news.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I guess I don't do anything normal. I hunt heavy timber. I don't glass anything. I'm usually hitting the woods about the time everyone is leaving (8:30-9:00). And I am usually home for dinner at 4:30-5:00.

95% of my elk have been killed between 10:00 and 2:00. I have killed 76 so far. Guess I'm just not normal.