Let’s hear some horror stories

[KsRancher]

Really isn't a horror story. But I thought it was at first. I think it was in 2016. Dad and I were spike camped a couple miles into a Colorado wilderness just below treeline. Went to bed and got woke up at 1:00am to what I would describe at a train, jet or something big ROARING. I could tell it just kept getting closer and closer until all of a sudden I could hear it hit the trees and right after that it hit my tent. Just the wind. We were camped about 1/2 mile in a valley below a saddle. Probably did it a dozen more times. I have no idea how strong the wind were. But you could here them come over the saddle and just roar all the way down the valley. You could hear it for a few minutes as it traveled way on down below us. What was weird is how calm it got between the gust, I would guess 10 minutes of ZERO wind between them.


Dad nor I said a word about it that night. While cooking breakfast that next morning. Dad said "WOW, I was waiting on a tree to blow down on one of us"

 

[EastHumboldt]

This was over 20 years ago when I was young and thought I was handsome. Now I’m not. Playing golf with some buddies at work. Afterwards we’re having some beers and snacks at the clubhouse, and the cute barmaid is being kind of flirty. So she goes in the back and I said “man I oughtta get her phone number. !“. All the boys at the bar agreed, come to think of it. Maybe they were a little too enthusiastic about the idea. Pretty much egging me on.

so I turn on the charm, make my best moves, and she just smiles and politely declines. In fact, it look like she was about to bust out laughing. Then she goes in the back again, and the ringleader of my buddies says look in the mirror dumbass. There was a big one behind the bar. I did, and there’s a big gob of snickers bar hanging off the corner of my mustache. No wonder they were all excited about the idea. For about the next 10 years my golf nickname was snickers.

 

[Team4LongGun]

I’ll throw my hat in the ring

2018 me and my buddy decided to try hunting Idaho. Not nearby our home area in the the panhandle, but in the Frank church for muleys and elk in early October . Go big or go home I reckon.
The plan was 5 horses, 2 guys. 2 total days of travel, 2 days of riding in and out on horses, 7 days of hunting. 11 days total.
We did next to no packhorse training, basically just bought a bunch of pack gear and made sure it fit our team roping horses without blistering them up. A week before we were scheduled to leave one of my best horses got hurt at home so I had to use my wife’s barrel racing horse. This horse is a pampered pasture pet who’s done nothing in her life besides turn and burn around barrels in an arena.
The drive down went well (aside from having to chain up all 4 tires on the pickup and the front axle of the trailer). The next morning we woke up to 6” of fresh snow, regardless we loaded the horses and made it about 50 yards from the trailer before rodeo time started and gear was scattered everywhere. By the time we gathered everything and repaired all the pack gear it was mid morning so we decided to try again the next morning.
The next morning we did well for about 4 miles until my best horse decided to try and pass on a narrow trail and rolled down the mountain. By some miracle he was pretty much unharmed so onward ho! I was told this was a good trail…I would have considered it death defying to be conservative. I was also told it was about 11 miles to the place we wanted to camp…turned out to be 19.
We got to this big meadow to camp right at sundown and as the snow started coming down. We pert near had a fist fight getting the wall tent set up but eventually got it up and made it to bed. The remainder of the trip was pretty mild…just a few minor incidents of loaded horses getting away and making a run for the trailer, a horse coming up lame and unable to carry gear, and a night of sleeping under the stars along the trail on a 15° night. But other than that!


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But did you kill any elk or deer?

 

[Echo]

In 2019, I was about 11 miles into the backcountry on a very rough mountain road when I popped a tire. No problem, I thought, as I changed the tire and got back on the road. A quarter mile later…..I popped another tire.

No service and way the hell in there. Thank god for an inreach. I was able to hike a ridge to get a strong enough signal to send coordinates to my brother who was able to pick me up about 5 hours later.

I had to go back in the next day with a fixed tire and get the truck out. It was a long weekend with very little elk hunting.

 

[mtwarden]

^ two spares for the win

 

[khart_6882]

But did you kill any elk or deer?

That’s a big 10 negative. It turned into more of a survival situation trying to get all of our gear and animals back to the trailer haha. Buddy did end up getting a shot at a decent 3 point mule buck in the fading daylight one evening but no dice.


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[Beendare]

I’ve had plenty of adventures…not really horror stories.

Buddy broke his ankle on shale rock backpacking for deer in Nev
Stuck out all night solo- due to those old mini mag lights
Another buddy hurt his knee 12 miles in on Kauai and I had to carry both packloads out
Shattered my ankle on a training hike with an 80# pack- scared the crap out of my 9 year old when he heard it snap

Too many to count actually…all part of the adventure

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

The entire 2022 season was a horror story for me… where to start…. Here are the shorter summaries.

