First time solo backcountry hunt. Any tips?

[Stein]

One more safety item, when I leave my wife a map, I also text her pics of the truck (with license plate), a pic of my tent setup, a pic of me and one of my pack.

[Boss .300 winmag]

One more safety item, when I leave my wife a map, I also text her pics of the truck (with license plate), a pic of my tent setup, a pic of me and one of my pack.

Great idea, never thought of that one.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Have you day hiked solo?

Doesn't sound like it to me, life in the back country solo is a whole different ball game.

Not trying to scare you off from it, but think all the worst case senerios that could happen. Broken leg/arm/hand/ankle,  sprained ankle , knee injury, sever knife/puncture wound, hypothermia, wounds caused by animal attack, self inflicted gun shot (don't laugh it happens), back injury, being pinned by some freak of nature tree/rock falling on you etc..

Now are you prepared to handle these things alone, do you have any first aid training, could you give yourself stitches, cut off your leg, or arm.

One thing I do when going solo is to add prescription pain killers to my first aid kit that I have saved from prior medical events.

Just some things to ponder, one can never truly be ready for every senerio that might happen, but thinking about them can help you be prepared if something happens.

this one made me laugh. if you cant fix it with duct tape and blood clot your screwed any way. part of the deal.

Bet this guy wasn't laughing!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston

[ctwiggs1]

One more safety item, when I leave my wife a map, I also text her pics of the truck (with license plate), a pic of my tent setup, a pic of me and one of my pack.

I like that.  I'll start doing that.

[savagehunter]

Be in position at daylight and glass hard.

[HuntnFishnRyan]

Thought of this recently. How about rigging up a trip wire around your tent using fishing line and a little bell. Day one you may not being producing food stink smells but by the 3rd day things might develop an aroma around camp. Besides it doesn't weigh anything and gives you a little piece of mind in bear country. 

[Doublelunger]

Are you packing a side arm? My first solo trip I expected to be a little nervous at night. I ended up sleeping like a baby every night. Im pretty sure it was the peace of mind the pistol by my side gave me.

[banishd]

dont forget benedryl, i got stung by a wasp 5 miles in and leg was pretty swollen for 3 days

[Deserthunter2016]

I always pack a sidearm. I like the idea of taking pictures of my truck, tent setup, and myself before I leave. That's a good idea for any backcountry hunt whether alone or with someone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HuntnFishnRyan]

Are you packing a side arm? My first solo trip I expected to be a little nervous at night. I ended up sleeping like a baby every night. Im pretty sure it was the peace of mind the pistol by my side gave me.

sidearm is good provided you can get to it in time, point and shoot. There is a story on the web of 2 guys in a tent who had everything. bear spray and guns. A grizz busted in and killed them both.

Another story of a black bear vs. camp counselor in sleeping bag just this year. Be safe out there. http://nypost.com/2017/07/09/bear-takes-a-chomp-out-of-sleeping-camp-counselors-head/

[Deserthunter2016]

What does everyone do with their food? I'm taking mostly prepackaged food like mountain house, protein bars, oatmeal, etc. I usually just keep it in my backpack next to the tent. Does anyone hang theirs from a tree at all?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dreadi]

I never kept my food in my tent when I backpacked and always kept it hung.

[Bill W]

hang food from a tree.  don't keep it in either the tent or backpack.  If you do you'll find out there's worse things than bears in camp, MICE.  They chew thru almost everything.  If it's not mice, it's chipmunks.

[savagehunter]

Mice will destroy your pack or tent in short order hanging food with a pair of sticks crossed over  tied online above your bag will keep the mice acrobats from getting into your food never store food in your tent or pack overnight.

[millerwheeler]

Night time is a little odd, it's been mentioned have a solid first ad kit/ survival kit , water sources and mapped out is key

GARMON INREACH  will make you feel  better and ur family you can text on it and it tracks you. Also has an SOS feature for the I'm screwed  scenario

Have fun  and don't be afraid to talk to yourself