Solo hunting anxiety

[northernalpine]

Not a Dr or professional head-shrinker, but I have had conversations with some regarding how anxiety manifests in various forms.

What I can tell you from my own experience, and probably similar to others on here, is that anxiety usually shows up surrounding things we can’t control or predict. G-bear run ins, catastrophic injuries, accidental falls, accidents at home while we are away, etc don’t change if we have our besties there with us and potentially even if we don’t go, life still happens.

The only difference is our internal voice can get louder when there isn’t external assurance. If your cognizant of it and don’t let it run wild, it usually sorts itself out within a reasonable timeline.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I would think that another component would be when you started doing it. When you are young you never consider dying or injury especialy in the pucker brush. By the time you reach an age of reality, you have had enough exposure to not worry about it or you are already dead.

I can remember a number of times getting lost or confused in my teens or 20s. There never was any panic. I just worked it out.

 

[Lowg08]

I question just solo day trips since I badly broke my leg in 2022. I was at work but was 100 yards from my truck with no phone and by myself. Crawled to my truck. Ever since that. I am constantly worried about something happening. The plate in my leg constantly reminds me of it. I still solo hunt but not as confident as I used to be.

 

[Maidenfan539]

Did my first solo hunt in early November in ID. The anxiety just prior to leaving was higher than normal. Once I got on the road it subsided, until I hit North Dakota (blizzard). Drove straight through to Bozeman where I stayed with a friend. Watched three semi-trucks slide off the road and was delayed for a bad wreck just into Montana. Needless to say I was paranoid about crashing myself.

Left Bozeman and drove to ID.
Hit the trailhead at 1130 and not a single vehicle was there (odd I thought for a general unit deer tag). Packed in 3.5 miles to camp and set up on a ridge. Glassed that evening and was in the tent by dark. Melted snow for water until about 930 and was out like a light.

Up at 515 with some breakfast and started glassing. By 10 I was slightly convulsing and threw up. Not sure what caused it, but that freaked me out. Was plenty hydrated as my pee was pretty clear. Hiked out and got a hotel for a little reset.

Was up at 830 and just didn't have it in me to go for it. Started the 22 hour drive home and felt about 2" tall. Kept telling myself what a failure I was and all the negative thoughts associated with that.

Called my friend when I got home and he told me I accomplished a small step. He said the population of people who hunt out west compared to those who don't is small. He said there's an even smaller percentage of people who go it solo.

I will definitely be hunting solo again and learned a lot about myself.

 

[Matt5266]

As someone who lives in Idaho and backpack hunts it year round. It is legit one of the most brutal states to hunt granted your in the mountains. But man is the country amazing.

 

[flathead#2]

I get concerned too. More, the older I get.
Physical limitations, family, wiser.
I really like to be in my bed at night.
And I just dont need to kill stuff as bad.

 

[WannaBeRambo]

Did my first solo hunt in early November in ID. The anxiety just prior to leaving was higher than normal. Once I got on the road it subsided, until I hit North Dakota (blizzard). Drove straight through to Bozeman where I stayed with a friend. Watched three semi-trucks slide off the road and was delayed for a bad wreck just into Montana. Needless to say I was paranoid about crashing myself.

Left Bozeman and drove to ID.
Hit the trailhead at 1130 and not a single vehicle was there (odd I thought for a general unit deer tag). Packed in 3.5 miles to camp and set up on a ridge. Glassed that evening and was in the tent by dark. Melted snow for water until about 930 and was out like a light.

Up at 515 with some breakfast and started glassing. By 10 I was slightly convulsing and threw up. Not sure what caused it, but that freaked me out. Was plenty hydrated as my pee was pretty clear. Hiked out and got a hotel for a little reset.

Was up at 830 and just didn't have it in me to go for it. Started the 22 hour drive home and felt about 2" tall. Kept telling myself what a failure I was and all the negative thoughts associated with that.