August

1) First hunt up was a NM pronghorn archery tag. The day before leaving for the hunt, on my very last shot rechecking my sight tape, my new bow explodes at full draw, axle snapped because of defect. Scares the crap out of me, get cut up a little bit. End up scrambling and getting my back up bow set up, leave for trip, shoot an antelope but a combination of dirty glasses, this bow not being broadhead tuned, and honestly a little target panic from my bow exploding (all entirely my fault, not making excuses), shot hits forward, takes two days to find antelope, meat is obviously spoiled. Getting a replacement bow from manufacturer was also nightmare that took months.



2) Nevada archery mule deer. Meeting a guy I hunted with previously one time before. He went on a pretty intense stalk with me so thought he had what it took. We get on some deer opening day, the buck I wanted isn’t in there so I send him. It’s a long stalk, 4 hrs later the deer bust and I go towards trailhead (plan we had agreed upon previously). About half way back I hear three pistol shots come from his direction. I know something is wrong so continue on to the place he went in on the stalk. It takes me a while to get there, no sign of him. Continue on retracing where his steps would be, eventually find his pack, water, and one arrow. He is non responsive, at this point I’m assuming I’m looking for his body. All this takes about 6-7 hrs, I’m gridding and searching frantically, getting really worn down myself since it’s mid august in NV mountains. His wife and young children are in camp, not going to go back and say, hey your father is gone. At this point I’ve contacted my wife via inreach to contact local sheriffs office. I get an inreach message from someone in camp, I’d say 7ish hrs in, he is fine, hit the panic button, got a life flight out, didn’t tell me and is actually headed back to camp. He also told his wife I left him on the mountain. Good times…. I was so worn down from the search, ran out of water early on, and a thunderstorm rolling in, I was in actual trouble and lucky to get out. I was physically shot and it ruined the rest of the hunt.
Got this photo after the fact from another hunter

Picture of country, big to be looking for a body


September
3) Good friend drew a OIL AZ antelope tag. I have plans to go out and help. I get there two days before season opens, help with a half day scouting. That evening I go to bed early, wake up 30 min later shivering uncontrollably. Long sorry story short I had Covid, after 2+ years of never getting it, it catches up to me in a wall tent in the middle of the desert I’m obviously no use to guy with the tag, I head into town the next morning and get a hotel as to not spread it to hunting group, end up spending 3 nights and $500+ dying in a crappy motel in Winslow, AZ.

4) Plan was to drive from AZ to CO to hunt an archery antelope tag I had. Decent tag, burned 5 points on it. I’m meeting someone that’s never hunted, they were interested and I welcomed them along. The drive is brutal, still have Covid. I get there, meet him, have 5 days. The first day I cannot hunt, days 2-4 I can barely hunt, main symptoms passed but I’m just completely shot. We get about one good hunting day in, no antelope harmed.

5) Dad and I drew WY general elk tag. After 2 days in we hike out to try another place. My truck won’t start. It takes about 36 hrs to get it towed out via inreach communication, tow cost $900ish (not complaining, we were way back there, guy could have charged anything and robbed us but didn’t). Get towed to the closest town, starter is bad, takes two days to get fixed (another 1k). End up getting back out and killing a bull, but lost 4 of 7 days and didn’t really have time to fill the other tag. Was really happy to get one down though all things considering! There were plenty of elk though and had waited 5 years for this tag…. another day or two could have doubled up.


October
6) I have a WY pronghorn tag. I figure out a way I can do a few days hunting that and then have 4-5 to go back and try to fill my elk tag. Flights out there get shuffled and spend 12 hrs in Dallas. The antelope hunt was crazy, people everywhere. I get on some, fixing to shoot and hear voices to my right. There was two guys there that didn’t see me. Decide to do the right thing, pull off and go talk to them. We discuss, plan is I’ll shoot but give them time to circle around and set up on their likely escape route. I set up, the guys skyline themselves on the way, everything gets busted out.
I decide to leave and go hunt the elk tag. Weather report is great. I get there, unexpected winter storm rolls in. I’m talking 60-80mph winds, snow, almost zero visibility, negative temps and a foot of snow. Spend the next 5 days hunting through that, freezing, and not seeing anything.


November
7) I have two weeks and MT combo tag. I’m flying out to MT, get over the airport, I can see it, the pilot comes over says all planes are grounded, we are headed to SLC. End up having to rent a car and drive through the night, including through the park on all ice roads, to get to Bozeman. Takes about 8 hrs. Plan is to mule deer hunt. My dad is coming out in a few days so mainly scouting. Well if you hunted Montana mid November this year you know how the weather went. Feet of snow, got pushed out of most areas because of rental. Some nights got to -30, crazy wind/snow, bounced all around the state trying to get a window, weather would say it was good in that part of the state, we’d get there, weather changed hunted 14 days on 2 mule deer and 1 elk tag, ended up with a cow the very last day. It was absolutely brutal. To cap it off, the meat is almost inedible, I’ve ground the entire elk and still have to chew every bite for a minute or two!


