Walking out at night

Not to be antagonistic, but ending a hunt 30 min before dark to avoid hiking at night seems illogical to me. If you happened to be successful anytime after a morning hunt, you’d likely be hiking in the dark for multiple hours anyway. On the same trail, just now with 50+lbs of meat on your back, and a carcass attracting predators to return to over and over.

What about the situation makes you concerned to do it when unsuccessful vs successful? Are you bushwhacking with no light trying not to spook game and slipping on rocks and stuff?
I’d boil it down to what concerns you about it and fix that. Walking sticks plus a bright red headlamp takes away most concerns of terrain for me.

If the situation calls for concern hiking at night, you better end your day wayyyy before the fading light.
Good points... let me work myself through this... Let's consider my hunt last week. Let's say I killed one right when I was going to leave on the night in question. Now, I have an elk on the ground, it is still dropping heavy, wet snow, and I am already slightly hypothermic. How would I handle that?

First, I would realize that I am in for a long night. I would probably do some jumping jacks to warm up a bit. I would build a simple shelter and start a fire. I would drink some hot liquid to warm my core. Then, I would get to work on the elk. I would use the warmth of the elk to keep my hands warm. The work of breaking it down would probably keep me warm.

If I was warm enough, I would break it all down and hang it from an improvised meat pole.
If I was too cold, I would gut it and break open the hips to cool the meat down.

In either case, I would probably leave the meat in the woods. I would hike back to camp and sleep. I would come back in the morning with an empty pack to starting hauling the meat out.

Once the meat is hanging, I personally would not haul a lot of meat in the dark especially if bushwacking. It is going to take me several days to move the meat alone. I don't see a real difference between it hanging at the kill site or hanging at camp.
 
I have been hunting for almost 60 years. In my youth I would not even think about coming off the mountain until after dark. Shot many bulls in the last 30min. of day light. I would gut and skin, take the backstraps and heart and start the trek out. I was very familiar with the country and the only flashlights in the early years were either C or D battery flashlights that lasted about one hour before the batteries went dead. Once I was out of the steep stuff I could use my night vision and walk the trail out. I enjoyed those times even though they usually sucked. I was also raised to be on the mountain in your spot before daylight to catch animals coming out to feed. Spotted many elk as they were coming out in the morning. I remember back in the early 70's my father was sitting in his spot and as it started to get light looked over to a patch of trees about 60 yards away and there was a bull elk bedded there facing away from him. Shot it right in its bed.

Now fast forward (and I mean fast forward, where has time gone) to current times and I carry a quality pack with good clothing, equipment to keep me safe if something should happen, but I no longer have the desire to be the last one off the mountain. I still want to be on the mountain before daylight, but coming out in the dark is just not any fun anymore. A lot of it has to do with the fact our Elk populations are so depleted that hunting our mountains now are more of a hike with a rifle than actually shooting at an elk. I have had my glory days and when that day comes when the State of Washington finally gives me my Branched antler tag I am sure I will find a spike to shoot :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:. At that time I will retire hunting elk and hike the mountains with a pack, but minus a rifle. Then I will turn my passion to hunting more mule deer than I do now.
 
I like taking my rifle for a hike also. Last cow we got out at 01:30 shot her at dusk. I will admit at 64 it was a ton of work but worth it. Will I do it again?:unsure:
 
Like other noted, depends on location and familiarity. When I was in Maine or Vermont tracking, I was taught to give up a track at 2pm unless your really on 'em and can get it done in the next half hour.
4 miles in takes every bit of 2 hours to get out through the woods. Ideally have a last light spot in mind and wait out shooting light in a more known spot closer to the truck.

Back in NJ, don't ever leave before last light. Your never further than a mile from a road, can easily be on a high traffic road in 30 minutes walking.
 
One other side note, back in the 70's my father and I would buy out of state Oregon tags. ($25.00), we would hike the 5 miles south to get to the Oregon border, all before daylight and hunt all day and then after dark we would hump the 5 miles back out to the pickup. We would do that for about 10 days then Washington deer would start and we would then leave the trailhead at first light, hunt deer to the Oregon border and then hunt elk until early afternoon and then Washington deer back to the pickup. We killed several Oregon elk during that time which was a good thing because that meant no more early morning and late evening hikes to and from the Oregon border. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
Do you not like hiking in the dark or do you not like having inadequate gear? Your post kind of says both things.

If you’ve got the right gear, you can hunt until dark, comfortably and safely. If you don’t like hiking in the dark, no amount of gear is going to fix that.


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I guess it kinda comes a bit easier to me as growing up hunting with my Dad I honestly can't remember a time when we didn't hike in when it was dark and out when it was dark. He lived by the adage that if you want to kill elk you'd better be in the places they are at during the best times of day. To this day a typical day hunt for me starts with a two hour hike in the dark and ends the same way that evening, 90% being off trail. If I've backpacked in I'm usually not as long of distance to where I want to hunt.

I think that if taking good animals consistently is something you want to do then you will want to get more accustomed to hiking in the dark. Mostly will just be a matter of you pushing yourself to be ok with being uncomfortable. As some pointed out be sure to carry enough stuff to stay overnight if need be. Fire starter, two Headlamps, tarp and first aid are always in my pack.
 
Think about it for a second, millions of deer hunters walk to their stands in the dark every year without a worry in the world. But when they get to the mountains to hunt elk, they are apprehensive. It’s because they are out of their element. Likewise, 1 million elk hunters walk on and off of mountains in the dark every year without giving it a second thought. Many of them non-residents too. That’s because are comfortable in their surroundings. Not out of their element.

