Afraid in the Jungle alone at night

jglass

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I always thought I was relatively fearless about most things until I started wild hog hunting in Florida at night. I hunted ducks and geese on the Mississippi River for 40 years and we needed to be in our blinds one hour before sunrise so this means launching the jon boat two hours before sunrise. Then it was a boat ride over several miles of backwaters littered with stumps and logs to the blind often in total darkness. Heck, I rescued hunters from the river water on two separate occasions, one was near death.

The first time I go wild hog hunting in Florida before sunrise I step out of the car and I'm afraid of my surroundings. By this time I'm 65 years old. I looked into the jungle a few footsteps away and I may as well have been staring into a lions cage. I couldn't force myself to step into the jungle. So, I decide to drive to town and buy a cup of coffee and a donut. I drive real slow then when I'm back I drink the coffee and eat the donut in the car. By this time the sky is turning daylight and within a few minutes the jungle is no longer dark. I uncase my gun and walk to the blind not understanding what just happened.

Next, I'm on an evening hunt and I'm in a tree stand. The sun goes down while I swat mosquitoes but I think this is really great. A doe and fawn wander into my bait pile then scamper off. It gets darker and darker and finally I can no longer see the ground, everything is black except some light in the sky. There are knocks and thud sounds in the jungle, then I hear a good size tree branch snap in half. I think I can hear footsteps. I think about "Big Foot" and figure there are at least 2 of them in the jungle. I decide it is time to go! This scenario repeats itself then I begin to tell myself, "you are a wimp, you have one of the most feared weapons in America, AR-15 across your lap and you are afraid of the dark". So I force myself to remain in the tree stand later and later in the evening. My night vision monocular was a great help because I could see into the jungle. Finally, time would fly by at night in the jungle as I watched the raccoons, hogs and other wildlife wander into the bait pile. One night I was out until 11:00 PM and didn't want to go home. It dawned on me my fear of the jungle at night was over.
 

scrmblr1982cj8

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A healthy respect for the outdoors, especially in FL is a good thing.

I lived in Jacksonville for 6 years. I saw my first wild gator there. Biggest gator I saw in the wild was around 13 feet long. It would have had zero problems eating me if it wanted to. You also have bears, jaguars, bobcats, coyotes, and rattlesnakes. Once can also find pythons and corals snakes in certain areas.

I notice more unease at night when I haven't been out in a while. I only hunt two places that have wide open spaces. Everything else is in the middle of pine trees. If I go out several nights in a row, the fear goes away quickly.
 

Chopperdrvr

Deep East Tx
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Oh great! You had to tell him about the bears, jaguars, bobcats and coyotes. Now he's never going back in there. Being armed to the teeth and tached up like a super ninja doesn't keep me from getting creeped out by the sounds and the total darkness alone at night. I'm not sure if I want to lose all of that fear tho. It adds to the excitement. It also makes me look harder for a hunting buddy so I'm not going solo.
 

OneK

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Good story. Awesome ending! When I was young I could crawl in tight places and never think about it. Now I can't even crawl under the house.
 

RattlesnakeDan

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I am kind of the opposite. If I want a nap I can lay down in the woods and crash hard. At night I lurk around the creek bottoms w/o a light and some ranchers think I am nuts, they are afraid during the day to go into these places. I don't have NV or thermal scope but a hand held NV monocular once in a while to check on stuff makes it more fun. I know everything out there fears me. I just want to sneak up on them.
 

TEXASLAWMAN

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I am kind of the opposite. If I want a nap I can lay down in the woods and crash hard. At night I lurk around the creek bottoms w/o a light and some ranchers think I am nuts, they are afraid during the day to go into these places. I don't have NV or thermal scope but a hand held NV monocular once in a while to check on stuff makes it more fun. I know everything out there fears me. I just want to sneak up on them.

Yea but you don't bath or wear shoes either.
 

RattlesnakeDan

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Haha, growing up my dad was a salesman, polished shoes, brylcream in the hair slicked back perfect, shirt lined up with the belt buckle, lined up with the zipper, tie, clean shaven etc....I lived like that for many years, polished, always the best dressed in the family. I have a bunch of new suits I never really wore, maybe a couple times. Something must have happened, for example, last week we went to a wedding at some fancy place with some fancy people and men there all wearing suit coats, ties, looking nice. Of course I had boots and jeans (newish jeans), the only one of course. I may have had the most fun tho!
 

