Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
If there is no moon or a small one and it is really black, I use a light aimed at the ground about 3 feet in front of me so I don't trip over a limb that wasn't there last time I hunted. I look ahead of the beam so I do not look directly at the light. I will clear the path prior to the season and on my way out each time I hunt but it is not uncommon for a limb to come down after I leave, especially if there is a wind at night. I really hate using a light because it blows my night vision for a while after it is turned off, but it is a necessary evil when getting in the stand when it is pitch black . I still remember when I used to hunt on State game lands and it looked like a bunch of fireflies comming through the woods, lights being swung around through the trees even up in the trees like these folks were scared something may have bee hiding in the trees waiting to attack them.
I was walking in way early one morning, moving quiet and slow. I learned a long time ago to move like a Deer, it is a rhythm more than exact copy of the sound. I use the same walking rhythm a Deer uses when it is coming from cover into a feeding area. Well anyway, I'd step, step, step, stop and look. step, step stop and look. Then I stepped and stopped and heard a crunch, crunch, or two extra steps that weren't mine. I looked to the right out of the corner of my eyes, kept my eyes moving to enhance my night vision and eventually picked up a shape in the woods. It was a large sow moving parallel with me through the woods, maybe ten yards away. It was amazing how quiet she was. She'd stop when I stopped and look at me around a tree trunk and would move when I moved. I was wondering who was hunting whom and decided I was near enough to the shooting tower to make a break for it.
It was funny, that Sow kind of reminded of a girl on a camping trip who goes behind a tree to take a pee and forgets her rear end is hanging out
This was a big Sow, best guess 300 plus, most of her wasn't covered by these two foot wide trees.
Darn Hogs get past a certain age and they get canny, survival of fittest. The stupid ones are usually the first to die.