Is it the dark? A headlamp of about 350 lumens takes care of that. Hiking at night with a quality headlamp is literally no different than hiking during the day. One step at a time. And with a satellite navigation app telling us which way to go we can no longer get lost.

Is it the thought of bears or lions? That is the number one question I get when talking to new hunters who are going to hunt elk for the first time. I always ask them ….have you ever tried hunting bears or lions? Just like deer and elk they run from you. Griz country… ok that’s a little different. Don’t worry after a while you’ll become desensitized. There is definitely more to worry about walking in city streets these days.

People hunt elk for different reasons. Some people say, they love the experience and the memories and if they kill an elk, it’s just a bonus. Those people are in camp or on well beaten Forest Service trails well before dark.

Other people are on a mission. They are the 10% that kill 90%. Or at least they are working on being in that group. So I’m with Cliff Gray on that.

We put so much work into finding the best places to cross paths with elk. But being at the right place is useless if you’re not there at the right time.

There are definitely elk, especially bulls, that don’t step out in the open until last night and ones that disappear into the cover minutes after the sky turns gray. You might not kill those bulls, but it’s important to see them. Those sightings are what I base plans on for the rest of that day or the following day. Without that you will be another guy at the trailhead who says yeah we saw quite a bit of sign, but never did get on the elk. The other 75% of the statistics.

But there is a natural progression of things. You’re not going to stay somewhere until it’s completely dark if it’s your first time there. But once you hike in and out a couple of times dropping way points at key locations, you should find yourself staying later.

I don’t normally “bushwhack” to my spots. I try to be a little more civilized than that. If I crawled over blow downs for 3 miles to get to a spot I certainly wouldn’t plan on going back the same way. To get on the other side of a deep canyon, you maintain your elevation and work your way around the top. It doesn’t take us very long to realize that a straight line from a to B that gives up a bunch of elevation is not the path of lease resistance. So like I said after three or four trips, you should have a few things worked out, and mapped out, to eliminate the idea of bushwhacking.

So between a good headlamp, OnX Maps, and a little experience in an area you should be able to be at your starting points before light and have the ability to stay until dark.

A well placed spike camp definitely makes life easier.

This is one of those things that makes elk hunting more mental than physical. There are things you can do to coach yourself. Talk yourself into staying until dark instead of convincing yourself that the smart safe thing to do is leave. I always tell myself…. self, if you stay here till dark, maybe you’ll punch your tag and you won’t have to come back here and do this shit again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. That’s the same speech. I give myself when I’m deciding if I should drop down into a hole because I heard elk down there that I may or may not even see. There’s only one way to find out. But if you talk to people who are consistent at killing elk, you will find that they all cover lots and lots of ground in the dark. That’s a big part of mountain hunting. Par for the course.
 
Is it the thought of bears or lions? That is the number one question I get when talking to new hunters who are going to hunt elk for the first time. I always ask them ….have you ever tried hunting bears or lions? Just like deer and elk they run from you. Griz country… ok that’s a little different. Don’t worry after a while you’ll become desensitized. There is definitely more to worry about walking in city streets these days.
My wife lol... 7-8 years or so ago when we got started we went way out scouting an area I planned to have tags in. It was summer so we just had basic lightweight camelbacks but we did have headlamps. We weren't planning on it but it got dark on us while still about two miles out. I didn't think much of it but she got really quiet for like 20 minutes, I'd look back to check to be sure she was still behind me. Finally she asked, "hey do mountain lions hunt at night or only during the day?" I told her nah daytime only and kept walking, she was quiet another 5 minutes or so then said "I think you're lying to me." I LOL'd and told her to stay close and she was damn near stepping on my heels the rest of the way out. Now she hikes out alone with a quarter on her back, not afraid of animals but super afraid of getting lost.
 
Since you mentioned lions, my brother was packing out an elk north of Missoula by himself in the dark. Pretty sure he heard a twig snap. Turned around, nothing. Heard another twig snap. Turned around, nothing. Then the unmistakable sound of branches breaking. Turns around… mountain lion 20 feet away and coming steadily.

By then he already had his handgun out. He turned and started to run while shooting five or six shots back in the direction of the lion. He said he had no idea whether he even came close to hitting it nor did he care, but he never saw the cat again. Lol! 😂

I’ve had some very close encounters with mountain lions. They’re more curious than anything. They don’t really bother me at all.
 
I am still relatively young and in the earlier stages of my hunting life. I didn’t know not hiking a lot in the dark was even a real option until some of the comments on this thread and we do it plenty. The worst off trail stuff I have ever encountered has been in the dark for the first time.

That said - I do like hunting with camp and just setting up more or less where the day ends. I also don’t typically get a creepy feeling hiking in the morning darkness that I do sometimes get in the woods when the sun goes down!
 
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?
You will get more comfortable doing it with more exposure, that’s how that works. I used to not like it as well, it was foreign and uncomfortable, but these days it’s all the same, it still sucks not being able to see enough to stay on game trails and having to fight through solid salmonberry or whatever, but besides that aspect, I don’t care at all, it’s quiet and peaceful
 
Walking in or or out in the dark has never really bothered me. That being said, I’ve killed way more elk at first light than last light, and way more than both combined in the middle of the day. Definitely a good time to locate them though.


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