Napping in the field

[El Chivo]

Well, hunting is hard work, we get up early, drive a long way, and in my case I often don't get more than an hour or two of sleep due to excitement or because of work.

Many times I have felt the need for a nap when in the field, but I've fought it because I'm worried about getting jumped while asleep. But it would make sense to hunt in the morning, nap in the middle, and hunt again near sundown.

Do any of you regularly nap while out hunting, and do you take any precautions?

[J Miller]

Well, hunting is hard work, we get up early, drive a long way, and in my case I often don't get more than an hour or two of sleep due to excitement or because of work.

Many times I have felt the need for a nap when in the field, but I've fought it because I'm worried about getting jumped while asleep. But it would make sense to hunt in the morning, nap in the middle, and hunt again near sundown.

Do any of you regularly nap while out hunting, and do you take any precautions?

Ah yes, napping in the field. Back in about 82 I think, a friend and I were hunting deer in AZ. Like you said we'd had little sleep. About mid to late morning the sun had finally warmed me a bit and I was tired from all the preparations, driving, and setting up camp and walking so I decided to take a break.
I was carrying my Win 94 Trapper 30-30 at the time. I found myself in a valley between some rolling hills and picked a place that I could see 360°. There was a rock formation about 1/3 the way up one side that was formed like a chair. It was about 10' to 12' tall. I climbed up and sat down in the chair part and just looked out over the valley. Ah it was soooo peaceful. I laid my Trapper over my lap and just stretched out and relaxed.
I'm not sure how long later, well over an hour, I began waking up. I had that strange feeling I was being watched. That is what woke me up. As I became fully awake I looked around and saw my friend sitting about 200 yards across the valley just watching me sleep. He said he'd been watching about 45 minutes, just wondering when I'd wake up.
It was to this day the best, most peaceful nap I've ever taken.

Didn't get a deer that hunt, but we had a great time. I've got to go back there someday soon.

Joe

[RIHMFIRE]

when I was a kid my neighbor, my Dad , me and a few others
went hunting behind my house.....and my Dad heard my
neighbor snoring ..
I walked up on my brother in-law while he was taking a nap....
snuck right up to him.....

I alway take naps in the woods....
especially in my summit climber...
25 feet up in the air....
its most relaxing....
Heading to the hunt club today....
TOO RELAX!

[JReed]

I have found that deer are atracted to the sound of snorring. I find that some of the best sleep I ever get is sitting under a tree in the woods when I should be hunting.

[Marc]

Attracted by snoring! That explains it! One time I woke up from a nap and there was a doe and a fawn standing about 20 feet away looking at me.

[Hobie]

Heck yeah! A good nap in a warm sunbeam is a special treat. Get in a good ground blind first and both deer and other hunters will be completely fooled by your motionless form. I tend to wake up, or used to, when such get within gun range. When I was working two jobs and all, that was the ONLY place I could take a good nap and sometimes it was necessary to be certain I wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel.

[Borregos]

I often take a nap on the south side of the ridge we hunt, then I am nicely recharged for the rest of the day

[Pete44ru]

Just be sure you don't roll over, in your sleep - or you'll fall outta your tree !

.

[brucew44guns]

I was hunting elk in the coast range of Oregon in 1982. Got so tired and wore out from climbing mountains that seemed like Everest, so I laid down on some soft looking needles and went right to sleep, for an hour or so. I awoke, sat up real quick without thinking first, and a whole mob of elk ran off through the brush, tearing out stumps and trees and debris like a fleet of army tanks. Never had time to even think of grabbing my rifle, they were gone in a flash, and there were horns aplenty in that group. Be careful how you wake up!

