Overcoming getting spooked.. and scary stories!

[The-Talon]

So back in july my father passed away who was one of my very few hunting buddies and my mentor. This is my first season hunting without him and I gotta say it's wierd. But me and him always used to always hunt in the same areas.. we would end up going in together and coming out together usually. But now that I'm hunting alone I can't help getting real spooked when the sun goes down or before it comes up and im heading to my stand. I know there is really nothing to fear but still this overwhelming sense of fear always consumes me. Like the other night it was prime hunting time and I heard a pack of coyotes waking up about 200 yards away from me maybe closer or maybe further.. and I just got up out of my stand and left cause I didn't wanna get caught out in the dark and then the morning after I didn't even wanna go back into that stand until first light I know this is irrational and it doesen't stop me from hunting.. but it makes it VERY uncomfortable.. any tips on overcoming this fear of the woods when they are dark or words of advice???

***BONUS POINTS**** Describe your scariest experience in the woods!!! or creepiest time.

I have no answer for how you overcome the fear, but I will send my condolances and prayers up for you!

Hope you find a way to beat it!

Bisch

[swamper]

I tell my grandson everything is the same as in the daylight,it has helped him,he is a lot less tense now walking in.Oh and I got him a super bright headlamp.

[Jakeemt]

Simple make yourself spend time in the woods alone at night. The only way to overcome fear is to confront it.

[Cavscout9753]

Sorry for your loss. I'm sure more people get spooked in the woods at night than are likely to admit. You live in Canada, so its not as if there's "nothing" to be worried about, but yes the odds are heavily in your favor. I refuse to carry a pistol or gun when I hunt. But then again, I don't have bears or cougars to worry about. Coyotes can bite, but itd have to be some seriously hard times for them to worry about trying to eat me. Pigs worry me, but only because they're idiots and all idiots worry me. I don't much like the woods after dark, but due to hunting and my career, I can't avoid it. 1) Just remember that you're an apex predator and that animals in your path live and die at your choosing. 2) Don't bum rush in or out. A lot of nocturnal problems arise from people just moving too fast. They get lost, run into things, and stumble up on critters that may just decide that knocking you down is the fastest and safest solution to their current dilemma. I hunt evenings more than anything and its about a slow 10 minute walk out to my truck in most cases. It get darker in the woods faster than the fields so its rarely "dark" when I head out. Dusky rather. If its getting dark in the woods I cant shoot for crap in low light and I dang sure cant tell if a buck is QDMA standards so I sneak out and I'm in the fields around late twighlight. I've remarked before about the guys out west and up north in grizzly and cat country strolling back to their spike camp in a 3 mile walk at night. I likely aint got them stones...

[Tater]

Don't know exactly what it is you fear is it the unknown or encountering critters in the dark?

   FYI most of those critters are way more afraid of you than you should be of them.

    Best of luck working this out.

[Jakeemt]

Bonus-scariest. I was was about 16 and knew how to get to these really cool bluffsover looking the Missouri River. It was about a half a mile through the woods and you had to go at night since you were trespassing (also that meant no flashlights ect). My buddies and I would bring girls and such up there because the the moon over the river set the mood really well. One night with just myself and a young lady we heard this horrifying scream. It was a sound I knew was not human but, have never heard before. It was mountain a mountain lion below our bluff. Lol talk about a mood killer!

Creepiest-out in a section of public land hunting squirrels. As is my habit I like to get to a promising spot about an 30 minutes to an hour before first light. As the sun started rising the action started quick. I tagged two grays. When I went to get the further one he was laying next to an old grave stone. When I looked around there were seven total right where I was sitting.

P.S. Fear of the dark is natural and normal. It's a gift passed down from our ancient ancestors when things that go bump in the night can and would eat you. Again only way to over come is to confront.

[The-Talon]

Yeah it's not so much the unknown I'm afraid of.. I just have way to big of an imagination and it has always been a blessing and a curse for me. I just think of the worst scenarios sometimes

[Sam McMichael]

My scariest trip afield was when I was about 16. Nobody in my family hunted, so pretty much from the beginning, I hunted alone. One morning I was running late, and it was almost light. I walked between a sow and her litter. One of the pigs squealed, which brought Mama on the run right at me. Thankfully, as a young guy, I was quick and agile, so up a tree I went. She stood at the bottom of the tree popping her jaws for a few minutes before she and her litter wandered off. I was a tad late getting to the stand that morning.

[Bowwild]

You hit on the solution. Instead of imagining the worst...imagine the best.

After all, I'd bet in all those trips in and out of dark woods the worst never happened?

I take great  joy in walking in the woods in the dark as long as my eyes are protected.  Nothing better than a "moon shadow" morning about an hour before dawn. Embrace the beauty and solace of such times and be thankful for them.

