hunting alone?
 

alright i want to get everybody's feeling on hunting alone. i enjoy being out by myself but my family worries and they really dont like me being out by myself. i know its dangerous but its more likely i will get hurt or killed in a car wreck on my way out than something happening to me while im out in the hills.

im confident enough in my outdoor skills and my common sence that i can avoid most problems i might have. i dont think thatmy thinking is naive because i know things go wrong to everybody not just the inexperienced. i know bad things can happen to me and they have before but everything major has been avoided.

what does everybody else think?

RE: hunting alone?
 

Caseless I understand completely we go through the same thing here every year. I prefer to hunt alone and i usually laugh when my wife asks where i'm gonna be, cause I may end up 20 miles from where i started from.
I have been looking into some of the Garmin rhino's from what I understand I should be able to leave one at home and take the other with me, as long as its getting satelite reception my family will know where i'm at.

Good luck
Rogue

RE: hunting alone?
 

i hunt alone all the time find when i take someone i end up plying guide.dont see a problem with it at all my family bitches at me the same way says what if something happens bla bla bla. if it works for ya keep it up i just always make sure someone knows the general areas i will be huntin in.

RE: hunting alone?
 

When the hunt is for me...I hunt alone...but my wife is tracking me...I don't know if that's good or bad

RE: hunting alone?
 

My first few years of hunting weren't so great.. I was 100% self taught, had nobody to hunt with, and had little money to go out. I did it anyway. After staying at it for a few years I have been blessed with a few buddies to hunt with,and I don't think I'll do much solo hunting in the future. I generally road and trail hunted, and only ventured a few hundred yards off the trail at most. I never trekked miles and miles into the backcountry wilderness alone and I don't think I ever will (without a buddy/guide).

A whistle and a spaceblanket, in my opinion, are the two most important items to double check before heading afield as a solo hunter. Yes you need water, but you can freeze to death much quicker than you can die of thirst. Three short blasts on a whistle means distress.

Cherish your good hunting buddies!;)

RE: hunting alone?
 

My husband and I hunt together alot, but since he bowhunts and I rifle hunt, the majority of the time I hunt alone.
Sometimes it's just for the day, or for the weekend, but every October I take off for 17 days by myself---a week for elk and a week for deer. He would never think of telling me "no", but I know he worries. So I call him every night on my way back to camp when I find somewhere with cellphone service to let him know that I'm okay and calling it a day.
During bull elk season (it only lasts a week here), if I'm on animals and decide to stick with them and not go back to camp, I call him that day and let him know he may not hear from me that night, but not to worry.
He knows I can take care of myself and it's okay. I'm lucky to be married to a good man who understands the importance of it all. :)

RE: hunting alone?
 

I solo hunt all the time ,sometimes my wife doesn't even know what state I'm in.She has gotten used to it.Now adays with cell phones and gps.she hears from me more often.I remember the old days when she would say isn't there any phones in montana or idaho or where ever you were.

RE: hunting alone?
 

I've done it pretty much for 40 yrs. And I am tired of it. But it's not gonna change so I just do it.

RE: hunting alone?
 

I head for the hills solo all the time. I tell my wife a general area I am heading too, but also call and let one of my buddies know where I am heading since they think like me and have a better chance of figuring out where I might wander. When I leave the road I always have at least a 1 day supply of food, water, fire starter, space blanket, and 2 way radio with me. I have seen that new personal locator beacon that Survivor Man (Les Stroud) is promoting, that might be a wise item to pack in the backcountry. When I was younger I wouldn't see the need, but now you start to worry about a rolled ankle or blown knee as age progresses. It is called the spot and looks to be the size of a 2way radio, it could really save your butt, would allot rather have this to send distress call than cutting off my arm, that is trapped under a rock, with a pocket knife.

RE: hunting alone?
 

well it looks like we all kind of have the same situation so i dont feel so bad. i am always prepared with survival gear if something should happen that i ever need it. and as far as the cell phones im over an hour away from camp before i can get service and by then im less than an hour from home. so with the price of gas it really makes no sence to drive 60 miles to make a 2 minute phone call and then drive 60 miles back to camp.

i guess my biggest concerns are falling and breaking a leg and not being able to get help, and getting my animal down and back out to camp before a bunch of wolves or coyotes get to it. of course thats hardly a start to list the family sits home and worries about.

RE: hunting alone?
 

This should not be a concern that keeps anyone from hunting alone. As a hunter, you should plan on being successful, and in that regard, I carry a 4 pack of meat bags and some rope. Now, when the animal is down, first thing first, quarter it up and hang it high enough from a tree limb to keep animals from getting it, and the meat begins to cool. This works great and buys you time to get the meat "out" without worrying too much about spoilage. Obviously, if it's hot during the day time, and not cooling down very well at night, then you still need to hussle to get all the meat out before spoilage. BUT meat hung from a tree, in shade,will buy you a lot of time.

I hunt alone a lot every year, weather it be for elk, deer, or coyotes. My wife has gotten used to and understands that I carry survival gear including matches/space blanket/filtered water bottle/food/gps. The idea of being out in the woods for a night, or two, doesn't bother me one bit!

RE: hunting alone?
 

I had always hunted alone in the East and seldomn hunted more than a couple miles from the truck. I never thought twice about it. Last November, I hunted in Colorado for the first time. I was alone but well prepared in terms of equipment. I remember being 5 hours into the back country at 9500 ft. I was huffing for air, my back and knees were killing me from the additional 45 lbs of gear. I remember thinking I'd be screwed if some bad happened. I also knew I was in couger country.

Looking back on the whole experience.... I can't wait to do it again!:D It was the greatest experience of my life!

RE: hunting alone?
 

howler your right i will hang the quarters in the tree if i need to make more than one trip. my main concern with the wolves is having them move in while i am still gutting my animal and getting the quarters in the tree.the area i hunt has gotten to the point that a gun shot is like a dinner bell.

i guess my reason for being concerned about injury is i am planning on an 11 day hunt. and in 11 days i will cover a lot of ground. my dad knows the area i hunt extremely well and we think so much alike that i have no doubt he would find meon the off chance that something should happen. the only problem is it could be days laying out there on the ground before they would even know to start looking for me.

honestly myself iam not all that worried about hunting alone for any length of time but that doesnt help ease the fears of the family back home.

RE: hunting alone?
 

I hunt along all the time but do enjoy hunting with my son. I will never hunt with anyone else. When I head to the breaks and any where to hunt I show my wife where I will be on the map. I do feel this is a good thing to do just in case something went wrong.

RE: hunting alone?
 

One more thing if you ever have hunted out west or wilderness areas you never leave camp without leaving a note in the tent where you are going to be hunting. Date and drainage you will be in etc.

RE: hunting alone?
 

I generally go hunting alone just because there are not too many people that I know that like my style of hunting. I let the wife know the area that I am going to, and she knows enough to know that I wander a bit.
To be quite honest I feel safer in the woods than I do going back and forth to work.

RE: hunting alone?
 

now this is a new one for me. i have lived and hunted in idaho all my life and i have never even thought of leaving a note in camp and i dont know anybody who does. it might be a good idea if you were expecting to have someone meet you in camp later on, that way if you didnt come back to camp they could go out looking for you sooner.

RE: hunting alone?
 

We just always leave a note the area we are in. It is just a good thing because you never know of a storm that comes up or something just happens. The law would at least have an idea which way to go.