Called my friend when I got home and he told me I accomplished a small step. He said the population of people who hunt out west compared to those who don't is small. He said there's an even smaller percentage of people who go it solo.

I will definitely be hunting solo again and learned a lot about myself.

I think you are wise beyond your years To abort. We all know a lot of western hunting is a mental challenge as well as physical. Bagging it because half of you is not onboard with the challenge was the right choice, IMO.
Live to fight another day, wiser for the experience.

 

[2-Stix]

Did my first solo hunt in early November in ID. The anxiety just prior to leaving was higher than normal. Once I got on the road it subsided, until I hit North Dakota (blizzard). Drove straight through to Bozeman where I stayed with a friend. Watched three semi-trucks slide off the road and was delayed for a bad wreck just into Montana. Needless to say I was paranoid about crashing myself.

Left Bozeman and drove to ID.
Hit the trailhead at 1130 and not a single vehicle was there (odd I thought for a general unit deer tag). Packed in 3.5 miles to camp and set up on a ridge. Glassed that evening and was in the tent by dark. Melted snow for water until about 930 and was out like a light.

Up at 515 with some breakfast and started glassing. By 10 I was slightly convulsing and threw up. Not sure what caused it, but that freaked me out. Was plenty hydrated as my pee was pretty clear. Hiked out and got a hotel for a little reset.

Was up at 830 and just didn't have it in me to go for it. Started the 22 hour drive home and felt about 2" tall. Kept telling myself what a failure I was and all the negative thoughts associated with that.

Called my friend when I got home and he told me I accomplished a small step. He said the population of people who hunt out west compared to those who don't is small. He said there's an even smaller percentage of people who go it solo.

I will definitely be hunting solo again and learned a lot about myself.

I had to bail before on mountaineering trips. Trained for 6 months, was at 13,400 and 800 feet to go and adema kicked in hard. My 2 partners got the peak...I picked them up 2 days later. It happens.

 

[taskswap]

Man, I'm feeling this hard this year. I've just learned I might have had a mini-stroke which sounds cute but apparently is almost as bad as the real thing and makes you more likely to have one. Nothing makes me more anxious right now than the thought my InReach might be right there with its SOS button but I might be too incapacitated to activate it...

 

[mtwarden]

It might not help in that situation, BUT best practice with the inReach is to leave it on- doesn't have to be actively tracking (which can be tough on battery life), just on. S&R can ping your device if it's on and at least get a location.

I used to leave mine shutoff until the evening to send/receive messages (and then shut it off again), no longer- leaving it on (and not tracking) takes very, very little juice.

Might not be exactly germane to your scenario, but figured it would be useful for anyone carrying an inReach.

 

[MattB]

Man, I'm feeling this hard this year. I've just learned I might have had a mini-stroke which sounds cute but apparently is almost as bad as the real thing and makes you more likely to have one. Nothing makes me more anxious right now than the thought my InReach might be right there with its SOS button but I might be too incapacitated to activate it...

As my dad used to say, “we are all dying of something.” Not everyone can read that and live their life accordingly, but accepting that death is inevitable and living life fully in the meanwhile is all our “best life”. Letting the dysfunctional part of our brains control us in the meantime due to fear of the inevitable is just not productive. The end goal is to win the battle over that part of your brain that seeks to undermine your will.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I hunt solo 90% of the time and regularly get the dreads when I'm at home prepping to go. it's not a good feeling. However, after I get out of the truck, headlamp blazing the terrain in front and get to where I'm going, I'm glad I got outside and the heeby geebies are gone.

The feeling of staying home when I could be outside is worse!

Very similar.

For me, it's all the prepping for worst case scenario, making sure you're you have everything needed to survive (LOL), not exactly a positive mindset in that regard. Giving my wife/kid my location. Testing my inReach. Once my boots hit the ground I'm fine.

I have always found it odd when I'm driving to my hunts that there's an animal out their existing and I might end that existence. Probably d/t the amount of respect I have for big game. But something I think about every time.

