A couple of years ago I met a guy that wanted to back pack into a remote location to bow hunt elk. He openly admitted that the thought of being alone in the woods cloaked in darkness nearly put him in a panic. Each night I would hear him check the chamber of his sidearm in his adjoining tent. One night when I heard him do this I started laughing. He asked me what was so funny and I told him he didn' t need to be so paranoid because he was much safer up here than he was in the city. Ironically, the next day the twin towers were razed by the terrorists and over 3,000 people lost their lives. Most times it is the two legged varmints that you have to be concerned about.

If you really want to test your sanity spend two weeks alone in unfamiliar territory where you might not talk to another human for four or five days at a time. I can tell you after the first week it takes a lot of the fun out of it. It does give one a new appreciation for what our forefathers went through.

Years ago before GPS navigation when hunting the big woods I got turned around going into my stand and had to stop, sit, and wait for daylight to find out where I was exactly. It didn' t scare me but I was perturbed that I got off the trail thus costing me valuable time in the stand.

Why a lot of us feel differently about going to the stand in the morning versus coming out at night is easy to explain. You know the sun is coming up in the morning. Going out at night, especially if you are in a remote area, there is no hope of any light for the next 10 hours or so. No one wants to spend the night alone lost in the woods.