[AmBraCol]

Back in the mid 80's I went hunting with a friend. He was carrying a pawnshop 12 gauge and I had the old dilapidated family Winchester 64. We both were using Walmart 99 cent vinyl vests and whatever we had in the closet hunting clothes. In other words, we were just a couple of college kids out with whatever we could scrape up for a day in the field. Sometime during our morning hunt we came across a yahoo with a fancy mess hunting vest, highdollar scope on a fancy bolt action rifle, fancy hunting clothes, etc. And he had NO idea where he was. He'd laid down like Rip Van Winkle for a nap and when he woke up he was all turned around and completely misplaced. So getting jumped is not the only danger in taking a nap in the woods. If you don't know the area WELL then you can easily get turned around. I always found that incident amusing 'cause we were just a couple of college boys sneaking one day for hunting out of a very busy schedule, using whatever we could scrape up for gear - but at least we knew where we were! I've been known to grab a few winks when out in the woods, but only when I've got a secure place to do so.

[FWiedner]

When your eyes are closed, armadillos sound like deer.

[bsaride]

I remember taking a nap off a small game trail.
opened my eyes to see a red fox about 10-15 feet away
trying to figure out what i was.

I usually take a nap in the early afternoon.

[jnyork]

I guess I didnt understand the question, are you afraid of "getting jumped" by stampeding deer?? What precautions should we be taking to keep from getting trampled? Just asking.

[Andrew]

A good nap in a warm sunbeam is a special treat.

Yep, I love sleeping outside. Sleeping on the gravel banks of the Arkansas wilderness was some of the best sleep I've gotten. Now, a hammock in the afternoon sunshine is just about the ultimate nap condition.

[71fan]

Heck yes I nap.

I wake about 4:00 am, get walking/climbing by about 5:00 am, all the while glassing. By 9 or 10 my eyes are fatigued, the sun is warming things up, it's time for "lunch." It would be a rare day hunting that I don't settle in under a tree with a view, or tuck up into a rock pile on top of a peak, and have a bit of a nap after a little snack. Perfection

If I'm archery/muzzy hunting (longer, hotter days), I spend midday at the vehicle or in camp relaxing or napping, and head back out for the evening hunt a few hours before sundown.

[Tennessee Hayre]

The day of the hunt I get up at 0300am load my truck drive 45 min to my hunting area, Use night vision device to find my position in the woods and crash out on the forest floor until the turkeys start moving around and making sounds.(day break). Then I feel refreshed and ready to hunt.

[Blaine]

I've tipped off a stump so many times, I can't remember When I used to use a climber, I'd keep the strap tight enough so as not to do that That would suck, dropping just low enough for a bear to nibble on ya

[Modoc ED]

Gotta have those naps no matter what!!!!

[Grizz]

I was above timber on Chichagof Island with a friend. Cloud came in and wiped out visibility completely. Spaghnum moss was dry and about three feet deep. We woke up to the sound of a couple deer strolling by a few yards away, completely obscured by the dense cloud. Burned off in time to make a lesurely stroll off the mountain. Don't remember if we got any deer that day, but I still remember how comfortable we were. And glad it wasn't a bear sniffing around!!

[meanc]

The last buck I got, I had just woken up and saw an 8pt. Shot him DRT.

I then get a call on the radio from my dad wondering if I was the one that shot.

He was just wondering because he'd been ringing the radio about twice a minute for the past 15 minutes and I hadn't answered.

I told him I fell asleep and had just woken up when I saw the deer, and fired. He just said "don't bother ringing me then, I'm gonna' try it now".

[Ben_Rumson]

Hilarious!! Is this a for real un photoshopped picture?

[Modoc ED]

Hilarious!! Is this a for real un photoshopped picture?

I really don't know. A friend sent it to me some time ago.

[Rusty]

The only thing that will draw deer in faster than snoring is the sound of a hot steamer hitting the forest floor.

[2571]

Depends on your point of view.

I hunt between naps.

I have been overrun both by mice and by chipmunks.

[Hobie]

I guess I didnt understand the question, are you afraid of "getting jumped" by stampeding deer?? What precautions should we be taking to keep from getting trampled? Just asking.

That's what the gun is for, to fend off those that would disturb your rest!

