Balsam, sagebrush, and honeysuckle are good natural deodorizers. Once you've settled in, patience is vital and for many people, difficult. That's because we've had our psychic clocks subliminally set by the world of 3-minute coffee breaks. We can't even stick to a half-hour Seinfeld rerun without channel surfing. First, turn off your headlamp and put away the night-vision scope, insists Rice.
Most human eyes operate quite well in the dark, although they take time to adapt to it.
You need 15 minutes for the pupils to open up, and another 45 minutes to develop your night vision. After that, you'd be amazed at how much you can see. In fact, people can see about as well as cats. Next, cover the lens of your lamp with a piece of red plastic. You'll still have enough light to walk or write by, and you'll be able to spot animals without startling them.