Sleeping in the woods
Elk
Who else can admit they can't sleep alone...in the woods? I think my 2 worst nights of sleep in my entire life were both nights spent alone in my tent in the middle of no where. Last year I got back to camp at 1am covered in elk blood. The backpack camp was 3 miles from the trailhead and I was the only one in the parking lot. My camp was next to a creek and the water made noises that sounded more like a bear getting ready to pounce on my tent than bubbling water!
I can't be the only one that hates sleeping alone in the woods! Gun or not! I plan on doing it again this year but I know I'll wake up 275 times during the night and finally give up and lay in the dark waiting for the sun to start to brighten the sky, imagining all the boogeymen waiting just outside my tent!
Just spend more time doing it and you'll not only get used to it, you'll sleep better than ever. Once you're comfortable you won't hear spooky noises, and even better yet you won't have to listen to your buddy's snore all night.
Take up golf.... Please!!!
The only thing I'm scared of in the woods besides snakes and ticks is Bigfoot! I'm going to get me one of those big suckers one of these days. ;)
Years ago I had an experience that made me wish I wasn't alone. Was about 5 miles back in the Selway in Idaho. Was sleeping in a bag on the ground under an old piece of canvas I had found.
At the time I had never heard a bull moose grunt. The elk were really wound up and it was about as black as it can get. No moon, cloudy. I had a little mag lite.
The grunting was faint at first but continued to get louder and heading right at me. I was more that a little spooked when I started to hear the footsteps. You don't hear bears walking with a thud and I finally guessed what it was.
Yup, I was scared of sleeping alone that night.
EMBRACE the boogeyman! BE!......the boogeyman.....
I sleep like a rock when in the woods. Like a dead rock. If something ever intends to get me, it'll have half my leg down it's throat before I wake up. I sleep like a rock at home too. One of the comforting reasons I have a dog that sleeps inside at night. Someone could literally knock a window out, come in and, take everything I have as long as they didn't turn a light on, without my dog and wife there to wake me up. I have to be careful the position I fall sleep in. As, it's going to be 6 or 7 hours before I move. I wake up stiff and sore sometimes if I fall asleep in a weird position. I love it. It is pretty awesome really. God Bless men
Ok. ONCE!......I was afraid there was a boogeyman shaped like a grizzly outside my tent. I was moose hunting in Alaska, camped about 100 yards off the river. About every other morning, our tracks were covered by tracks from an 8' grizzly. His tracks never turned off the gravel bar towards our camp. He seemed content to leave us be, and the feeling was exceedingly mutual.
Well, about 2 am one morning, I was woken by a rustle outside the tent. While my partner snored, I listened as the rustling got closer. Then a pan fell. .44 now in hand, I smacked my partner on the forehead and out of his slumber. No thoughts of a boogeyman for him....after appraising him of the imminent danger mere feet away, I told him to slowly Unzip the tent. I crawled over him and towards the opening, my trusty SS mag leading the way. Mag light in my left and 240 gr. JHP's ready to launch. I clicked on the light and cocked the pistol.........his beady eyes gleamed in the light as he locked on me....my sight picture wasn't great, but at 3', even I couldn't miss!
WV your a Happy man ....That's it brother!!Bless y'all
What does golf have to do with anything? I golf WAY more than I hunt but I can still sleep comfortably by myself in the middle of the woods. ( in wolf/bear country).
Ucsdryder- Lot of tough guys here I guess. I'm with ya dude. I sleep like shit when I'm solo in the woods. Call me a pansy. I don't care. Working on getting better at it and the only way is to keep at it. The reality is the odds of something happening are insanely low. Hunt hard during the day, get back after dark dead tired, pop a sleeping pill and get to sleep. If in Grizz country, keep that .44 nearby ...that helps. I've always found it funny how having someone else there changes everything in my mind but when I'm alone......sometimes it gets to me.
The first couple nights I have a tough time. Every little rustle in the brush has me on red alert. Eventually I get tired enough that I sleep.
Unless the coyotes bark at me all night. Ain't scared of em, but they make a racket.
Someone mentioned Moose above, and I've had a similar experience. Would have sworn at the time it was a rabid grizz.
Ok, i hate to admit it but.... I'm with you ucsd. BTW I wouldn't expect a guy with savage in his name to understand what we scaredy cats go through..
I've spent somewhere around 400 nights in the wilderness over the past 20 years, about 1/4 of it alone. I love the silence. I love hearing nothing but the sound of the wind through the pines for hours on end. I love not hearing a human voice for days. The only things keeping me from living in a cabin in the wilderness are my kids and my love of hot showers.
You are in more danger while in a modern city or on a modern freeway than you are in the wilderness. When I'm in a city, my head is on a swivel and I cannot relax.
Idyll... I love all that stuff too. Just not when its dark!!!
Situational awareness.....like any other location. Know the dangers and risks around you and plan and act accordingly.
Deadfalls, widow makers, potential weak tops in trees are all that really spooks me in the woods.....sleeping or not.....alone or not.
