I wanna head out now and set some rat huts I found earlier. Is it a bad time to set after dark?

only for safety reasons

I set after dark for years in farm ponds. Chest waders and a walking stick plus a light on my head and a Ishman packbasket on my back and I was good to go. I think I could see the runs easier at night than during the day.

I try not to be walking around on the marsh in the dark.

Thanks guys. These are small ponds. I've been in them before.. no danger.

Good headlamp.

Good luck!

Ive set a few hundred in the dark as the season opens before light. A good head lamp and an idea of whats in front of you from daytime scouting/observation helps too. Good luck.

There is always danger around water
It’s the great swimmers that drown
Be safe

I used to set and check a golf course after dark just to keep it private.

Just got back. The hut has poop all over the back side of it.

As long as the weather is cool you shouldn’t have to worry about gators.

Did you get scared that bad or did the muskrats leave it?

I used to set traps on public ground at 12:00 am opening day and go back and collect 100-150 sets at 6:00am before daylight. About the time I was collecting everything and 50-60 rats, here came the trappers. It was fun in the dark. A bit eerie but pretty cool. Got my leg bumped routinely by swimming rats. I set and checked on the way out and always had rats as I walked the dens on the way out after setting.

All these were set after dark.
If you are allowed.
Used my wader toe to nuzzle the underside run into the push-up and , up they go.
The one with only one fell down in deep water.
Only saw one rat swimming there that evening, so I was pleasantly surprised. That represents 2 months work for a grad student looking for internal parasites.

I set in the dark tonight. A good cyclops hat light is all you need

i was just like mark june back in the late 70s , set at midnight and come back at day light and check, also checked in afternoon , I got over 450 rats with 4 doz. traps back in 1978 , checking three times a day , also got 7.50 across the board from buyer , boy that was good times !!!!

Remember that everyone was after rats back then Roy? Man, were we crazy back then or what. I knew I always liked you!
I used to mark the runs preseason with cattail stalks. Not too obvious but I knew what they meant. If I stuck three together that meant three 110's in the dark on three runs.
Cage traps off course were not legal. I had an old army snap sack and I sure wish I still had that thing. I'm sure I threw it out when I gradated to a "pack basket!"

Blessings
Mark