Hunting alone in the big woods.........

[longbowray]

I hunt alone alot , we that my wife bought a gps and when I get to the trial head I text gps locator to her and to my dad and every 2 or 3 days I walk up to the top a text . I'm 42 and in ok shape , I just don't fine poeple who willing to pack in are to hunt as I do ? My boys go with me once in a blue moon . This is what I do

[PaddyMac]

This is something I think about all the time and it is the topic of many sober discussions at 4 a.m. with my wife over coffee.

I have always bowhunted alone and since moving here from Illinois in 1981, I have hunted alone on remote tracks of public land, and I have always accepted that it is inherently dangerous. I have had several close calls over the years.

I'm 53 and I'm in the best shape I've been since high school. Still, you can die from a broken ankle out here and the way I hunt, lots of running and jumping and stuff, often under the influence of adrenalin, that can border on the plain nuts. But I am hyper careful when I do stuff like that. And most of the time I move like a banana slug.

I try to take reasonable precautions. I carry a cell phone and a good first aid kit, and I know how to plug leaks and splint things. But yeah, I know what a broadhead can do and I know if I take one in my femoral artery, I have just about enough time for a very frank conversation with the Man Upstairs.

To me it is an acceptable risk based on the depth of my passion. It's the same reason I let my tomcat out at night. He's going to get caught by a coyote one night, but it's what he is. I can't deny him that. And that's why my wife puts up with it from me, I guess.

[cahaba]

I have had those feelings also ron. I always leave a map with the general location circled with my wife. We dont have grizzlys but do have rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins that are out in early fall. Cell phones dont get out anywhere in the big woods I hunt. I do it cause I love it and I bet you do too. I may invest in one of them beacon things. If I got snake bit it would be over. I never go so far as to not be able to get my game out.

[ron w]

Thanks for the thoughts and input. Just to clarify, I'm hunting in the Adirondacks and some of it is a Wilderness area. You can get 8-10 miles off the road if you got on a track in the snow and were not paying attention. I have not done that in a long time, at least not during bow season. But yesterday as I was eating my lunch on top of mountain I started to think about some of this stuff and I thought I would pick your minds.......Thanks

[centaur]

I hunt alone much more than I do with someone else. I don't go as far or hard as I used to (i'm 64), but I still hunt a lot of remote country. I do carry a Personal Locator Beacon nowadays if I am back in the weeds, because there is no cell service. When I am elk hunting (or stream fishing, for that matter), and see another person, it is getting too crowded for me.

[WindWalker-AK]

Mr. ron w,
Majority of my hunting is done alone.  I always mark on the map the area where I will be, which is left with my wife.  Most of the time no cell service so I carry a SPOT which works well in the areas I hunt.  Allows me to send an "OK" msg each day and provides my location.
Additionally, I use our Alaskan Mule to get to the area I will be camping/hunting and then roam about on foot until an animal is down.  I especially take care to only shoot a spike/fork horn Moose as anything larger is too big to handle by myself.  (Caribou are not a problem, so far.)  Plus, will only bring one down in an area where the Mule can be brought right up alongside the animal to aid in the field dressing/loading/packing out.  Am too old (combined with health issues) to be backpacking the meat any distance.
Yes, it does limit my options but at least I can still get out and that is a heck of a lot better than sitting at home.
Not ready to take up the rocking chair just yet, though that day is on the horizon.
Best Wishes

[TDHunter]

I like many also hunt alone, Mt. Goat, Grizzly, Moose, and 99% of the time no cell, radio and many times no sat service. My wife begs me to take a shotgun with me, and on the rare occasion I do but 95%  of that time it stays in the truck. I do carry a spot which sometimes works and sometimes does not. Hunting with friends is special but hunting alone is something very different....it's my church. I try not to think about the what ifs and take some measures : Tell someone where I'm going, SPOT, bear spay or 2, first aid kid and a big knife.

