Bow's & Arrows: Dwight Schuh Night Moves If you hunt deer or elk, you know that the best times to be afield are generally right after sunrise and just before sunset. The animals are most active during these periods of dim light, so being able to cope with darkness is an asset. When stand hunting for whitetails, where you reach your stand before daylight or leave after dark, walking a few hundred yards in the dark might be no problem. A flashlight and some reflective tape or tacks marking the trail are all you need. But in the backcountry, you may have to hike several miles in the dark to reach a good area by dawn, or you may follow a bull elk until after sundown and find yourself five miles from camp--in pitch blackness. What should you do? Quit hunting early and late? Not if you're serious. If you want to hunt at peak efficiency, you must learn to deal with the dark. Being able to navigate in the dark put this Idaho deer hunter in position by first light. Deal With It: When you're in the dark, you can imagine all sorts of dangers, but in reality the threat--if there is one at all--is no worse at night than during the day. The one real difference is navigation; we humans are so visually oriented that we feel helpless when we can't see. But preparation solves the problem. By studying a topographic map ahead of time, you can clearly picture the drainages, ridges, trails and road systems. With that knowledge, you don't need daylight for perspective; you have the lay of the land in hand. Now all you need is a good flashlight. Always carry it and at least one extra bulb and a set of batteries in your hunting pack. And never take that light from your pack except for emergency use. On one hunt, I left my light at camp and ended up crawling the last mile back the next night, patting the ground to stay on the trail. In the low light of dusk and dawn, and in bright moonlight, I don't use a flashlight because I can see only the length of the light beam and get no perspective. At the same time, don't push your luck. When it's too dark to walk safely, use your light. A friend of mine, returning to camp in the dark, walked off a two-foot dropoff and severely hurt his knee; it took surgery and six months of therapy before he was able to hike again. Walking to my antelope blind one dark morning, I somersaulted off a rim onto some boulders, breaking my arrow rest and every arrow in my quiver. Direct Paths: A global positioning system (GPS) unit can guide you at night because it draws your course on a lighted screen. If you've saved your camp as a waypoint, the GPS will direct you back, day or night. Foolproof? To a point. What it doesn't do is tell you what lies between you and camp--big cliffs, perhaps?--so you need the flashlight and the map to read the terrain. And like any electronic device, a GPS can break or run out of juice. That's why I rely on a compass. For years I've navigated at night unfailingly with a map and a compass. At the least, a compass will keep you on a straight line, and that's often all you need to hit a known road or trail. Surviving: One night, coming off a ridge in Montana, I tried to reach camp after dark but kept running into impassable cliffs. The only sane choice was to spend the night and head down in daylight. So I dug out a fire-starter and a small square of plastic for shelter from my hunting pack and made camp right there. Comfortable? Not especially. Safe? Yes. Sometimes spending the night where you are is the only smart alternative, so always carry a fire-starter, shelter and high-energy foods. With these precautions, you can become the ultimate hunter. GUIDING LIGHTS A beacon and a gel to show the way. The Timber Guide is a programmable flashing amber beacon. You set the unit for a specific time and hang it by your stand; when it begins flashing, you can follow the signal. The unit doubles as a flashlight. Teal River Industries, Dept. SA, 1635 West St. Paul Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233; 1-800/448-8763. $19.95. Night Guide Reflective Gel, applied to trees or rocks in small dots, glows in a flashlight beam to guide you to your stand. Robinson Labs, Dept. SA, 293 Commercial St., St. Paul, MN 55106; 612/224-1927. $6.99. Pre-Dawn Checklist Consider taking the following: flashlight, flashing beacon, extra bulb, batteries, reflective gel, reflective tape, reflective tacks, topographic map, compass, GPS, fire-starter, plastic shelter, high-energy food ⌐ 1997 The Hearst Corporation. All rights reserved.