I put an open can of peanut butter in the other guys' tent so I don't worry about bears coming into mine. ;)
Like many, I love the peace and quiet of a solo snooze in my bivy back in the wild. The sheer silence can make it hard to drop off but once I do....I'm done until its time to pee.
I work so hard most days, sleep is effortless.
I know I'm snoring so loud, that bears, and every other type of critter is running the other direction.
It's no wonder I never see elk within a mile of my camp :^D
Best of Luck, Jeff
When I was 40 I set up my tent camp at 10,000 feet on a Mountain in Colorado the 2nd week of June. I moved my camp down the mountain as the snows came 3 times. In mid Nov. I packed it all up & headed home. 90% of my time was alone. When I was 45 I spent 6 weeks in a tent in the boundary waters of Mn/Canada border. I never feared the animals, only the worry of a " not so nice human". Not really scared. Scared is when I was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines & knew someone was out there wanting to "shoot" us.
More comfortable and sleep better in the woods alone than at home.
Noises in the woods are not worrisome if you know what they all are. The more you're out there, the more you hear all the little critters that come out and move around at night and you get used to it. Noises at home with two kids in the house is what gets my heart pumping. I sleep just fine in the woods. I'm with Treeline, I feel like I sleep better in the woods than I do at home whether I'm alone or with someone. In fact, I usually sleep better alone because if I'm with my dad, he's snores like a train :)
I've been out west twice chasing elk and living in a tent. Haven't scored. When I can't sleep I imagine myself in a tent enjoy what you're doing.
I've been out west twice chasing elk and living in a tent. Haven't scored. When I can't sleep I imagine myself in a tent enjoy what you're doing.
I may have to AZ by myself this year and i hunt down by the border. My question is when you guys are overnight, even in tents do you put out any kind of security, not for bears for humans? Being armed is a given.
I often start my hikes at 3am and have zero issues being alone in the dark. Something about being asleep gets me, especially when every piece of clothing I have is soaked in blood from quartering an elk by myself. To each his own...
There is NOTHING in the woods at night, that is not there during the day.
Having spent a great many nights alone in the woods, both in a tent and without a tent, I'm fairly used to it.
There was one time when I was alone and sleeping in a tent that stands out. I was in CA (not hunting) and in an area known for bears. I was camping somewhere that people picnic, but never camp. I was of course careful to have no food, toothpaste, etc., in the tent, and had everything food-related hung in a tree some distance away. In the middle of the night I had a bear come and rub up against my one-man tent. Having a bear inches from my face in the pitch dark was not a lot of fun. I had no weapon, and decided against yelling out due to the extreme close proximity of the bear. After what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a minute or two, the bear left. I rolled over, decided that he was convinced that I was not food, and went back to sleep. I did move my campsite the next night.
Empty Freezer, I did my first solo hunt on the AZ border this year. No problems sleeping or facing any "danger" except for driving on I-10, when I went upside down at 70 mph and totaled everything. Driving is THE danger for hunters.
Like Ike, I've spent hundreds of nights in the woods. If a critter comes snuffling by I say "hey bear!" and it runs away. I do keep a handgun and bear spray close by now that I'm older. Otherwise the only thing that wakes me up is the need to reach for the Gatorade bottle. My scary encounters with animals and humans have all come in broad daylight.
I generally sleep extremely sound while solo in the backcountry. There was one time when I was bowhunting near the NM/AZ/Mexico Borders that the idea of drug runners [ideas fueled by much evidence throughout the day] stopping by during the night left me a bit uneasy.
I also sometimes struggle in August in NM while hunting Pronghorns if I'm not sleeping in a super-tight tent. I just know that someday a rattlesnake is going to try to share my sleeping bag to keep warm. Lol
I've had mice, packrats and centipedes enter my sleeping bag, but snakes is where I draw the line!
I sleep well alone at night in the mountains..... most times just too tired not to.
I will admit to being jumpy and almost squealing like a little girl walking at night or very early morning. When you almost step on a pheasant and it gets up with a racket.... wakes you right up. Walked under a turkey roost coming out one night and that got the heart going..... thought the whole forest was coming down in me....
Many many years ago I got kind of.... misplaced... in OR near the Snake River. I knew the drainage I was in, but every time I tried to walk out to the truck I kept coming right back into the same place. Had my compass and all.... (pre-gps) finally figured out real late there was some iron deposit or something that just kept turning me right back around off the thick timber flat top .... a couple times right on my same old tracks. So I figured I'd just get comfy and wait till morning. Was down by a creek and filled up all my water in every bladder I owned so to speak. Curled up under a pine tree in the soft needles and dozed off listening to the tiny creek a couple yards away.
Woke up suddenly when the creek noise changed, sounded like a lapping noise..... hit the light to the noise and there was a black bear just a few feet away drinking from the creek. If it was possible, it might have been even more freaked out than I was.... I, um.... yelled.... it woofed.... and scattered gravel on me when it took off....
