RE: Hunting Alone
 

I hunt alone about 75% of the time. I feel more comfortable in the woods than I do anywhere else, and the solitude can be very enjoyable. I carry the basic tools for survival with me, and if I need to I know I can stay in the woods until help finds me. I don' t worry about getting lost, but there is always the possibility of getting injured, so thinking ahead is a wise thing to do.

[Deleted]
 

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RE: Hunting Alone
 

Well up until 2 years ago I hunted alone all the time, I still do most of the time, I like it that way. To me it is part of the experience, do not get me wrong, I do enjoy hunting with others, but as others have mentioned there are not many folks that hunt more than 70 days a year, so if I only hunted when someone else could come it wouldn' t be that often.

My twins come with me sometimes, and they both know where my stands are and the property I hunt so if the old man doesn' t come home they would know where to look, I just let them know where I am hunting that day.

RE: Hunting Alone
 

i have always hunted alone since my sons moved on and started their own families.i carry a cell phone with me where ever i go just in case.:)

RE: Hunting Alone
 

I dont mind hunting alone when I have to. I' ve gone at least a dozen times by myself over the years when my buddy had to work or something. I always give my wife and hunting buddy a general idea of when to expect me. If I' m not home by a couple hours after nightfall, my buddy would come looking for me. I dont seem to get as much rest at night when I' m camping alone..seems like I sleep with one eye open all night. And of course it can be tough getting a deer out of the woods along...I did that last year....a solid hour of hard core dragging in the dark...whew! Sore for days after that one!
SC in LR

RE: Hunting Alone
 

That about sums it up for me. About the only exception is when I take my son (age 8) or my brother who doesn' t know much more than my son!

RE: Hunting Alone
 

During bow and black powder season I hunt alone more than with someone.. there are a few days where I will hook up woth a friend or two and go.. during regular gun season it just depends, there are weeks when I dont see another person.. and then there are weeks where I will hunt with a group all week... when hunting alone I usually let my girlfriend and or my parents know where I will be... most of the time my brother knows where I will be.. or the neighbor if hes not with me!!

RE: Hunting Alone
 

All my deer hunting is done solo. But my Wife and I do hunt Pheasants together.

RE: Hunting Alone
 

Well now, I dont feel so bad about going it alone. But here is a little story some of you might find to be an eye opener. Believe me, I sure did.

To start off, I bought into a 1100 acre hunting lease back in Febuary. There are 12 members of the lease, of which only about 7 or 8 have been active so far. Several of us have done some extensive scouting all over the property since well before Turkey season. Needless to say, anyone of us could be anywhere within 1100 acres. I hunted the opener of Bow season with a few of the other guys on the property. We hunt the mornings and evenings and skip the mid day because of the heat. Well, Saturday evening, I was talking with one of the other guys about doing some more scouting in parts of the property where we haven' t been. He was staying at the cabin over night and going to scout Sunday morning. I told him that I would be back Sunday evening to stay the night and hunt Monday and Tuesday. I was expecting to be at the cabin around 3:30-4:00. He said he would be gone by then. After going through a tiff with the wife about staying at the cabin, I finally left home around 4:00. Stopped off for a few essential supplies and finally reached the cabin at about 5:30 or so. Well, to my surprise, my buddys truck was still at the cabin with his 4 wheeler in tow. I walked into the open door of the cabin to find him laying on the couch in a major sweat. He was having trouble breathing and could barely speak between breaths. He was able to tell me that he had been through 2 Heart Attacks in the past and that this one was the worst he ever felt. The first thing was to call 911. That was a fiasco. Neither of us knew the name of the road to the cabin. I tried to give them directions into the place, but that was not good enough. She had to have a name. I even gave her GPS coordinates. Still not good enough. I had to drive down the road to find the name and come back to the yard to get a signal on the nextel. She than told me I would have to meet the rescue squad at the road. So I get back to my buddy to let him know whats happening. He was haveing severly labored breathing. I stayed with him for a few minutes before going out to the road, and tried to check his pulse. It was very irregular. They finally got there and loaded him up within minutes of their arrival. Got him to the hospital and stabilized.

Everything is ok now. But this all goes to show, you don' t have to fall from a stand to be in a bad situation. Be sure that someone knows where you are. We, have a aerial photo on a cork board that everyone is supposed to peg in/out on. This way, if another hunter is out there I will know where he is supposed to be if he does not show up to peg out.

As for my buddy, he was out of the hospital 3 days later and back in the woods 5 days after the heart attack. The doc told him that he could use the walking but not to climb any trees or over exert himself. Talk about a guy with a love for the outdoors..... He knows he was lucky.

By the way, for those of you out there that know you have a heart condition, CARRY YOUR NITRO PILLS WITH YOU. We would all like to see you around to hunt another day.



Smitty

Sorry for the book.

RE: Hunting Alone
 

I hunt alone better than 50% I would guess. My wife knows the general area where I am. Two of my cousins hunt there and know every stand like the back of their hands. I never go without telling the wife which part I' ll be hunting or without my cell phone. If I' m not back in a reasonable time after dark she' ll call my cousins then head to the woods herself. It is not fool proof by any means but then again something terrible could happen if you were hunting with someone. Be safe and good luck.