It seems like the more I hunt, the more I want to hunt alone. Is it me or is this a common feeling. I feel like I can just go where I want and when I want. no making changes becuase someone else wants to do something else. :archer:
Yep and no one to mess you up.
I enjoy being in the woods alone on the hunt, unless my son is with me of course. I wouldn't miss the campfire for anything! I love the anticipation of everyone coming in from the days hunt and hearing the stories and the blood trails! I love camp! :campfire:
Just the opposite for me. I used to do everything alone (by choice), but that's changed. Shared experiences are typically richer and fuller. It used to be all about tagging a trophy: now the real treasure is friendship.
For me it depends on the day. I enjoy nothing more and nothing makes for a more rewarding outing just being with good friends. But there is something to be said about taking a stroll through the woods alone just taking in all the natural beauty!! I love to hunt so I will take it any way I can but I wont pass up an oppurtunity to hunt with good friends!!
I like sharing camp, that is for sure.
i love my hunting buddies, we all hunt alone but at the days end we can share stories and talk around the campfire. i think thats what makes a successful hunt in the end.
-cory
I learned to love hunting alone,I hunt so much, It A sense of freedom not having to rely on any one. Now I dont go out of my to hunt alone it just the way it is,and the time when I do hunt with other's is just as nice..
Other than taking my 5 year old grandson - I have no interest in others being there to break the harmony.
I think there is a time and a place for both. I can't remember who wrote this but I think it may have been john gierach. On the subject of either camping or fishing alone he said that he finds himself great company.
I like hunting with my friends and family way more than hunting alone. However there are times when I just want to be alone and sort things out that is when I use hunting as the excuse to be alone ;)
I dont know about anyone else but I like to sit back against a tree and do some seroius.....napping. Thus I like to hunt alone so no one can tell me about that 10 point sniffing my face while I was snoozing.
Seriously though I like to hunt alone as well. And seriously I like to sleep when I do it. Its not about shooting the game right. Just being out and being happy.
I like hunting alone but sharing a camp at night. It's hard to beat sharing a good camp fire and a hot meal with a hunting buddy talking about the hunts.
I have two reasons that I like to hunt alone...
1. I got tired of being the "Julie McCoy" cruiser director. Seemed to always be a pain trying to arrange everything, then when everyone gets together someone always forgot something and had to turn around and go back home and get it or someone was late. Or no one could make a commitment..."maybe I'll go" or they say they're going then a day or so before they change their mind, etc. Now if I make arrangements I just say this is when I'm going, this is what I'm doing, if you want to go then fine but I'm not changing anything.
2. I have a saying..I don't hunt with "jerks" (actually a stronger word but this is a family site. Seems everyone I hunted with did not have the same morals and ethics...I'm a stickler in that area.
Reading this it sounds like I'm a jerk. That being said I'd probably be happy to share hunts with the folks on this site or any PBS member.
Sharing camps are always fun though.
After the older hunting friends passed away,I've been hard pressed to find replacements that match the overall quality. And everytime I try to break the "hunting solo" routine by joining in groups I find myself dissappointed with the ethics of some of the members. So I end up back to the solo hunting.I'm not complaining-I'm enjoying myself.I usually bump into a fellow hunter to talk "shop" with sometime during the time frame I'm hunting.
For me I started Solo, and learned how to hunt Solo. So it seems hard to fit with the few people I have hunted with, but I love sharing stories, and just going shooting with others.
I've been hunting alone since I was too young to hunt alone. In the past couple years, I like it when my daughter takes out her compound with me.
I think that you are definetly going to be more successful in taking game if you hunt alone, but for me as time goes on I want to share the moments with someone close to me and it seems to add some thrill and excitement to a hunt when shared with someone else.
Well, I used to be that way (wanting to hunt alone), but now I really enjoy sharing the hunting experience with buddies or family. Some of my best hunts have come with my father-in-law. However, I truly understand the desire to do it alone.
spoon, Todd says you hunt alone for oral...something or other.
Yep, just want to be alone sometimes.
I like to hunt alone. But there are times when I like to hunt with someone.
Normally if I bowhunt 'with' someone; we split up at the trailhead: and meet there at dark.
But with elk hunting having one person call the elk; and another waiting for a shot- works really well; and is fun.
I like to hunt bears alone; but I like to sometimes hunt with a friend- as it is fun to compare notes ! I can only see so far in a treestand; and another hunter in another nearby stand- can often tell me things we both benefit from knowing.
And too; I like helping others hunt.
I cannot imagine a hunt where someone tells me when to shoot; or where to walk and how fast; and what animal to shoot at.
I have found great pleasure in stalking alone along river beds- for deer and elk.
I never feel alone in the wild.......
I think there is a time and a place for both. I can't remember who wrote this but I think it may have been john gierach. On the subject of either camping or fishing alone he said that he finds himself great company.
It used to be that hunting alone was where it was at.(bowhunting anyway)
Now, there are a select few that I would prefer be with me.
Believe it or not, I surrender my best, time proven stand locations to these select few, and I think I get more out of a kill when someone else is successful in one of "my" spots.
QuoteOriginally posted by knife river:
Just the opposite for me. I used to do everything alone (by choice), but that's changed. Shared experiences are typically richer and fuller. It used to be all about tagging a trophy: now the real treasure is friendship.
Perfectly stated Woody. I still love to hunt, and do more of it than most. I do often hunt alone, but more and more I find something missing if I can't share it with friends.
Often the actual hunting time is still spent alone, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the solitude of my time in the field. But I really love sharing everything else, from the dreaming, planning, driving to and from, success and failure, campfires and meals - all are better when shared.
With the exception of a couple days when a hunter or two comes out and hunts I am solo. The pics of the month long sojourns in CO I've taken in recent years bears this out. Note the single chair at the campfire. Colorado 2003
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/BasecampatBlackMesa.jpg)
Land Between the Lakes Spring turkey hunt-2005
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/walltentsetup.jpg)
Colorado 2006- solo elk hunt
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/Colorado200631.jpg)
Colorado solo elk hunt-2007
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/1200.jpg)
I backpacked up to my favorite elk spot in 2005. I hunted solo in this wilderness area but a guide with a bowhunter client showed up the third day into the hunt. They never knew I was there but I watched with amusement from a high vantage point with optics as the guide left his bowhunter after the bowhunter couldn't keep up with him on foot.I guessed it was a "newbie" flatlander that had no concept what effect the altitude would have on his ability to just walk.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/bivycampissetup.jpg)
I will be heading to LBL tomorrow for a 14 day turkey hunt-"trad style". I'll probably see a couple of regulars with their "scatterguns" but I plan on running the hiking trails instead of setting up on the birds so that means I will be hunting solo again!!