Would you go on a high country hunt with your best friends or buy yourself

A friend would slow you down. One of my friends is really short and we took a 5 mile hike and he was always in the back and me and another friend had to always wait on him. He was also very loud and always slipped and fell. He also forget my friends turkey call and we had to walk back and get it.
 
1 friend at most. Backcountry hunting is something that is tailored to one doing the hunting. It hard to fit a backcountry hunt to 2 guys let alone more than that. Mostly I like to hunt by myself in the backcountry so I don't have to worry about what someone else wants to do.
 
The last "backpack" hunt I was on was post neck fusion, but pre knee replacement. My friends carried every thing but my goat tag. When I filled that they carried it as well. On your own beats poor companions, but can't compare to the being there with the right people.
 
For me it comes down to - Does your friend "want it" as bad as you do? High country hunts are tough and there always seem to be a few moments during them when it's hard not to let your mind wander and start thinking of all the other fun, easy things you could be doing right then rather than kicking your own butt relentlessly. I've hunted with guys where I could tell they were having those thoughts a lot more often than I was and it ended up slowing me down and causing me to not work as hard as I normally would. That's a recipe for tag soup.

On the other hand, when I hunt with partners who want it just as bad as I do, I have those negative thoughts way less often because they help me stay positive and get through the tough times with a smile. Plus there's nothing like celebrating success with a great buddy!
 
My vote goes to "with friends." I would prefer it to be someone who is passionate for the hunt and wants to be there. I have some hunting partners where we barely leave the pickup and glass from the road, and other partners where we'll go backpacking and walk 15+ miles.

Either way, I enjoy hunting with my friends and sharing the memories with someone else.
 
For me it comes down to - Does your friend "want it" as bad as you do? High country hunts are tough and there always seem to be a few moments during them when it's hard not to let your mind wander and start thinking of all the other fun, easy things you could be doing right then rather than kicking your own butt relentlessly. I've hunted with guys where I could tell they were having those thoughts a lot more often than I was and it ended up slowing me down and causing me to not work as hard as I normally would. That's a recipe for tag soup.

On the other hand, when I hunt with partners who want it just as bad as I do, I have those negative thoughts way less often because they help me stay positive and get through the tough times with a smile. Plus there's nothing like celebrating success with a great buddy!

andy nailed it! You have to hunt with guys that are like minded in hunting style and goals. If not, You will regret it. They have to be in similer shape as you as to not slow each other down, they have to want you to tag out as well as you have to want them to tag out. You have to be on the same page or it wont work.
 
I like and agree with Andy's comments. I guess if I have the guy along I like having someone around to share the experience with. But if I'm someone with a different idea about the hunting process and about the amount of effort to put into the then it can have a negative impact on the success of the hunt and it can effect my attitude as well. I hunt different personalities all the time when guiding and a lot of effort goes into making the hunt enjoyable, fun and successful for the client. When I am in the backcountry with a tag of my own the last thing I want is to worry about what my partner wants to do.
 
The other thing I would mention is that high altitude affects people differently. One person may hardly be bothered at all while his partner really struggles. If you're bringing someone to the high country for the first time, you may be disappointed to find that they just can't do much without feeling sick.

I took my wife along on a high country summer scouting trip one summer. We acclimated for 3 nights at 8000 feet in a hotel and she seemed fine. Then we drove up to 11,000 to camp. She was pretty lethargic that afternoon and evening and by the next morning she was really struggling. She could barely walk around camp for longer than 5 minutes without sitting down for a rest. She quickly developed a wet cough so I packed up camp and drove us down to stay overnight in a motel at 5000 feet. She still was struggling the next day so we just decided to head all the way down and home.

Last year I brought a buddy out to CO for his first elk hunt. He really struggled with the altitude too. We skipped one entire day of hunting so I could drive him down to lower elevation and spend the day, which really helped, but he still struggled the rest of the trip. We were seeing elk up high on the South facing slopes, but there was no way he was going to make it up there.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 10 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top