I like the dark because it provides so much cover. It's nearly impossible to hunt in the dark, but I remember quite a few Halloweens past in which I played it to my advantage. [>:]

Seriously though, hammerman has an excellent point about vulnerability on public land. That's really the only thing I'd worry about after dusk.

I do have one darkness story to tell. I spent a lot of time in the woods as a kid, playing army and then later using maps to explore the farmland around my parents' house. One time when I was around 11 or 12, I was back just inside the treeline (this was somewhere around two-thirds of a mile from my house, down a grassy incline and around a pond) with a friend after dark. Our flashlights were dead, so we tried making a crude torch with a large tree branch (didn't work).

We were sitting on a log, about to head back to the house, and we heard this rough, steady breathing behind us. I swear it sounded human, and we didn't hear anything approach us. There were dry leaves and branches all around. I turned slowly to my friend and asked, "Did you hear that?"

He said, "Yes."

So I replied, "Let's get the hell out of here," and we ran the whole way back to the house. Scared the bejeezus out of both of us. For a long while afterwards I couldn't help but think about that moment whenever I go into the woods after dark.