Hunt alone?

[Robert Egler]

How many people usually hunt alone?

Except on the now-rare occasions when my daughter goes with me (graduate school eats up a lot of time) I hunt alone. By 'alone' I mean no one goes with me for any part of the hunt from the time I leave home till I get home again, be it a day or a week. No one knows where I am other than a general geographic area, like 'somewhere in Uwharrie National Forest'.

During deer season, which overlaps squirrel season, I occasionally run into other hunters, but even that is pretty rare.

To me, that's part of the enjoyment of hunting and trapping. I am on my own, completely. If I get into trouble its up to me to get out of it. Unlikely help will find me in any reasonable time. I've had a few bad situations (dislocated shoulder, broken finger, bad lacerations, fell in a river at 24 degrees, etc..) but I've lived, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for any thing.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I am 45 this year and have a "best friend" and hunting buddy that goes back to little league some 35 years ago.. We have been hunting together as much as not for about 30 years.
I now have two boys ages 12 and 14. They got to start hunting when they were 10; its been a hunt where I dont take a gun but just help them get their deer or elk.
That being said about every other year I make it out alone ... 6 hr road trip away from home. Scheduled 5 - 6 days. Alone with my thoughts, the animals, and 'The Good Book'. These are some very precious hunts to me, completely captivating what the hunt is to ME deep down.

 

[larry wv]

I hunt alone here in Wva but Elk hunting in Co always have my best friend with me. He was a EMT in a coal mine for years and has been a RN for 5 or 6 years. If I get hurt it won't be near as un handy as him getting hurt. Larry

 

[stinkyfeet]

I oftern hunt alone and a long ways into the swamps usually 3 miles to get where no one else goes. I carry an emergency 1st aid kid, and a emergency locator becon that sends out a flash and my location is set off. I dont mind hunting by myself until it comes to cooking all the time its nice to have a buddy to help cook and clean up and talk to once in a while. But then again quiet is a good thing too. If my hunting pals dont go it doesn't stop me any, but they make draggin a deer much easier..

 

[roundball]

Except for a few dove hunts years ago, I always hunt alone...days spent getting away in the woods are like a special separate life style, away from the modern hustle & bustle.
Luckily there's good cell phone & GPS satellite reception where I hunt, and I carry an iPhone with the GPS "Find My Phone" feature turned on.
I've captured the GPS Coordinates of each place I hunt and then typed those at the top of printed direction sheets I lay out on the table before leaving for each hunt.
If my bride of 45 years hasn't at least heard from me / can't reach me at the end of the one hour check-in period, she's to assume something's happened and get somebody to start checking.

 

[VEARL]

I hunt alone. Seems no one wants to hunt with this ol' man anymore.
Everyone hunts private property with those new in-line guns. I can't afford to pay to hunt on private property and I don't like the in-line guns.
It is peaceful hunting alone, but would like to have company around the campfire in the evening.
However..you never loose an arguement with yourself and you can hunt when and where you want to. Not depending on someone's time table.
Maybe it's not to bad hunting by yourself. Except for doing the dishes. :yakyak:

 

[vthunter52]

In my teens, when just learning the craft of the woods, I usually had a companion in the area with me. I'm 61 now and for the last 40 years I have shared the woods and mountain hunts with no one. Part of this is that as one who tracks deer, I never know where the trail will end, and I don't want to have to think of anything but what the tracks and the woods are telling me. Many of my hunting friends are content to sit in a tree or blind all day long, and they can't understand the want to see the other side of the mountain. A couple of them have even said that they are uncomfortable in the big woods. That's fine for them and they do have a certain amount of success, but in my mind miss a lot of the experience. I hunt alone because that is my comfort zone. Perhaps this will modify some as I get older, but I expect that I will simply go a little slower, and hunt a little smarter.

 

[Supercracker]

I'm almost always alone. The place I go, by the time I hump it way back into the cypress It's rare in the extreme to see anyone else. I like it better that way. Sometimes it's nice to go out with or take a couple of friends out, but I find I can immerse myself in the situation more by myself.

 

[smo]

I have hunted alone for the last 30 years.It's kinda like driving alone to work "I can come and go as I please". I mostly hunt my own land now and don't have to camp anymore, I do still have my hunting truck and cab over camper just in case the urge hits to rough it. :idunno: :rotf:

 

[S.Kenton]

I hunt alone mostly. Every now and again I'll have a tag along, but I actually enjoy hunting by myself.

 

[Roguedog]

For me it's about half and half. If someone wants to go, fine. If not, that's fine too. I enjoy my solo hunts just as much as when hunting with someone else. There is something special about spending a week by yourself in the woods. Kind of helps you untwist your rope.

Jeff

 

[Mad Professor]

There are very few people I can tolerate hunting with, but those few I have had some good hunts with.

We have taken turns tracking deer through swamps and thickets, with the other waiting on the far side. Took some nice deer a single hunter would not get a shot at.

