Snipe hunting? What's that?

I may need to pick up a headlamp and start night hiking. Unfortunately, my main recreation of whitewater kayaking isn't really viable at night even with a headlamp!

I'm not sure how many catfish are in the area (southern Idaho), but I'm definitely going to give night fishing a try. How active are trout at night? I haven't done much fishing in general, but live about 5 minutes from the Boise river and have a stocked lake right next to our apartment. I need to start taking advantage of both of them.

I'd love to give astronomy a try - how much should I expect to pay for entry-level binoculars? I'm a broke college student, so cheap but functional is the goal.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!