Scared of the dark? Be Honest
01-10-2004, 11:02 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Lee , New Hampshire
Posts: 312
Scared of the dark? Be Honest
Talked with a guy that got turned around this past deer season and had to spend the night out..He told me the worst part was how scared of the dark he was...I know the area he spent the night...I have to admit during daylight it's got that creepie feel about it... dark an hour early.
He wanted to know how to cure that feeling . I told him next time build a bigger fire! any suggestions?
He wanted to know how to cure that feeling . I told him next time build a bigger fire! any suggestions?
01-11-2004, 12:22 AM
#4
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: williamstown vt
Posts: 699
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
Here is food for thought--is it being 'afraid of the dark' or the fear that you cannot see what is roaming around in it? there has been a few different occasions ive gone out and ended up taking a wrong turn, and ended up a long way from the area wanting to be in, then it gets dark, being in an unfamillar area then end up making myself paranoid/scared about noises of animals that i cannot see. ------> my wife thinks its funny, she says 'you got a gun, why be nervous? my reply is you cant shoot if you cant see!!
01-11-2004, 01:43 AM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Alabama
Posts: 703
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
Personally, I'm not scared of the dark. Of course I'm not afraid of falling either..........it's just the sudden stop at the end of the fall that sucks.[8D]
I think everyone has experienced the fear of the unknown, whether it be in the dark or marriage.
I hunted with a guy a few years ago and he was only scared of the dark in the evening, yet he would get in his stand before daylight. When I asked him why he wouldn't stay in the woods after dark but he'd get in his stand before daylight, he enlightend me on his logic. He explained that before daylight, any nocturnal animal has been up all night and has probably fed and will be looking to go to sleep. But in the evening, they wake up hungry and he doesn't want to be on the menu.
I may have been able to better understand this logic if we lived in an area known for dangerous game, but here in Alabama there are not many animals that fit that description.
It is amazing the power the imagination has over people.
I think everyone has experienced the fear of the unknown, whether it be in the dark or marriage.
I hunted with a guy a few years ago and he was only scared of the dark in the evening, yet he would get in his stand before daylight. When I asked him why he wouldn't stay in the woods after dark but he'd get in his stand before daylight, he enlightend me on his logic. He explained that before daylight, any nocturnal animal has been up all night and has probably fed and will be looking to go to sleep. But in the evening, they wake up hungry and he doesn't want to be on the menu. I may have been able to better understand this logic if we lived in an area known for dangerous game, but here in Alabama there are not many animals that fit that description. It is amazing the power the imagination has over people.
01-11-2004, 02:25 AM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: DeFuniak Springs FL USA
Posts: 29
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
This is just my take on the matter. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. And emotion.
Person goes for a walk in the woods (desert, mountain, cetra) in the daylight. The sense most used is eyesight. Sight pretty much overrides the other senses.
Same person in same place in the middle of the night. Sight utilization is almost nil. Sound is the next sense used. I think one would be amased at the sounds not heard in the daylight. And there is less noise in the night. But now that one can't see one uses hearing and most sounds experienced are not familiar. Unfamiliarity erouses emotions. How one controls this emotion dictates how one will respond to the immediate envirnment.
But that doesn't answer your question. Nope. Not afraid of the dark.
Person goes for a walk in the woods (desert, mountain, cetra) in the daylight. The sense most used is eyesight. Sight pretty much overrides the other senses.
Same person in same place in the middle of the night. Sight utilization is almost nil. Sound is the next sense used. I think one would be amased at the sounds not heard in the daylight. And there is less noise in the night. But now that one can't see one uses hearing and most sounds experienced are not familiar. Unfamiliarity erouses emotions. How one controls this emotion dictates how one will respond to the immediate envirnment.
But that doesn't answer your question. Nope. Not afraid of the dark.
01-11-2004, 06:34 AM
#7
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Southampton, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 974
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
it's all in your head. What is there to fear? We have wolves and bears here and I have heard wolves howling as I am going to my stands before first light but have never even caught a glimpse of one going in or comming out, seen a few after sitting in my stand but they scoot quick once they know your there. Had a bear climg up my tree and check out my stand. I could see the claw marks going up the tree. Never seen a bear from that stand though. The only slight fear I have is during gun season of some lame-brain shooting before light , so I go in using a flash light during the gun season, I have yet to see a White tail carry a flashlight. LOL
01-11-2004, 07:33 AM
#8
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location:
Posts: 1,491
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
When we camped/hunted in Alaska we would insure to set up the cooking tarp a good 100 - 200 feet from the actual tent site. (And unless there was a reason it had to be closer....200 feet minimum was the rule.) One of my other rules...be it the wife, kids, or buddies, was no food in our around the tent. If you wanted a midnight snack.....tough! Either get up and go to the cooking tarp where the cooler, and other food was...or, wait until morning.
