I can definately understand personal time. I spend a vast amount of time in the wilderness by myself. Week long solo hiking trips are the norm for me but I love to share my hunting. Mostly I share it with my father, but I also like share with my friends espically here.

You won't find me shooting the breeze with other hunters I meet in the woods about what critters I've seen or know to be in the area. I scout and hunt for myself. I expect other hunters to do the same if they want to be successful. But I feel the need to share with my brothers in bows. Bow hunter share something special. We have the opportunity to experience the woods in a natural state. In a state of calm before the orange army send the normal peace and tranquility of the woods into panicky chaos. We have that opportunity and I love to share it with other that also experience it. To share my experiences and to hear about others. I feel we can learn alot from others and like to bring my experiences to the table to help fellow bow hunters.

But what abut us Captian? You share with us quite often. I know it's cyber world but do you consider us here to be diffrent. I feel you bring quite a bit here with your experiences.

I have hunted alone a majority of the time. My wife always knows where I am at all times, so there is no worry. I have hunted with others (mostly duck and goose hunting) and had a great time. With deer hunting and primarily bowhunting, I would welcome the idea of hunting with others or the possibility of joining a club.

Butch A.

I'm very similar except I like to tell folks I'm going and that is for several reasons...I am excited and want to share my excitement about going, I want someone to know where I am in case I get mauled by daddy rabbit, and I want to get a feel for which of my buddies I can call after the hunt to help me haul out my monster hawg buck!

Otherwise, I'm all alone and do prefer that way as well. I very much enjoy sharing stories after the hunt though.

That's one of the main reasons I like this site, I can share with all of you without fear that someone is going to try to use the information I share against me. For example, I found a good stand site last year , lot of deer activity. Up until that time I had one brother that I trusted , so I told him about the sign and where I was hunting. Well, lo and behold the next time I went back he was already there with his 13 yr old boy stinking everything up!!! I immediately added him to my "Brothers I don't tell anything to" list! (It was after this I saw the BIG buck, and that's the reason he doesn't know about it).

When it comes to bowhunting, I'm very serious. It's a very serious thing to me. I had years when I was younger when it was more fun, but now it's work for me. Don't get me wrong, definitely a labor of love,and I still have fun, but everything I do is done for a specific, well-thought-out reason and executed with precision. It's a lot of work.And remember , I do this ON PURPOSE. It's the way I'm most SATISFIED in my hunting. Not for everyone I know, but it's just the way I am.
But yes adams, I do share with you guys and enjoy it, but it IS a little different ,you see. I don't think you guys are all that different , just a different situation. And btw, I think you bring quite a bit as well. I think most everyone on here does in one way or the other, and that is valuable to me as well.

I too enjoy hunting and all the preliminary stuff alone. I've had a few hunting "buddies" over time. They have tended to be more of a nuiscance than anything else. My best friends don't hunt, so I've tried to make do with second rate friends. Mainly I just keep to myself. Which is fine cause I do enjoy being alone out there. We see people all day its nice to just watch the woods. I do miss people tho when I'm putting up stands.

This forum has been a real gift to me. A great place to hear and tell stories. A great place to learn.

That's got to be tough when you can't tell a hunting buddy in confidence about what you've found. I share with my dad and have even served him up a few deer in the years we've hunted together but I don't mind because he taught most of what I know about hunting. I guess I'm lucky in the sence I only have a couple of friends that hunt. Well, mostly my dads friends. I share with them what I want them to know but info I work my butt off for is for me only.

I don't know, maybe it's because I'm still so young compared to a lot of you, but I like hunting with my dad. I can't think of a better way to spend time with him than being in the outdoors. He's with me when I scout, when I hang stands, and sometimes when I'm able to put my tag on an animal. Honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. This last rifle season I spent a few days during the week hunting by myself all day and found myself a little out of place. It just didn't feel right being out there knowing that we wouldn't be walking back to the truck together. He's the only real hunting buddy I have other than my chocolate lab.

I have hunted alone many times and have not gathered in the bowhunters circles for many years. However, some of the best hunts I have had have been when others have bagged a deer because of my sharing of information where the deer are, and my giving instructions on setups, shooting, and field skills.