December
8) I lucked out and got a 10+ point coues tag on 3 points. Plan was to go with wife and hunt the last 6 days of season. It was an area I was very familiar with. Long story, but end up in the southwest debacle, get cancelled but not cancelled since they did tell anyone what was going on for days. We rent a car, drive 24 hrs to AZ, end up losing 4 days and having only 2 days for a premium AZ tag. We make the most of it, but not the deer or experience I was really looking for!


I’m not complaining, had some good memories and plenty of meat. I get to hunt a ton and am thankful, but god am I glad 2022 is over!

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Last time out to Colorado, the only place I interacted with people was Kansas. Toll road and a restaurant. I got so sick the first full day in the mountains. For the next 9 days, No matter the or food or drink I put in my mouth, my stomach would start rumbling immediately. And it’d come out the backside in a hurry.

On the walk out in the dark of the 9th day hunting, my body was done. Dehydrated so bad my legs cramped up. I packed up the next morning and left. I stayed in a motel in Littleton for 2 days drinking two cases of water and sleeping before driving home.

That’s one of about 100 times something serious fooled with a hunt. I could type 10 pages of crap like that happening.

 

[kowboy]

Couple years ago on day 1 at the top of the mountain in MT, sit down to eat lunch and look down at my boot (felt weird). Realize the bottom is seperating (MY fault, thought I could get just one more year out of them.....hiked across the Grand Canyon in them also rim to rim), well anyway, the next 5 days they deteriorated to the point I had them tied up with some electrical tape I found in my pack along with my rangefinder tether (which by the way worked excellent for what it was doing). Shot an elk on the last day and my buddy and I hauled it out IN THIS BOOT....lol. Everytime I would take a step, it felt like I was on ice. About crapped my pants crossing deadfalls over gullies with a full pack loaded to the max. Took 5 hours to pack out but finally made it. Ditched the boots and bought another pair (same boot because it wasn't the boot, it was my cheap #$$). Live and learn, no boot goes more than 3 seasons if that when hunting hard.

 

[Pony Soldier]

You folks certainly have more stories than I have. But here's a try: In 2017, we took 18" of snow and struggled to figure where the elk were at. We had gone out from the house to see if the local herd had started to the winter range. As we worked our way down a trail, we were cut off by an 20" log across the trail. We weren't carrying an electric saw at that time and the log was too big to cut with a hand saw. It was steep as hell but we had to get off and lead the horses over the edge. We worked our way through the jungle and finally found a way up onto the trail. We continued leading them a short distance before we got back on. Suddenly my mare hit a patch of ice and fell flat as a pancake on her side.

Without noticing anything unusual we continued out 6 miles to where we cut the tracks where all of the herd headed north to the next basin.

The snow really started coming down and we headed back to the house. We put everything away for the night and hunkered down to wait out the storm.

In the morning we were greeted by more snow than we could work with. My early morning hunt turned into three hours on the dozer so we could load the horses and head out. We got to our next hunt and start saddling horses. As I put my rifle in the scabbard I noticed that the butt stock was shattered from the wreck the day before.

We loaded everything back up and drove the 30 miles back to the house for a spare rifle. After noon we returned and started over again.

When we broke over the top of the ridge we found a herd of elk feeding on the hill above us. I stayed with the horses and sent my son over to pick out a fat cow.

At the second shot the herd broke and charged the slope directly above us. For some reason they stopped briefly when they hit an opening and then turned and ran right at us.

I could see what was happening and pulled the gun out of the boot and braced for the attack. They stopped at about 15 ft and turned up the trail we rode in on. A big cow stopped for a second and I put her down. She collapsed and slid down the hill to the horse I was standing next to. Once we got the panic under control with the ponies, we spent the rest of the day quartering the elk and loading the horses for the walk back to the truck.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Not a disaster, but almost.
Hog hunting Central FL., on a Cousin In-Laws," Grandpaws place."
Long story short, riding around through Orange Groves and pastures.
Get on some hogs, kill a few, make a great shot @ 400 yards on the last one.
As I'm admiring my shot, I look across the pasture and I see someone
standing outside their truck watching us through binos.
I ask In Law dude, "Hey, are we still on Grandpaws place"?
He replies " I dont know, we better get outta here".
I'm like You gotta be kidding me!!!
We get back to the house with 5 pigs and I throw In Law a knife
and tell him to get started on those pigs.
He says he's never broke down ANY animal.
You gotta be kidding me!!!!
I get the 5 pigs on Ice and we leave down a single lane county road.
We get halfway down that road and guess who's coming from the other way?
Florida FWC!!!!
You gotta be Kidding me!!!
To this day I dont know why he didnt stop us.