I was done sleeping, the moon was out and I walked out back to camp the rest of the night down and out the drainage. I think it was about 3 or 4 am when I hit camp, got the horses all riled up and crawled into my father in law's wall tent.... really impressive, I think I was married all of about 3 months..... his first question was where's the truck..... "it's on the mountain, it's ok, I'll go up first light and get it". I don't think he asked another question. He was a logger, at one time had a good sized operation. If you're alive, have all your limbs.... all is good....
Funny, all that time and I can close my eyes and still see it all and.... feel it.
Plenty of nights alone in camps. I've never actually laid awake because of worries about camp invaders, including on solo hunts in Alaska. Bears (grizzly) and wolves have been very near my tent at times and it's just part of the deal when hunting the backcountry which holds alpha predators. I keep things in perspective and understand I'm never 100% safe anywhere I rest my head.
Many years ago I was awakened in the night on an Alaska hunt. Something was really working the tarps over just behind the tent. It wasn't a subtle noise and somehow I understood this was no joke. The noises went on for a few minutes and then I sensed movement just outside the silnylon of my tipi. I literally held my breath for 30 seconds. Then it somehow moved out of camp without entering my shelter or doing damage. A later inspection showed the tarps were still in place and had no damage. In fact, there wasn't a paw (or hoof) print to be found. It was a pine marten...nosey creatures with an insatiable need to check out everything.
To the OP: Maybe a good thing would be for you to figure out a method of butchering which keeps you from getting bloody. It can be done, and the packing as well. I did a moose by myself last September and got maybe 3 drops (of blood) the size of a pea on my pants. I find it easy to stay clean as long as it's a normal butchering/packing job.
I am so tired that I usually have no problem sleeping. I prefer to not sleep next to creeks. They cover up too many noises and it is colder and dew every morning.
I will say I have weird dreams. Sometimes I will dream of bugling elk and I wake up and there are bugling elk! That will keep me up for a while as I try and pinpoint where they are.
One time I set up camp at the edge of a meadow. (Stupid location BTW. Don't do it) Around midnight, I woke up to a herd of 35-40 elk in the midnight. It was insane. I couldn't sleep as I listened to them mew, bugle, fight, and chase all night long. More than once I thought I was going to be trampled to death as I heard them run by my tarp. They finally left the meadow around 5 am. Needless to say I took a nap later that morning. (Which I woke up to a bugling bull, but that is another story!)
If I take a stand while hunting I always fall asleep. My blood pressure runs about 90/60, so it doesn't take much. Last fall I sat down along a trail and woke up 3 hours after dark. The only animal up here that I worry about is the two legged variety that carries a gun. I fell asleep one afternoon on the side of a mountain and when I opened my eyes, there was a bear ripping a stump apart 50 feet away. I watched him for at least half an hour before he moved on. There is nothing up here in the dark that isn't here during the day.
jaquomo, I saw your pics, somebody put a bubble around you on that one. We were down by Arivaca, where were you at? We also stopped at Shields ranch that was covered in backpacks and water bottles, but no visitors.
I sleep fine outdoors, usually just too tired not too. Tree frogs, gurgling crik, whatever I'm fine but indoors I hear everything. If someone in the cabin is snoring, zero in on a clock ticking, stuff hitting the roof, wood burner, I'm tossin and turnin all night.
I like being alone in the woods. I feel way more a part of it than an intruder like when I am with someone. When I was in 13 I had the opportunity to take a class through school called outdoor ed. Part of the class was hiking and camping. One of the trips was a "solo" trip, we were alone for the days hike and nights stay. This was done by sending us off with a few minutes between on day 1. If we caught the guy in front of us we were to slow down until they were out of sight. At sundown we were to camp along the trail and just before dark one of the two leaders would pass through and make sure we were all accounted for. In the morning they would do the same sending us off again. This went on for 3 days and nights. Were not allowed to talk to each other or the leaders for the entire time. By the time it was over I had overcome my fears of being alone in the woods at night. Most did not and by day three they looked like death. I would say about 95% of the kids ran back to the bus on the last morning. The rest of us took our time. I can remember the hour long bus ride home like it was yesterday. I was annoyed with all the noise and people talking. I sat alone and stared out the window. After a while I looked around and the few people who didn't race to the bus were doing the same as me. It took me a couple of days before I re acclimated to being around people and since then I have always loved time alone in the woods dark or light.
I usually don't have trouble sleeping but on one elk hunt I spiked out one evening up this steep nasty drainage. It was one of those drainages that's 45 degrees up both sides with one a narrow rocky trail in between the opposing slopes. It was infested with bear and cat crap and daylight never seamed to hit the ground. About 4 that afternoon it rained on me and I didn't have appropriate rain gear. I was sleeping on the slope with a downed log at my feet to keep me from sliding and only a space blanket to keep me warm. To top it off there was a good deal of dead fall that had fallen because of a burn years earlier and it seamed like you heard a tree crack every few minutes. I was cold(near hypothermia) and maybe a little scared. ;) I was glad to get out of that hole the next morning.