 

[flathead#2]

It's happened to me. Drove 9 hrs. for a hunt and just wasnt feeling good.
Next day felt like I had a mild fever and just stayed at the hotel.
Third day, knew I was getting sick and headed home for a full on
bout with the flu for the next week. Glad I left when I did.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

Ever have anything weird happen?

Ive never had any kind of anxiety until, probably 3 years ago now, my son and I were camping. Being he is only 10, was 7 then, he is obviously 100% dependent on me out there and the thought that something bad could happen while him and I were out there never occurred to me.....until we were robbed. Not at gunpoint or anything but we left the camp for the day only to return to a camp where some scumbag helped himself to what he wanted while we were away. It left me with an unsettled feeling, a feeling of what could have happened had we come back to find the scumbag, or multiple scumbags, ransacking the camp with my young son with me? Could it have gotten violent, would they have ran off, really no telling but it left me with an unsettled feeling ever since when im in the bush. Never of 4 legged animals but the 2 legged variety.

Him and I were fishing once a couple years after that incident back down old logging roads far off the beaten path when we ran into two guys way back there. They werent fishing, hunting, or camping and were clearly surprised we came up on them in my truck. I got a weird vibe off of them too and they were just acting "off" as best as i can describe it. They left immediately after we eased by them. That has only added to my feeling of unease in the back country.

So in my case, maybe i didnt care as much or consider things like that until you have a young kid with you. That changes those scenarios quite a bit.

 

[Tod osier]

Ever have anything weird happen?

Ive never had any kind of anxiety until, probably 3 years ago now, my son and I were camping. Being he is only 10, was 7 then, he is obviously 100% dependent on me out there and the thought that something bad could happen while him and I were out there never occurred to me.....until we were robbed. Not at gunpoint or anything but we left the camp for the day only to return to a camp where some scumbag helped himself to what he wanted while we were away. It left me with an unsettled feeling, a feeling of what could have happened had we come back to find the scumbag, or multiple scumbags, ransacking the camp with my young son with me? Could it have gotten violent, would they have ran off, really no telling but it left me with an unsettled feeling ever since when im in the bush. Never of 4 legged animals but the 2 legged variety.

Him and I were fishing once a couple years after that incident back down old logging roads far off the beaten path when we ran into two guys way back there. They werent fishing, hunting, or camping and were clearly surprised we came up on them in my truck. I got a weird vibe off of them too and they were just acting "off" as best as i can describe it. They left immediately after we eased by them. That has only added to my feeling of unease in the back country.

So in my case, maybe i didnt care as much or consider things like that until you have a young kid with you. That changes those scenarios quite a bit.

Yep, having a young kid along... boy does that change things. We were floating a remote river in AK and son (about 12) woke up in the middle of the night in the tent dripping in sweat in a panic and in some abdominal pain. My meter pegged, but he settled down went back to sleep and all was fine in the morning. His mother didn't even register an issue, but I was scarred by that. Later in the trip, we were going to fly out on an extremely remote trip and a couple nights before flying someone in the campground in the camper next to us was taken out in the middle of the night on a stretcher, lotta lights, lotta drama. Kicked me into panic mode and I cancelled the remote trip and lost a huge deposit. One of the biggest travel regrets I have.

Well I'm telling stories and not backcountry... your sketchy dudes story reminded me of being at semi developed hot springs early in the morning with wife and son, these two just worn out sketchy dudes come in and park it next to us and proceed to have the most hilarious conversation. The summary of the conversation is that the one guy was complaining how hard the going was (while pounding beer way early in the morning) and the thing on his mind was how he could get his back fixed and that would set him on the right course, but he should get his wife's "vag" fixed before that. I'm not sure what the "fixing" of the "vag" was, but I was glad our son was too young to understand.

 

[stayzeroed]

Happens to me every year about few weeks prior to the hunt so you are not alone. I think we get so focused on planning the hunt that our minds get so overwhelmed with the details that everything spider webs into what ifs. Sometimes it’s excitement, optimism and new ideas to help success and other times it’s negative intrusions and concerns.