 

[TheHammer]

There’s some real crap situations mentioned. Makes me think mine are not too bad. Having shotgun slugs zinging by in deer drives growing up, made to believe this was acceptable.. UNITs that were otc in co being removed, while having an entire trip planned to hunt a unit that was now draw, drawing that tag, only to find out the hell hole you want to hunt in is on the border of two units. Making it ethically not acceptable to hunt that spot… 2015 having a leupold fail on a rifle hunt, 2019 early September southern co, being almost snowed in 18miles off pavement, n this last year I got Giardia in September on opening day 7miles from the truck in the Sangres. Then had a rough white tail archery season where I was still fighting that a month later and being a saddle hunter, well use your imagination….

 

[khart_6882]

The entire 2022 season was a horror story for me… where to start…. Here are the shorter summaries.

August

1) First hunt up was a NM pronghorn archery tag. The day before leaving for the hunt, on my very last shot rechecking my sight tape, my new bow explodes at full draw, axle snapped because of defect. Scares the crap out of me, get cut up a little bit. End up scrambling and getting my back up bow set up, leave for trip, shoot an antelope but a combination of dirty glasses, this bow not being broadhead tuned, and honestly a little target panic from my bow exploding (all entirely my fault, not making excuses), shot hits forward, takes two days to find antelope, meat is obviously spoiled. Getting a replacement bow from manufacturer was also nightmare that took months.
View attachment 535331
View attachment 535332

2) Nevada archery mule deer. Meeting a guy I hunted with previously one time before. He went on a pretty intense stalk with me so thought he had what it took. We get on some deer opening day, the buck I wanted isn’t in there so I send him. It’s a long stalk, 4 hrs later the deer bust and I go towards trailhead (plan we had agreed upon previously). About half way back I hear three pistol shots come from his direction. I know something is wrong so continue on to the place he went in on the stalk. It takes me a while to get there, no sign of him. Continue on retracing where his steps would be, eventually find his pack, water, and one arrow. He is non responsive, at this point I’m assuming I’m looking for his body. All this takes about 6-7 hrs, I’m gridding and searching frantically, getting really worn down myself since it’s mid august in NV mountains. His wife and young children are in camp, not going to go back and say, hey your father is gone. At this point I’ve contacted my wife via inreach to contact local sheriffs office. I get an inreach message from someone in camp, I’d say 7ish hrs in, he is fine, hit the panic button, got a life flight out, didn’t tell me and is actually headed back to camp. He also told his wife I left him on the mountain. Good times…. I was so worn down from the search, ran out of water early on, and a thunderstorm rolling in, I was in actual trouble and lucky to get out. I was physically shot and it ruined the rest of the hunt.
Got this photo after the fact from another hunter
View attachment 535335
Picture of country, big to be looking for a body
View attachment 535334

September
3) Good friend drew a OIL AZ antelope tag. I have plans to go out and help. I get there two days before season opens, help with a half day scouting. That evening I go to bed early, wake up 30 min later shivering uncontrollably. Long sorry story short I had Covid, after 2+ years of never getting it, it catches up to me in a wall tent in the middle of the desert I’m obviously no use to guy with the tag, I head into town the next morning and get a hotel as to not spread it to hunting group, end up spending 3 nights and $500+ dying in a crappy motel in Winslow, AZ.

4) Plan was to drive from AZ to CO to hunt an archery antelope tag I had. Decent tag, burned 5 points on it. I’m meeting someone that’s never hunted, they were interested and I welcomed them along. The drive is brutal, still have Covid. I get there, meet him, have 5 days. The first day I cannot hunt, days 2-4 I can barely hunt, main symptoms passed but I’m just completely shot. We get about one good hunting day in, no antelope harmed.

5) Dad and I drew WY general elk tag. After 2 days in we hike out to try another place. My truck won’t start. It takes about 36 hrs to get it towed out via inreach communication, tow cost $900ish (not complaining, we were way back there, guy could have charged anything and robbed us but didn’t). Get towed to the closest town, starter is bad, takes two days to get fixed (another 1k). End up getting back out and killing a bull, but lost 4 of 7 days and didn’t really have time to fill the other tag. Was really happy to get one down though all things considering! There were plenty of elk though and had waited 5 years for this tag…. another day or two could have doubled up.
View attachment 535338

