I started the coyote thread, and someone had a spin-off, so I suppose this is another spin-off.

I know there is no real reason to be scared of coyotes or anything else in Alabama (for the most part), and it's just a mental game. Sometimes the dark can be "spooky" for whatever reason your brain is telling it to be (I think the Blair Witch Project screwed me up no matter how much I tell myself I'll be fine).

However, what about hunting in other places like Canada or Alaska. I know hunting is COMPLETELY different, as in no tree stands, glassing, stalking, lots of hiking, and all that, but do you still stay out till it gets dark? There are animals out there that actually DO kill people, do any of you guys that have hunted out there have any stories about that?

Edit: I didn't post this in the other thread, but I have come very, very close to a mountain lion while backpacking in Yosemite. It crossed a trail about 15 yards in front of me. That was in daylight though. Made me think pretty hard while walking around camp at night, but I guess I never really feared for my life. Just makes you think. Plenty of bears out there too that we saw. Just never real close.

Went to northern Manitoba twice back in 2003-2004 to hunt whitetails. Bears had already gone into hibernation so that only left wolves which are not really known for attacking people- I had a tag as well. So I was not really worried- to be honest. I was just really enjoying hunting a new place where harvesting a booner was a distinct possibility.....a guy in our group killed a 175 class/300 lbs 45 minutes into the 1st day of a 6 day hunt.

I would have probably been more aware if bears would have been out.

There are bears and black painters in Bama Jono. Be scared very scared. Not to mention early walking dead and big foot. Anyone that has watched Blair Witch movie deserves to be scared !

I remember having some irrational fears coming out after dark near the old Manchester Cemetery when I was a kid. No one lived nearby then. It was just me and a big ol spooky hollow. Damn hoot owl didn't help things. Sometimes a bobcat would scream before daylight. There was an old dilapidated house not too far from the cemetery. It was a fun place in daylight but creeped the hell out of me after dark.

I'd be more scared of running into you in the woods, ya crazy old man!!!



I do think it is funny that some people on here aren't afraid of anything in the woods at dark, but you show a picture of a clown and they freak out.

If some of these guys on here knew of the old stories about ol' man Albert and that cemetery, they'd have never gotten out of the truck!

Good point Jono. I'm the guy that would lock you in a shooting house, or catch you up a tree and put several tarantulas on it.
I've always loved a good prank and enjoyed being pranked.

Anyone who says they have never been afraid of the dark is lying. We're just programmed to be that way. Horror films, boogy man, ET or even Hansel & Gretyl. Humans can't see in the dark, so it's naturally spooky.

When I get spooked over something, I just relax and remind myself I'm not in Iraq anymore. All's well when nobody's trying to kill me.

Hunted in areas that had a good bear population and it certainly makes you more aware. Here in AL I usually walk in the dark without a light however in bear country I always used a light, mainly to scare off any bears I might encounter.

I'm way more scared driving down the road than anything in the woods.

The thing I'm most scared of in the woods is other people. I always go in or come out in pitch black darkness so I'm not mistaken for a deer and shot. If there is any light at all I have my flashlight on waving it like a lighthouse beacon. People are a lot more dangerous than any animal I might encounter. I hunt private land but a trespasser is always possible.

I am enjoying an end to the most wonderful day of trout fishing in a river that runs into Yellowstone Lake and as it gets really dark, I see a sign ahead so I walk up and read it. I forget the exact wording but it was something to the effect of "grizzly Bears in this area - be aware that attacks happen, do the following things to keep from being attacked, part of it was "never hike or fish alone" , "always carry pepper spray" , "make lots of noise" , etc.

The last mile or so of river has been a tangle of alder thickets on both banks you can't see five yards into. As I read the sign I thought about how thick those alders were and how close I had been to them as I hid from the fish. It also crossed my mind that a fly rod was probably not going to stave off even a feeble bear attack.

I had to walk back to the rental truck the way I had come..............................talk about being sure I could hear a bear breathing at me the whole way. That's so funny because there was no way to hear that over the river. lol

No firearms allowed in the national park.

Great perspective right there.

I hunt in WA state and there are black bears, the occasional Grizzly and wolves but Ive had more things to startle me here in bama..I remember one time I forgot my flashlight during bow season so I figured I could walk an old road bed by star light there was no moon I got to a point where there was a small sage field with small pines lining the road and what happens?? a deer was standing in between those small pines and it blew at me and at the time I swore I felt it on the side of my face either way it was close. I did a G.I. Joe over into a briar thicket and had to come back after daybreak to find my bow..scared the crap outta me (but only for a second) LOL!!!

I have been over hundreds of thousands of acres in Alabama cruising timber. Seen many things that definitely freaked me out, no way to explain, etc. I will not say some of the worst ones. But one most people can relate to; I came up on 10 FRESHLY watered pot plants in the middle of no where, no water source even close. I looked, and looked, and looked for someone, trip wires, etc. That was a bad experience especially the part of Cleburne Co I was in.

I have a buddy who has a small farm in Fosters with a very primitive camphouse on it. It's on the river and there's not another house for quite a while out there. His dad had a crazy encounter one time after an afternoon hunt. He was hunting solo and made it back to the truck after dark, cranked his truck up and was getting ready to drive out when an older black man knocked on the driver side window. I can't remember what the guy wanted, it wound up not being anything bad but can you imagine??

I went on a Moose hunt in Alberta, I tagged out on day 2 or 3 and the rest of the trip was a black bear/deer hunt after that. We would get set out on a big power line or a cut-over overlook from daylight to dark alone.

We you are shown fresh grizzly tracks in the location you are sitting if definitely made me nervous and there was no napping during the day on that hunt.

Only time I ever got truly freaked out in the woods was also in Cleburne Co. Ran up on a shake and bake meth operation that thankfully no one was occupying at the time but the boot tracks and "ingredients" were all real fresh. Needless to say I got the heck out of dodge. It did help calm my fears when about 2 weeks later they busted the ones involved. There's some rough areas back in there.

I must be missing something.

Drake you should have been in NW Fl in the 70's and 80's, it was unusual to cruise a tract of timber that didn't have a marijuana patch on it. Those old boys knew how to grow pot, a couple of patches looked like a bamboo grove, 16'+ tall stuff. I've found thousands of plants, but never called the cops on but one patch and they had put simplex tacks in the turn around spot.