Hunting Solo vs Hunting with a group

[FIGJAM]

I am curious what everybody's preference is? This post was born from this years elk hunt. A little back ground - I put in for a controlled hunt with an old high school buddy (who I haven't hunted with for years) and his brother and his brother's 13 year old son. I spent a few days scouting before the hunt started and met up with them the night before and set up camp. I was told that their main priority was that the 13 year old have an opportunity at an elk, even though neither of them had ever shot an elk before. I have shot a few, so I was cool with this and we came up with a game plan that if we saw some elk we would let the kid get set up and pick his elk, and if there was more than one shooter bull the rest of us would wait to shoot until he did. The kid was shooting a 25-06 (that he had never shot before, borrowed from a grandpa) and the other two had 7mm's. Keep in mind these guys are casual hunters and even more casual shooters. I asked what their guns were sighted in at and they said around 100 yards (whatever that means). I should also add that none of them have range finders, I am the only one. This is the point where I start to have some regrets about my choice of hunting companions...Opening morning rolled around and it was 3 degrees outside. Instead of saddling up the horses the other 3 wanted to do a road hunt in the comfort of the truck. Normally I am against this, but there weren't that many tags given out in this particular area, and I had seen several elk from the road while scouting, so I thought what the heck. I had a couple weeks off for the hunt, so I wasn't in a huge hurry. Sure enough, a few miles down the road we see 5 bull elk about 600 yards away on the side of the hill. There were a couple small 4 points, a small 5, a decent 6x7 and a nice 5x6.

I start to open my mouth to talk game plan and all hell breaks loose! The kids dad (who was the driver) throws the truck in park, grabs the kids 25-06 as he is jumping out of the truck, and runs further down the road (away from the elk) towards some trees to find a rest so he can start lobbing lead. The kid is stumbling out of the truck trying to run after dad, and my buddy is bailing out trying to load his 7mm at the same time. The 3 smaller elk bailed out with all the noise and chaos, I saw them booking it for the pines as I walked around the back of the truck, still trying to process what was going on. I think the two bigger elk must have been as confused as I was, because they just stood there and looked at us. As I started to creep through the sage brush and over the hill towards the two elk, my buddy and his brother start firing one shot after the other. I get to a good spot to set up, extend my bipod, range the bigger 5x6 at 431 yards (surprisingly they are still standing there looking at the two guys who have already shot 6 times at them). I dial my VX5HD squeeze the trigger and the elk drops. I sit there watching him in the scope to see if he gets up, but the 145gr ELDX out of my 270 wsm did the job. All of a sudden a hear my buddy yelling asking me if it was ok to shoot over my head? I kid you not he had worked his way up to about 30 yards behind me, had taken a knee, and had the courtesy to ask me that question. It was definitely a *** moment and I looked back at him and said hell no, get up here next to me! When I looked back towards the elk, I noticed the 6x7 was just kind of running around in circles 50 yards below the elk I had just shot. My buddy gets up next to me and starts shooting at it, he had just reloaded after emptying his gun. My buddy and his brother fire two full magazines at the elk between the two of them, the 6x7 finally went down. THE KID NEVER EVEN GOT TO SHOOT AT THE ELK. While I was quartering the 6x7 I found 4 different bullet holes in it.

As I am walking up to the elk that I killed, my buddies brother comes running up and tries to claim that he shot that elk and it was his. Another *** moment. He told me he was holding at the top of the elks back and took it down. I went back and ranged the elk from the tree he was shooting from and it was just over 600 yards. So I call BS, and tell him I am 100% certain I put a bullet in this elk, but if we clean it and there is more than 1 bullet hole, he can have it. There was only the one bullet hole and I kept the elk. I went through the whole speech that I didn't want any hard feelings and he could take the elk and I'll keep hunting blah blah blah, but that elk ended up coming home with me.

Anyway, the point is I am starting to think I prefer hunting alone. My dad doesn't hunt and I don't have any brothers or family that I go with (I have an 11 year old son that I have been grooming to be my hunting buddy, but we are still limited with school and terrain etc.) so I have always been up for hunting with whomever would go with me. When I was younger I really enjoyed the social part of it, but now I am in my late 30's I am thinking I prefer the serenity of a solo hunt. Maybe this experience is too fresh and I just need to find better hunting buddies! LOL

I was just curious what you all prefer and why? Let me know!

 

[8andbait]

I've been solo for the last 15 or so years for basically the same reason.

Every once in a while I take someone with me but it is usually an exercise in frustration.