Now, all this advice is coming from a fellow who can't bring himself close enough to a spider to step on it!

[MCNSC]

I used to hunt GMA land a lot by myself, I would arrive very early to help reserve my spot. I would stand around waiting a while before going into the woods, your mind can play games with you in those situations.
 Odds are when your father was there It wasn't as quiet, and you didn't have time to think about stuff. It's just different for you now.

[The-Talon]

Yeah it's mostly my mind playing tricks on me I have to learn how to control my mind!! Like one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books called Dune:

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Easier said than done.. hah

[goingoldskool]

Your "big imagination" brought back a story from a couple years back when I was bear hunting in NW  Ontario.  

I was the farthest hunter out,so I had the truck and picked up 2 other hunters on my way back out. On one night, after picking up the 2nd guy,we headed for our 3rd.

Upon arriving at his pick up spot, we noticed that he had an arrow loaded on his bow.  ( in Ontario  you are supposed to have your bow in a case ).

#3 asks if we just heard what he had heard. Being in a moving truck with windows up, we had not heard anything. I asked what it was and he told me it sounded like a man being mauled by a bear!

I asked him how he knew what that sounded like and he said, "I HAVE AN IMAGINATION "!!!!!

Good times and greater laughs!

Good luck, shoot straight and God bless,

Rodd

[Jakeemt]

Also dude if you a a public land hunter being in good with the dark is a major advantage. You are actually not even the slightest bit alone. There are a lot of folks scared of the woods in the dark. It can get you in when others stay back.

[ranger 3]

I know where your coming from, I hunted black bears in main and was the last gut to be picked up. On one night anther guy shot a bear and it was real late when I was picked up and it was quite unnerving with all the sounds and my own imagination.

[ChuckC]

I think I know how you feel, to a point.  I am afraid of very little in the woods during the day, I can handle most of what comes my way, one way or another, but at night, I can't see it to do something about it.

I guess you have to think a bit and convince yourself.  Really, there are only a few things that go bump in the night.  Worst ones up there ( not counting made up stuff) would be a wolf or a bear ( or plurals of either), maybe a mama moose.

It is really very doubtful that any of the above is gonna come after you.  

Maybe do like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor did in that movie when they were in jail, strutted around and said stuff like "  uh huh, that's right, we bad " ! so all the bears and wolves can hear you and leave you alone.    
ChuckC

I have been on over forty canoe trips into Quetico.  We have had bears around camp, in camp, on portage trails, they never scared me. One day portaging through a thick portage trail from one no name lake to another, on a thick willow covered trail, a mama moose decided to stand her ground.  I I had a twenty foot wenonah Minnesota III on my shoulders and was fighting with it in the tangles, when I got clear of them the trail had large rocks and tricky footing.  Then slump the canoe hit something, I had a little trouble believing my eyes for a second, moose legs.  I dropped the canoe and bolted back the moose trotted about twenty across a clear grass bog.  Then spun and charged straight at me.  I honestly do not remember anything from then until I was at the landing area of the prior lake.  My wife said I was white and I said,"Is there a moose behind me?" I do not remember saying that either.

[mountain lion]

We don't really have much to worry about around here, some coyotes and maybe a big cat. I always carry a knife on my side and I'll be dammed if something is going to get me without a fight. But I always think of the positive things and never let my mind wonder. The human mind is a lot scarier than anything you will encounter out in the timber, if anything was to happen you just have to keep a calm mind and not freak. Even though your dad is not there physically I bet he is there spiritually!!!
The scariest encounter I ever had, happed when I was walking into my stand one morning and I had something following me. When I was walking I heard it following me, when I would stop it would stop. It stayed about twenty yards behind me from what I could figure. I was using a climber at the time and when I got to my stand I could have won gold for how fast I climbed the tree. I still don't know what it was but it freaked me out a bit!

[The-Talon]

Wow ! These are so some good stories and great pieces of advice !! Nice to hear I am not alone in this as well !! Thanks for the kind words !

[Matty]

My condolences on the loss of your dad. That's a bummer for sure. I have lots of stories but I'll give you the funniest.
I have a friend who is insanely afraid of the dark and I've know this for a while to the point where I can mess with him. Well we had never hunted together he always hunted in NY and I always in NJ. we had permission on a big plot of land that was very productive. And where he hunted in NY was not productive at all. So I offered to take him out there for a Saturday hunt we got there early (dark) and started to our stands, I barely ever used a flashlight if I did I covered most of the light with my fingers. Just to see the trails. Well we're about 100 yards from his stand and you can hear something running at us through the dry November leaves and he damn near jumped in my arms screaming like a little kid!