What’s the gnarliest situation you’ve been in while hunting?

Joined
Apr 29, 2020
Messages
670
Location
MI
I fell over dead a few minutes after I shot a bull elk right before the Halloween blizzard hit. My defibrillator fired my heart back into rhythm and I laid unconscious long enough for a foot of snow to pile up on me while I was out. Upon ‘waking’ up I walked miles to find help.
Wow
 

rclouse79

WKR
Joined
Dec 10, 2019
Messages
1,882
I am seven miles back in the deep nasty stuff when my Mountain House hits me like a ton of bricks. I immediately drop trow and drop off the most vile greasy mess I have ever seen in my life. My feeling of relief and euphoria is quickly replaced with dread when I reach in my pack and realize I forgot to restock my supply of wet wipes. The first thing that enters my mind is to hit the SOS button on my Garmin Inreach, but then I remember the giant bill that comes along with it. I proceed to waddle downhill to an icy creek while mustering up the courage for what I know awaits me.
Perhaps it was a trick of the light refracting into the water, but nice pool I found was much deeper than it appeared. The original plan of a nice backside dip turned into a full back flop after losing my balance. The silver lining was I came out clean as a whistle after my struggle to escape the frigid depths. The downside was I was now hypothermic with nightfall approaching.
Long story short is I sat huddled around a fire for several hours before I was warm and dry enough to walk back to my truck in the dark. Stay safe out there guys. You never know when your trip is going to take a turn for the worse.
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
Messages
55
Location
GA
My dog slid off the wet deck of my skiff right next to a wounded 10' alligator in 10' of water so I jumped in after him. Held the gator's tail with a death grip of one arm while I grabbed the dogs collar with the other hand and screaming at my friend to shoot the gator, which after what seemed like forever he finally did. Gator's back foot scratched up my chest pretty good.
 

CorbLand

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
7,798
My dog slid off the wet deck of my skiff right next to a wounded 10' alligator in 10' of water so I jumped in after him. Held the gator's tail with a death grip of one arm while I grabbed the dogs collar with the other hand and screaming at my friend to shoot the gator, which after what seemed like forever he finally did. Gator's back foot scratched up my chest pretty good.
I think I would have sat in the boat planning a name for a new dog.
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2020
Messages
670
Location
MI
Of course not a single picture these guys took using my camera shows his right rear leg. What's sad is the next guy that comes along and see's where this elk was dressed out IN THE ROAD will think to himself, That lucky SOB got this elk right here in the damn road. Why doesn't that ever happen to me? Little do they know!
Yeah you earned that one brother lol
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2020
Messages
670
Location
MI
Dand
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Damn Mike I couldn't imagine what that was like....do you think you killed her?
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2020
Messages
670
Location
MI
She lived. Idaho Fish and Game took a DNA swab from my glove she bit and tracked it to a collared bear; they sent me a picture of she and the grown Cubs feeding on a moose kill the following spring. Tough gal.


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Wow your shitting me?! How many shots do you think hit her
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Messages
39
Location
Norfolk, UK
Years ago when I spent a summer as a packer for an Outfitter in the NWT I was at the main camp for a brief period between hunters. The Outfitter asked me to take the five wheeled John Deere buggy and get firewood. His daughter who was probably about eleven decided to go with me. We went up the mountain and cut a good load of logs and loaded them in the back of the buggy, looking back it was massively overloaded. No sooner had I started down the mountain we lost control and began to quickly pick up speed. We were literally flying down, bouncing off the ground as I did my best to dodge trees and rocks! The girl was on the saddle behind me and was bear hugging so tight that I could hardly breathe and screaming in my ear! God knows what speed we hit at the fastest point. Miraculously after a few hundred yards I managed to very gradually turn across the angle of the mountainside and slow us down to a stop. We were both shaking with fear! Not sure who was worse! Finally the girl said 'please don't tell my dad about this as he will be really cross!'....I thought, yeah, good idea, let's not tell him!
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2016
Messages
394
Wow your shitting me?! How many shots do you think hit her

Five, but I have no idea where some of them went. She was on top of me and I was shooting with the pistol jammed into her. I fired as quickly as I could pull the trigger, but I was pinned on my back so I wasn’t even able to aim. My front sight had bear hairs on it after the ordeal.