This year my daughter got married and I took her husband hunting, best non solo hunt I've had in a long time.
He was quiet, listened and made a nice calculated shot when the time came. We ended up with two small bucks about 1.5 miles from the road. I had my pack but he did not. He packed a quartered muley the whole way in one game bag slung over his shoulder. I'll be hunting with him again next year.

 

[26Reload]

I am getting older and like several guys..leg weary....
i have been out a lot by myself and with others(usually brothers or other knowledgeable hunters)...
The circus you were involved in happened once with me..shots that no one laid claim to..........we just waited til the others left the area....and I mean long gone..before we resumed hunting.....but we we're glad to take their money playing poker in the evenings......
Was grooming my son to be a pretty decent rifleman and Hunter..but thru divorce he has decided to not participate with me in hunting or anything much at all.....so when your son is "of age" make sure you are having fun..because hunting buddies are hard to come by.....

 

[86alaskan]

I understand your plight and have had similar experiences. I spent a good part of the September archery elk hunt wondering why I hadn't gone alone. turned out the group had some less than willing participants and that brought the hunt to a screeching halt. I hunted by myself most of the time in Alaska, and there were a few times I hunted with others. I'd say, if you want a new partner, try to take some time preseason and hit the range. Also, maybe take them scouting with you as well. Maybe one of those trips could've tipped you off to the impending disaster. Anyway, hunting partners aren't all bad, but it often takes a couple sour trips before you can sort out the bad ones for the good ones.

 

[KyCarl]

I have hunted with the same guy for over 50 years and then his nephew joined us
for the last 30 or so years. We like it a certain way and keep it that way!
Now we are getting older my buddy's wife has health problems and he can't make it.
So our house and 615 acres in WV sat empty this year and the season is just about over. Next year who knows?

 

[dok7mm]

I prefer hunting with my son's, but we split up the country and hunt solo. The only time we join up, is to retrieve game or meet at our camp. They cover more country in a couple days than I do in a week, but we've had good luck hunting with our own methods.

There's a big difference in hunters and people that want to go hunting. Find yourself an experienced hunter, shoot often with him at the range. If personalities click, you got a partner. Be sure he'll do his share of the work. Even better if he has lots of well maintained equipment to share and will go 50/50 on expenses.

 

[FIGJAM]

I am getting older and like several guys..leg weary....
i have been out a lot by myself and with others(usually brothers or other knowledgeable hunters)...
The circus you were involved in happened once with me..shots that no one laid claim to..........we just waited til the others left the area....and I mean long gone..before we resumed hunting.....but we we're glad to take their money playing poker in the evenings......
Was grooming my son to be a pretty decent rifleman and Hunter..but thru divorce he has decided to not participate with me in hunting or anything much at all.....so when your son is "of age" make sure you are having fun..because hunting buddies are hard to come by.....

You make a good point regarding making sure the kids have fun. I have a brother in law that drug his Young son out hunting. The guy is a mountain goat and instead of making the experience about his boy and having a good time, he expected his boy to suck it up and hunt as hard as he did (this is in idaho with a lot of rugged terrain). Needless to say his son doesn't want much to do with hunting anymore. In fact my brother in law made the comment that his son "ruined his hunt". I have tried to learn from that with my own son and when he is with me the hunt is all about him having a good time. We spend a lot of time together with easy hunts - coyotes, rock chucks, rabbits, pheasants etc. We had our toughest hunt this year during his first deer hunt. I made a bad judgement call and shot a buck further back in than I should have and it was a 6 hour pack out to camp, mostly up hill through some nasty stuff. I was afraid I lost my hunting buddy, he didn't complain, but he was dead beat by the end of it. In fact, at one point during one of our many breaks he asked if we could just push the SOS button on my inReach and let the helicopters pick us up He said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. But the other day I heard him telling one of his buddies about the experience and how excited he was to go out deer hunting again next year. This pic was before we started the hike out

 

[dok7mm]

The

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You make a good point regarding making sure the kids have fun. I have a brother in law that drug his 8 yr old out deer hunting a couple years ago. The guy is a mountain goat and instead of making the experience about his boy and having a good time, he expected his boy to suck it up and hunt as hard as he did (this is in idaho with a lot of rugged terrain). Needless to say his son doesn't want anything to do with hunting anymore. In fact my brother in law made the comment that his son "ruined his hunt". I have tried to learn from that with my own son and when he is with me the hunt is all about him having a good time. We spend a lot of time together with easy hunts - coyotes, rock chucks, rabbits, pheasants etc. We had our toughest hunt this year during his first deer hunt. I made a bad judgement call and shot a buck further back in than I should have and it was a 6 hour pack out to camp, mostly up hill through some nasty stuff. I was afraid I lost my hunting buddy, he didn't complain, but he was dead beat by the end of it. In fact, at one point during one of our many breaks he asked if we could just push the SOS button on my inReach and let the helicopters pick us up He said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. But the other day I heard him telling one of his buddies about the experience and how excited he was to go out deer hunting again next year. This pic was before we started the hike out

Sounds like you have a fine candidate for the future. The best partners are son's, daughters and some wife's.

