I'm 36 years old now and I "STILL" don't like hunting totally by my self. Especially in an area that I am unfamiliar with. I have hunted about 15-20 times being totally alone on property that I was very familiar with.

In New York, with a firearm you have to be 16 years old to hunt by yourself. Thats how old me and my brother where when we hunted "alone". We were not totally alone though. I was about 175 yards away from my father and my brother was about 150 yards away from my dad.

I remember my first opening day, when I had my very own stand to myself. I felt very "independent". I felt as if I was a boy who was turning into a man in a primitive way and was sharing the experience of our ancestors since the pioneers of this country.

I also remember the first time that I hunted by myself on land that I was totally unfamiliar with. It was a large track of land consisting of 3700 acres. As soon as I got about 100 yards in, I was overwhelmed and didn't like the feeling at all. I thought to myself, " What if something happened to me out here? "

Even to this day I don't like going into "unknown" territory totally alone.

Anyways, CONGRATS to your son on a very fine buck!!!! Good huntin'