Am I the only person left who can find a deer stand in total darkness? I mean, is it really so hard if you put the stand up or were shown it's location to walk to it tomorrow or next week or next year without a light? I guess I have no problem with the light itself really, if it makes your hunt easier by getting to your stand faster or more safely but it just seems weird to me that the morning woods as I drive to my spot are full of flashlights of people who should know where they are going.
I go to my stand quietly and unseen in the dark for a reason, and wonder, if you're gonna need a light to get there, why not wait for the sun?
Don't be offended please, just help me understand. It's just one of those things that bugs me like the orange flags and the glowing thumbtacks to mark your trail. And yes I have seen people using these, still get lost and not find their stand until noon or later. So maybe it's not the light so much as the handicap of being so directionally challenged and unable to remember landmarks that I don't get... No, it's the light too.
I once showed a guy a stand and we talked about every detail as we walked. You park at the gate with 4 tacks in the fence post (I do use em for that). No problem he says. You walk through the open gate and follow the gravelled path over the hill and down to the open field. No problem! You take a left along the field edge to the 5th large tree and there is your stand. You are 300 yds from your truck.This is easy to find says he. This will be no problem at all. So we walk out and go to bed. The next day after failing to find that stand, a stand that he walked to just 12 hours ago, he called me. Very embarrassed and a bit panicked and admitted that he was lost! Don't worry says I, it happens. But where are you from your morning stand? I never found it! What? It's 2pm. Thought you were gonna use your light? I did. Oh!
The guy had walked a mile too far across three fields, crossed a fence which put him on another property, crossed a road and was sitting by a windmill near a fallen barn on yet another property. Now thats way lost. But I knew right where he was and drove to him. This guy obviously needed a seeing eye dog, prefferably a bloodhound, and a GPS covered by onstar.
I guess to me it seems like turning on a light is the last thing I would want to do on my way to my morning stand.
So my question is do you use a light and why? And does it have any effect on you seeing deer close enough to kill? Do you always use a light? Does the fact that you can be seen for miles bother you? Maybe it's for safety from idiots who may shoot at sounds in the dark? Or maybe your family tree includes Mr. Magoo?