I hunt alone all the time on public land. Been doing it forever, and until last year had no trouble.
I got lost one evening, last October, by getting turned around in a swamp thicket. I had my climber, pack and bow strapped to it. Such a heavy load, I opted to take an easier way out. Turned into a 4 hour disaster: equipment dashing, no cell service, 20 mins by car to the nearest traveled road. I scrambled through the swamp thicket for 4 hours, bruising my body head to toe, losing gear, and honestly could have died that night.