Several years ago, I met a young person on the road as I came out of the property that I had been hunting for several years. He had recently been given permission to hunt the adjacent property. He had been bowhunting for three seasons and had the "bowhunter's" zeal and dreams, but he had never had a shot, his equipment was old, and he had every type and length of arrow crammed into his quiver. It was obvious that he just did not have the money to do better, and eventually he said so.

After a trip to my tackle box at my truck, a thorough adjustment and tune of the bow, a new string that was an inch too long but roughly corrected with some twisting, and a culling of shafts, we then went to his tree stand. He had literally leveled the area around his stand. It (area) looked like someone had prepped the area for a helicopter landing. I picked out a new tree along a clover field and told him what to trim and what not to trim for his fields of fire.

After I had did the most I could do with what was available and possible in the field, I told him the general locations I usually sat up in the area I hunted; that if he hit a deer he could come and get me if he needed help.

About two weeks after I had met him, I came out of the field one day and observed he was standing near my truck. He was pacing and appeared to be anxious. I knew before I got to him that he must have hit a deer. He had. After helping him track the doe for several hours, it became obvious his shot had been bad. It was a bittersweet experience for him, and he was emotionally crushed.

I explained to him that his experience was not uncommon and that he should look at the incident as progress and a learning experience. He felt somewhat better, but not totally. He expressed that he wished he had missed, rather than wounded the deer. I told him that he would improve, and that his success would improve, because it was obvious that that he had the correct attitude for a bowhunter.

The next season I moved to a new (private) hunting area and never saw the person again. I often wonder if he got his deer. I hope he did. When I recall the situation it always dawns on me; strangely, we never gave our names or any personal background. I guess we were too involved with the relevant.

During my encounter with the bowhunter, I was taken back to the excitement and frustrations of my beginnings of bowhunting. The occasion was refreshing and a good hunt.

The year I put my bowhunting student-nephew in my favorite stand location and he bagged two does 10 minutes apart, was one of the best hunts I have ever had.

I have experienced the thrill of a good hunt many times through the hands and emotions of other bowhunters I have helped in some small way.

I use to woodchuck hunt with my dad over 30 years ago, and I still remember doing it. He would get permission to hunt them in this farmers field/woods, and out we would go. We would do this year after year, and I think we only got 1. This was during the summer on vacation, in central Vermont.

But I still remember walking the fields/woods with him and a 22 in hand. Also, one year when we got to our farm house, there were porcupines living in the basement. We have a black and white picture with him and the 22, and 2 dead porcupines on the from porch.

My dad died 4 years ago, his heart stopped one morning. So guys who hunt with their dads today, cherish the times together, since nothing lasts forever.

Tom

I can't possibly imagine keeping secrets from my brothers or dad about our hunting land for the selfish reasons of wanting to have everything for myself [:'(]

I love to share everything about each day we all had in the woods.........I can't even count how many memories and stories we have that still bring a smile to my face even though they happened 15 years ago. We laugh our butts off every year telling stories that we all have heard 1,000 times already........that is a treasure about hunting I would never give up.

How anyone could be upset if another family member gets a deer and not them is mind boggling. Every day I go in the woods I hope that all my partners (friends and/or family) have a safe hunt and harvest a deer........Sure, I don't want to get skunked but I love to see other guys have success as well. A couple seasons ago I had 3 in the freezer before anyone else even got 1.........I used to go to my stand and hope I DIDN'T get offered a shot!!

Wanting everything for yourself and not being happy for others and their success sounds very greedy and dripping with petty jealousy.


Don't get me wrong..........I hunt mostly public land and the worst mistake we ever made was dragging a trophy my brother shot out to the road while it was still light out. That was in 1999 and we are STILL fighting the crowds of guys that either saw or heard about that buck and where he was shot. We used to see 1 or 2 other cars near our area and now it is a parking lot.

It's not a great idea to go and tell everyone you see about where the big boys are...........but if you can't even share that info with your family and close friends without fear of backstabbing then you have bigger issues to deal with