Solo Hunting: How did you get started?

[Ferenc]

I didn’t have anyone who could take me out regularly when I started hunting. If I wanted to get out, then I had to do it on my own. As someone who really appreciates my alone time that’s okay, but I think it took me a lot longer to figure things out in my own. Now I’ve gotten married, made more friends with folks who hunt, and regularly have others asking me to take them out. I don’t get out alone as often, and I miss it. As others have mentioned, sharing camp, but splitting up for the day strikes a good balance for me.

Have to admit ... have seen some pretty funny comedy hours in camp ....sometimes you need to get away by yourself alone ..... Hahahaha

[Wentrot]

I’ve always been a bit of a loner so being in the woods alone came naturally. Not having the same days off as anyone else the past couple years doesn’t help either.

[allan]

For me it was an extension of other activities that I enjoyed being solo.
When I was young, I usually hiked and back packed solo, preferring going at my own pace,
usually faster than others in my circle of friends and relatives. I took up bicycle touring and
except for two long trips, found it more enjoyable for the same reasons. When I first began
hunting as a youth I was usually with my dad, and later with my brothers, but I still preferred
going on my own where I didn't have to worry or consider others. I have taken many hunters
out over the years and many of them have become lost when striking out on their own from camp.
I find this extremely stressful, enough that on the odd occasion I still take someone along, they
have to agree to stay with me. So many people just don't have the outdoor training needed to be
safe in the woods now-a-days. Road hunting is a different matter. I will say that in this day and
age with all the inexpensive technology available, anyone heading out into the wilds either by foot
or conveyance should carry a tracking device with them so someone at home can keep an eye on
where they are, especially if you have responsibilities like a wife and kids. We hear of hunters getting
lost or not returning every year and often the rescue party or searchers aren't successful because they
only have a vague idea where to look.

This is exactly me, but I enjoyed biking, snowboarding, camping and working by myself, hunting solo was a natural progression. My other issue is my work schedule is so unreliable that I don’t plan on big trips with friends anymore. I end up cancelling or changing my hunting days. Now they plan for me to show up and maybe leave early whenever I go with them. We always have a great time when we are together.

[albravo2]

Don't overthink it. Get an InReach and head out.

I'm entirely self-taught too but I'm a slow learner so it took me quite a while to accumulate enough knowledge and luck to get meat in the freezer. Some of that learning was by myself, some was with other hunters. It might not seem like it but you are always learning when in the woods.

[swampthing]

I started doing solo trips to the woods when I was in elementary school. I always wanted to be outdoors and never held back when I had no friends available. When I got older and started driving that progressed in hunting/camping trips by myself. When I began a work carrear I was often out of town in interesting new country. When I got a day off I would go explore new country either scouting or hunting, most often sleeping out of a pickup. I am very comfortable in the woods and feel more capable there then I do in a city. I can go where I want, when I want. I just finished a solo moose hunt where I was successful. Now that I am pretty old, that was a handful! I think a soloist has to have decent gear, be comfortable with his abilities and happy to be alone. I have run into many others while hunting/camping alone and some people think you are crazy! Its just normal, I feel!

[Big Lew]

I started doing solo trips to the woods when I was in elementary school. I always wanted to be outdoors and never held back when I had no friends available. When I got older and started driving that progressed in hunting/camping trips by myself. When I began a work carrear I was often out of town in interesting new country. When I got a day off I would go explore new country either scouting or hunting, most often sleeping out of a pickup. I am very comfortable in the woods and feel more capable there then I do in a city. I can go where I want, when I want. I just finished a solo moose hunt where I was successful. Now that I am pretty old, that was a handful! I think a soloist has to have decent gear, be comfortable with his abilities and happy to be alone. I have run into many others while hunting/camping alone and some people think you are crazy! Its just normal, I feel!

"some people think you are crazy! Its just normal," if I had a dollar for everytime someone called me crazy, lol!

[HikerHunter]

lol i solo hunt because i have no hunter friends.

[Aaron600]

I solo hunt most of the time because my friends don't wana hike to where I wana hike to(road hunters) and now I don't wana show anyone new my little honey hole which has taken me 4 years of blood sweat and tears to find.

[Kill-da-wabbit]

Only touchy part of solo hunting for me is alone in a tent through the night. Everything else is cake. I don’t care how tough you are it’s spooky and lonely in the wild alone through the night

This was how i learned birds/ducks are active and fly at night. Alone, 5km from the truck, and a crow cackling as it flew overhead at 11:00pm! No wonder people used to think there were witches in the woods. I was very alert for the rest of the night! But you get used to all the noises - the forest is very active at night...

[MichelD]

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.

You asked how we started hunting solo? After leaving home and getting married, hunting on the Island used to be just a quick day trip in the truck or even a short hike into my back 40 when I had property. After moving to the city in 1985, and having no hunter pals I started day trips as far as I could go and get back in one day in my Japanese station wagon until I realized I'd be better off camping overnight. That way I started exploring farther away in more distant parts of Region 2 and into Region 8. That's what I continue to do today unless with friends now we get a moose draw in Region 5 or 6.

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.