October
6) I have a WY pronghorn tag. I figure out a way I can do a few days hunting that and then have 4-5 to go back and try to fill my elk tag. Flights out there get shuffled and spend 12 hrs in Dallas. The antelope hunt was crazy, people everywhere. I get on some, fixing to shoot and hear voices to my right. There was two guys there that didn’t see me. Decide to do the right thing, pull off and go talk to them. We discuss, plan is I’ll shoot but give them time to circle around and set up on their likely escape route. I set up, the guys skyline themselves on the way, everything gets busted out.
I decide to leave and go hunt the elk tag. Weather report is great. I get there, unexpected winter storm rolls in. I’m talking 60-80mph winds, snow, almost zero visibility, negative temps and a foot of snow. Spend the next 5 days hunting through that, freezing, and not seeing anything.
View attachment 535348

November
7) I have two weeks and MT combo tag. I’m flying out to MT, get over the airport, I can see it, the pilot comes over says all planes are grounded, we are headed to SLC. End up having to rent a car and drive through the night, including through the park on all ice roads, to get to Bozeman. Takes about 8 hrs. Plan is to mule deer hunt. My dad is coming out in a few days so mainly scouting. Well if you hunted Montana mid November this year you know how the weather went. Feet of snow, got pushed out of most areas because of rental. Some nights got to -30, crazy wind/snow, bounced all around the state trying to get a window, weather would say it was good in that part of the state, we’d get there, weather changed hunted 14 days on 2 mule deer and 1 elk tag, ended up with a cow the very last day. It was absolutely brutal. To cap it off, the meat is almost inedible, I’ve ground the entire elk and still have to chew every bite for a minute or two!
View attachment 535363

December
8) I lucked out and got a 10+ point coues tag on 3 points. Plan was to go with wife and hunt the last 6 days of season. It was an area I was very familiar with. Long story, but end up in the southwest debacle, get cancelled but not cancelled since they did tell anyone what was going on for days. We rent a car, drive 24 hrs to AZ, end up losing 4 days and having only 2 days for a premium AZ tag. We make the most of it, but not the deer or experience I was really looking for!
View attachment 535357

I’m not complaining, had some good memories and plenty of meat. I get to hunt a ton and am thankful, but god am I glad 2022 is over!

Dude…that’s dedication!


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[DuckDogDr]

I’ve had several horror stores hunts . I had a bad bad run of luck in 2020 with three different guided trips ( archery antelope, rifle elk and spring Turkey) and definitely got my pride hurt all 3…

One of the most memorable horror story / disaster trips I’m willing to share details of happened around 2014 or 2015… don’t remember exactly as I try to block out a lot of that time period in my life..

It was December, and I was 27 at the time. I had been dating a 45 year old straight up looked like she came straight out the pages of Playboy / Penthouse MILF for about 6 months (Size 2 with some aftermarket 44DD) She was every bit of wild with the “activities” as you would want to imagine… . Her 16 year old kid was a piece of work… in and out of trouble all the time and bounced between her house, his grandad’s and his uncles depending on what trouble he was in at the time.
This particular month he was staying with her, first time I had really met him, and he wanted me to take him duck hunting.. (keep in mind I had overheard him talking with someone he was going to steal my Arkansas timber spots and they could go later without me)
So flipped this situation around and said well. You pick some spots you want to scout etc and we’ll go try them out. He didn’t like that arrangement but agreed.
He had just bought a new boat and wanted to try it out, as well as take his dog…so he drove while I slept… was working 2 jobs at the time.
Well we got to Arkansas, got checked in at a cheap roach motel. Next morning got up early as planned . Had to stop and get gas then on the way to the WMA I got hit with a bout of montezumas revenge. Went and did my business and got back in the truck.
Well we get to the ramp and realize he forgot the key IN ALABAMA…and had no paddles in his boat for us to improvise.. so we go to the walk in trails .. no luck for the day..
On the 35 minute ride back to roach motel the front end of his truck started knocking and clanking . He doesn’t want to get it checked out because he can just drop it off at his grandad’s when we get back..
Next morning rolls around and we go back to our walk in spot. No luck again and now the truck is much worse, to the point it’s not drives me above 15 mph … we start arguing about going to the shop there vs waiting for grandpa on the way to get breakfast..
he proceeded to tell me if I was insisting it go to the shop , I’m the one paying….Told him Dude we can’t drive 15 mph all the way back to Alabama… He said well I can get grandpa to send the tow truck driver up here and pick us up but it’ll be Wednesday…
Told him that was a No go for me … I have to be at work Monday .. (I had already called my boss and informed him of the predicament) . If I’m a no show he’s firing me fella.
Kids response was “Well I guess you’re paying for the shop” I begrudgingly reached for my wallet as we were walking to the Mom and PoP shop… it was GONE.. We looked up and down in my seat / console , floor , door pockets … Gone. Then I remembered I had to take a deuce in the woods 2 day’s prior and Great…. It’s lost in the woods .. so now we are driving at 5mph or else truck is unsteerable back to the WMA.. .. I look for a solid 3 hours while he is on his phone sitting in his truck bitching the ENTIRE time. No luck
Defeated we go back to the hotel (It is now Sunday pm) Hotel only took cash and we had paid up until Sunday am…. The non-local owner refused to listen to anything saying we had to pay for an extra day or he wouldn’t let us back in the room.. Clothes, shotguns, waders etc all in there…

The kid only had $5.00 cash on him and he had already blown through his “allowance “ So now we are in a real bind and his mom supposedly only had $20 bucks in her account and I should be responsible enough to pay for it ….

