I know there are a lot of folks who like to hunt solo, I often enjoy portions of the hunt to be on my own, but nothing beats the true comradarie of a GOOD hunting buddy. As many others have experienced I am sure, there are folks who really do not need to operate let alone own a weapon other than a club to beat their own heads in. My brother-in-law, unfortunately is one of those guys. I went pheasant hunting with him a couple decades ago and I remember his boys (my nephews) flushing to our sides, they were pre-teen - they flushed out a hen and I called it loudly several times "Hen!, Hen!", he smiled and shot it anyway. I unloaded my shotgun and broke it down and refused to hunt any further with him. I have never set foot in the field with him again. He has made several attempts over the years to invite himself to go with us, but somehow, he never makes it into the truck in time....or maybe I just leave while he is sleeping.

On the other side of the coin, I have a buddy who is more of a brother were it not for the lack of a blood tie. He and I hunted together as children and have grown up hunting together (save about 12 years when I was away in the military) - we still hunt to this day. I know what he is going to do before he does and visa-versa. The time we spend together out hunting is truly as if we were brothers - I wouldn't trade it for the world. A bonus is that both his wife and my wife get along great, so we can dump them off together and we don't get the business from them when we return. His son is college age and has hunted with us, my son is much younger but I hope to throw him into the group.

Didn't want to throw a rant out there, but there is something to be said about sharing a true pastime with those who share your morals and interests, it just makes the memories last longer and the stories get bigger!

Hear here...

The last time I hunted by myself was a few years ago and I was camped about 10-12 miles back in Elk country and the only way in or out was on foot or with an ATV. I went in there on a Sat and set up my camp and was all settled in for the season to start on monday. On tuesday evening about (6:30pm) a 1/2 hour before sunset I shot a nice 5x5 from my stand and that's when the work started for the night. It took me until midnight just to get my Elk to camp. I hauled my Elk out of the bush to my truck early the next morning and then hauled him to the butcher in town. I went back into camp after and stayed there until the following Sat. Man that was relaxing and fun. Talk about piece and quiet, except for the odd hunter traveling through. Now my son won't let me go alone anymore, I guess he figgers the old man is getting too old to be there alone. But I would like to go alone again at least one more time, even though it is also very nice to have hunting companions there. .