But mostly I like hunting alone in woods big enough to track a deer all day.

 

[Richard J.]

If no family hunting then I hunt alone. Rather have the kids but they cant always make it. Too many people today afraid of the woods. They hunt next to roads. Used to hunt for days but that was long ago. Now body says no sleeping on ground anymore. People today are afraid of snakes, bugs,and anything that makes noise. The only thing to be afraid of is the idiot with a weapon that has no common sense and would shoot at anything that moves. This is the bad part about hunting primitive in regular season. Dont need GPS or cell phones. Right at home in the woods.

 

[will5a1]

I hunt alone, and much prefer it that way. I'm selfish, I don't want to have to take into consideration a hunting partner, I want to be able come and go as I please, and rely on myself, and enjoy "my" special places. I have a place I like to sit in that is my special spot, I almost always make meat their, the squirrels and birds always put a show on for me, and I have come to regard it as my private sanctum. For me, at least, I need to keep my hunting time and space my own.

Years ago, in the '90's, some buddies had decent bird dogs and I went hunting with them a few times. It was always a pleasure to watch the dogs work, the areas we hunted were beautiful, but they always organized to a tee, and it was so well run I thought I was back on active duty and we were following an OPORDER. Fine for them, just not for me.

 

[Little Wattsy]

In responce to the "come and go as I please" comment seen in several posts now; I will say that my hunting partner (WHEN we hunt together) is THE BEST! We share a camp but we go "Alone" from camp. We each take our own trasportation and know to look for circling buzzards if the other dosnt show up back at camp at night.

 

[hoochiepapa]

I have hunted alone now for about 12 years, since my dad died and have not had the unction to find a hunting buddy. I have been let down by them so many times that I don't trust anyone anymore.
To those who don't let anyone know where they are going:
We had a rule in my family, whether hunting or not, that we let close members know where we were going and if we changed plans, to let someone know. That was kinda difficult before cell phones, we'd have to drive all the way back to camp and leave a note telling where we were going to be. THis is such dangerous country, steep and rocky, you could slip and break a leg faster than it takes to tell about it. And without cell phones, it would take a major effort to find you.
I still to this day let my wife know where I'm going to be, and if plans change, (Oh, my God, there's a herd of elk on that other ridge!) I just get on the phone and tell her where I'm going. I show her on the topo maps where I'll be, and then walk her through it to where I'm headed.
It may sound sissified to some of you, but there's a certain amount of confidence you get.

 

[Black Hand]

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.

 

[Spikebuck]

Mike...great advice.

It doesn't take steep, rocky mountains either. I read an article about a guy that was sliding down the tree out of his stand and got his knee stuck in the crotch of the tree about 10 feet above the ground. The more he fought to get it out, the more it got stuck. To make a long story short, he lost his grip on the tree and fell backwards...now he's hanging upside down by his knee! :shocked2:

He hadn't told his wife where he would be hunting. About 1AM she is concerned and calls a friend of his, who thinks of their stands and based on conditions which he might have hunted. The search starts. They found him at 9AM the next morning, nearly dead from hypothermia. His knee was wedged so tight the paramedics had to get a chainsaw in and cut the tree-crotch.

My wife has maps to my stands and she knows which I'm going to and if I change my mind, I call her. I also call her right after I get out of stand to say I'm safely at the truck and heading home. Or if staying at the lease..I'm at the house.

As you can guess, I hunt "alone." If I were in a true wilderness setting without cell service, I'd be carrying a SPOT or some similar satellite-based device.

 

[nchawkeye]

Depends upon where I'm hunting...

I too hunt the Uwharries as they are close to where I now live...I'm usually alone when I go there and also seldom run into others...

But, I grew up 5 hours east of here and still go home to hunt our family farms in eastern NC...We have a cabin built back in the woods and then I hunt with friends and family...Kinda the best of both worlds...

 

[roundball]

My wife has maps to my stands and she knows which I'm going to and if I change my mind, I call her. I also call her right after I get out of stand to say I'm safely at the truck and heading home. Or if staying at the lease..I'm at the house.
As you can guess, I hunt "alone." If I were in a true wilderness setting without cell service, I'd be carrying a SPOT or some similar satellite-based device.

Word is the next generation of iPhones will have the SPOT technology built in, then you can sign up for the service without getting a second device.
But until then, FYI...the iPhone App called "Find My Phone" is a fantastic feature, because if you hurt yourself and are not able to use your phone, or reach your phone, etc...it's still beaconing it's location up to the satellite.
And your wife / family member can go to the website, use the "Find My Phone" feature (keying in your phone #) which launches Google Earth and it'll basically zoom right on down to the place you're phone is at.
When I tested it to "find My Phone" here at the house...the little green dot is blinking right on my roof in the Google Earth photo...when I do it white hunting it looks like it's pinpointing the very tree my blind is under.
Pretty good feeling when you're 67, have already had one heart attack & open heart surgery...LOL