So at this point only option I can think is to call my parents and unfortunately beg for money… I felt about 2” tall and caught about a 30 min earful … they were already super fond of the lady I was dating and this just reinforced their opinions..

Dad western unions the money to the roach motel (remember they don’t take CC) and let’s us get our crap out of jail.. The. I explain the predicament of the truck. So we then go to Autozone and luckily dude let my dad pay over the phone for tool rentals and parts..… Dad gets his neighbor to call me and walk me through changing the front hub, rotor and something else ( I’m not that mechanical normally).. Now we are on a time crunch to get this done before they close at 7 pm … through some miracle SUCCESS. But I’m pissed the entire time I’m doing this for the little bastard he literally has offered NO help and bitched about EVERYTHING.. he didn’t want to get his hunting clothes greasy, he was tired.. this trip sucked … etc.. literally did not touch one tool..

Since we had paid for the extra day I went back to hotel to get a shower .. and as I walk in to the bathroom the little Fudger is actively dropping a deuce in the middle of the shower for guy locking us out earlier .. IM like WTH man..

So needless to say I didn’t get a shower and as we’re repositioning his dog kennel and BEHOLD my wallet falls out … his dumbass dog grabbed it at some point off the night stand and was using it as a chew toy for the last several days while we were scrambling.. at that point I was just happy to have it back..

We start driving back to Alabama and about Memphis the other side of the front end of the truck starts doing the EXACT same thing.. told him dude we’re not stopping in downtown Memphis at midnight … keep driving papaw will pay for it remember… at that point he starts cussing me and we have to drive 45 mph the rest of the way to keep the truck controllable..

We got in town at 4 am and I was at work at 7….
Never went anywhere with him again and me and MILF broke up shortly after

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I’ve had several horror stores hunts . I had a bad bad run of luck in 2020 with three different guided trips ( archery antelope, rifle elk and spring Turkey) and definitely got my pride hurt all 3…

One of the most memorable horror story / disaster trips I’m willing to share details of happened around 2014 or 2015… don’t remember exactly as I try to block out a lot of that time period in my life..

It was December, and I was 27 at the time. I had been dating a 45 year old straight up MILF for about 6 months . Her 16 year old kid was a piece of work… in and out of trouble all the time and bounced between her house, his grandad’s and his uncles depending on what trouble he was in at the time.
This particular month he was staying with her, first time I had really met him, and he wanted me to take him duck hunting.. (keep in mind I had overheard him talking with someone he was going to steal my Arkansas timber spots and they could go later without me)
So flipped this situation around and said well. You pick some spots you want to scout etc and we’ll go try them out. He didn’t like that arrangement but agreed.
He had just bought a new boat and wanted to try it out, as well as take his dog…so he drove while I slept… was working 2 jobs at the time.
Well we got to Arkansas, got checked in at a cheap roach motel. Next morning got up early as planned . Had to stop and get gas then on the way to the WMA I got hit with a bout of montezumas revenge. Went and did my business and got back in the truck.
Well we get to the ramp and realize he forgot the key IN ALABAMA…and had no paddles in his boat for us to improvise.. so we go to the walk in trails .. no luck for the day..
On the 35 minute ride back to roach motel the front end of his truck started knocking and clanking . He doesn’t want to get it checked out because he can just drop it off at his grandad’s when we get back..
Next morning rolls around and we go back to our walk in spot. No luck again and now the truck is much worse, to the point it’s not drives me above 15 mph … we start arguing about going to the shop there vs waiting for grandpa on the way to get breakfast..
he proceeded to tell me if I was insisting it go to the shop , I’m the one paying….Told him Dude we can’t drive 15 mph all the way back to Alabama… He said well I can get grandpa to send the tow truck driver up here and pick us up but it’ll be Wednesday…
Told him that was a No go for me … I have to be at work Monday .. (I had already called my boss and informed him of the predicament) . If I’m a no show he’s firing me fella.
Kids response was “Well I guess you’re paying for the shop” I begrudgingly reached for my wallet as we were walking to the Mom and PoP shop… it was GONE.. We looked up and down in my seat / console , floor , door pockets … Gone. Then I remembered I had to take a deuce in the woods 2 day’s prior and Great…. It’s lost in the woods .. so now we are driving at 5mph or else truck is unsteerable back to the WMA.. .. I look for a solid 3 hours while he is on his phone sitting in his truck bitching the ENTIRE time. No luck
Defeated we go back to the hotel (It is now Sunday pm) Hotel only took cash and we had paid up until Sunday am…. The non-local owner refused to listen to anything saying we had to pay for an extra day or he wouldn’t let us back in the room.. Clothes, shotguns, waders etc all in there…

The kid only had $5.00 cash on him and he had already blown through his “allowance “ So now we are in a real bind and his mom supposedly only had $20 bucks in her account and I should be responsible enough to pay for it ….

