Great comments boys.
I make sure someone knows where I will be and when to expect contact from me. If they don't hear from me, they send out the search, but of course that has never happened. I've thought about a satalite phone, and may use one sometime. I worry more about the wife and little girl having trouble while I'm away than I do about myself, and a sat phone would help with that.
Be careful of course, but don't let worrying about an accident stop you from going out.
The hardest part about solo hunting for me is the mental aspect. When the hunting gets tough its easy to start thinking about the comforts of home, and the company of a wife, girlfriend, your kids, or friends. Basically, you get lonely.
If you let it get the best of you you will find yourself on the way home early having not given it your all, and wondering why you are such a wimp. Numerous times I have given in to loneliness, hiked back to the truck in a couple of hours and kicked myself in the ass all the way home for wimping out. Regretting my decision to leave for the rest of the year. The worst hunt in the world seems like nothing as soon as you are back at the truck, so remember that before you give up and head there.
Backback hunts are worse than a truck camp type hunt where you have some contact with other people and a town near by, but the same mental games can apply. I've spent a bunch of years working on my mental game, and have improved a bunch. I often wonder if I'm the only one that feels this stuff because it doesn't receive much mention. Maybe I am just a wimp, but I don't think so. I tend to think that most guys are just too manly to expose the fact that they get lonely while hunting alone. I do, and am not afraid to admit it, but I don't let it stop me. If you are prepared for it to come its easier to fend off. So be ready, and have a great hunt.