 

[jpd676]

I've gone solo for years for all the reasons listed. My son just turned 12 so he is my new hunting buddy. I also go solo because the "secret spot" usually gets posted on every social media site around. My spots are hard to come by and I don't want the secret out.

 

[KyCarl]

My daughter didn't want to kill anything but she loves to shoot!
So we went to the rifle range to the trap and skeet fields had plenty of fun!
As an older father let me say..It's just spending time having fun and not about spending and buying. I promise.. You will not forget it and neither will they!

 

[Dosh]

Every time I hunt with others it's a dog and pony show! I've never killed an elk with someone else around. I'm 69 now and I have a great spot I always hunt where the elk fall on flat ground, I back up to them gut and winch them into the truck bed. If others I know are on the same hunt, we split up like dok7mm and his crew.

 

[Capt RB]

+1 for solo

 

[Hand Skills]

Poor kid. That sounds like an example of poor mentorship to me (dad and uncle in the OP, not you in #7 there FigJam!). Some people seem to loose all ability to rationalize when buck fever hits.

It's incredibly rare to find someone who:

-does what they say they're going to do

-is competent with their firearm

For those reasons,I like to hunt alone... but I like to process in a group... So most often I hunt with a partner, and with the right person I do not think of it as a compromise.

Usually I spend more time scouting than hunting, and between pre season scouting and post season predator hunting I can fulfill my need for solo adventure.

A good partner can make big game hunting safer, easier, and more fun. Wrong partner and it's harder more dangerous and less fun... multiply the size of the party, and things can get out of control pretty quick... I generally try to get a sense of someone new with some target shooting before I'll hunt with them. I'd rather haul an elk out by myself than help someone try to recover one they shot poorly. Moose is a little different, Bison even more so...

Growing up, wilderness was a lot more remote than it is now. I used to get annoyed seeing other hunters, and endeavour to get as far away as possible. Now roads go most places and it seems a super-cub is the only way to get out of human contact.

Making friends with ranchers doesn't hurt either. Many of them joke about raising trophy deer and elk but have little interest in hunting (or for that matter, eating) them! Great way to leverage predator/varmint hunting for private big game opportunities.

I think a big part of it is knowing what I want out of a hunt, setting realistic expectations, and working with someone who has similar abilities and goals. If I want to backpack hunt, it'll probably require a little flight first. If I just want to fill the freezer, hunting closer to home my 'partner' requirements are somewhat relaxed.

Generally I find it's not the new hunters I have to worry about, but more the great white hunters who have years of practice reinforcing bad habits.

I happily give away knowledge to those who wish to learn, but no paycheque is big enough to take someone out who knows it all...

For me it really comes down to attitude over aptitude.

 

[Guy M]

I enjoy both, am only 62 years old and reasonably fit, so I enjoy hunting solo and feel as safe as ever doing so. Quartered and packed out a mule deer buck fall of 2017, hunting solo. Long walk in the dark, over a low ridge and back to the Jeep. Was a very satisfying experience after hunting alone all day.

Truly enjoy hunting with my youngest son! He's 27 now and an excellent shot as well as a very ethical sportsman. I'm proud of him. This year he couldn't get out for elk or deer, so we are just hunting upland birds together. He's taken two bear in addition to a fair number of whitetail & mule deer over the years. I enjoy having him along, and am glad that he still likes hunting with ol' dad.

Before I had sons, my favorite hunting buddy was my own father! He's a bird hunter only. May have hunted his last season at 90 last year, he didn't get out this year, but we did go fly fishing for silver salmon together.

Have a few friends I hunt with time to time. I quit hunting with one group of guys a good 20 years ago. The alcohol started flowing way too early in the day for me. And kept flowing. Good guys, but a couple of 'em were really on the hunt for a good time, not actually going after game.

One of my best hunting buddies is about half my age, early 30's. Quiet. LOVES hunting. He got one heck of a mule deer buck while hunting with me this October, and a pretty decent pronghorn as well. That young fellow is strong, a decent shot, an all around good guy, and a hard hunter. I enjoy being afield with him.

Guy