So at this point only option I can think is to call my parents and unfortunately beg for money… I felt about 2” tall and caught about a 30 min earful … they were already super fond of the lady I was dating and this just reinforced their opinions..

Dad western unions the money to the roach motel (remember they don’t take CC) and let’s us get our crap out of jail.. The. I explain the predicament of the truck. So we then go to Autozone and luckily dude let my dad pay over the phone for tool rentals and parts..… Dad gets his neighbor to call me and walk me through changing the front hub, rotor and something else ( I’m not that mechanical normally).. Now we are on a time crunch to get this done before they close at 7 pm … through some miracle SUCCESS. But I’m pissed the entire time I’m doing this for the little bastard he literally has offered NO help and bitched about EVERYTHING.. he didn’t want to get his hunting clothes greasy, he was tired.. this trip sucked … etc.. literally did not touch one tool..

Since we had paid for the extra day I went back to hotel to get a shower .. and as I walk in to the bathroom the little Fudger is actively dropping a deuce in the middle of the shower for guy locking us out earlier .. IM like WTH man..

So needless to say I didn’t get a shower and as we’re repositioning his dog kennel and BEHOLD my wallet falls out … his dumbass dog grabbed it at some point off the night stand and was using it as a chew toy for the last several days while we were scrambling.. at that point I was just happy to have it back..

We start driving back to Alabama and about Memphis the other side of the front end of the truck starts doing the EXACT same thing.. told him dude we’re not stopping in downtown Memphis at midnight … keep driving papaw will pay for it remember… at that point he starts cussing me and we have to drive 45 mph the rest of the way to keep the truck controllable..

We got in town at 4 am and I was at work at 7….
Never went anywhere with him again and me and MILF broke up shortly after

When the movie version of this story is released I want to see it.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Dude…that’s dedication!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After about mid Sept I just started laughing at it all so I didn’t go crazy

 

[AFHunter22]

Let’s see, November 2022. Drew a non-resident Nevada rut mule deer tag, in a party with my old man and 5pts averaged, and only 5 non-res tags available. Drove from Great Falls to Tonopah Nevada and when we hit Twin Falls Idaho my 2015 Chevy diesel decided it wanted to have EGR problems, 110k on the clock. I had my truck camper on the truck and pulling my SxS. Chevy dealer in Idaho would not provide a loaner truck so I rented a Uhaul box truck. Ended up cooking inside the box truck, sleeping in a Kodiak canvas tent I brought as a spare, and seeing 4 deer in 4 days. We ended up losing 4 hunting days and cost a pretty penny with fixing my rig and renting everything. Memories last forever, so I just laugh at the sh*show it was. To make me happier I found out my NV game warden buddy, who had the same tag, did not see a deer worthy of shooting, the biologist he knew and an outfitter also we’re not successful on guiding their clients. I put in for the unit specifically with the intention of not drawing and our .01% odds were deemed worth lol.

 

[Fatcamp]

The entire 2022 season was a horror story for me… where to start…. Here are the shorter summaries.

