I don't turn on the inside light and I leave my overhead porch light off. I have those stake lights around the front porch of my house. Flipping on the porch light impairs my night vision, it is bad enough walking from a lit room. I have a bright enough flashlight to see across much of the yard (of course on six acres you need a spot light lol). The couple of times I had to check something outside I had my gun where it was not readily visible, but quickly movable.
Last time I had a noise outside that the dog reacted to though, it was a possum. The 1911 did a great job of knocking him out of the top of the tree.

I should find myself a .22 for that sort of thing though.