I hate being in the woods by myself in the dark. I don't know why but it creeps me out. It's totally irrational, I know, but it's definitely real for me.
Mostly too tired to have a problem sleeping. On a few rare occasions I woke to pee and have trouble getting back to sleep with a busy mind. On a late September trip in New Mexico I had six bulls bugling around my camp at 3:00AM. Had trouble returning to sleep that night too. On a WY rifle hunt I was spooked from all the Grizzly sign. One day I took even took my lunch break in the open where I could see all around for defense. When I do sleep after a long physical day, I kind of go out so deeply that I too might be eaten before I wake! It's the getting back to sleep issue that can sometimes be a night time problem for me.
LaGriz
I now know which guys on this thread use flashlights.
When I am ready to sleep I sleep, woods, no woods, bears, no bears ...even a snake or two. I sleep.
320 bull....... sounds like the beginning of a sociopathic movie.
Sleeping in the woods has never been an issue for me. Now when it comes to sleeping in a car. I have never been able to do that unless I am driving;-)
I don't get the heebie jeebies in general, but lightning does get to me. An acquaintance was hit by a bolt in a tent and watching what he had to go through was pretty rough. Every time I am camping and hear thunder I start getting a little nervous. Colorado during the epic rains of 2013 I just about crapped myself one night.
You tell yourself that if a bear or cougar wants you at night, you'll never hear them coming.
Easier to go to sleep that way
I suspect I sleep alone in the woods about as much as anyone and more than anyone I personally know of. Still I have a pistol and a flashlight nearby. Why? Because I can't see what is out there. I sleep fairly light. I don't have a dog with me. I am alone. I have told my hunting friends to never sneak in a try to startle me at night. Why? I am asleep. I have no problem sleeping, but I am not dead. It could be detrimental to their health record. Where I hunt we have some big cats and some two legged critters that are generally no problem. I sleep fine, but lightly.
I have slept out many a night and most of the time I have had a hand gun with me and sleep pretty good. On a antelope hunt in Wyoming one year I came across and killed a big prairie rattler just before last light pretty close to the tent and I have to admit that made for a long night thinking of that big Buzz Tail all night.
I slept alone some in my teens and 20's. I recall a few Bigfoot encounters. Never saw them but obviously thats what was snapping twigs or making whatever unexplained little sound was out beyond the reach of the fire or flashlight. Some might say it was just a rabbit or a pine cone dropping. All my late night encounters with unwelcome camp visitors have happened when others were with me. Mostly cattle, sheep, sheep dogs or people who had been drinking a bit.
Wasn't alone but we were deer hunting above timberline one year and a doe and fork horn walked into camp one night while we cooked around one of those wood burning backpack stoves. Gave us a pretty good startle. They had little fear and were back in the morning watching us pack up camp. I split my breakfast with them.
For some reason I sleep far better alone in the woods. The sound of this guy licking peanut butter from a jar woke me one morning. Bear spray messed up his breakfast.
You guys should watch some of the "Naked and Afraid" episodes for a real bad-night experience. Then just say, "I'm not them", and you will sleep like a baby.
I sleep great in the woods. In fact, if I'm camping at the roadside or a trailhead I can't sleep well at all. This is probably because I spent 3-5 weeks in a tent every year and have done it for 15 years or so.
Once I spent 10 days in a wall tent in NM where apparently all the mice were starving. The little bastards went through all of our food. The first night they woke me up when they ran across my face. I just covered up my face better and slept great.
We had to secure all of the food as best we could.
Tip: don't camp in a meadow or any grassy area because there are WAY more mice there and they will chew up your stuff. They've chewed my backpack straps and shooting glove because they tasted the sweaty salt.
A fully enclosed tent keeps out mice, mosquitos, and rattlers.
I wanna hear the rest of Ki-ke's story....... =D
Raccoon? Have had them wake you up in camp more than once....vicious hissing growling lil buggers.....
My first western hunt, second night sleeping out. I was in a bivy sack about 6 feet from my buddy.
I woke up to something sniffing my feet, I thought "That's a bear." And then I rolled over and went back to sleep.
To this day I'm not sure whether I was dreaming a bear or whether it was really a bear. . . .
Stop it. Seriously? Colorado? Maybe if you were covered in blood in the serengeti.
Bake, Are you sure it wasn't your Buddy? LOL
Related subject......who walks in the dark without aid of a light?
I prefer it. If there is any ambient light I HATE having a light on to navigate unless absolutely necessary. I find my night vision gets me by just fine most times and I hate having it lost due to a light, even a red light.
I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of, staying in the woods or staying in Texas.
