Go It Alone.

Loners are perhaps the most successful anglers and hunters of all. Their decisions are made by a committee of one, and their decisions were almost always correct, which cannot be said for many sportsmen who fish or hunt with other people.

Most outdoorsmen are, by their very nature, gregarious. Anglers and hunters can't help it that they are groupies of the highest order; where you find one, he or she will probably be accompanied by some friends or relatives.

It's easy to make an argument about going it alone. I fished and hunted across North America for a dozen years before my wife and I got married. Caribou hunting trips to northern Quebec for a magazine article would always find me being the only English-speaking dude in camp.

Try being a solitary sportsmen. It's OK to be selfish occasionally.

One year I took another hunter with me. He wanted to shoot the biggest caribou we saw, and I let him. Do I begrudge him for shooting it? Of course not, but had I been alone, there would have been no decision to make. I would have taken that animal.

Trips to Florida for spawning largemouth bass were made alone. I stalked deer and elk on do-it-yourself western trips, and spent weeks on end alone in the northern wilderness. My many black bear hunts would mean baiting and hunting by myself. I could offer many other examples if space permitted but it would be senseless to do so.

The bottom line is I was a loner for many years. Not so much by choice as by necessity. There just wasn't enough money for two people, and barely enough for me.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy other people's company; it's just that in many cases, and especially when fishing or hunting, I enjoyed my own company too much to share it with others. It didn't bother me to be alone. I was happy when the only person's opinions I had to consider were my own.

 Oh, there's no doubt I was selfish. I didn't have to consult others when deciding what to do. I made up my mind to do something, and it was done. Consider it this way.

You and I are trout fishing, and we both know the best fishing water is downstream.

I may, because I'm a nice guy, let you fish downstream. Am I happy about it? Well, sure, if I'm in a giving mood. However, nagging at the back of my mind is the thought that I'd rather be fishing downstream myself.

I'm a giver and a helper.

Anyone who knows me well understands what makes me tick. I'm a giver, a helper, a person who will go out of my way to help someone else. I enjoy doing so because it makes me feel good.

Be that as it may, there are many reasons for being a loner. Robert Ruark in his wonderful book "The Old Man & The Boy" wrote it very well in one story. He wrote that one boy is all boy; two boys is half a boy; and three boys is no boy at all.

It meant that the more people around us when we hunt or fish the less successful either of us may be. It also means when faced with the decision of whether to fish or hunt here or there, we must decide who goes upstream or down, who hunts which woodlot, and it also is a determining factor on how efficient we are when forced to consider the feelings and thoughts of other people.

Ringneck pheasants are among the spookiest of game birds. One man with a dog makes no noise unless he constantly screams at the pooch. If the dog is well trained, and responds to hand signals, the dog and hunter make little noise.

They can move close to pheasants before the bird knows they are being hunted. There are no human conversations, no slamming of car doors or the constant hollering that occurs on so many bird hunts. Dogs don't aways hunt right and people sometimes head for the wrong place so someone is always hollering and making noise to get their attention.

Such problems don't affect people who fish or hunt alone.

Solitary anglers choose which flies to use, and if they don't produce, no one is to blame but us. A deer hunter who scouts by himself, chooses which tree is best suited to waylay a nice buck, and he is a person who probably shoots a buck every year.

I've found that solitary anglers and hunters are usually far more successful than those folks who cart their neighbors along. Two people make twice the noise, lay down twice as much scent, and often complicate each others' efforts. And sadly, they often argue and squabble over unimportant things.

The solitary sportsman considers only his own thoughts, acts on personal decisions, and seldom is masochistic enough to kick his own backside when he does something wrong. We make our way through the outdoor world by making every decision that must be made, and we learn to enjoy our time afield with a deeper passion.

The loner is often a happy person. He or she is confident in their ability to do things right, and strangely enough, when success occurs, we know it came because of our personal knowledge and hard work.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors