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Thread: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Whonnock for 19 years, Mission for 46 years
    Posts
    4,720

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Quote Originally Posted by MichelD View Post
    I started hunting with my dad as a teenager, but except for very rare occasions, we didn't actually hunt together, but it was more of a "You go this way and I'll go that way and I'll meet you at the wrecked cabin on the ridge at noon" kind of thing. If one fired a shot then we'd find each other.

    Now many years later I go alone if i feel like taking off and some of my friends can't make it it. Even with one or two others though, we never hunt together. I'm an early riser and usually I'm up, had tea and a bite of cake of bred and jam and out of camp in the dark before anyone else gets up. We may or may not meet up during the day. I'm a bush walker and most of my friends road hunt.



    Two weeks ago I was in the biggest camp I've ever been in; seven guys. But like I said, I'd be up and gone before they got up. I'd drive a km or five, park and hike and they'd drive. In the afternoon we'd meet up and maybe take off in different directions again and meet up for campfire, drinks and dinner after dark. But except when I had a rookie out with me, I never am in the bush with another person.

    I got my best deer ever last year solo. Drove up to a spot I'd noted a few years earlier, spent an evening and a whole day there and on the morning of day three connected. At 65 dragging a big 4x4 mulie out wasn't as easy as it used to be, but I was blessed with downhill terrain and even a few patches of snow to make it easier.
    "At 65 dragging a big 4x4 mulie out wasn't as easy as it used to be," It's even worse in your 70's!
    I was 70-71 last 2 bucks I shot and they were a couple hundred yards from vehicle access. It was
    all my wife and I could manage even with many rests. I've made a personal promise not to even try
    anymore... I will either cut one in half or quarter it right on the spot and use my packboard.


  2. #32
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    3,912

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Quote Originally Posted by Big Lew View Post
    "At 65 dragging a big 4x4 mulie out wasn't as easy as it used to be," It's even worse in your 70's!
    I was 70-71 last 2 bucks I shot and they were a couple hundred yards from vehicle access. It was
    all my wife and I could manage even with many rests. I've made a personal promise not to even try
    anymore... I will either cut one in half or quarter it right on the spot and use my packboard.

    I know what you mean about many rests.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    72

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Honestly got tired of trying to herd cats with hunting partners. Said screw it, and have tagged moose elk and deer in the past 3 years out hiking by myself. The safety net of having someone near by in bear country is a big issue though... having a little one of my own i take way less risks and am more wary out in the bush now.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Posts
    187

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Like others have said, hunting alone makes plenty of sense for a number of reasons.
    A big reason I hunt alone is my appetite for adventure isn't the same as most people.
    Many a times when I'm in the thick of it, I've thought to myself "sure glad I didn't drag anyone else into this".
    It can be trying out a new route that turns into a brutal bushwhack or just going hard for the whole day in the cold and wet.
    Even I know my limits and when I've had enough. But It sucks to be constantly wondering if the other person has hit their limit and is secretly hating you.
    Discomfort is one thing but risk is something I take seriously and my Garmin Inreach is the insurance I take when hunting solo.

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    592

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    I had a terrible experience hunting with as a group. So bad that it caused me to take 6 years off from hunting altogether. Despite having a buck killed with that group, I consider myself a big game virgn. This year I decided to start easing myself back into hunting but on the condition that I won't hunt with anyone else for a very long time, if ever again.

    I fish alone 99% of the time, and I tend to fish relatively remote lakes and rivers. I have a pretty good knowledge of the backcountry in my area. I started out this year by just bringing the Ruger 10/22 out with with me when I fished and looking for grouse. I wasn't seriously hunting, but I took note of where I saw deer, bears etc and where I tended to see grouse. I only got a shot at one which I missed but oh well.

    I've started applying the same scouting techniques to hunting that I use for fishing. I use a mixture of backroad mapbooks and Google earth satellite imaging to look for likely areas. Next spring and summer I'll get out and put some miles on my boots to check out the places I've noted in person. Reading the hell out of HBC to pick up as may tips and tricks from fantasic people here as I can helps too.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    The Ville, B.C.
    Posts
    5,627

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Umm, by myself....LOL.

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Horsefly BC
    Posts
    2,253

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Moving 3000 miles away from your old hunting buddies makes you go out on your own too. It took 5 years to get back into it but I am in it up to my eyes now.
    Adventures it what I live for now. Put 300 kms on my atv and 15 kms on my boots. I would walk more but for all the grizzly's.
    The challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money.
    The worst day slinging lead is still better than the best day working.
    Look around is there someone you can introduce to shooting because that’s the only way we will buck the anti gun trend sweeping Canada! "tigrr 2006"


  8. #38
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    2,429

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    I just didn't have a partner to bring, so I started going by myself. Now I mostly hunt alone.
    The only thing I like as much as trucks, is guns.

  9. #39
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Mission,BC
    Posts
    401

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Quote Originally Posted by thick View Post
    other threads of yours likely made it seem like there was a convoy of 3 or 4 of you following each other single file in the woods which is not productive....
    I've already communicated to my group about being together too much and needing to hunt somewhat separately in order to have more success. I guess you could describe us at times as a "herd". But we were able to find a lot of animals....just not the target animals.
    Appreciate all the responses.
    Thanks,
    ekul246

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Surrey, BC
    Posts
    13,183

    Re: Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

    Hunting alone for most people is not by design, but by necessity.
    We are all different and have different amount of spare time to spend for hunting.
    My fishing days have been reduced by half because of hunting.
    1. Human over population
    2. Government burden and overreach

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