doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hunting Alone

When my best friend and hunting buddy was killed in a car wreck over 20 years ago I sadly never went duck hunting again. The desire was there but never found anyone to replace him. I was obsessed with duck hunting. We were the kind of friends who could finish each others sentences. I still miss him dearly. I have hunted upland over the years with some friends but I mainly hunt alone or with my son who is now my best friend. Some of the most magical moments in the uplands I have experienced alone. I guess it comes with age.

12boreman,
I do hunt alone now most of the time out of necessity, however it's really nice to share the experience with a hunting buddy. I really miss the ones I've lost!
Karl

Beautiful photo, Karl.

I'm 69. My grandfather passed at the age of 94. A sometimes hunter but fished his entire life. Was drafted in WW2 at the age of 39 into the Navy and sent to Key West Florida on a Sub Hunter. First thing he did was tell my grandmother to send him some sinkers and hooks so he could fish either off the boat or with a hand line off the docks. BTW, he had 5 kids when he was drafted. It was the way it was back then. He used to write my grandmother every day during WW2 and tell her about his fishing exploits and how damn hot it was in Key West and how everyone on the boat smelled bad. He also talked about fishing and having the cook prepare fish for him on the side.

Anyway, when I last saw him he was 92 years old and sharp as a tack. I asked him what he missed most as he was pretty much confined to a easy chair watching TV and smoking Winstons. He told me he had buried all of his hunting buddies and that what he missed most was wetting a line and swapping stories about old fishing trips and big fish that got even bigger over time. He said he wouldn't be upset when he passed as he missed damn near everybody near and dear to him. Just part of life as they say.

Sorry for your loss FCF.

I've hunted alone quite a bit over the years. I started losing hunting buddies soon after I got out of High School. Hunting alone is one of the prices we pay for being lucky enough to remain alive. I can't recall who said it, but on a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. A couple buddies were killed in motorcycle accidents. My favorite cousin was shot and killed in a hunting accident. Several friends died rather young, way before their time from cancer and other things. A friend I just began hunting with about 5-6 years ago didn't show up for work one day last year, and was found at home, dead in a chair in his living room. He had seemed healthy as a horse. Others have moved far away, and I seldom, if ever, see them anymore. Many times, I'd have days off in the middle of the week, while my buddies were stuck at work.

I decided long ago that I wasn't going to miss out on my hunting just because I had to go alone. And looking back, I know I would have missed out on a lot of great days in the woods and fields had I chosen to wait until someone else was around to accompany me.

Even right now, in the midst of our Flintlock Deer Season, I hunt alone a lot because some of my hunting buddies don't care to hunt all day in cold snowy conditions. Many guys won't even hunt on a rainy day, and they don't know what they're missing.

So you should keep on hunting while you can... our days are numbered, and getting shorter. I'm sure many of us think we will still be active and hunting well into old age, but if we look around, the reality is likely very different. I recall posting here about seeing a very old man sitting with a rifle, in a folding lawn chair near the edge of a snow covered field, overlooking a small creek bottom on the last day of deer season several years ago. He was all alone, and covered in an old wool army blanket. I'd guess he was in his late 80's, and I'd imagine he thought it was wonderful to be out there. But it was only because someone had helped him get ready, and delivered him to that spot in a Four-wheeler. He never saw me, and I slipped back into the woods and made a big slow loop around the opposite side of that creek, hoping I might push some deer toward him.

My best friends, of say, the last decade, are hunting buddies.

The list is getting shorter, however. No two ways around that.

Best,
Ted

It sure is. The funeral for my hunting buddy who prompted this thread is today.

And my last fly fishing friend who was diagnosed with the same cancer and I mentioned in another thread died last week as well.

Wonderful memories. Sad thoughts.

I hunting one my own most days, but not Really as I have a dog of dogs who are good company.

The only hunting buddies I have left are hour away so we only hunt a few time a year

You have my deepest sympathy. I have been where you are, today.

I’ll be there, again. As will you.

Best,
Ted

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