Yep. People I don't know put a twist on things in the dark. Where ever I might be. I spend a lot of time in the woods. More than a good bit of people. So, I'm really at ease there day or night. However, I don't sleep or hangout well around people I don't know in the dark though. Like a camp ground, etc.... The slightest noise and I'm awake or listening. God Bless men
The first time I ever solo hunted in Colorado I hiked in about 4 miles over a lot of ridges and being chased by a storm. My pack was way too heavy and I was exhausted. Filtered water, set up my tent and didn't even bother to hang my food. I was so tired that I figured if the bears wanted me they could have me. I survived the night and have been hooked ever since. I usually camp near a stream as I like to have all the noise drowned out. Also, you know if you curl up under the sleeping bag, nothing will find you right? I have come to look forward to being up in the mountains. It is pretty special to look at the stars at 10,000 feet on one of those clear nights. I don't get that back home and it is just deep in the soul. I keep the pistol and bear spray in the tent and food hung, and I figure the chances of dying are less than when I drive in to work every day. It is just a great way to hunt and enjoy God's creation. To me it was just one of those "out of my comfort zone" issues that I wanted to overcome and have been enjoying it ever since.
Jordanathome, I do. The only time I use a flashlight is at the complete dark of the moon. Any bit of moonlight is all I need.
Once about 6 miles back into the Rawah wilderness we spotted a human approaching our camp in the dark. Figured maybe it was somebody lost, needed help.
Turns out it was a 20-something girl backcountry ranger wearing a backpack who had measured the distance from our tents to a tiny stream and determined we were about 20 feet too close. She made us move them by flashlight, then wandered off into the night to wherever cute 20-something female rangers go, who we'd always dreamed of encountering in the wilderness when we were single.
Jordanathome, me too. I almost never use a light. Picked up from my dad. With a little time your eyes adjust pretty good. I get annoyed if I'm with somebody and they break out a light at dusk.
Jaquomo, a friend ran into one of those back country ranger girls while hunting once. He wasn't having any luck and asked her if she'd seen any elk. She told him yes, about 70, and told him where. I'm certain you'd recognize the name if I wasn't afraid to put it out there in public. Anyway, he went up there and shot a 6x6. He has killed 2 more bulls in that spot since. They aren't always there, but when they are he's got it dialed in.
Not too far away from where you had your run in. He said this girl was cute and 20 something too.
Patdel, feel free to PM me the location.... I won't tell, promise!
Two seasons ago an earth-muffin gal wandered into my camp and asked, "Are you a bowhunter?" I thought, "oh no, here we go.."
She replied, "I just wanted to tell you this is a really good place to hunt. I saw a guy shoot a deer about a quarter mile over that way." I thanked her, she smiled, and hiked off to wherever earth muffin chicks go when you are married and alone in the woods.
I sleep fine unless the first couple of nights at 10,000' or higher altitude where my chest feels like a cat is laying on it and am blowing out fluids as adapt. I take an eye mask, 2 ear plugs, nice sleeping bag pad or cot, an actual pillow, full size sleeping bag with a liner with room to stretch legs out plus Tylenol PM, as needed. I am usually tired after a day hunting or scouting, setting out my gear for the next morning and setting the plan of action for the next day so I usually fall asleep quickly. The ear plugs help buffer the sound of wind, rain or a creek. The eye patch helps keep my face warm if is cold and consistency dark even if a full moon on a clear night. If I am wired as get ready for bed then will listen to iPod or read a story on Kindle for a few pages. I also put a box of gallon ziplocs to the side of the pillow so do not need to get out of the sleeping bag in the middle of the night to trek outside into the cold or rain.
Sleeping in my truck at a Rest Area bothers me sleeping in the woods not at all. I do like a campfire though I believe the smell of smoke really keeps things away at night! Anyway I Was raised in Canada on a Cree Indian reservation till I was old enought to go off to high school, always sleep alone in the woods from the time I was 4 or5 years old, no worries when your that young. Heck last night at 11:30 PM I took my dog out for a walk , lol, had a bear in the yard at the bird feeder was easily a 300 pounder, found the empty feeder today about 300 feet from the back yard, good size bear foot prints measureed 8 1/2 inches long by 7 inches wide in the snow. This same bear visits almost evey year in late March or early April he likes my bird seed . I don't care if he or she destroys a feeder it is always fun to see the bear and always when it is dark I have a Terrier pup that weighs about 16 pounds and she thinks she should be allowed to attach the bear, silly dog! The only problems I have evr had in the woods was in Maine with moose, had one attach my conoe one night while sleeping next to a lake! Vietnam was a whole different mind set, scared the hell out of me at night even wit 20 guys around. Especially if motar rounds had been heard early in the evening. Semper Fi! Prayers for all my brothrs and sister stll wearing a uniform, thank you!!
Years ago I was afraid to be in the woods alone at night. As the years went by the fear disappeared. I have more problem staying alert all day every day than not sleeping at night.
For those that have those 'fears' of the sleeping in the woods, maybe go sleep under a bridge with the homeless that do it all the time.
I know which one Id rather do
".....maybe go sleep under a bridge with the homeless...."
That would be no different than many of our past hunting partners.
never had an issue, but I sleep alone at home and my home is in the woods so....
It seems I can't sleep very well any more in camp regardless of location, whether it be a campground, roadside, or backcountry with or without company. I'm just too soft nowadays I guess. When I first started I definitely got freaked out somewhat in the backcountry.
