Don't wait.

[bluealtered]

I want to share this in positive manner for all of us hunting in 2019. I sit here wishing i had gotten more hunts in during 2018 and the reasons why i didn't. Some are the reasons we all have such as reality popping up at the time we should be taking off for the wild blue or getting sick at the wrong time, (is there ever a right time)?
Others are that the person/people i was to go with didn't show when we were to meet and my not finding out that something stopped them until way past time to go in order to be in place when we should be to make daylight and have a chance of getting a shot at what we were to hunt.

When i was younger it wasn't a problem because i could simply hike further back in the hills and find a spot that would work, now being an old fa*t and having lost the ability to hike in more that a mile or so i need to be there at a certain time to catch that critter as it does it's morning walk to the water hole.
So i am going to let those i hunt with nicely know that this year i must leave at the agreed time or i'll be happy to share with them the days wonderful or terrible results when i get back from the hunt. If the hunt was good or not, that doesn't matter as much as it used to, but being out there matters even more than it did before. Good hunting to all of you in 2019!

 

[Immike]

Yessir, was out there this morning (freezing) and don’t whitetail hunt with anybody anymore. No planning necessary and no one to wait on. I see hunting as a personal agreement between man and animal and keep it that way! I see enough people during working hours.

 

[jimmymac]

...but whenever you have an open blind available, let me know. You won't hear from me all day.

 

[rayporter]

or when you are going west for a thousand miles and the guy that was going with you to help drive and share expenses backs out.

nothing to do but load the horses and go solo. btdt

 

[Trophied]

Or like me, there are plenty of friends and family members that all profess to want to go bird hunting, but when I set about making the arrangements and let any of them know how much it will total in cost, they either expect me to pay for it or suddenly have miriad reasons they "CAN'T GO AT THIS TIME". It's happened so many times I've quit even thinking about asking any of them, and if it costs me twice as much to go by myself I'm fine with that.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Or like me, there are plenty of friends and family members that all profess to want to go bird hunting, but when I set about making the arrangements and let any of them know how much it will total in cost, they either expect me to pay for it or suddenly have miriad reasons they "CAN'T GO AT THIS TIME". It's happened so many times I've quit even thinking about asking any of them, and if it costs me twice as much to go by myself I'm fine with that.

I’ve had it happen a bunch too and have quit asking, this and pre-purchasing arena or concert tickets. I always get left holding the bag. Don’t loan out books anymore either, they don’t usually find their way back home.

 

[Trophied]

Or tools, either don't come back, or come back broken. The very reason I don't borrow tools either.

 

[bluealtered]

Those are all the reasons i spent the first part of my life hunting/tracking by my self. One more i can add to the list is the person who really only came to stay drunk the whole trip instead of helping the others during the hunt. Don't get me wrong, ... i like a drink or two after the hunt and the firearms are put away and camp work is done as well as anybody else. However the reason we spent all that money was to try and fill the freezer as well as have fun with our friends.

 

[Immike]

Those are all the reasons i spent the first part of my life hunting/tracking by my self. One more i can add to the list is the person who really only came to stay drunk the whole trip instead of helping the others during the hunt. Don't get me wrong, ... i like a drink or two after the hunt and the firearms are put away and camp work is done as well as anybody else. However the reason we spent all that money was to try and fill the freezer as well as have fun with our friends.

I was reading a Q&A article written by Chuck Adams a few years ago:
One of the questions was if he only went on invited hunts now. His answer surprised me, “No- Those end up as beer guzzling jokes too often, I plan my own hunting”

I’m sure all of us have been on a few of these excursions with our drinking buddies and as long as everyone pulls they’re weight it’s fine. I just went on a long haul with a couple guys and one of them didn’t want to setup camp before dark and insisted that the drinking came first, end of story. He was used to his employees doing all the work and that we would get the job done. I’m not fooled by this and his laziness gave him away as more a story teller than a hunter.

 

[KMart]

All the above are some of the reasons I have been such a loner for most of my life. I got tired (in a hurry) of people not keeping their word or at least giving me a heads up if their situation changed.
I grew up hunting, fishing, and shooting with my Dad. His word was gold. The trip was going to happen.
I have kept those sports as my past times.
What is the down side of going to the range and being he only one there? Putting up with the general public can be a real downer and in some instances, be down right unsafe.
A nice quiet day of fishing can be a real relaxer. Filling the ice chest with speckled trout, redfish or flounder is a real plus. If the ice chest is empty, so what. You don't have to clean fish after you get home. You have enjoyed the day. Same for hunting trips.
But, as we get older, it is good to have someone along that is as committed to the sport as you. One never knows when disaster can strike for one of you and you need help.

 

[1lessdog]

I grew up hunting with my Dad and Brothers. When we were 11 is when we could carry a gun. I grew up and had my own children and they started at the age of 6 shooting Turkeys and as they got older and could handle a gun safely everything else. Now they are all grown and gone, and Im alone again. Sometimes I just drive around, I dont have to shoot anything just nice to get out. But my main love is calling in Coyotes. I have tomorrow off and my wife works and we have plenty of snow so I will be out calling. If I shoot one or some I hope its a short drag to the truck. Either way I will have fun, but at time is nice to share it with someone.

