Hunting Beaches at night time Low tide

[RVRoamer73]

While the weather is very HOT this time of year, your best time to hunt is the night low tide. May be at 1:00 am and if not with others as a group, maybe
just yourself or wife, do you find it a SAFE time to hunt. I realize I have a Weapon in my hands (Scoop) but would just like to ask some of you hunters
what is your way to approach this DARK beach hunting, how to be safe with all the Crazies out there. Hey, I don't scare easily, but if they get the drop on you
you are caught in a predicament for sure.

Just trying to learn what some of you may do to protect yourself and or be SAFE hunting beach at night. A gang of 6 surrounding you at 1:00 am with no 'outs'
is a possibility for sure..

I guess the most of you will get with a few others to night hunt, being in numbers would detour most attacks, but what about some of you that travels alone
and cannot catch up with others to do this as a group. Don't go? Guessing this may be the right answer, but hey, giving into the thugs is against my grain..

Thanks for any of your suggestion, comments, or arsenal of choice....

Thanks for thoughts and or common sense answers to this question.

 

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[Captain Caveman]

I go by myself on the MS coast, but usually only do dry sand at night. I catch the low tide early early in the morning. When on vacation (Gulf Shores, AL; Florida beaches), my wife normally goes with me at night and in the morning. At night there are usually a ton of vacationers hunting for sand crabs, so it's a pretty safe environment. Just my 2 cents.

 

[RVRoamer73]

Great reply to question, but I am wanting to hunt low tide area....that is why I go to hunt,,,, low tide area.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Great reply to question, but I am wanting to hunt low tide area....that is why I go to hunt,,,, low tide area.

My schedule gets me low tide either in the evening or early in the morning. Long Beach, MS Extended Tide Forecast

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

SW 642 with 5 pcs of .38+p's concealed is a suitable last resort when all else fails.
Couple that with common sense. NO complete over the ear headphones that block out noise, if you have a vdi don't stare at it the whole hunt, hunt tones and be aware of your surroundings. Choose well lit areas where possible or areas with other night folk who aren't drinking or sketchy.
Be as aware of your surroundings as possible. Enjoy the hunt but be aware.

 

[Terry Soloman]

There was a time - before I knew better, when I would do low tide on the Atlantic side of Long Island late at night, or pre-sunrise early morning. The rings, earrings, heavy chains, and occasional floating $20, $50, and $100 bills was a huge incentive to go all tactical black on the Park Rangers. So one night there was a "Supermoon" low tide at 1:45am. I was in the water up to my hips and having a fairly good night. About 3:00am I was recovering a target with my L.E.D. headlamp illuminating the water. As I put my foot on the scoop to drive it into the sand a silver flash about a foot long swam through my legs. I didn't have time to react when a small shark also shot through my legs and ate the silver fish. As I scurried out of the surf wondering if there was a Bull or Great White also out here looking for a midnight snack, I was glad my shorts were already wet.

If you are night hunting ALWAYS have a partner that can call 911. You could bleed out on the beach in less than a minute.

 

[Sleepy]

I do the same thing Coil To The Soil said. I keep the volume off on one side and also keep a SW642 real handy. Depending on where I'm hunting I stagger a +P then a shot shell then a P+ and so on. I'm not trying to turn this in to a thread of whether to carry a gun or not, there was a recent thread about that. Not everyone has that opportunity depending on where they live but I can't imagine not doing it for myself. Even at that, if I were out in the middle of the night hunting, especially in the water, I think having a hunting partner or observer with you is much smarter. Like someone else said, if a true life threatening emergency crops up, things could go bad really quick. Bottom line, common sense.

 

[RVRoamer73]

I usually hunt the wet sand at night. The Shark thing is a possibility for sure. I just think it is a shame in this world of ours
we even have to worry about stuff like this. BUT, it is what it is, common sense steers me to the thinking that it's just a crap shoot.

Unfortunately....