If we had dressed or cleaned any game that day we'd always clean up (water and wet wipes) and when indicated change clothing. Any blood stained clothing ended up stored in a laundry bag at the cook site, (or if we were near a vehicle...as when my wheelchair bound son was along), the "dirty" laundry would go back in the truck. We also took extra hygiene precautions for the wife and daughter during certain times of the month.
As silly as some of this sounds, these few precautions will prevent "most" problems encountered between humans and animals at night. But as an "always measure" as a last resort both the wife and I had instant access to a "fairly heavy caliber" firearm. I was even more adament about that whenever we were out with the kids.
Our children grew up around, handling, and shooting firearms. It demystified the guns as far as the kids were concerned. We took reasonable precautions with the firearms in the home....and our kids were NOT ALLOWED company in the house unless the wife or I was home. That rule was NOT negotiable...and was stringently enforced! As a result we never had "over concerns" about either our children...or guns. And that trust was rewarded! (Now if you put a group of pre-teens or teens together....all bets are off. Individually they may be the most trustworthy person in the world.....but collectively they often behave like they have the collective IQ of a band of drunken monkeys! And no disrespect is meant to anyone....but my memory is not that short either. I have both been "one of those monkeys" in my past....and seen the phenomenon often enough to know it is true.)
When I was a small child I had an Aunt....that I love dearly (she's been gone for over 15 years)...she was nearly like a second mother to me. Often she'd "babysit" me when my mother had to work. But her favorite method of "behavior control" was, "you better be good or the boogey man will get you". Or, "don't go in that room...it's dark in there and the boogey man will get you"! Now we laugh at that today....but when I was a Tot.....I was AFRAID of the boogey man, the dark, the unknown, under the bed, in the closet......you name it....and I was afraid of it. And the funny part of it all was because we frequently moved....I was always in a fist fight with someone. (Had to reestablish the "pecking order"....it's a boy thing.) And I'd fight with an adult just as quick. But when it came to the dark[
][][][]! And at that time it was an uncontrolable....unreasonable....fear. You know the kind...you start running because it's dark....and then you run faster because you can't hear if there are foot steps...and then you run still harder because it might be something "supernatural". Yeah, that kind of fear!
It took me into my young adulthood to shake that fear. I think much of the time I spent "night training" in the Army did much to dispell that fear of the unknown. And the dark doesn't frighten me now....(unless I'm unarmed in sections of Camden, Baltimore, etc.). But I do not "fear the dark". And it took alot of deconditioning to get to that point. The same type of deconditioning it took to overcome my inate fear of heights....before I could go skydiving! It took alot of work...mostly in increasing my confidence in my abilities to deal with different situations....and to a somewhat less degree work to just dispel unreasonable fears of the unknown.
It is like any fobia. It requires admitting that you have a problem...understanding the problem....and then laying out a course of action to deal with the problem....and finally working your way through it!
Do you ever look over your shoulder on a dark night........[>:]!
If we had dressed or cleaned any game that day we'd always clean up (water and wet wipes) and when indicated change clothing. Any blood stained clothing ended up stored in a laundry bag at the cook site, (or if we were near a vehicle...as when my wheelchair bound son was along), the "dirty" laundry would go back in the truck. We also took extra hygiene precautions for the wife and daughter during certain times of the month.
As silly as some of this sounds, these few precautions will prevent "most" problems encountered between humans and animals at night. But as an "always measure" as a last resort both the wife and I had instant access to a "fairly heavy caliber" firearm. I was even more adament about that whenever we were out with the kids.
Our children grew up around, handling, and shooting firearms. It demystified the guns as far as the kids were concerned. We took reasonable precautions with the firearms in the home....and our kids were NOT ALLOWED company in the house unless the wife or I was home. That rule was NOT negotiable...and was stringently enforced! As a result we never had "over concerns" about either our children...or guns. And that trust was rewarded! (Now if you put a group of pre-teens or teens together....all bets are off. Individually they may be the most trustworthy person in the world.....but collectively they often behave like they have the collective IQ of a band of drunken monkeys! And no disrespect is meant to anyone....but my memory is not that short either. I have both been "one of those monkeys" in my past....and seen the phenomenon often enough to know it is true.)
