Being semi-scared from time to time in the dark is half the fun of hunting. You never feel more alive than you do when the hair on the back of your neck is standing up and you are wondering whether to run or not. It doesn't happen to me as much as it used to, unfortunately.

As a teenager, I had a number of times when I'd be hiking through the woods to a stand in the dark, and I'd hear something walking parallel to me in the woods. Whenever I would stop, the sound would stop. As soon as I would start walking, I would hear it again. I spent a lot of time stopping and shining my light around... The best scares would come when that was happening, and I was kind of nervous- and then a grouse would flush close by. After that I'd stand there swallowing hard to keep my heart from pumping itself out of my chest. I kind of miss those days.