Hunt alone?

Ive pretty much hunted alone ever since my father died. Which was 20 years ago. I have learned to be on my own and get deer out of the woods on my own. I carry a deer cart in the truck for hauling. And have a simple pulley system to haul them up into the pickup bed without killing myself. The only time I carry a cell phone is when Im hunting.
I enjoy hunting alone though my wife i'snt crazy about it. Like roundball Ive had cardiac issues and always leave word of where I'll be hunting.

I've almost always hunted alone and also enjoy seeing what's over the next hill. I have had good partners over the years and have one now. Still, it's a solitary sport for me.

I can no longer walk through the woods. Most all my hunting has been on private land. I never go far from my truck nor do I even dream of any elevated stand. The modest woodlands I hunt are not desolate. Phone service is pretty much zero though I carry my cell anyway. My wife doesn't know exactly where I'll be on these occasions; but she know who to contact if I'm gone too long.

I've pretty much hunt alone since I was 17. I tried to hunt with partners for a few years here in CO but wound up missing trips and oppurtunity's waiting for the "partners" to show up for planned hunts. When I lived in MT had a friend or 2 that would go out if they wanted back up for their bear tags or the bigger elk they were after but my preference is solo. I like the nights in camp alone and the days running the hills with out waiting on some one to either catch up or slow down depending on whats going on. Drives the wife nuts lol

I hear you! I have hunted alone and with others. I like my own company so I am OK with hunting alone. I have had some real enjoyable hunts with others as well. When hunting with others the quality of your hunting partner usually determins the over all quality of the hunt! Geo. T.

My cell phone doesn't work most of the areas I hunt. However, my wife is out of it with dementia and I guess I don't much care if I worry anyone else. I hunt alone about half the time.I'm 80 and have had a heart attack, but the plumbing seems to be pretty good now. Anyway, hunting alone is okay. But I don't care so much anymore about making meat and love being in camp.Most of the guys my age are dead or out of it physically, and some of the younger guys are still working. So it's often alone or not at all. I hunt grouse and deer seriously and squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and cape buffalo as an excuse to walk in the woods with a musket. Actually, I have never seen a cape buffalo where I hunt, but I can hunt them anyway. graybeard

Hey REv. William
I used to spend a lot of time up around Woodland Park as well as Manitou Springs etc. etc. What is Woodland Park like now days, I left there in 73, big mistake.
Yes when I hunt it is by myself.

I know a man who stepped of the road to shoot a buck, before he could shoot he slipped, fell and broke his leg! It took him 8 hours to crawl the 10 feet back up onto the road so cars would see him! That said I prefer to hunt alone but now have my 2 boys and one of my daughters hunting with me, and the Lady Hawk always knows where I've gone!

shifty said:

Hey REv. William
I used to spend a lot of time up around Woodland Park as well as Manitou Springs etc. etc. What is Woodland Park like now days, I left there in 73, big mistake.
Yes when I hunt it is by myself.

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It's turned into fine little city. Lots of stop lights and people.

In the past 25 years I have hunted alone except on very few occasions. Not by choice, really. I just seem to "out endure" my hunting buddies.

While I have had some great hunting partners and would jump on the chanc eto go with them again, these last couple of years we just can't seem to get our ducks lined up to get together to hunt due to scheduling, money, etc, etc. Before that, and now, with the exception of mainly a couple who I would share a camp with anytime anywhere, I have almost always hunted alone. Now these hunts may be 15 minutes from the house on Corps of Engineers land recently, or days from my truck with nothing but my backpack and weapon, or by canoe/kayak on 150-200 mile paddles lasting several days, so it varies for me. Terrain hunted has varied from the Rockies in December/January with a tarp lean to for shelter, to the deserts along the US/Mex border at various times of year. One thing that has been a pattern with me is going out when the weather is bad, weather that means the hottest parts of summer, to the coldest parts of winter, to storms while in the canoe/kayak, basically the kind of weather that almost ensures that I will have the area to myself. I have had various training to make sure I can survive these conditions, but I also know that it is a matter of time before I bite off more than I can chew, but I love doing it. It isn't that I don't want company, but rather that most of my friends think I'm nuts for going out in the conditions that I go out it to hunt or fish. Hunting is as far off the beaten path as I can get and it allows me time to get my head straight and temporarily forget the worries of every day life and concentrate on nature and the basic things that just make it so relaxing. Fishing is also the same way, and I take a canoe or kayak up or down our shallow rivers and creeks to places I KNOW I won't see any bass or ski boats, or jet skis, or anything else powered, and do the same with the lakes but that is into some of the sheltered inlets and submerged trees. I carry a cell phone for the hunts close to home, but not on the out of the way ones, and almost never tell anyone where I am going other than to say I'm going hunting or fishing, mostly because most of my family and friends are so lost when you show them a map that it is actually pointless and possibly counter-productive. If anything happens, I am truly on my own, but carry a very basic survival kit, which includes a few first aid basics, flint and steel, a small tarp, and extra ammo for whatever I am carrying. It is a package that weighs less than 10 lbs and contains everything I NEED to stay alive for at least a month. I may not be happy and comfortable, but will be alive. I have tested this theory in various areas and conditions and the same thing that worked in 125 degree F deserts also kept me alive in -20 degree F mountains, so I have no concerns in my current area of Texas. I have been working with my puppy though to be able to start taking him on these kinds of trips with me and he is doing great so far, so my days of hunting alone may be over. :thumbsup:

Having said that, I don't blame any of you who do let people know where you are going, how long you plan to be gone, or even better, take someone with you. I do think y'all are smarter than me, but my choices are for the most part go alone, or don't go, and I'm going if/when I can.