Remember what you like about solo hunting. If you no longer like it then make plans to do something different next year to get rid of the anxiety that takes away from your enjoyment. I only solo hunt as it brings me the most enjoyment and it outweighed the boring camp nights. Last year was rough and I felt unmotivated and worried/anxiety until I was in the truck 1 hour from home and the excitement finally started to replace those feelings. This year has been even worse with a newborn at home and a new area. Being stuck, breaking an ankle and bears are my biggest fears and they will never go away. Solo hunting is hard mentally but I enjoy the adventure and enjoy being in charge of my own decisions and the outcome they create.

-The inreach has been a big help and checking in with family twice a day helps keep the motivation up but also keeps to reality in place so I don’t do something stupid. When an animal is down I always let my wife know and check in with her every 30 min or so so she knows I have not been attacked by a bear. Work quickly but carefully and get out of there. Cut proof gloves are a must.
-Address the common things such as stuck truck, keys locked in truck, nails in tires and dead battery before you leave so you can take those off your mind. While they may happen being prepared takes the sting off
- As much as I try to get away from people (even in the back country) I can’t remember a time I have not seen someone else at least once a day so that’s something.
-Hiking in bad weather or into bad areas are probably the most dangerous worrying times for me so I just try to keep aware, take it slow and don’t rush, about all you can do
-I went so far this year to write out some positive thoughts and motivation to read daily to keep the negativity at bay. I also include feedback from prior years to keep in mind so I don’t repeat prior mistakes that created regrets (mistakes/negative thoughts and the bad effect they had on my experience, e.g giving up early or getting lazy and sleeping in on prime time). It’s helping some. Lastly, Every hunt I remember that I have a family at home who is letting me leave for an adventure, they are home while I am on vacation. It’s an opportunity so make the most of the sacrifice.


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I just came across your reply to the post. You have very good insight and sound reasoning. This is something I have struggled with. My adventures bring me to areas where grizzlies are. The allure of doing everything by myself is there, but the 'what ifs' always creep in. Thanks for posting.

 

[def90]

I've spent most of my adult life solo hunting. I find myself being more focused and very successful at filling tags when I'm solo. I've ran into mountain lions, black bears, and weirdos a few times here and there. Walked through the woods alone in the dark many times. Drove hours alone to hunt units in other states I have never stepped foot in.

But for whatever reason I've been having this unexplainable feeling of dread this year that something is going to happen. I just can't explain it. Usually I'm full of the excitement and anticipation of the adventure of it. I start thinking about predators, possibilities of getting hurt and not making it out. Maybe I'm just getting older sick of doing it alone, worried about my family. I just can't explain it. Does anyone else experience this??

Just get an InReach.

 

[Broadjumper]

I love to solo hunt. As you get older you do think of the "what happens if" things . I just put it in the back of my mind and punch on. I really only focus on what I am doing , how do I get there safely and back. I'm 66 and pretty fit and agile from work, not being overweight is a real bonus. I simply continue on . Don't take risks but I certainly won't let the fear of something going awry deter me. You got to die of something and I would rather it be doing what I love. I do hunt with mates at times and do enjoy it. If I have to go one out so be it.

 

[Dogone]

Hunted alone for many years. Miles back in 40 below weather. Never was concerned but 50 years later would not think of it. Seems to be a combination of physical age and wisdom.

 

[Decker9]

I had a couple missions in younger life, a solo ram and a solo goat, just to prove to myself I could. The first couple 2-3 day hunts were tough, before inreach time.

Soon as I got a pack dog though, it was off to the hills with no second thoughts.

We managed to get a solo ram, my dog and I, but a big billy eluded us though we’ve passed on a few.

Now with a young kid and my one of a kind pack dog retired, Iv retired from solo trips. The anxiety defiantly would hit hard if I was to do it now alone knowing I have responsibility at home.

For anyone who is a first timer, I highly suggest a pack dog if allowed.