[drewsbow]

Hey coyotes got to eat too ya know  

[imhntn]

I have done it some when I could not get anyone to go with me but I always carried an aviation radio in my pack.  Figured I could raise and airplane on the emergency frequency and get help in.  I would either do that, rent a satellite phone or buy one of those SPOT devices that you can punch a button and it sends help.

[ron w]

The coyotes are doing just fine.........     They don't need my help!!

[woodchucker]

Well Ron, Back in the day.....

I hunted everything between Indian Lake, and Old Forge. I had a rifle, shells, a knife, a compass, and a fire kit. I never gave it a second thought back then...

(I still don't!!!)

[adkmountainken]

i'm to stupid to think a head like that!!! if i was retired i would be right there with ya! even the small hike up the mountain makes me think, if i got a deer where i have been sitting i'm in for a LONG day and it pales in comparison to the depth and area you hunt in!

[Windsurfer]

There is only so much you can do, when your number is up, your number is up.  I hope mine comes up when in the deep woods or windsurfing Lake Michigan on a really big day.    Dave

[ron w]

Woodchucker.....I used to go with a knife, rope, an apple and a sandwich stuffed in my shirt, compass and some matches.....that was a long time ago! I also wasn't 59, with knees that have been operated on 3 times! I guess "to old to quick,to smart to late"    !!!!

[J-dog]

Where I hunt is the croatan which in the area I hunt is considerered one of two wilderness areas in NC - huge piece of land but not as lage as most of what is out west. I think though that considering the flat featureless, thicker than Cambodia woods it is amazing more folks do not disappear out there.

Never stressed and I a usually alone - I have hunted these pieves all my life and know them well - also know there are pieces not to go into! seriously I consider them the Bermuda traingles of woods - GPS does not seem to work in there, and compasses get throwed into fits.

Carry ways to makefire and a smallish piece of tarp, first aid to include a CAT, and quick clot (Bhunter play with sharo things) as well as we all parachute chord. Just in case

[Rob W.]

I think society in general will eventually demand that everyone wear a helmet and bubble wrap. For me the element of danger is part of the attraction to the outdoors.

I am going to add a small packable tarp to my pack though. Would make a tracking job that turns into an all nighter a bit more comfortable.


Rob

[**DONOTDELETE**]

We hunt not only big woods, but seriously steep mountains. We have a base camp that everyone heads out in separate directions. Most of my hunting party prefers hunting alone, as i do.... we just let someone know what drainage we are hunting before heading out.... nobody worries until someone doesn't show up over night. you don't go out looking for someone at night in these mountains. they are either prepared to spend the night in the woods, or are prepared to meet their maker.

We loose a guy every couple years down in those mountains on the Oregon coast. Not in our hunting party, but guys that are not prepared....

i never go out on even a short hunt without a full day pack. it's so easy to get turned around and not make it out before it gets dark. i never go hunting without my pack that has a two day food supply, first aid kit, lantern, pack stove, water filter... the whole works. yup.... it weighs about 20-25 pounds too, and i get razzed about it constantly....

but I've spent a few nights out there stuck on the side of a cliff in the pouring rain before. and that stuff comes in handy.


I'm too old to pack in many miles any more. but i still hunt the big woods solo every year.

 

 

 

 

[excelpoint]

With the price of a good Personal Locator Beacon nowadays it should not be a problem to carry one in the woods.

Not only could it save your life but lives of others that come looking for you.

[Follower]

Jim Elliot was a missionary in Equador who was killed by natives in the wilderness.  A quote from him is one of my favorties and has changed the way I live my life:  "When it comes time to die, make sure all you have to do is die."

For me, its not a big worry.  Sure, I tell my wife generally where I am heading.  I go placing my faith in the Lord and let the chips fall where they may.  

Not trying to portray a toughness, just saying that I am comfortable with going to remote places alone because of my faith and my relationships with loved ones.

[Can Hahaka]

When I camp and hunt the "big woods" I always have in camp a kids plastic snow sled. You know, one of the long narrow ones. Cheap plastic, it slides on everything and makes a drag out of a rough place easier.