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Shaw

FNG
Joined
Jan 6, 2021
Messages
21
Location
Fosters, Alabama
On the morning of November 8, 2009 I carried a buddy of mine bowhunting for whitetails on some land my uncle owned. About 11am on our way out, we stopped to reposition a ladderstand for my son to hunt out of that evening. My buddy walked back to the ATV to get a limb saw and I climbed up in the stand and popped the strap loose.

I was standing there waiting on him to get back and hold the ladder so I could climb down. As he was walking up I heard him say something. I turned my head and he was talking on his cell. The stand kicked off the tree and it was like slow motion. I landed flat on my back and the stand hit me it the chest. It knocked the wind out of me and my left shoulder was killing me. I was pissed because I was afraid I had torn it up and was going to miss the rest of the season. I got up and walked a little piece and sat down. My buddy went and got the ATV. When he got back I tried to stand up but couldn’t, he had to help me. Tried to get on the ATV, but that was a no go.

My parents were supposed to be over around lunch with my son and I got my buddy to call them. They showed up with the golf cart and got me to my dad’s truck. My mom carried me to small hospital at the nearest town. When they did the CT scan, they started flipping out. My C3 and C4 vertebra we’re dislocated. Luckily the top vertebra shifted to the left when it dislocated and wedged itself on the lower one preventing it from severing my spinal cord.

They had to transport me by ambulance to another hospital about 50 miles away. I bet they spent an hour taping my head down. Once I arrived at the other hospital they rushed me into surgery and repaired everything. The next day when I spoke to the doctor he said you don’t know how lucky you are and that I should have been airlifted out of there. One wrong move and I would have either died right there or been a quadriplegic on a vent for the rest of my life. Not the best way to spend the day of your 42nd birthday.

After recovering from the surgery, I started having issues with severe leg pain and numbness in both feet. They found out that I had torn my L5/S1 Disc as well in the fall. So I wound up having a fusion done to repair it. That was by far the worst surgery I’ve ever had to recover from.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
3,158
I guess I’ve used up about all my luck....

The worst outdoor-related experience I ever dealt with happened when I was 12 years old. On a spring day I grabbed my rod and tackle box to go fish a local pond. I rode a small motorcycle to the pond and spent a couple hours fishing there. I knew my aunt and uncle would be arriving at our house soon and so I decided to go home and visit. I was riding the bike around the pond....maybe doing 25 mph....when I suddenly hit an unseen dip with a serious bump on the other side. I never had a chance.

Before I could react, I was launched into the air. I lost grip on the bike due to riding while managing a rod and tackle box. I came down hard on the bars, smashing them into my ribs and abdomen....completely knocking the wind out of me and shocking me with pain. I couldn’t get up or stand for several minutes. When I finally found my feet, I couldn’t stay up without fainting. I tried several times for maybe a half hour. Finally I managed to get up but no way could I walk, and home was a mile away. The bike wouldn’t start and I went down again. Finally....I got it started and somehow was able to navigate it home. I arrived bruised, sick, in pain and shock.

I told my family what happened but nobody...including me...understood the significance of the wreck. I went to my room and laid down to rest. An hour later I was feeling like death and my mom had endured enough worry. I was driven to a local doctor and examined. My BP was dangerously low and he suspected internal injuries. The local ambulance was out on a run and so they called the only option which was the funeral home. I was stretchered into a white hearse and headed toward a hospital 30 minutes away. My mom actually held an IV bottle out the window (higher) so the fluid would run faster and help my BP.

Into the ER and rapidly evaluated. I recall swallowing the nasogastric tube. Bright lights....people...masks....then nothing at all.

I woke up in the dark...scared and hurting. The surgeons had cut me open from ribs to pelvis. I spent 10 days in the hospital recovering. My spleen was destroyed, and a lobe of my liver was gone. My abdomen was full of blood, but other organs were okay. I received multiple transfusions of blood. It was days before I could eat anything. When they changed my dressing my belly looked like a railroad track with the long wound and sutures. But I survived.