The first time I ever drove out to the Rockies, climbed the side of a mountain, and pitched the 2-man on a bench near the top made for a pretty sleepless night.
I also don't like to use lights much either when I'm out and about. However, when at home in the deer woods, I find that it is often beneficial to use some sort of light to cut down on the noise I make. This is especially true when its overcast or a new moon.
Jordan, I do the same, don't like to use a light at night. I find it takes a while for your night vision to kick fully in, but once there you rarely need a light if you just take your time and move carefully. I have never had any problem with being out in the woods at night. I actually love being out there, but there isn't anything that can kill me where I live. However, I'm still staying out of Texas...(see above from ohiohunter)
I don't like artificial lights in camp, while fishing at night or anything other that walking the old dog out in the back lot to do his duty. Don't want to step in anything squishy. And I never have any trouble sleeping out anywhere solo or otherwise. On one drop camp to Whitefish Lake AK, I had trouble sleeping because I had to spend two entire days and the night in the tent due to heavy rain, and the guy in with me snoring his head off, plus his feet stuck to hell. Another time I was awake all night in a two man tent with 4 people in it, pouring out, their tent was leaking so we let them in ours, 90 degrees humid in Maine and the no-see-ums were coming in through the screen mesh. Too hot to cover up, too buggy not to, too crammed in the tent to move, to wet to go out, 12 hours of sleepless hell. I'm scared I'll have to ever repeat those two scenarios. I prefer lone nights far from anyone....
I only use a light on a new moon. If there's any moonlight I don't bother. Sometimes I think clear safety glasses are a good idea when walking through trees in the dark though. ;).
I live in the country about .5 mile off a highway and don't use outside lights. They attract trash from the highway. Have had meth heads run out of gas a walk 1.5 to my brothers house while walking by mine all because they see his yard lights.
Ki-ke, what then, you woke up?
The worst boogeyman encounter I've ever had was on the same bike trip as the Maine experience I described above. It was during broad daylight going up the hill out of Rutland, VT. We stopped by the roadside guardrail to rest and wash up when this dude slowed to nearly a stop in his old 60s boatmobile. He drove a little further and pulled over, got out and started walking toward us. As he got near, I shoved my shirt aside to expose my hunting knife and rested my right hand on it. He came up to within a few feet and stopped. He was gross, greasy, glasses an inch thick, with corroding copper rims that was leaching green copper oxide, running down his cheeks like Alice Cooper. Freaking FREAK! He said he ran out of gas, and asked if we could help him. I said hell no, just turn your car around and coast back to town. He stammered out some mumbled excuse and walked back to his car, got in and drove away UP the hill toward Killington. Ran out of gas my ass. We were very concerned he would stalk us but never saw him again. Until several years later that is. The next time we encountered him, he was on the front page of the news for having been convicted of KILLING Sarah Anne Wood and another boy, abducting them while they were riding their bikes!! Lewis Lent is his name...I think he was trying to make me his first victim! I don't I slept too well the night after we saw him. I slept VERY well after seeing him incarcerated. I am at this very moment sitting in a cubicle three feet from a former classmate of Sarah, from Sauquoit, NY. She knows her family. They never found her. I'll see if I can find a pic of this boogeyman POS. Bears at night got nothing on him in the daytime.
This is he, the Boogeyman... This will keep Anyone awake all night, tent, mansion, alone, or in a crowd. I was 3 feet from this scum years before he was a known killer.
In hindsight, I wish I'd have thrust that hunting knife through his heart and thrown his wicked carcass down into the brush choked,creek bottom. Sarah and that boy (and who knows who else), might still be alive today. Sorry to raid this thread, but I thought it kinda qualified, and I wanted to tell it.
Wow, crazy Trapper.. speaking of killers look into Henry Lee Lucas. I don't read much but that little paperback held my interest. Some sick SOBs walk this earth.
Yup. And who knows who else. Two legged animals are far more dangerous than the 4 legged ones. The farther you are from a road, the farther you get from the bulk of them...
Trapper, that is freaking chilling. I wonder, by the deliberate way he approached you, if he hadn't already had some victims. Psycopaths like him many times are driven by the control they exert over their victims, and anyone else in general, and refuse to come clean on all of their victims as another power play over the police and victim's families. I googled him and see that he refused to disclose where Sarah's body is. Classic psychopathic behavior.
He was deliberate because I think he thohght we were younger and more vulnerable but when he saw we were in our 20s and saw my hand on my knife, he acted kinda sheepish. He clearly was on a mission, but probably this was his first real opportunity to abduct someone in an unwitnessed rural setting and he was nervous, sweating, and didn't have the nerve to try it yet. He is darn flrtunate because I was young, strong fron training a bicycle ride from New York State to Nova Scotia and I would have not,let angthing like him interfere with it. I was prepared physically and mentally to cut him up. He was that scary... He saw we were as big as he was, Im 6', and lost his nerve. Instead, years later the rotten coward abducted a helpless 12 year old girl riding her bike home from somewhere in the country, alone. My heart still aches for her. What a horror feeling. I knew someone else who was abducted, molested, murdered while hitch hiking, my lab partner at Morrisville College in 1975. Her name was Regina Reynolds. I even tried to talk her out of hitch hiking that day, but she did anyway, and it cost her her life. Another sick old sob lived about 20 miles from where I do now. Sigsbee... His name.