 

[K22]

I'm a solo hunter. That way the only person I have to please is myself. I'm also now an old fart too. My dear wife isn't real happy with me hunting alone because over 45 years of marriage she knows I tend to overdo things I like and I love hunting!

I use to leave at dawn and return at night hunting ghogs, predators, and deer. Most of my buddies were not that dedicated or crazy.

Now I take a more relaxed approach - translation - My body is too old to go all day. In the old days it was nothing for me to cover 3 to 4 farms hunting ghogs and walking 5 to 10 miles. Now that would kill me.

I agree, being in the field is more important now than the success of the hunt but I'm addicted to hunting ghogs. I've also gotten softer - I let them walk if they are under 100 yards.

 

[spencerhenry]

I don't wait around, if I want to go, I go. That goes for everything in life, whitewater rafting, flying, hunting, etc...

If I waited for someone else to go, I'd rarely do anything. We all get older everyday, someday may never come. I agree, get out there and do it.

 

[Downhill]

I paid the $250 entry for a statewide varmint hunt several years ago. Locked down 8,000 acres of a nearby ranch to hunt. My team consisted of guys 20 to 25 years younger than myself (all good guys, known all them since they were pups). The day of the hunt started getting calls saying "gotta cancel". Done the 24 hour hunt alone ( can not emphasize how enjoyable it was). The following morning drove 1 1/2 hours to weigh in. Won $4,000!!!!. No 4 way split, all mine! Found out there was a local concert and dance that night. The reason the rest of the team cancelled. Chasing split tales cost each one of those boys a thousand bucks. Still pisses them off when I laugh at them about it.

 

[Trophied]

Really upset them and one by one privately tell each one what you spent his $1000 on! All these posts are one of the reasons I like riding motorcycles with the few guys I ride with. Call or text any of them and you'll know within minutes if they can go, and none of them really care what the destination or the distance is, as long as "I have to be home by" works, and if not they'll go part way and break off to get home on time. Refreshing. Too bad none of them are hunters.

 

[clunker]

It is both heart-warming and depressing to hear the other loners in this forum. I gave up trusting people years ago except for my family and two other people. It's just me and the dog, and I will take dog friendship over any human, any day. Fishing on the Snake River is absolute bliss because you rarely encounter other people. When you do see them, they are doing the same thing as you . . . getting away from other people. Haven't been hunting yet (hopefully next year), but I imagine it is the same feeling. No one in my family hunts, so hopefully one of those two friends is up to the task.

 

[bluealtered]

Thanks guys, it's good to see that there are others here who feel the same way. One of the reasons i moved here many years ago was because you could go just a few miles out of town and Never hear a truck or a gun shot all day long and if by chance i did i would catch myself muttering, it's getting damn crowded here.
That has of course changed in the last forty years, i may hear a truck or atv when i'm in the mountains but most of the time if i do they are five or more miles away, and to be honest as i have written here, you can still see and hunt deer and elk less than a quarter mile from I-84 if you know where they are.

 

[dgeesaman]

i haven't hunted before apart from the odd g-hog eliminations on my property. Based on what I'm reading, if I get an invitation to hunt I'd be a good guest. (Pay a share of the cost, show up, and go hunt)

 

[rebel]

Growing up here, there were no deer. NC was building the herd. There were plenty of quail, rabbits and squirrels. Mom and Dad grew up as sidewalk babies (townsfolk) and were quite liberal. Enter baby Mike, who's grampaw gave a sling shot. Then at 12, I received a Bear Grizzly 45# recurve. Things really started dying then. My mother suffered through her son cooking squirrel on her stove. My brother was a jock and they supported his interests and decided to support their elder son's to. Christmas 1982 I got a Marlin 150 pump 12 gauge. In 83 I got a 39A. It was on then.
I hunted, trapped and fished all the time....by myself. At 21 I had become good friends with several gentlemen that were 20 years my senior and invited to deer camp, way back up in Pisgah National forest. A map was scribbled on a paper towel of how to get there, including descriptions like "turn left where the big rock juts out of the road bank. " I was thrilled.
I drove that 100 miles in the dark. The last 22 miles on dirt forest roads to make it there at 6 a.m.
I still hunted by myself as most of those guys just hung around camp, farting and being lazy. The head of that group however was a true woodsman. Introduced me to grouse hunting and trout fishing. Over the years we had some real adventures and became best friends.
Now at 54 and him at 74 and in so so health, I find myself hunting alone again. My children didn't really get into it. I haven't wet a fly in a few years but will go this spring no matter what...of course, alone. Life is cyclic, don't you think?

 

[Immike]

I use my catfish jug trips for taking my buddies out, although it’s a lot of work but it’s a short overnight trip that most can handle. It usually requires a few evenings of bait fishing locally so that’s a fun part of getting ready.