I almost always hunted big game alone. Back in the days before Ontario exploited our moose hunting to death, I would take my wall tent seventy plus miles north of here and stay for at least a week. Although my camp was at the end of a road, I almost never saw anyone. The last trip I made up there lasted two weeks and not a single vehicle arrived during that time. I never started the truck again once my camp was planted (and for good reason - the alternator went out so I needed to save the battery for trip home). My elk hunting camp in Montana was about thirty miles from the trail head. I always stayed at least a week and sometimes two. You can see photos in my profile album. This kind of long-term solo hunting takes some getting used to. For a normal person the silence can be pretty unnerving the first day or so. It’s also very strenuous. Taking care of myself was always a challenge and dealing with the horses every day was even more exhausting. Preparation was critical. And that doesn't mean packing the homestead on your back every time you head out for a day's hunting. It's a real science learning how to balance what you need versus weight and bulk. It's also a science learning what the physical limits of your body are on any given day (and at any given year - the aging process is not something that just happens one morning after you've turned fifty - it's slow and insidious). As experienced and careful as I was I still had a number of terribly close calls (which were usually self-imposed because I overextended myself). Nevertheless, I certainly recommend being alone in the wilderness. What it will do for the hunter or fisherman is without measure. It will ultimately change your whole perspective on what nature is all about and our place in it. However, I would never recommend jumping into this kind of thing cold turkey. An overnighter is a good first step. Then a three or four night stretch. Always break into this with situations where you can pack it in and get out if you need to. I cannot stress enough how much of a shock this can be for some folks. I had a city kid from LA with me for a day fishing trip up in Alaska. By the time I got him to the other end of Lake Naknek (forty miles) that guy was totally freaked out. I mean he was PANICKING. I thought he was going to jump overboard which would have been deadly in those waters. If someone had dropped him off up there in the middle of nowhere with a floatplane for a week, he would have been dead by the next morning.

It’s too bad the book devolved into a lot of how-to stuff. I’ll keep that in mind when I write mine. I agree, it seems that’s all editors and sponsors think audiences are interested in these days. Hopefully guys like this can get the art of outdoors storytelling back to what it once was.

sounds good, thanks.