I agree trapper, it's the two legged scumbags we need to worry about nore than the four. Stories like yours and movies is what get my imagination working while out in the dark, and stirs the fear of the what ifs. Someone above mentioned it, but I too carry a pair of clear safety glasses for tracking at night or just walking through the woods. Started carrying them after almost poking my eye out tracking a deer the previous year,now the glasses are always in the pack.
LB, thats a darn smart thing to do. We have hawthorn trees here with two inch thorns all over them, very stiff ones, that could easily put an eye out. I already wear glasses now so I don't need safety ones. I always wear a brimmed cap though. I could easily let these experiences dissuade me from hiking alone or spending nights being vulnerable I suppose, but for me I get reassurance from using common sense at where I choose to camp, being prepared with weapons, and also knowing I have a Savior's protection, who more than anything has saved me from my own stupidity in the past, and I know he is always there. I have much personal evidence to validate my beliefs in Him. I do vet the heebie jeebies when I hear a fisher or vixen cry out in the night though...that will shred your nerves on a long dark night, and has me while sleeping out before...
I have lived and worked in and around the forest nearly all of my life. According to State police studies of game or other stops they have done, there is a fairly large double digit percent of the people in the woods with a rap sheet. I too have encountered some. Before I retired from the Forest Service I checked many campers and wood cutters as I traveled. Most are great folks and a joy to visit. There was a time when a group of camoed armed men fanned out and started maneuvering on our small group as we ate lunch. It was early July. We were at a spot where people sometimes camp. Were they harassing or just trying to run us off? Who knows. We immediately left. I find it despicable and disgusting that anyone would make fun of someone that is concerned or afraid of being in the woods alone. It is easy to be an internet tuff or barroom braggart. I would encourage anyone interested to go out and enjoy the forest or deserts or other outdoors. Don't let your fear debilitate you. There are bad people or things wherever you go. Just exercise some reasonable caution. If you are not alert, and aware of your surroundings; you are a fool.
Am I the only one that sleeps better in my king bed at home? I camp when u must but a good notes sleep at home is always better than the discomfort of rain dew snow hard ground and sweat. Not too worried about the animals but a tent and a bag scares me a little.
The first time I ever hunted alone was just north of Yellowstone Park. I hardly slept at night, worrying about being eaten by grizzlies and wolves. Now, 20 years later I sleep fine.
I'm with Lou, my scariest experience on a bowhunting trip was hitting two black angus cows in the interstate doing 75 mph, at night. I was never so relieved to limp my truck out of the driving lane. About five seconds later a semi truck completely obliterated what was left of one of the cow carcasses. Glad I got out of the way.
I would sleep fine in the woods, but I sleep on my side and hate, hate, hate sleeping on air or foam backpacking pads. I haven't found one yet that I really like...
Swamp, you're not alone. I sleep better in a bed if its cool and there is fresh air, than on the ground in a bag. I do sleep great outside too, unless I get too cold. Or if it is a trailer campingsite. I hate that kind of camping but get stuck doing it, obligated to in -laws. I'd rather be in the mts or by a creek or lake with no one but wife and dog, or alone animals or not. If its griz country, I'm not,afraid, but I definitely go prepared with weapons. Back in the 90s, my girlfriend at the time wanted to prove to herself that she could hike into a wilderness and tent camp alone. She went a mile or so into Indian Heaven in WA, and pitched her tent next to Thomas Lake. That night she said she woke up to rustling noises right outside her tent. She freaked in her head but remained composed while a pack of half a dozen coyotes sniffed and scratched around her tent for a couple hours. They tipped up on the corner of the tent, began yipping right outside it, which was enough raise her hair on end she said. It didn't scare her from doing that sort of thing again, but it tested her nerves. She probably still goes tent camping in the wilderness, but that happen a long time ago. Would not know now.
Was telling JLS that the worst camping story I heard of north of Yellowstone happened in Eagle Creek campground north of Gardiner, Mt. A couple was making love in a tent in semi darkness when some guy, poor excuse for a hunter, shot at a bear....but it was really the tent, and killed her as she sat atop him. Another 2 legged scary story... Also, I spent 20 years hiking in that country hunting and shedding and never saw one single griz., not even while in the Park.
Funny follow up too, the one time we did have to run a grizzly out of camp, I was able to go back to sleep no problem despite the huge adrenalin rush.
Once spent 13 nights alone in a swamp bigger than NJ. Had no trouble sleeping. It was during the daytime I had the problems. But that is another story. Do kinda wish I had had another pair of socks and boots,.
