Let’s hear some horror stories

[Fatcamp]

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….

Nice! Careful though, don't go getting cocky.

 

[mi650]

'97 or '98, opening day of firearm deer season, I was going to hunt on my grandparents farm. They lived about 15 miles away, and I spent the night at their house.

I got out to the farm dark & early, park just off the road, find out I'd left my shotgun back at their house. OK, I have time. Drive back to their house, get my gun out of the garage, drive back to the farm. Start getting dressed, and realize I'd left my boots back in the garage too.

I hunted in my tennis shoes that morning.

 

[Jxferg7]

First ever backcountry hunt which was also the first time setting eyes on large deep back country mountain ranges, and trying to survive 10 days away from everyday comforts. Such a hilarious photo and look back at what my pack looked like! Packing your insecurities is an understatement. Had like 4 sets of clothing hahahah! Decided to pack in and setup camp at the base of this mountain. Still early when we did this…thought it was a good idea to test hike the mountain and see what it’s all about. Feet were wet and boots were not leather waterproof boots. Got back to camp after being a dumbass to fine blisters larger than 50 cent pieces on both heels and also realized my phone slipped out of my bino harness at the top somewhere! Every step the rest of the 7 days was pure agony! Learned a ton on that trip, many mistakes were never repeated after that trip. No better way to learn!

 

[Boxerboxer]

First ever backcountry hunt which was also the first time setting eyes on large deep back country mountain ranges, and trying to survive 10 days away from everyday comforts. Such a hilarious photo and look back at what my pack looked like! Packing your insecurities is an understatement. Had like 4 sets of clothing hahahah! Decided to pack in and setup camp at the base of this mountain. Still early when we did this…thought it was a good idea to test hike the mountain and see what it’s all about. Feet were wet and boots were not leather waterproof boots. Got back to camp after being a dumbass to fine blisters larger than 50 cent pieces on both heels and also realized my phone slipped out of my bino harness at the top somewhere! Every step the rest of the 7 days was pure agony! Learned a ton on that trip, many mistakes were never repeated after that trip. No better way to learn!

Haha, damn, your pack looks like Xzibit heard you like packs so he had some packs installed in your pack.

 

[Beendare]

Back when I was about 17 yrs old, I was duck hunting with a friend of a friend and when getting into his truck with his “unloaded” shotgun and blew his windshield out….dang I can still remember how that startled me…. I never hunted with that guy again.

My buddies cousin was duck hunting with his best friend in those sunken barrel blinds out in a marsh. Somehow he slipped when he was sitting down, and he accidentally shot his best buddy in the head from 4 feet away Killing him instantly.

.

 

[Jxferg7]

Haha, damn, your pack looks like Xzibit heard you like packs so he had some packs installed in your pack.

Yeah man it’s funny AF looking back to your first backpacking trip!! That day going forward I vowed to be sure to learn everything I could and pass on to my children as my dad didn’t do anything like that lol. And now I freaking count every ounce on a spreadsheet. Down to every bullet/arrow, clothes, everything!! Feel really good at sun 50lbs with 3 liters of water and 6 days of food!

 

[khart_6882]

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

Yes…so much yes haha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[7mm-08]

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.
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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.
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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!

Nightmare season for sure. Most guys don't have that many stories when they die. The fact you built that resume in one year tells me you're hardcore as hell. Power on!

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Nightmare season for sure. Most guys don't have that many stories when they die. The fact you built that resume in one year tells me you're hardcore as hell. Power on!

Haha don’t know about that, just a dude with extraordinarily bad luck