Don\'t Worry About Me??????

[timberland]

When hunting by yourself with plans to meet the group at the truck after dark, you shoot a bull at last light. (archery)
Its about 1.5 miles back to the truck. Good shot but will take time to track. What\'s your plan.

Do you walk out to rally the troops?
Do you have a way to contact somebody to let them know where you are and what you\'re doing?
Do you track, quarter, and take the first load out?

 

[Swede]

I have been in that situation several times. After locating the downed elk, I walk out and get dinner and help. The elk will just have to wait. I do like to use whatever daylight I have left to locate a downed animal before I head out. In the evening it is cool and I usually have time. Still, it will be 2:00AM before we are done and have everything ready to haul in the next day to the cooler.

 

[timberland]

Do others that are waiting for you have a plan to stay with the truck until you get out? I have had guys \"ditch\" me so when I got out there was no ride back to camp.

 

[OldMan]

I hunt alone, so I never have this choice. However, if I was with a group i\'d have a way to contact them. I would then tell them I was doing your choice #3. As a lone hunter I would do #3 too.

 

[Swede]

I will add, I do not have any way to communicate with camp or the people that hunt out of our camp. The hunters in camp know the general area or even the tree stand everyone is hunting. We hunt miles apart and if someone is still out at 9:00 PM, then everyone will look for you.

 

[cnelk]

I will track until 1 of 2 things happen.

1 - I find the elk
2 - Its get dark

If I find the elk, then another factor comes into play - weather
I may do a quick old fashioned gut job and open up the cavity to cool.
Then head out.

If it gets dark before I find the elk, I will mark the last blood with ribbon or TP and head out.
I prefer more eyes when tracking.

Once back at truck or camp, we as a team will discuss and make a decision to go back in the dark or back in the morning.

I have left many dead elk laying on the mountain after dark, and go get them in the morning. They aint going anywhere.

Another scenario to this is anyone waiting for you back at the truck [or camp] must know to stay put until the person that is late either arrives, or make contact via radio. That way only one person is wandering around in the dark.

If it becomes way late and no contact has been made, then a different approach needs to be taken.
This should be discussed prior.

 

[timberland]

Here\'s how our communication works. BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS:

Brian and I take a wheeler about 5 miles up a road in the morning. I drop him off about a mile before where I am going to park. The instructions were as follows: Leave your padded camouflage bowcase at the drop off point. When I come back, if its still here I will wait for you. If its gone, I\'ll assume you got a ride back to camp with the other guys that were hunting with us.

About 10:00 i return and there is no bowcase at the drop off spot. DISCLAIMER: I got off the wheeler and walked around, assuming he wasn\'t going to leave it laying across the trail or any too obvious spot.

I drive the 5 miles back to camp. Brians not there and the other guys haven\'t seen him. I head 5 miles back up, figuring I must have missed him. He might have picked up his case and started hiking back down the road and got into some elk, who knows at this point. An hour or so had lapsed so I was fully expecting him to be walking down the road. Again, at the drop off spot there is no case and no Brian, and I spent about 15 minutes looking for both.

5 Miles back to camp to grab another guy and the other Wheeler. We leave it at the drop off point with the keys in the ignition. l finally get back to camp about noon or so (after 30 + miles up and down the mountain) and Brian literally pulls in ten minutes behind us on the wheeler we just left.

Where were you?

I was hunting, he says.

Where was your bowcase?

He say, \"I HID IT UNDER A LOG!!!!!!!! \"

 

[cohunter14]

We use radios, which definitely come in handy. However, we know when to pay attention to them because we can hear shots...unless you bowhunters have really rusty bows, you probably won\'t be hearing anything If I were bowhunting, I would leave a radio on and make a rule that the only radio contact is if you get an animal down. That way you don\'t have to worry about your radio going off in the middle of your hunt for someone to tell you what last night\'s chili looked like coming back out :lol:

 

[bnsafe]

rino gps for us. works great

 

[cnelk]

During our hunts, we all set our watches to the same time.
Then, if we need or want to call, you only have 10 mins at the top of the hour to communicate i.e. 9am - 9:10am
If youre hunting and you miss the window, youre gonna wait.

It has worked well, saved some miles and a bunch of time.

If someone is late to the truck after dark, the radio comes on and stays on. The person that is late does the same

X2 - It has worked well, saved some miles and a bunch of time.

 

[Swede]

One of the reasons we leave our radios in camp is because if we have them on, even though we have tried to be cautious and take precautions, we get other people\'s communications. They interrupt at the most awkward times.