If your afraid of being in the woods or sleeping in the woods. Best stick to the city life where your never alone. That's my opinion
Just remember, you are the meanest thing in the woods! On a river float trip in Alaska with a buddy of mine we slept in a 2 man tent. The only place to put up a tent was on sand bars where there were half eaten salmon. We hung our food in trees at least 100 yards away from our tent. We could hear grizzlies outside on the sand bars but they didn't bother us. Just have to get use to sleeping like that.
10,000 foot in Utah. 4 miles from the trailhead.
I sleep better in the woods alone, than I do alone at home.
On the first night of my first solo backpack hunt I nestled into my one man tent at about 12500 ft up in the Colorado alpine and just as I was half dozed off someone flipped a spotlight on right above my tent. Things went from pitch dark to total daylight inside my tent in an instant and I was startled awake. I asked if anyone was there and got no answer. I finally mustered up the guts to unzip the fly and take a look. Turns out the moon had broken the crest of a nearby peak and lit up the entire basin. Being so low in the sky it was tremendously large and seemed close enough to reach out and touch. Hard to describe in words but it so amazed me that any anxiety about being alone in the wilderness disappeared forever right then and there.
One night while asleep with on top of the mountain with my buddy (different tents cuz we ain't scared), I was awakened by a strange cracking sound followed by a massive Ka-Boom...I was out of the tent in an instant thinking the taliban just bombed the wilderness. Couldn't see anything and was wide awake the rest of the night. At daybreak we saw the destruction. A huge , I mean huge, ponderosa fell and landed literally 3ft from our tents. splintered wood for 30ft in every direction. If the angle that the tree fell would've been slightly different we'd have been squished like a bug. Now we ALWAYS look around before deciding on a place to put the tent.
Ermine, I grew up on a working cattle ranch 45 minutes drive to the grocery store, gas station, school. Not sure what sleeping out in the middle of the woods by yourself has to do with the need to be in the city. Unless you grew up in a tent by yourself? If that's the case, then you can talk. If not, what the hell do you know about anybody on here?
A couple times in the mountains in a bevy sack. Was tucked under an overhanging Boulder with a light snow cover. I was just about out and A marmot nestled up against me getting into his hole right t dusk. Another time in Yellowstone, in my bivi with nothing but a small rock wall wind break. Scratching in the rocks and footsteps woke me up. I was concerned about bears but as I listened I was pretty sure it was Julie's but tracks looked more like big horns. There was another time in a tent in Mi and I heard a Bobcat for the first time. Now that gave me chicken skin!
JLS, I hunted up around Big Creek once or twice but more so over toward Jardine. The one and only time I went with an outfitter for elk, it was an early rifle hunt into Specimen Creek. Eleven mile horseback ride, wall tents, the whole works. Nobody got an elk, one guy got a nice ram. Said I'd never seen a griz in all the yeats there, but one came into camp on about the fifth night there. I never even woke up, but there were fresh tracks all throughout camp, next to our wall tent, and the mules all spooked and ran back down the trail toward the trailhead. The wranglers had to chase them down and found them about 6 miles back down. We saw alot of griz tracks in the fresh skiff of snow while hunting that morning too, but didn't see the maker. I sleep pretty soundly out there, probably not a good thing in these cases.
When in the pitch dark, middle of the night and you hear something (owl I presume) get a rabbit just a few feet from your tent - THAT will truly wake the dead.
Watch out for Pennywise.....jus' sayin'
Not scared of sleeping "IN" the woods, but more so on the edge of the woods.
Did have a dream that a bear was sitting on me while i was sleeping, just sitting there and laughing and laughing. I couldn't move, the bear had me trapped. I woke up and realized i had been sleeping on both of my arms and as a result was somewhat temporally paralyzed. I could get up with some effort, however neither of my arms worked at all for about a min.
Then i went back to sleep.
I think elk hunting is not for you. Take up comic book collecting or something.
Like the chimes big dog, great idea
Electric fence likely lighter, quicker to set up..... and more garranz wid things that make big bumps in the night.... not to mention won't keep you up all night with a bunch of flippin' noizzzzz.... =D
Oh CRAP!!!! I didn't finish my story!
So I've slithered half my body through the partially open tent flap, light in one hand, .44 in the other, hammer back, ready to spray and pray and right there at 3', beady eyes gleaming, was the biggest stinkin' porcupine I've ever seen............
What a waste of adrenaline.
i look forward to napping in the woods
Ah yes...the woods nap. The most restful sleep known to man. I've never had a problem sleeping by myself in the woods. But I also have spent most of my life living where I don't have to worry about something eating me.
When I was 13 I had a summer job working as a wrangler at a summer camp. I slept in a wall tent that had a floor right by the stable by myself about 300-400 yards from the rest of the camp. After the first week I learned how to deal with the squalling coons, owls and whatever else talked during the night and was fine after that . In fact I eventually got to the point where if I DIDN'T hear those night sounds I'd be concerned. That's why I kept my hatchet right next to my bed!
I enjoy being alone but I'm a side sleeper. That is a big impediment to comfortably sleeping on the ground. But for a truly horrible night's sleep, go camping with a squirrel/coon dog growling at every snapping twig and mouse fart.
