Hi there! I'm Mike Schmid, owner and operator of Solitude Ranch and Outfitters. I was born in Detroit, Michigan. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that loved the outdoors, when my parents moved to Wyoming. I was only 10 years old, and ever since that day I have been hiking the creek bottoms, river bottoms, ridges, and mountain tops of this great state with my Dad, Uncle Charlie, brothers, and friends hunting, trapping and fishing. I have been fortunate enough in my life to have been blessed with a wonderful wife and three beautiful daughters that seem to understand my hunting and outdoor addictions.

As I grew older the dreams of my childhood that were fed by the hundreds of articles I read in magazines such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and Fur Fish & Game. Hopes of being able hunt animals all over North America started to become a reality. To date. I have hunted in Alaska and Canada many times for animals such as, Brown Bear, Caribou, Moose, and Deer. The biggest dream I ever had was to be able to hunt wild sheep and complete the coveted grand slam which I was lucky enough to finish in old Mexico in December of 2006.

Even though I was able to do all this my greatest love was to hunt my home state of Wyoming. After a trip to the Black Hills of Wyoming. with 3 of my brothers in 1978 to hunt whitetail deer and wild turkeys I fell in love with the area and hoped one day I would be able to own some property there and really get to know these animals. In 2001, I was able to purchase some land near Devils Tower, this was the beginning of the Solitude Ranch. We spent the next 6 years learning and practicing QDM (quality deer management) where we have developed a supplemental feed program, planted food plots and recorded harvest data on every deer taken on the ranch. We feed 40 tons of protein supplements every year to try and achieve maximum antler growth. Since we have started this in the last 6 years I personally have taken 4 P&Y bucks off the ranch scoring 134 6/8, 150 1/8, 154 2/8, and 160 3/8. There have been many other P&Y bucks taken as well by SRO clients.

In 2007, we decided to expand the Solitude and set up a hunting ranch that would be managed well and would cater to archery and muzzleloader hunters since this has become one of our greatest passions. In early 2007, we leased an additional 27,000 acres of land, all tolled we now have 30,000 acres we manage for deer, antelope and turkeys. We have 25 trail cams set around the ranch we use to monitor our wildlife to help us better understand their patterns and habits. From these pictures we have created what we call our "Ten Most Wanted" list, this is a list of the 10 best whitetail bucks on the ranch. This list has created quite a little competition at the ranch. Each year we try to harvest these bucks as they are typically the older more mature ones, so far the best we have been able to do is 2 out of the 10.

In 2008, we will be offering you a chance with primitive weapons (archery & muzzleloaders) to come to the Solitude and try your luck at taking one of the Solitude’s "Ten Most Wanted", it is fun, it is a challenge and we hope you can join us sometime. Take care everyone, we hope you enjoy the website and no matter where you choose to hunt, please hunt ethically, safely and practice good sportsmanship. From all of us at the Solitude we wish you good luck.

Thanks, Mike