Nothing beats elk hunting and buddies

Stroke250

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
Messages
219
Location
Idaho
I met up with some buddies from Friday to Monday afternoon in Montana for some elk hunting. I knew a couple of the guys since grade school and hadn’t seen them in close to 15 years. We didn’t hear a bugle or see an elk, but nothing beats being outdoors with good buddies. We put some miles on our boots with elevation ranging from 7500-9000 feet. The area seemed pressured by the amount of traffic we saw. They moved camp Monday and hopefully they will connect before they head back to Michigan Saturday.
 

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Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
7,407
Location
S. UTAH
You hear a lot on this site about people preferring to hunt solo. I’m sure many have good reasons. I hunt solo because I don’t have any friends that hunt like I do. This year though, I hung out with a group of guys for a couple nights that hunt together every year. It was pretty nice sitting around talking and just having a good time. They weren’t even my friends, just good people.

Those of you with friends like this are lucky. The solo gig gets a lot of fanfare around here but be thankful if you have good hunting buddies. At this point in my life I think I’d trade the solo trips for good hunting camp full of friends in a heartbeat.
 

CorbLand

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
6,556
You hear a lot on this site about people preferring to hunt solo. I’m sure many have good reasons. I hunt solo because I don’t have any friends that hunt like I do. This year though, I hung out with a group of guys for a couple nights that hunt together every year. It was pretty nice sitting around talking and just having a good time. They weren’t even my friends, just good people.

Those of you with friends like this are lucky. The solo gig gets a lot of fanfare around here but be thankful if you have good hunting buddies. At this point in my life I think I’d trade the solo trips for good hunting camp full of friends in a heartbeat.
I agree with this post. I struggle to find anyone that wants to hunt as much as I do so I primarily end up going by myself and dont enjoy it. It gets hard to go out solo and not see/kill things. I hunted a couple years with a group similar to this and loved it. It just got to the point that there were to many people as they were all family and I gracefully uninvited myself. Miss those times though.
 

Gerbdog

WKR
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
816
Location
CO Springs
Yup, there's good reasons to hunt solo, and I do it out of necessity when needed, but I always enjoy myself more having my brother or friends there, just makes the experience better for me.
 
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
390
I hunt solo when I draw special tags and hunt with my buddies on general tags.
I prefer group hunting. Nothing better than the fireside beer/whiskey hunting story time at the end of the day.......well one thing better but my wife doesn't hunt.....
 
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Stroke250

Stroke250

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
Messages
219
Location
Idaho
Is the guy second from the right drinking a seltzer/white claw? If so, I'd stop hunting with that guy. 😅 Just kidding.

Yessir! Lol you can blame me on that as I wanted them. I prefer them over beer these days.
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
889
Location
Wyoming
You hear a lot on this site about people preferring to hunt solo. I’m sure many have good reasons. I hunt solo because I don’t have any friends that hunt like I do. This year though, I hung out with a group of guys for a couple nights that hunt together every year. It was pretty nice sitting around talking and just having a good time. They weren’t even my friends, just good people.

Those of you with friends like this are lucky. The solo gig gets a lot of fanfare around here but be thankful if you have good hunting buddies. At this point in my life I think I’d trade the solo trips for good hunting camp full of friends in a heartbeat.
I agree with this post. I struggle to find anyone that wants to hunt as much as I do so I primarily end up going by myself and dont enjoy it. It gets hard to go out solo and not see/kill things. I hunted a couple years with a group similar to this and loved it. It just got to the point that there were to many people as they were all family and I gracefully uninvited myself. Miss those times though.

Nothing worse than hunting elk alone...except hunting elk with the wrong people. I have one friend who hunts exactly like I do (well I hunt like him because I learned from him). Amazing company, and the hunts are so much fun because we work so well together. I have a few other friends I hunt with who are amazing company, but the styles are a bit different so it doesn't work out as well. If I can't have great company, I'll hunt solo and love every second of it (except the seconds spent quartering an elk in the dark alone, and packing out quarters alone).
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
889
Location
Wyoming
Yep! But Corona seltzer’s are my new favorite . Haha

I love this! It's the new macho. Hunt elk in the woods like a man from the past, drink seltzers like a lady, and don't give a f*** who thinks you're manly. I love this new era where we can order drinks with umbrellas and make no excuses, they're delicious!
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2019
Messages
1,780
You hear a lot on this site about people preferring to hunt solo. I’m sure many have good reasons. I hunt solo because I don’t have any friends that hunt like I do. This year though, I hung out with a group of guys for a couple nights that hunt together every year. It was pretty nice sitting around talking and just having a good time. They weren’t even my friends, just good people.

Those of you with friends like this are lucky. The solo gig gets a lot of fanfare around here but be thankful if you have good hunting buddies. At this point in my life I think I’d trade the solo trips for good hunting camp full of friends in a heartbeat.
I think it depends on the hunt...I love duck, Bird hunting with buddies...big game most the time its just easier alone, less scent and noise. Although have friends around to help with the pack out is a positive.
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
889
Location
Wyoming
I think it depends on the hunt...I love duck, Bird hunting with buddies...big game most the time its just easier alone, less scent and noise. Although have friends around to help with the pack out is a positive.

It's such a trade off big game hunting. Just yesterday a buddy and I had a great set up and called in a bull we wanted. The plan was either one of us could shoot and the other would call to turn the bull the right direction. It worked perfectly...until the bull spotted me then winded me. I think my buddy could have gotten this bull if he was alone, but two of us meant twice the opportunity to get busted. But we couldn't have pulled off the call in as well solo. So maybe the calling set up wouldn't have worked solo, but the shooting setup would have been better solo!
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
7,407
Location
S. UTAH
I think it depends on the hunt...I love duck, Bird hunting with buddies...big game most the time its just easier alone, less scent and noise. Although have friends around to help with the pack out is a positive.
It's such a trade off big game hunting. Just yesterday a buddy and I had a great set up and called in a bull we wanted. The plan was either one of us could shoot and the other would call to turn the bull the right direction. It worked perfectly...until the bull spotted me then winded me. I think my buddy could have gotten this bull if he was alone, but two of us meant twice the opportunity to get busted. But we couldn't have pulled off the call in as well solo. So maybe the calling set up wouldn't have worked solo, but the shooting setup would have been better solo!

My post had nothing to do with hunting next to your buddy and more to do with sharing a camp with good company.
 

elknailer

FNG
Joined
Dec 25, 2016
Messages
36
Location
saint joseph mi
At 72yrs old I'm glad I had 3 buds with me. My son-in-law and two younger friends. Killed a 5x5 the day before labor day, without these guys I would have been in serious trouble.
We got all the meat back to camp Sunday, and I went back for the rack on Monday. We then took the meat to the truck and I took it in to get frozen. Tuesday morning the snow hit and because of the forecast we all decided to break camp early. 10-12" on the ground and rain predicted at lower elevation, we were at 10400.
Without my buds I don't know what I would have done.
 
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