Im thinking about backpacking into the wilderness this year by myself. I keep looking for something maybe going solo well help me find it. Not really an interesting or provocative thread but I thought its something to talk about since its dark and 20 degrees!
I've hunted solo most of my life. There is nothing like being out in the middle of nowhere with just your bow and nature.
I hunt solo at least 90% of the time.
I hunt both but when it comes right down to it
I like the quiet and solitude of being by myself
(that way if I screw up it is my fault)The reason
I like company is usually at night around the fire.
Solo or not, I go anyway. I hunt on the ground so solo works better for me.
I pretty well hunt alone all the time now. My last three years to Colorado have been solo. I've backpacked out there several years. The best backpack trips were with a partner I got started. We packed up into the wilderness area fringe together but hunted separately daily and came back to our bivy camp at night. We parted ways in 2004 and I go it alone now. I stayed focused on the hunt better when there was two of us. When solo, I find I am constantly mindful of personal safety---totally concentrated when using a knife,sharpening broadheads,orienting myself at unknown locations,etc... plus a GOOD partner can keep the enthusiasm/optimism in the hunt. I'm not interested in replacing that partner now after several seasons hunting solo. I'm set in my ways and not interested in changing them for anybody so I plan on continuing going it alone. Sort of like my marriage/divorce,had a good partner,not interested in looking trail and error for that one in a million again.....
I hunt solo about 60-70% of the time. I probably have close to 100 days in back country Alaska and will try to make that a much bigger number in 2008!
I hunt solo most of the time. Sometimes it's just plain stupid, where I go, but, what the heck. I'd rather go alone than not at all. So far, all the bears have just had fun scaring me & not chewing on me! Touch wood!
I hunt solo 75% of the time.
I have spent alot of time in the woods by myself actually my first bow season I spent almost entierly alone. I have enjoyed a lot of good times in the woods alone. You can enjoy the beauty of it all a little more. Plus when you fall asleep and the deer walk right by you, you dont have to make up an excuse like they were starring at me the whole time. Or in my cause when i fell asleep on my back head rested against my backpack and a doe bombed down the hill i was on and didnt see me until she almost steped on me and I wokeup to a blur of a deer flying over me trying to get the sleep out of my eyes so i could see what it was. Maybe i shouldn't have admitted that.
I hunt solo most of the time too.
I've been on sheep hunts of 7 and 11 days by myself here in AK, but not sure its the smartest thing to do. I really like coming back and sharing the day with someone. After about a week, you start talking to yourself. >Some of the new personal locater emergency beacons have taken some of the risk out of it at reasonable prices.
I and I think most others spend a lot of time hunting alone and then return to company, which is both safer and also more fun.
25 years ago, I asked a gentleman in Ohio if he would be willing to take me along on one of his deer hunting expeditions, and his answer was, I HUNT ALONE. Now 25 years later, so do I.
Steve H. is an Alaskan, hard core, solo hunter that chases goats to brown bears with his stick bow. You won't find many people that can live up to his solo hunting experiences with a bow.
Chuck
I used to hunt solo for years. I do not like it know as I have back and knee problems. I do not want to get in the "I've fallen and can't get up" senerio. Just do not feel safe anymore being alone.
I work the night shift so I am on a totally different schedule than the rest of the world. Most of my friends like to hunt evenings and I usually only hunt mornings.
90% alone.
10% with my brother.
Lenny
Alone or with family but usually alone.Nothing against taking people with me but I like to go where I want when I want for how long I want and a lot of folks I know dont have the time or desire to hunt all day,all weekend.But my boys are growing older and for them Id change my hunting style to suit them and any of their friends who would be interested in seeing what the woods are all about.
Last year was the first solo wilderness backpack trip. I'll say I'm solo when necessary but agree having someone at camp would be safer and more fun.
I sometimes camp with friends on hunting trips, but when hunting it is on my own. We always go our separate ways while actually hunting. But I often camp and hunt alone. It gives me a real appreciation of the outdoor experience when it is just me out in the woods. The solitude is refreshing.
When I was younger, hunting alone was where it was at. I enjoyed time with friends and family, but I enjoyed my time alone more.