 

[CASPER-2]

I would go for early morning low tide hunts - get out there like 4-430am just before sunrise
don't think you'll have to worry about "tuffs" at that time of the day
if its a local spot for you - maybe seek out cops that may hang in that area - bring them some coffe and/or food
and tell them what youre doin and ask if they'll be in that area or near by - I'm sure any "troublers"
wont hang near by - I made friends when possible with any police or rangers at spots when I could when I was younger at hunt spots
though some spots it may not be allowed at night
sending you a PM

 

[Fletch88]

I have had a couple suspicious characters that were shadowing me while walking down the beach at 4 am. I have come to the conclusion that a handful of junk clad or an occasional piece of gold really isn't worth my life. I like to hit the beach about the time the sun is coming up.
Most of the time where I hunt the low tide reveals is a vast amount of sterile ground. The coin and jewelry line is usually up on the top half of the beach where I go anyway.

 

[cudamark]

I've hunted a lot in the middle of the night and never really had a problem. There have been a few times when some characters have been dogging me or hanging close by, but never actually threatened me. Just to be safe, I would just walk out into the shallow water and head down the beach a ways. I've never had someone follow me into the surf.

 

[Oddjob]

While the weather is very HOT this time of year, your best time to hunt is the night low tide. May be at 1:00 am and if not with others as a group, maybe
just yourself or wife, do you find it a SAFE time to hunt. I realize I have a Weapon in my hands (Scoop) but would just like to ask some of you hunters
what is your way to approach this DARK beach hunting, how to be safe with all the Crazies out there. Hey, I don't scare easily, but if they get the drop on you
you are caught in a predicament for sure.

Just trying to learn what some of you may do to protect yourself and or be SAFE hunting beach at night. A gang of 6 surrounding you at 1:00 am with no 'outs'
is a possibility for sure..

I guess the most of you will get with a few others to night hunt, being in numbers would detour most attacks, but what about some of you that travels alone
and cannot catch up with others to do this as a group. Don't go? Guessing this may be the right answer, but hey, giving into the thugs is against my grain..

Thanks for any of your suggestion, comments, or arsenal of choice....

Thanks for thoughts and or common sense answers to this question.

O personally go armed, even if I am in the water. The agency I work for says it is a must and thats is that. There have been times where I was happy I was armed and needed my weapon.

However what you are talking about is a risk assessment, if your doing this for the tide times to ensure you do not run into any issue then you can also do this by crime mapping.

If you like send me a PM with the area you are hunting in and I will send you a link to a live crime map for Robbery, Assault, Murder, and so on, just configure it how you want it and link it to your cell phone if you like for live updates.

I can understand where you are getting at with wanting to be safe as you can for your self and your group, we have enough risk involved without needing to worry about some tards ruining our fun.

 

[RVRoamer73]

I have had a couple suspicious characters that were shadowing me while walking down the beach at 4 am. I have come to the conclusion that a handful of junk clad or an occasional piece of gold really isn't worth my life. I like to hit the beach about the time the sun is coming up.
Most of the time where I hunt the low tide reveals is a vast amount of sterile ground. The coin and jewelry line is usually up on the top half of the beach where I go anyway.[/QUOTe

Yeah, you have a point there. It probably isn't worth the hassle of the hassle....

Thanks!!

Post Script : I like to go when I take the notion to, which is most of the time.

 

[adamBomb]

Not worth it for me. At 1am you are dealing with drunk people on the beach or worse. I get out there at sunrise and I will carry a ruger lcp when the beach is empty or if I am searching a remote area. MD at night is just asking for trouble.

 

[ron lord]

Two year ago ,a man was killed at Ft. Myers beach late at night just for his Metal detector. myself at night .380 work fine.

 

[kcm]

There's a device you can get that we used in the fire dept. It clipped to our gear. If you fell down and were down for longer than a given time, it would send a screeching tone into the darkness. It could also be manually activated. Not even sure where to buy them or how much, but I would assume they would be readily available after all these years....probably 30 years ago now.

 

[penzfan]

No thanks. Sunrise works just fine for me...

 

[RVRoamer73]

sort of like a question "would you walk down a dark alley in the pitch dark" na, no thank you. I guess same O same O,,,,just looking for trouble "THESE DAYS"

Still thinking in some places ok, but surely not everywhere.....to many punks out there...and that's a fact..

Thanks!!

 

[kcm]

Get some night vision and turn night into day!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Unless I'm hunting in the middle of the day with a partner and going in deep watet I have Springfield XDs .45 on me while hunting. I rarely go in the water at night pass knee deep and I am ALWAYS when hunting after dark or before light. When hunting in middle of the day and in the water I leave my fire arm in my car just because I do hunt chest deep at times....