[CEMENTHEAD]

Yes, I nap in the field quite often. The best one ever for me was my Grandaddy and Dad took me hunting ( I was 11) to an old woodlot on private property. Grandaddy was on one side of the thicket, Dad and I on the other about 150 yards away. We could see each other very clearly. Well by about 1000 AM Grandaddy had decided to snooze, sitting all comfortable by a blowdown. He got to snoring so loud we could hear it. My dad said "watch this". Not 2 minutes into his nap a little doe came within 1 foot of Grandaddy's face and snorted at him. Scared the stuffing outta him! My dad and I were laughing like idiots to say the least. Well Grandaddy just shrugged his shoulders because he knew he was "had". He motioned for us to come over to him and join him. Not a word was said, just a few giggles, and then we all sat down for a mid morning nap in the warm sunshine. Ever since then when I nap in the woods I think about that day and I'm 11 years old again. Thanks Grandaddy and Dad.
Thanks all for sharing, Tom

[mescalero1]

Was that in Rhode Island?

[CEMENTHEAD]

No it wasn't in Rhode Island, I was raised just outside of Nashville Tennessee. That piece of property was in Christiana TN. Now that property is gone the way of subdivisions and condos. Breaks my heart, I've still got the good memories though.

Thanks, Tom

[octagon]

In Colorado once I awoke to a thump-thump. Thump-thump. Mulies were jumping a fence (15 yards from me) into a 1 acre clearing I was "watching." There were 50-60 animals in the clearing - does and towheads, no whoppers. My stealth napping powers had reached a crescendo that day, these powers being derived from the warm high altitude sunshine. I did get a whopper that year - 30" high and 30" wide on the last day of the hunt.

[BlueStateSaint]

One Thanksgiving morning home from college (many years ago), I was out hunting with a friend and his hunting party. I sat down against a couple of trees and shut my eyes. Fifteen minutes later, I heard footprints behind me, moving off to my left . . . and I opened my eyes to see a doe staring back at me, about 20 feet away. It dropped its head and jerked it back up, trying to get me to move. Because my friend and I had been out the night before until 4 AM, I was in no mood to scare the doe. I just wanted it to go away, without filling the woods near me with an alarm scent. It stayed close for ten minutes. At one point, it turned away, and I brought my rifle up to get a good sight picture, and my thought was, "Grow antlers!" It didn't.

[Rod WMG]

I hope this isn't a thread killer, but when I was first developing serious heart trouble,I couldn't stay awake while deer hunting. My former partner glassed me and got really mad at me. One of the reasons he became a "former."

I guess we've all nodded off when healthy and out hunting. I know I have more than once. It's just too much often times to be up late due to driving or excitement, get up a lot more early than normal, be warm and cozy from the sun, and have a fine, comfortable position in a peaceful setting. Can't see a thing wrong with it myself.

[Mike D.]

The only thing that will draw deer in faster than snoring is the sound of a hot steamer hitting the forest floor.

Boy, howdy!, Ain't that the truth. That exact thing has happened to me more than once.

[marlinman93]

My son-in-law got his first deer while we all napped in the field! My brother, son-in-law and I had all hiked to the top of a ridge one afternoon, to check a large valley for the evening hunt. While we were waiting we all sat down in the grass. It was a warm afternoon, and I had shot my deer already, so I laid back and took a nap. I guess the others thought it was a good idea, as when I woke they were both sleeping too.
I looked around the area, and coming down the far side was a doe and a buck. I carefully woke them both, and when they got close enough my son-in-law took the buck! We ended up getting it down a steep climb in the dark, and dressed it by flashlight at the truck.

[iceman]

Do it all the time. Very relaxing, recharge the batteries for the afternoon. Note my signature line below.

[TedH]

It's pretty hard to resist on a sunny day. Find a nice soft spot on a south facing slope, usually 1-2 o'clock. Get's me pretty refeshed with just 30 min. to an hour nap.