August

1) First hunt up was a NM pronghorn archery tag. The day before leaving for the hunt, on my very last shot rechecking my sight tape, my new bow explodes at full draw, axle snapped because of defect. Scares the crap out of me, get cut up a little bit. End up scrambling and getting my back up bow set up, leave for trip, shoot an antelope but a combination of dirty glasses, this bow not being broadhead tuned, and honestly a little target panic from my bow exploding (all entirely my fault, not making excuses), shot hits forward, takes two days to find antelope, meat is obviously spoiled. Getting a replacement bow from manufacturer was also nightmare that took months.
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2) Nevada archery mule deer. Meeting a guy I hunted with previously one time before. He went on a pretty intense stalk with me so thought he had what it took. We get on some deer opening day, the buck I wanted isn’t in there so I send him. It’s a long stalk, 4 hrs later the deer bust and I go towards trailhead (plan we had agreed upon previously). About half way back I hear three pistol shots come from his direction. I know something is wrong so continue on to the place he went in on the stalk. It takes me a while to get there, no sign of him. Continue on retracing where his steps would be, eventually find his pack, water, and one arrow. He is non responsive, at this point I’m assuming I’m looking for his body. All this takes about 6-7 hrs, I’m gridding and searching frantically, getting really worn down myself since it’s mid august in NV mountains. His wife and young children are in camp, not going to go back and say, hey your father is gone. At this point I’ve contacted my wife via inreach to contact local sheriffs office. I get an inreach message from someone in camp, I’d say 7ish hrs in, he is fine, hit the panic button, got a life flight out, didn’t tell me and is actually headed back to camp. He also told his wife I left him on the mountain. Good times…. I was so worn down from the search, ran out of water early on, and a thunderstorm rolling in, I was in actual trouble and lucky to get out. I was physically shot and it ruined the rest of the hunt.
Got this photo after the fact from another hunter
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Picture of country, big to be looking for a body
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September
3) Good friend drew a OIL AZ antelope tag. I have plans to go out and help. I get there two days before season opens, help with a half day scouting. That evening I go to bed early, wake up 30 min later shivering uncontrollably. Long sorry story short I had Covid, after 2+ years of never getting it, it catches up to me in a wall tent in the middle of the desert I’m obviously no use to guy with the tag, I head into town the next morning and get a hotel as to not spread it to hunting group, end up spending 3 nights and $500+ dying in a crappy motel in Winslow, AZ.

4) Plan was to drive from AZ to CO to hunt an archery antelope tag I had. Decent tag, burned 5 points on it. I’m meeting someone that’s never hunted, they were interested and I welcomed them along. The drive is brutal, still have Covid. I get there, meet him, have 5 days. The first day I cannot hunt, days 2-4 I can barely hunt, main symptoms passed but I’m just completely shot. We get about one good hunting day in, no antelope harmed.

5) Dad and I drew WY general elk tag. After 2 days in we hike out to try another place. My truck won’t start. It takes about 36 hrs to get it towed out via inreach communication, tow cost $900ish (not complaining, we were way back there, guy could have charged anything and robbed us but didn’t). Get towed to the closest town, starter is bad, takes two days to get fixed (another 1k). End up getting back out and killing a bull, but lost 4 of 7 days and didn’t really have time to fill the other tag. Was really happy to get one down though all things considering! There were plenty of elk though and had waited 5 years for this tag…. another day or two could have doubled up.
View attachment 535338

October
6) I have a WY pronghorn tag. I figure out a way I can do a few days hunting that and then have 4-5 to go back and try to fill my elk tag. Flights out there get shuffled and spend 12 hrs in Dallas. The antelope hunt was crazy, people everywhere. I get on some, fixing to shoot and hear voices to my right. There was two guys there that didn’t see me. Decide to do the right thing, pull off and go talk to them. We discuss, plan is I’ll shoot but give them time to circle around and set up on their likely escape route. I set up, the guys skyline themselves on the way, everything gets busted out.
I decide to leave and go hunt the elk tag. Weather report is great. I get there, unexpected winter storm rolls in. I’m talking 60-80mph winds, snow, almost zero visibility, negative temps and a foot of snow. Spend the next 5 days hunting through that, freezing, and not seeing anything.
View attachment 535348

November
7) I have two weeks and MT combo tag. I’m flying out to MT, get over the airport, I can see it, the pilot comes over says all planes are grounded, we are headed to SLC. End up having to rent a car and drive through the night, including through the park on all ice roads, to get to Bozeman. Takes about 8 hrs. Plan is to mule deer hunt. My dad is coming out in a few days so mainly scouting. Well if you hunted Montana mid November this year you know how the weather went. Feet of snow, got pushed out of most areas because of rental. Some nights got to -30, crazy wind/snow, bounced all around the state trying to get a window, weather would say it was good in that part of the state, we’d get there, weather changed hunted 14 days on 2 mule deer and 1 elk tag, ended up with a cow the very last day. It was absolutely brutal. To cap it off, the meat is almost inedible, I’ve ground the entire elk and still have to chew every bite for a minute or two!
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December
8) I lucked out and got a 10+ point coues tag on 3 points. Plan was to go with wife and hunt the last 6 days of season. It was an area I was very familiar with. Long story, but end up in the southwest debacle, get cancelled but not cancelled since they did tell anyone what was going on for days. We rent a car, drive 24 hrs to AZ, end up losing 4 days and having only 2 days for a premium AZ tag. We make the most of it, but not the deer or experience I was really looking for!
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I’m not complaining, had some good memories and plenty of meat. I get to hunt a ton and am thankful, but god am I glad 2022 is over!

Wow! How's 2023 looking?

Kund of surprised you didn't switch to golf.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Wow! How's 2023 looking?

Kund of surprised you didn't switch to golf.

Haha only time i’m quitting hunting is when I’m in the ground!
Looking up. Had a public draw Nilgai tag in Feb and got one down. Cautiously optimistic….