When I was a small child I had an Aunt....that I love dearly (she's been gone for over 15 years)...she was nearly like a second mother to me. Often she'd "babysit" me when my mother had to work. But her favorite method of "behavior control" was, "you better be good or the boogey man will get you". Or, "don't go in that room...it's dark in there and the boogey man will get you"! Now we laugh at that today....but when I was a Tot.....I was AFRAID of the boogey man, the dark, the unknown, under the bed, in the closet......you name it....and I was afraid of it. And the funny part of it all was because we frequently moved....I was always in a fist fight with someone. (Had to reestablish the "pecking order"....it's a boy thing.) And I'd fight with an adult just as quick. But when it came to the dark[
][][][]! And at that time it was an uncontrolable....unreasonable....fear. You know the kind...you start running because it's dark....and then you run faster because you can't hear if there are foot steps...and then you run still harder because it might be something "supernatural". Yeah, that kind of fear! It took me into my young adulthood to shake that fear. I think much of the time I spent "night training" in the Army did much to dispell that fear of the unknown. And the dark doesn't frighten me now....(unless I'm unarmed in sections of Camden, Baltimore, etc.). But I do not "fear the dark". And it took alot of deconditioning to get to that point. The same type of deconditioning it took to overcome my inate fear of heights....before I could go skydiving! It took alot of work...mostly in increasing my confidence in my abilities to deal with different situations....and to a somewhat less degree work to just dispel unreasonable fears of the unknown.
It is like any fobia. It requires admitting that you have a problem...understanding the problem....and then laying out a course of action to deal with the problem....and finally working your way through it!
Do you ever look over your shoulder on a dark night........[>:]!
01-11-2004, 07:56 AM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: West Chicago,ILLinois
Posts: 757
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
I hike a good distance onto public property out in no mans land and the only thing that really gets me is the thought of some idiot trying to rob me, can't legally carry a gun only bows onto property, so if there is some idiot out there
he'll probably have the advantage.
What I am afraid of is sitting in a public place with my back to the door, I gotta see who's coming towards me! Maybe I'm a little WEIRD!?
he'll probably have the advantage.
What I am afraid of is sitting in a public place with my back to the door, I gotta see who's coming towards me! Maybe I'm a little WEIRD!?
01-11-2004, 08:34 AM
#10
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location:
Posts: 1,491
RE: Scared of the dark? Be Honest
Hi hammerman,
No, I don't think you are weird, (about the back to the door thing). I actually remember reading both a survey and a study that had been conducted, (sometime in the not to distant past), and it was determined that in like 70 - 80 some percent...don't remember actual figures....men like to sit in public places where they could see something coming. (IE...facing the door!)
And we all know what it cost Bill Hickock when he broke his own rule...and sat facing away from the door!
And the premise was that it was "instinctual"....not modern conditioning. Because for all of those thousands of years man's role was as protector. It is an ingrained behavior that actually is passed genetically. (Some of those that didn't face the door...cave opening...etc. were removed from the gene pool early. Thus more of those facing the door remained to pass on the genes.) Interesting.....huh!
I was glad to find there was a reason for the behavior....and unlike my wife first thought....I wasn't "just being anal"! (Don't you hate it when your partner pulls that on you? "You're just being anal".......or worse, "you just want to see the Redheads coming in"! Ooopppsss...might be a little truth to that one!)
Got to run....before she reads this post[]!
No, I don't think you are weird, (about the back to the door thing). I actually remember reading both a survey and a study that had been conducted, (sometime in the not to distant past), and it was determined that in like 70 - 80 some percent...don't remember actual figures....men like to sit in public places where they could see something coming. (IE...facing the door!)
And we all know what it cost Bill Hickock when he broke his own rule...and sat facing away from the door!
And the premise was that it was "instinctual"....not modern conditioning. Because for all of those thousands of years man's role was as protector. It is an ingrained behavior that actually is passed genetically. (Some of those that didn't face the door...cave opening...etc. were removed from the gene pool early. Thus more of those facing the door remained to pass on the genes.) Interesting.....huh!
I was glad to find there was a reason for the behavior....and unlike my wife first thought....I wasn't "just being anal"! (Don't you hate it when your partner pulls that on you? "You're just being anal".......or worse, "you just want to see the Redheads coming in"! Ooopppsss...might be a little truth to that one!)
Got to run....before she reads this post[
]!