Stories of hunting partners that quit

[khunter]

I was a little bummed last year when I drew my antelope tag after 22 years. I had three friends wanting to help out. We were all looking forward to spending a week in the desert together! My buddy and I made the 9 hour drive on Thursday and set up camp. Next morning we went scouting till midday and head back to camp for lunch. Another buddy shows up, then later that evening the last drives in. I end up shooting my buck opening evening. I brought a portable fridge/freezer to keep the meat safe. The weather was great! Cold nights with frost in the morning, so everything was perfect. Specially for August. They only stayed one more night and it was over. Guess I should have pulled the trigger later in the week to be able to hang out with some buddies for a week. At least all our families were happy to see us back home so soon!

Tags all filled out is usually time to pack it up. Perfectly normal in that situation. And yes after 22 years of waiting you should have held out unless the one you shot was an absolute no brainer and biggest in the unit.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

My first year elk hunting I drove to Idaho from MA with a buddy the plan was to arrive a day before it opened and hunt for 7 days and come home. 3 days into the season the texts from his wife started and by day 4 his ticket was booked and he begged me to drive him to SLC 4+ hours away. I dropped him off at the bus station and he flew home and I drove back home alone after hunting 10 days , I stayed a few extra days. The next year I drove out with a different buddy in his truck. By day 3 he got squirrelly on me, day 4 I came back to camp and he had everything packed up and said he was leaving in the morning and that I could come or find my own way home. Luckily I had a buddy in Utah that was away for work and said I could borrow his truck for a week to finish my hunt, so he gave me a ride there I grabbed the truck and drove back and finished the hunt. The following year I drew a gen tag in Wyoming I flew into SLC and grabbed the same buddies truck and hunted alone. Day 3 i shot a bull, I met some locals packing the head out that night and they ended up helping me pack it out with horses the next day. We became friends and they have visited me in Massachusetts since. I don’t know if I’ll go out west again with a hunting partner I felt so much more efficient alone