Mountain Hunting Regrets

[AKarchery]

This is off topic, but that's good looking shorthair in your profile pic.

Carry on.

She’s actually a large munsterlander!

 

[wildhorsetrail]

It was lip balm during last year's sheep hunt. My lips don't take the sun and heat that well and were blistered and driving me batty by the time I got back.

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[the hack]

My absolute biggest regret is not starting my mountain hunting obsession when I first moved to AK at 23. I opted to wait until I was almost 40 and missed out on close to 20 of the best (physically fit and healthiest), years of my life. Every day I look up into my “backyard”, and think, goddamnit, I could have hunted that every year, before it became draw only, and some of the most difficult sheep tags in the state to draw.


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It could be worse, you could've started hunting altogether at 45!

 

[FLATHEAD]

Wearing the same clothes for 10 days.
I should have at least changed my undies.
Got a wicked swamp crotch rash-infection.

 

[jherald]

Thinking I can squeeze one last trip out of a pair of boots and they start leaking in that trip. But I did have room for a second pair on the plane so luckily I didn't waste an outing. Don't wear old boots on your big expedition trips.

 

[Hackleback]

Not enough & rushed hunts. Need to slow down and spend more time in the back country.

 

[HUNTNUT]

What has everyone regret after a few days in the mountains?

Warmer Puff Jacket
Upgraded Hiking Boots
Extra Coffee for Rain Days
Etc, Etc

Lets hear your regrets so others can learn from your mistakes!

Missing the BIG wolf on the pack out.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

The total cost.

Factor in the cost the hunt, tips, airfare, hotels, charter flights, processing, taxidermy, time off (lost income), training time (lost income), practice shooting (ammo cost plus lost income), etc. and the true cost of a typical mountain hunt is unreal.

Total blast though.

 

[idig4au]

I have two that come immediately to mind as lessons learned

First are ill fitting boots that ruined a hunt due to blisters and the second is not test firing rifle at hunting camp to check if issues with temperature/barometric pressure resulting in POI shift. Missed a really big sheep due to this.

 

[Aksnagger]

In the really steep stuff with brush, always go down where you came up. Being cliffed out with a goat on my back broke the sole 200 ft from the beach. Also, trekking poles….

 

[slvrslngr]

No major regrets. Probably the biggest is not investing in quality glass earlier. I still don’t have a really good spotter. Everything else can be notched up to lessons learned.

 

[Mike Islander]

Not writing down or remembering the dosage for aqua tabs. Put two tabs(which was in one square so it made sense to me at the time to use both) in a nalgene on my hike in with the DS140 tag in my pocket. Started to get a headache so I wasted no time drinking water. I’m fairly certain I poisoned myself. I laid in the tent for 2 days with the worst headache of my life and had to hike out because I couldn’t keep down food.

If you were above 6000 feet I'd bet $100 on altitude sickness.

 

[coconutman]

Packing my cold weather clothing system while I’m warm and dry. Has ended up a few times in me thinking “do I really need this big of a puffy or sleeping bag? Nah, I’ll leave it” I’ve spent a few really cold days and nights afield.

Food is a big thing. My body craves different things depending on how hot or cold and in levels of really high exertion. For example, I packed a bunch of mini snickers bars for on-the-go energy which I usually love and are great. The temps were hot and the pack was heavy and there just wasn’t anything I could do to get myself to eat those snickers bars. All my body wanted was savory food. So just try your food plan on similar conditions.


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[Yellowknife]

Heading up the mountain after goat when I was "almost" over a cold. Ended up with a terrible case bronchitis the next day. Couldn't breath well enough to function. Barely made it back without having to call a medivac. Nearly ruined the hunt for the other two guys and was recovering for weeks. I could have just waited another day before I went hunting.

Also leaving my crampons at the tent during a goat recovery. Ended up having loosing assorted gear and half the goat to the storm and putting my partner at considerable risk and some injury. The worst of it was that it was the third goat we took in 24 hrs... hardly one I even needed to shoot.

In both cases the blame can be assigned to myself for hyperfocusing on the task and not taking a step back to make sure I was doing it safely. Hopefully I've gained some wisdom from the experiences.

Yk

 

[Snyd]

Not rocking all the tent stakes...

 

[Clarktar]

Heading up the mountain after goat when I was "almost" over a cold. Ended up with a terrible case bronchitis the next day. Couldn't breath well enough to function. Barely made it back without having to call a medivac. Nearly ruined the hunt for the other two guys and was recovering for weeks. I could have just waited another day before I went hunting.

Also leaving my crampons at the tent during a goat recovery. Ended up having loosing assorted gear and half the goat to the storm and putting my partner at considerable risk and some injury. The worst of it was that it was the third goat we took in 24 hrs... hardly one I even needed to shoot.

In both cases the blame can be assigned to myself for hyperfocusing on the task and not taking a step back to make sure I was doing it safely. Hopefully I've gained some wisdom from the experiences.

Yk

Safety meetings are important.

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[SLDMTN]

Not being interested in sheep hunting when I lived within the hard park boundary. Sheep don't fill freezers so we hunted moose and caribou. Never understood the squandered opportunity until it was too late. One day though...

 

[Cameron.25]

Taking a “shortcut” off the mountainside.

Been there done that. Even worse, i took a shortcut going up a steep ass mountain last year, last time I'll do that haha.. i will say, i tend to find big old white sheds when i take these off trail shortcuts tho lol