The surgeon told my parents I escaped dying by a narrow margin. If I had fallen asleep or spent another hour in my room it would’ve been very doubtful. Disappointingly, I missed football season next fall. But I was back fishing by June and the little motorcycle got me around. I used football season to hunt squirrels. And here I am....still hunting, fishing and riding the guts out of a much bigger motorcycle.
 

CorbLand

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
7,798
I guess I’ve used up about all my luck....

The worst outdoor-related experience I ever dealt with happened when I was 12 years old. On a spring day I grabbed my rod and tackle box to go fish a local pond. I rode a small motorcycle to the pond and spent a couple hours fishing there. I knew my aunt and uncle would be arriving at our house soon and so I decided to go home and visit. I was riding the bike around the pond....maybe doing 25 mph....when I suddenly hit an unseen dip with a serious bump on the other side. I never had a chance.

Before I could react, I was launched into the air. I lost grip on the bike due to riding while managing a rod and tackle box. I came down hard on the bars, smashing them into my ribs and abdomen....completely knocking the wind out of me and shocking me with pain. I couldn’t get up or stand for several minutes. When I finally found my feet, I couldn’t stay up without fainting. I tried several times for maybe a half hour. Finally I managed to get up but no way could I walk, and home was a mile away. The bike wouldn’t start and I went down again. Finally....I got it started and somehow was able to navigate it home. I arrived bruised, sick, in pain and shock.

I told my family what happened but nobody...including me...understood the significance of the wreck. I went to my room and laid down to rest. An hour later I was feeling like death and my mom had endured enough worry. I was driven to a local doctor and examined. My BP was dangerously low and he suspected internal injuries. The local ambulance was out on a run and so they called the only option which was the funeral home. I was stretchered into a white hearse and headed toward a hospital 30 minutes away. My mom actually held an IV bottle out the window (higher) so the fluid would run faster and help my BP.

Into the ER and rapidly evaluated. I recall swallowing the nasogastric tube. Bright lights....people...masks....then nothing at all.

I woke up in the dark...scared and hurting. The surgeons had cut me open from ribs to pelvis. I spent 10 days in the hospital recovering. My spleen was destroyed, and a lobe of my liver was gone. My abdomen was full of blood, but other organs were okay. I received multiple transfusions of blood. It was days before I could eat anything. When they changed my dressing my belly looked like a railroad track with the long wound and sutures. But I survived.

The surgeon told my parents I escaped dying by a narrow margin. If I had fallen asleep or spent another hour in my room it would’ve been very doubtful. Disappointingly, I missed football season next fall. But I was back fishing by June and the little motorcycle got me around. I used football season to hunt squirrels. And here I am....still hunting, fishing and riding the guts out of a much bigger motorcycle.
Man, to bad they didn't put you in a casket, wheel you into the ER with everyone there and be like "uh, guys we have a situation here." Then they open it up and there is a living person in there. Man, that would have been priceless.
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,639
Just your normal 24+ hours of packing our camp out on horse back through a blizzard getting up to 12" of snow up high to getting poured on down low and literally having my slicker and other gear frozen to my saddle and everything frozen solid on the pack animals. Of course the last 4 or 5 miles were the worst when it started freezing down low. I know my horse went down 5 times and multiple pack animals did at least one barrel roll. Pair that with the head guide "running" camp just making his one trip down to trail head and sending a guide who did our private ranch pickup hunts, and was there actually just helping out as an extra hand, with zero horse experience, back up with me to make the final trip out.

Glad no body or animals got hurt. 20 hours was just the normal packing out in crappy weather put your head down and just do it situation. The last part was probably as pissed as I have ever been while talking the helping guide through getting his horse navigated properly and hoping he or I or the stock didn't take a one way trip down any canyons.

Top it off ride into trail head a couple hours later than expected and the "head guide" is sleeping in his sweat pants in the back seat of the truck heat on and all and didn't wake up until I catapulted my saddle into the back window of the truck. First words out of his mouth while putting his boots on were "WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG! HURRY UP LETS GET THE GEAR PACKED UP SO WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE!"....He almost died that night!
 
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