Suddenly, babies can draw forty pounds, and working out the details of a bloodtrail that belongs to my child has changed everything.
I hunted alone two evenings this year, both times something was missing.
I think staring at a campfire alone, would leave me lonely now, instead of just alone.
I hunt solo 80% of the time Its hard finding people with the same values and ethic's.
I really enjoy hunting with friend's but most dont have the same intrest's. You really have too have the drive to hunt solo it can become easy to make excuses, it's too cold or just stay in bed when no one is counting on you.
I guess it started when I was 10 years old !
I would go down to our 40 acre river bottom and watch the Beaver and the otters play in the river, and I waited alongside the river inside the huge V of the tree waiting for a turkey go by. Also watching the Beaver work on a tree until it fell, and watch them cut off the branches to take them to their lodge for the winter harvest.
If I took along the other kids, which weren't many I had only two other neighbors. They mess it up, they could never say still.
40 years later, I'm still in those woods by myself. Different place, but it's still brings back those memories. The only difference is, when I go in early enough, I am able to pray for those that I have left behind, and I've even caught myself singing songs of praise, in a tree stand 20 ft. high. Now who would put up with all that noise !
Not exactly, I sing real quiet ! But I have caught myself a couple of times doing that. But generally a hunt alone. Except when I go on public land, you never have to worry there, you always see somebody. But this past fall I had the opportunity to hunt private land. First I received permission to hunt on 42 acres, and then I have permission to hunt on a 80 more acres, and now this next fall I had someone gave me permission to hunt on another over 400 acres. I finally had to pray to God to tell Him to stop. I'm only one person I can hunt that much land, but God sure has blessed me this year with private land to hunt. The 400 acres, is for bear hunting, in the most populated county in Minnesota with black bear. That will be the best hunt ever.
I think all of this came out of my reasoning with God, what are You doing ? I asked Him, I came to the conclusion, that God gave me my personality, and my personality just happens to like to hunt. So God hss blessed me with the land to do that. But it's also given the opportunity, to bless others because they have given me the privilege of hunting their land. But I still hunt alone. It's much better that way. And like some have said because of back injury and knee injury, you have to be a little more cautious. I am also a pilot, so you just have to leave an itinerary, where you're going, how long you are going to be there, and if I'm not backed by a certain time, things like that go for a long way when your hunting alone. I always carry a cell phone, and I have yet to have it not pick up the signal. The bear hunting by myself will be a challenge, because I have been " nose to nose with a black bear" that will be a good story here for next fall.
Pastor Carl
I probably hunt alone 75% of the time and with someone or a group the other 43%. ;)
About half and half. I do like sharing the day's events with a hunting partner at the end of the day, and it's nice knowing your partner will come looking for you in case of an accident. But finding the right hunting partner is a real task. In 40 plus years, I've only found two that I enjoy spending time with, and one of those is my brother.
95% solo :wavey:
My God Chuck! I am a mere hack compared to you my friend!
Chuck has a very short journey to have arrowed at least one of all Alaska's big-game animals, something I know I'll never do! I believe his only real difficult one left is bison and getting the tag coud be the hard part.
Ok, so it is true that I chase brown bears solo....
Solo most of the time,but for spring Black bear a bunch of us boat into a big lake and camp together but hunt alone during the day.It is great sharing the campfire at night and telling tall tails!! Bob
Solo most of the time, I would say 98% of the time. I love being in the Mountains of WV and VA alone. Its the most peaceful time of my life. Gives me lots of time to think, be thankful, and forget all my worldly cares or concerns. Most people can't understand why I like being alone sometimes I don't why I like being alone but I love it in the woods alone. I do like taking my dog Fletch with me sometimes. He understands me. My wife has been on me for a long time to keep notes of my hunts and scouting but I have never took time to do it. I do keep dates, weather, sightings of game in my head for up-coming hunts. I guss I should start keeping notes. Maybe some day after I die someone would like to read them. The Lord has blessed me in alot of ways and I as most hunters have seen alot of strange things happen in the woods, that some people would like to read about someday. Anyway I do like to hunt alone for many reasons.