Lonegun, if I was a young whipper-snapper like you, Id probably be doing close to like you.
Enjoy.

Lonegun1894 said:

Having said that, I don't blame any of you who do let people know where you are going, how long you plan to be gone, or even better, take someone with you. I do think y'all are smarter than me, but my choices are for the most part go alone, or don't go, and I'm going if/when I can.

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I think I've found some places I can do some extended canoe based trips like you talked about this year. I can't wait.


I don't get cell service in the areas I go and don't have a locator thing. I did however put together a folder entitled "Places I Hunt" and leave it at the house. It has the info packets and maps/aerials of all the places I go with the general areas I like circled. The contact info for the wardens for that area is written on them.

Before I go anywhere I will send my GF a text or e mail saying I'm going to XYZ area and expect to be back around such and such a time. So if I am gone long enough for her to get worried she can bust out the maps, call the wardens and give them coordinates of the general area I'm planning on being.

Mike and Supercracker,
I still think that all this means is that you two are just smarter than me and less stubborn. The last time I gave anyone a location I was going to be was when I was still active duty and took a week of leave to do a winter canoe hunt. The leave papers had a space for "leave address" so I gave the name of the river, and the GPS coordinates of my start and end points. I'm just glad it was my XO that signed off on that trip, cause he knew me well and understood, because my CO would have probably had my head shrunk like she always threatened to do. It was a small command so everyone knew everyone.

Alone for the most part,had pardner years ago but when we went out, we would set up camp but go our seperate ways each day to hunt and return to camp or meet at a new camp site at the end of the day. We always knew the general area the other would hunt just incase. Its hard to find a good pardner that you can trust, at least on solo hunts you can do the Berger King thing. YOU CAN HAVE IT YOUR WAY. Bent

I get out with a friend when I he can, but 90% of the time I am alone. Being sole does not put any time constraints on the day, and if I chose I just sit and enjoy the woods and wildlife once in awhile without the disturbance of taking a shot.

I hunt alone 99% of the time.

Boone is reputed to have said that one should choose a hunting partner as carefully as one chooses a wife.

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Sir,

I have found a solution... take your wife hunting, and you get a hunting partner you can trust.

Loki

I don't hunt as much anymore as I would like too. But I use to always hunt alone!

I hunted on Eglin Field here in Fl. a few years back on Thanksgiving Day. I was bow hunting in the Wilderness Area and you can only walk in there. It was suppose to rain that day so had walked back out at lunch time to my truck so I could listen to the radio on the truck and hear the forecast while eating my lunch.

The forecast said the rain had been pushed back till after dark,with a possibility of sleet after dark. So I went back in to my stand and hung the rest of the day!
I stayed in the stand till I couldn't see the ground under me to shoot anymore. By the time I got down and walked the mile or so back to my truck it was well after dark.

When I crawled in the truck after loading my gear and hit the switch and all I got was a growl out of the starter. :surrender:

After trying a few things I decided I would settle in for a long night as it was 16 miles to the nearest highway and only had a penlight to guide myself by and it had been predicted to rain and possible sleet for that night!
One thing about Eglin Field is it is all brushy and each road/trail looks like the last one. It easy too get turned around in the daylight let alone at night.
Staying with the truck seemed the best option, as I figured there would be some one in here the next morning at the latest!

I had told my wife that I was going to the Wilderness Area, field#6 in Eglin Field.
However all she remembered was the Wilderness Area. The Wilderness Area incubuses about 40 acres.

When she finally convinced the local police to call Eglin Field and they began to search for me it was about 10:00 PM. A ranger located me at about3:30 AM.
After he radioed into his headquarters and jumped me off, he told me I had better call my wife as soon as possible as she was very upset! I called her when I got to the first payphone (before cell phones) and told her she couldn't collect on my life insurance yet. :rotf: She called me a petname ( something like @$$hole ) she likes to call me when she's mad.
I kidded her that I figured her and her Mama had been taking bets as too whether I was snake bit or fell out of the tree! She seemed to calm down a little after she told me how worried she had been about "little ole me" and she used that pet name again! :wink:

That incident didn't stop me from hunting alone but convinced me to do a better job of letting the wife know the area I was hunting in and if I was going to be late for any reason I found a phone and called her!

I hunt alone, as my dad is gettin' too old to tramp around the woods, my son is not yet mature enough, and my huntin' buddy can't seem to get away from work.

LD

Loki said:

Sir,

I have found a solution... take your wife hunting, and you get a hunting partner you can trust.

Loki

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Good Lord! My wife alone with me in the middle of the woods with a firearm?! They'd probably never find my body! :wink:

alone and happy.