Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of changing jobs, and will probably be working night shift in my new position. I don't want to shift my sleep schedule around every time I have a day off, so I need something to do after sundown!

Do any of you have any night time outdoor hobbies? What additional precautions do you take to account for the night (beyond carrying extra flashlights and batteries)?

Catfishing!

A lawn chair, an ancient Coleman gas lantern, flashlight, munchies, fishing gear, and a cooler. In remote areas, I bring my camp gun.

I'm amateur astronomer.

A lawn chair, a pair of decent binoculars, red light, some books or prints from online charts, perhaps a lightweight tripod if your binocular is heavy and your night will fly away in no time. Weather and city lights are the only problems.

Night fishing, cuddling, decimating the rat population down at the dump with a high powered pellet gun, catching up on the many movies I've missed, stargazing, some of those are easier or more entertaining if you have some night vision equipment.

Sitting around campfires.

Get yourself a really good headlamp and rechargeable batteries. You won't regret it. You can do just about any daytime activity at night (hiking, chopping wood & woodcraft, gardening, repairs/construction/electrical, auto work) with the light of a really good headlamp. I'm loving my big PrincetonTec AA units for this.

Snipe hunting.

Will never forget my Mom out on the lawn with a flashlight and a gunny sack, calling for the snipes.

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!

Take a look at these ones Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars with Tripod Adapter - the best price/quality ratio for an entry-level - you wouldn't be disappointed. Also they have a very good performance for low light terrestrial applications.

It would be a good idea to go visit the police and get acquainted. The only nighttime outdoor hobbies they are familiar with are burglary, vandalism and so forth.

You want to be sure your hobby isn't mistaken for those others.

A friend of mine had a big spotlight he could power from his truck's cigarette lighter. He would go drive slowly somewhere in the forest "looking for eyes." I don't know that he found trouble that way and it sounds kind of like fun but just think of it from everyone else's point of view- someone calling the cops on him would be the least dangerous thing that might happen. I lost touch with him so don't know if he ever had trouble from it.

Most folks think of nighttime for indoor stuff. Like Rock Music! Or ham radio. Or surfing the internet.

Do let us know what you eventually do. I find the question interesting.