Solo or with friends and family?

[Tom007]

I have hunted Turkey since the early 80's. In the beginning, no one in my hunting circle had an interest in Turkey hunting. I learned to hunt them by myself, and over the years, I mostly hunt alone. To this day, I am a "solo" Turkey hunter. I have over the years hunted with friends and my brother whenever he's in town. I just enjoy the one-on-one pursuit. Wanted to get the forums feel on how each of you hunt.....

[ScottTaulbee]

I started out in 2001 at 6 years old, I done my own calling and hunting and my dad or brother hauled me and sat with me, I still prefer to hunt solo. Through the years I have taken a lot of friends and called in birds for them, but they were the hunter, I didn't carry a gun. I still take my best friend, my dad when he's able, and my kids with me a few times during the season. But to me, it's always a one on one game.


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[Mountainburd]

I grew up hunting with friends for many years, and it worked to our advantage many times with tag team calling and setups.  But over the years between moving and friends being limited on time, I've been mostly solo.  My private spot landowners are not overly receptive to guests so I don't push it.  It's been many years like that now and I honestly don't mind one bit and honestly prefer it.  My mistakes and decisions are mine and mine alone.  And the same goes for my success.

My only hang up is I do not hear distant gobbles very well.  Even though I'm in my 40's my hearing has gotten bad over the years for a lot of reasons.  So when I do hunt with a friend, it's always quite surprising the distant birds that I otherwise would not have heard.

[sswv]

started turkey hunting about 50 years ago. I've hunted with others over the years mostly calling for someone and even had an old friend call in a few for me but, now-a-days, I mostly go it alone. I do have a hunting buddy and every now and then we'll team up on a bird but for the most part I'm solo.

[Turkeybutt]

Like you Tom I hunted solo for years and enjoyed my alone time. The last two years I hunted turkeys with my son and those were memorable!
Would enjoy hunting 3 or 4 states but since the boy has to work I either do it alone or not at all. It just isn't the same if you don't have somebody to share it with.

[guesswho]

Started in the 60's with my parents.   Today, if I have one I really feel the need to kill, I hunt solo.   But most of the time I'm up for partnering up.   One other person is fine, any more that that and I'm usually out unless the third person is a kid.

[Kylongspur88]

If I go with friends we split up and head out out solo. I'd personally rather turkey hunt solo.

[TJ3152]

I really enjoy the one on one challenge of solo hunting but enjoy hunting with my children and other  family members even more. However, it's usually just two of us hunting at a time though due to safety.

[GobbleNut]

As usual, Tom, you bring up another great topic for discussion...

Over the decades, I have done a lot of both,...hunting by myself and hunting with others.  Honestly, I prefer to hunt alone.  As others have said, success or failure is entirely on me,...and that is the way I prefer it to be. 

Now, here are some comments about hunting with others. When doing that, I have never been an "I'll do all the calling" guy.  If I hunt with someone, I expect them to call, too, because calling is an essential part of turkey hunting to me, and I want everybody to participate in that part of the experience.  Granted, there are times when I am sitting there thinking,..."I wish you wouldn't have made that sound at this particular moment",...but that, too, is part of the experience.  Admittedly, sometimes after a failed hunt I have to do a little "coaching" as to what we should have done differently, but that whole process is part of the learning experience, not only for a new guy I might take out, but also for me, at times.

What do I mean by that?  I can't tell you how many times over the years I have gone hunting with someone else, had them call, and had gobblers come in that I would NEVER have thought would have come to their calling,...either because I thought they were "saying" the wrong thing, or because I thought their calling was too unrealistic.  Conversely, I have also seen gobblers that were well on their way to becoming turkey nuggets get saved by a friend (and sometimes me, although I hate to admit it), who made the wrong call at the wrong time and turned those birds away at the last minute. 

The point here being that, although many of us prefer to hunt alone, you can learn a lot about such things as what really matters in calling to turkeys by hunting with others, letting them call, and seeing first-hand what works and what doesn't.  It can definitely be a learning experience for all involved!   

[ChesterCopperpot]

I'm very, very, very picky about who I'll go in the woods with, but with the one or two people who fit that bill I absolutely LOVE turkey hunting with a partner. Don't get me wrong, I get equal enjoyment out of being by myself, but strategizing and match calling on an old ridge runner gobbler late season trying to get him killed, not caring which one of you gets the shot, just hoping one of you will, I LOVE it. I killed my best gobbler last year on a really memorable hunt, but the hunt that stands out most to me from last season was me and a buddy getting our asses handed to us on a bird for two days. That gobbler still haunts me—what I could've done, would it have worked, etc. Was just such a fun hunt to share and the pinnacle of the type of bird I want to chase.


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[Turkeybutt]

The point here being that, although many of us prefer to hunt alone, you can learn a lot about such things as what really matters in calling to turkeys by hunting with others, letting them call, and seeing first-hand what works and what doesn't.  It can definitely be a learning experience for all involved! 

True! There is always room for improvement  no matter how good you are or think you are. We can always learn something from others if we keep an open mind and maybe be willing to try new tactics.

[Chordeiles]

Alone. Unless I take one of my kids.

[Dtrkyman]

Being a guide, when I get to hunt it is generally alone.  Prior to guiding I typically hunted with a friend but we usually split up while actually hunting, so basically just shared camp and traveled together.

I prefer solo but have had some great times hunting with friends and particularly my cousin, him and I did our first out of state hunt together in Missouri in the 90s, that was an amazing trip and we hunted that area for several years until I started guiding and could no longer make the trip.

Another friend of mine runs a guide service and him and I generally get to hunt with one another a couple times a year, we have taught each other a lot over the years, one spring we each guided a one on one client for 21 straight days, the next day we went out and hunted together and both killed birds!   

[Yoder409]

Alone. Unless I take one of my kids.

Same here, for the most part.

I don't have too many friends that I'd hunt with.  Now, these are FRIENDS, friends.  Not he friends that text, call or whatever a few weeks before season every year wondering how you've been for the last year.  I have PLENTY of those.   

My hunting style confounds most guys that I actually HAVE hunted with.  If you aren't prepared to bail off one ridge and do about a 10-minute mile to the next ridge where a bird is gobbling hot....... hunting with me probably ain't for you.   

I have, on occasion, road-tripped with my brother.  But, we generally hunt on our own when we do.

[Greg Massey]

Back in the early years i hunted with some friends, because we were trying to find turkeys to hunt. So we did a lot of traveling and camping together. Those were some of the best times tent camping especially in Mo. As the turkey population increased we all started finding our own places to hunt and occasionally we still got together to chase a few turkeys over the years. As we all got older and our needs and family life changed we all went pretty much our separate ways. We still talk and see each other around town and keep up with each other best we can. So i have pretty much been a solo hunter for many years. So now with my Old Gobbler family I really don't feel like a sole hunter because with these cell Phones i can chat with any of you pretty much anytime. So i just bring you along on these so-called solo hunts with how my hunt is going that day and i can share pictures and video out in the field in a matter of seconds. SO Now My Family Is OLD GOBBLER FRIENDS AND FAMILY...