TEXASLAWMAN

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Haha, growing up my dad was a salesman, polished shoes, brylcream in the hair slicked back perfect, shirt lined up with the belt buckle, lined up with the zipper, tie, clean shaven etc....I lived like that for many years, polished, always the best dressed in the family. I have a bunch of new suits I never really wore, maybe a couple times. Something must have happened, for example, last week we went to a wedding at some fancy place with some fancy people and men there all wearing suit coats, ties, looking nice. Of course I had boots and jeans (newish jeans), the only one of course. I may have had the most fun tho!


If yall have not met RattlesnakeDan you're missing out he could be Jim my Buffet's twin.
 

jglass

LSB Member
Interesting,,, apparently some respect for the jungle at night is normal. Glad to hear I'm relatively normal. In the Mid-West we don't have all the critters at night that Florida has. In November, Our wooded ground after a good killing frost is almost silent at night except for a truck or train off in the distance. So hearing these sounds in Florida in January is not at all ordinary for myself. We have spent 10 winters, January-February, in Florida and have yet to see a snake and I'm actually looking for them. When I walk in the jungle during the day I have a walking stick that I use to poke around in front of me thinking the stick will agitate a snake into exposing himself. One of the guys I hunt with was rinsing out a 5 gal bucket in some spring water and found himself nose to nose to a gator. The gator was as afraid as he was, they both went opposite directions.
 

Ratdog68

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Slept under the stars on the bank of a river one summer evening... M'be 100 miles north of Anchorage... in brown bear and wolf country. First time I'd really watched the heavens close enough to see satellites moving across the sky, watching shooting stars. Didn't see/hear any brown bears (but, one may've been near by), caught some salmon, and had a great time hangin' with a buddy of mine.

I'd be creeped out with snakes slithering around me.
 

OneK

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We have spent 10 winters, January-February, in Florida and have yet to see a snake and I'm actually looking for them
I've got plenty if you would like to have some! I don't mind sharing.
 

erForman

Greenwood, TX
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Just fixing to turn 63 and my greatest fear is my knees being too stiff to climb down out of the stand after a few hours of sitting motionless. It's not a fear of heights as much as it's a fear of hitting the ground with something other than my feet.
 

Ratdog68

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Just fixing to turn 63 and my greatest fear is my knees being too stiff to climb down out of the stand after a few hours of sitting motionless. It's not a fear of heights as much as it's a fear of hitting the ground with something other than my feet.
M'be a harness and "monkey tail" to snap onto rungs with while descending? Might be a little slower, and a bit cumbersome, but, some peace of mind while out alone?
 

erForman

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M'be a harness and "monkey tail" to snap onto rungs with while descending? Might be a little slower, and a bit cumbersome, but, some peace of mind while out alone?

Then I'd just get hung up in the ropes!
 

FrankT

Destin FL
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I have walked in on bears and bears and cubs in the pre light AM, scare the S*** out of me. Standing over a kill I was rushed by a dozen piglets headed to me, did not concern me much till the 4 adults started in too following the piglets, Just as I was lifting my gun they scattered into the brush not 20 yards away and surrounded me grunting and squealing. Then one of our lease members walking out at night was tripped by a gator crossing the road and hit the ground...I am glad that was not me, I would have lit the night up and been out of ammo screaming like a little girl stabbing blindly with my knife...LOL so I still have a healthy respect at night in the woods of FL
 

jglass

LSB Member
I have walked in on bears and bears and cubs in the pre light AM, scare the S*** out of me. Standing over a kill I was rushed by a dozen piglets headed to me, did not concern me much till the 4 adults started in too following the piglets, Just as I was lifting my gun they scattered into the brush not 20 yards away and surrounded me grunting and squealing. healthy respect at night in the woods of FL

Hey Frank, just curious why you didn't shoot back after being surrounded by hogs? I think I'll continue leaving my parked car with my AR-15 loaded and unloading it after I return to the car. I walk 300 or so yards down a county road from where the car is parked to my entry point to the jungle. I Worry from time to time about encountering the police on the county road with a loaded rifle. However, after 2 years of hunting this place I have yet to encounter any law enforcement.

Frank, another question: Tell me about a 6.88SPC II round. Is it the same as a 300 Blackout?
AR-15, 300 Blackout is what I used to kill the 3 hogs last winter and it was very effective, the hogs dropped right in their tracks.
 
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FrankT

Destin FL
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I thought about it but we tend to eat what we kill here and I already had one down and wanted the piglets to grow up. If one of the large sows had come my way I might have had to shoot her but we like to leave our breeding sows doing just that. I was more concerned one of the sows w piglets would bust through the brush and attack...so dense you could not see till they broke brush at 10 yards away.
 

ScottJ

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