What time do you come off the mountain durning archery elk hunting?

[OkiechasingElk]

one thing I didn't see mentioned in this thread, if you are inexperienced in the woods at night, take safety glasses to wear out. sounds stupid but a number of folks have been seriously injured by branches they didn't see.

Never thought about it like that, but makes perfect sense. Lol

Spending on a reliable headlamp is another. There is a significant difference between a $10 headlamp and a $50 headlamp.

 

[LP5000]

I

one thing I didn't see mentioned in this thread, if you are inexperienced in the woods at night, take safety glasses to wear out. sounds stupid but a number of folks have been seriously injured by branches they didn't see.

I usually wear my regular glasses at night. Last time I forgot them, a branch swung back from the guy in front of me and slapped me right in the eye ball. Not fun.

 

[fracguy]

Man that's got a be the worst, I smacked myself with a pine branch last year deer hunting and I had to stop for a good hour because I couldn't see anything and eye was watering so bad.

I

I usually wear my regular glasses at night. Last time I forgot them, a branch swung back from the guy in front of me and slapped me right in the eye ball. Not fun

 

[ColoradoCarp]

I suppose it matters what you are trying to accomplish and what you find most enjoyable. This is a pastime, most of us are doing this because its fun. If you'd rather hang out at camp and enjoy yourself a little more than deal with the challenges of darkness, do it. But...having success is fun too...and the edge of dark is a good time to have success. Because of that, I've decided to adjust some things due to having a hard time overcoming being out at night alone. When I first started elk hunting a few years ago, my goal was to kill an elk solo, but I found that half my time I was some combo of lonely, bored, or scared...on the flip the other half was truly wonderful...so.......but anyways my first elk was a cow when it very well could have been a bull were I not scared of the dark...I moved in on a herd as they bedded around 10am and could have set up (rifle hunt) and waited for the bull to get up later in the day, I didn't have a shot at him otherwise, but instead I decided to pursue a cow because I didn't wanna be butchering an elk by myself at night. I got the cow. My first elk, so I was thrilled about it, hardly a consolation prize, my goal was any elk of any kind, but I gave up on a chance at a bull. I didn't get another chance at a decent bull for a couple of seasons. The next time I did, it was 2 degrees the morning I started hiking, it was snowy, I was in a terrible mood because the season had been very tough thus far and I was just worn down and irritated, I was lonely, tired of spending hours hiking by myself and glassing by myself, I got about 30 minutes up the hill and came very close to turning around, it was last day of the season, I probably stood still for 10-15 minutes arguing with myself about bailing, I actually at one point started walking back down, I just wasn't having any fun that season hardly at all. I pushed through and killed my first bull later that day, but after that told myself I'm going to start doing this differently, in a way that maximizes having a good time even if that means trading off proving certain things to myself or accomplishing this or that. I'm proud of that bull, but at the same time it wasn't as satisfying as I had imagined it would be because frankly it just wasn't much fun, I was in a crummy mood that whole hunt, I was forcing myself to be out there. There have been multiple other hunts I've sensed my fear of being out alone at night affecting how well I hunt in the evenings. So I've decided to hunt with other people, and give up on my goal of killing a truly large bull solo, because I personally just have more fun (less concerns, less fear) when another person with me. And I imagine I'll have more opportunity now too due to hunting the evenings with more intention vs "hunting" my way back to camp. Actually, last year in archery season I was "hunting" my way back, but really I was hiking out for reasons listed above, and ran directly into a bull at like 20 yards. Had I actually been hunting and not mostly trying to get out of there, might have killed that bull.

 

[fracguy]

I suppose it matters what you are trying to accomplish and what you find most enjoyable. This is a pastime, most of us are doing this because its fun. If you'd rather hang out at camp and enjoy yourself a little more than deal with the challenges of darkness, do it. But...having success is fun too...and the edge of dark is a good time to have success. Because of that, I've decided to adjust some things due to having a hard time overcoming being out at night alone. When I first started elk hunting a few years ago, my goal was to kill an elk solo, but I found that half my time I was some combo of lonely, bored, or scared...on the flip the other half was truly wonderful...so.......but anyways my first elk was a cow when it very well could have been a bull were I not scared of the dark...I moved in on a herd as they bedded around 10am and could have set up (rifle hunt) and waited for the bull to get up later in the day, I didn't have a shot at him otherwise, but instead I decided to pursue a cow because I didn't wanna be butchering an elk by myself at night. I got the cow. My first elk, so I was thrilled about it, hardly a consolation prize, my goal was any elk of any kind, but I gave up on a chance at a bull. I didn't get another chance at a decent bull for a couple of seasons. The next time I did, it was 2 degrees the morning I started hiking, it was snowy, I was in a terrible mood because the season had been very tough thus far and I was just worn down and irritated, I was lonely, tired of spending hours hiking by myself and glassing by myself, I got about 30 minutes up the hill and came very close to turning around, it was last day of the season, I probably stood still for 10-15 minutes arguing with myself about bailing, I actually at one point started walking back down, I just wasn't having any fun that season hardly at all. I pushed through and killed my first bull later that day, but after that told myself I'm going to start doing this differently, in a way that maximizes having a good time even if that means trading off proving certain things to myself or accomplishing this or that. I'm proud of that bull, but at the same time it wasn't as satisfying as I had imagined it would be because frankly it just wasn't much fun, I was in a crummy mood that whole hunt, I was forcing myself to be out there. There have been multiple other hunts I've sensed my fear of being out alone at night affecting how well I hunt in the evenings. So I've decided to hunt with other people, and give up on my goal of killing a truly large bull solo, because I personally just have more fun (less concerns, less fear) when another person with me. And I imagine I'll have more opportunity now too due to hunting the evenings with more intention vs "hunting" my way back to camp. Actually, last year in archery season I was "hunting" my way back, but really I was hiking out for reasons listed above, and ran directly into a bull at like 20 yards. Had I actually been hunting and not mostly trying to get out of there, might have killed that bull.

I used to be the same way, hated the dark, hated being alone in the dark. I would head out wayyyy early and sit in my truck and nobody ever knew I was scared of being alone in the woods at night. I started going out at night making short skips through trees, going night fishing and walking out by myself and fishing without a light. Doing anything to get me away from people and lights. Eventually I could hike through trees and everything alone. I have learned that there is absolutely nothing in the woods at night that isn't there in the day time. I have still had the wtf was that noise and hair stands up feeling but generally it goes away. If I get that feeling and hear strange sounds, I usually light a cigarette and walk directly towards the sound. I tell myself everything is scared of people and having a lot cigarette, animals can smell it. Then once it's light I head back to where I was and find out what the sound was if I can. I had a beaver scare the absolute crap out of me bear hunting one year, was headed in in the dark, no moon no nothing and I dropped my flashlight out of my pocket. Heard a noise that was about 30 yards away, I froze lit my cigarette and kept going, sound happened again and was like this thing is coming at me so I totally froze threw my gun up like I could see anything at all lol and took a step. Next thing I know this thing runs past me on my right about 3 steps away, I caught just a glimpse of what it was and started laughing at myself because I was actually terrified of a beaver. Went back later and verified the tracks. I do most of my hiking solo, hate the thick brush, always afraid of bears and cats in the thick stuff so I tend to avoid the super thick stuff mostly. I enjoy being solo, I get frustrated because everyone I have taken with for the most part gets halfway up a mountain and starts crying about how straight up and down it is and how far are we going and just irritating to me, so I do most everything solo. This will be my first solo hunt this year so will see how well I do being truly alone for days at a time.