What's the most expensive thing you've lost while outdoors?

[6mm Remington]

My brother found a garmin on a mountain in MT, no info on the owner in it, two years later he lost it on the same mountain.

My buddy Jeff lost his Garmin the very first day out in the field with it a couple years ago on a mountainside over in the Phillipsburg area. I don't remember the model but it cost him about $650.00. We went back in the spring during bear season but could never locate it. Coincidence??

I was archery hunting by myself in the Welcome Creek Wilderness one fall and took a break after climbing for quite a while. I set my bugle down which was nicely camo'd up and walked away. About a mile later I realized my error and went back but could not locate the exact spot where I took my break.

Back in about 1970 my father was hunting with a group of guys he went with every year in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana. He came across a 300 Weatherby rifle leaned up against a tree while he was out hunting. He guessed it belonged to a camp hunters not too far from where they had their camp. He was right. Some young woman stopped to relieve herself and after she was done she walked off leaving her Weatherby leaning up against a tree!! She could not locate it and figured it was gone forever. When my dad walked into their camp and asked if someone had lost a rifle he said you could not believe the look in her eyes. She was so excited and relieved she had tears in her eyes. A lot of folks would have just kept it instead of trying to find the owner. Way to go dad. My father passed away about this same time last year and I sure miss him.

I did not lose this item but was bowhunting with a friend over by that evil mountain near Phillipsburg with a friend. We had hiked and hunted hard all day and never say anything. towards evening we tried one more spot about a mile from the road since it was close. Nothing. Got back to the truck and took our packs off and put our gear in the pickup. I was driving. We left and headed home. I remember seeing a couple young kids probably high school age driving up the road as we were going down the mountain. We got home and I dropped my friend off and he asked me where his $700.00 bow was. I said I don't know. Mine is in the truck. He had leaned it up against the front tire before he got into the pickup and then never retrieved it. He jumped in his truck and drove the 1.5 hour trip back (shortened to 50 minutes now) to the spot and low and behold there sat his bow at the side of the mountain two track right where it had been left. One more piece of luck is that I somehow never managed to run over it as I pulled forward onto the road. Very lucky guy that day!!

 

[Hunt'nFish]

So far I've done pretty good, only lost a Ruana knife so far.

But my brother, now that's a different story..... he's lost a lot of stuff.
Even a prized .300win Browning A-Bolt w/ a 6.5-20x Leupold on it. Seems he leaned up on the fender of the stock trailer when he unsaddled his mule and forgot to move it to the truck cab. About halfway home he realized his mistake. never saw it again.
Hunt'nFish

 

[chevy_dog]

I lost a bunch of things, most recently my wallet (2 weeks ago). I have left knives on a gut pile, food on mountains, hats, etc... One time though, I found a cheap rangefinder next to a pile of human crap - I guess the dude forgot to pick it up. If you ever come across human crap, look around!!

 

[Stid2677]

Very good thread,, never a good thing to loose costly or cherished gear.. I would ask the readers to take heed to some of the trends that led to losses in this thread. Always secure gear with at least 2 means, ie.. strapped down and a strap run through in a way that even if it falls it will hang by the second means.. Having looked for a dropped pack myself and always regretting have dropped it in the first place, I now never drop my pack. It stays on my back at all times, the effort to return for it or to look for it has NEVER been worth the benefit of having dropped it in the first place.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

^^^^^ I agree completely, it's amazing how when you go back to pick up your pack every rock or every tree looks like the one you dropped it at.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Well, I lost a wife due to being out hunting. Seems like a few guys lose them when they are away.........................

And yes, it was damned expensive.

Randy

 

[Stid2677]

Well, I lost a wife due to being out hunting. Seems like a few guys lose them when they are away.........................

And yes, it was damned expensive.

Randy

Me too,, and if anyone finds her.. Please DON'T bring her back, she's yours to keep.

 

[jls]

15yrs ago during a river crossing in a badly overloaded aluminum boat, we capsized her midway across. On board was my 19yr old nephew and his buddy and myself. We lost the boat, my nephew's pre-64 m70 30-06 given to him by his grandfather, his buddy lost his savage 110 30-06. Fortunately I had slung my rifle across my back so I didnt lose mine. I felt very fortunate that we didnt lose our lives by drowning! They were both able to swim to safety as was I. But on opposite sides of the river, which left me with a 3 mile hike in the dark with no flashlight so I could get to a point to cross the river. Wet and shivering cold, but alive and uninjured.

We recovered the boat downstream about a week later, but couldnt find either rifle. The following summer when the water was very low my nephew went back and recovered the Winchester, which of course was now destroyed. It hangs on the wall at my nephew's house today as a reminder to think it through before doing stupid things.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Me too,, and if anyone finds her.. Please DON'T bring her back, she's yours to keep.

Exactly!

Randy

 

[60x]

I once lost a swarovski spotting scope . Had a sheep horn catch the side pocket and loosen it up and out it went.

 

[Buster]

I once lost a swarovski spotting scope . Had a sheep horn catch the side pocket and loosen it up and out it went.

Thats one sad first post.

 

[Muledeernv]

Lost my wife's camera a couple of years ago. Took pics of my buck put the buck in the pack and seven miles out to the truck and went to look at the pics, oops no camera. Went back no camera.

 

[goodgrouper]

My buddy Jeff lost his Garmin the very first day out in the field with it a couple years ago on a mountainside over in the Phillipsburg area. I don't remember the model but it cost him about $650.00. We went back in the spring during bear season but could never locate it. Coincidence??
!!

6mm that garmin was found and then lost on a hillside near Dillon. A couple years before that three of us were hiking a trail with three or four inches of fresh snow on it. All of a sudden my buddy behind me says whoaaa check this out! I turn around and he's holding a smith & Wesson stainless 44 that I just stepped over. We asked some guys camped at the trailhead if it was therirs with no takers. He reported it at the sheriffs office but no one has ever claimed it. I pass through pburg a few times every spring to go float rock creek.

 

[Becca]

Aside from the Rino Luke mentioned, we have been really lucky. I did lose the only long sleeved top I had with me in the first four hours of an 8 day and 100+ mile backpack/packraft trip. Not very expensive, but pretty inconvenient. I don't ever take chances tying things to the outside of my pack now, they always go inside something that zips or cinches closed.

We did have one other very close call. Left both our (Kifaru) packs, along with both our binoculars (I believe at the time Luke had Swaros and I was using a set of Minox) when we went on the final stalk after a black bear. Short story is the bear took off up a mountain and we went after it, though it was never to be seen or heard from again. By the time we headed back down we realized our mistake. We were hunting a coastal area, and the place we had dropped our gear was a tidal flat only exposed at low tide. While chasing the bear, the tide began coming back in. To make matters worse, our original path from the packs up the mountains was well under water and we had to make a mad scramble through thick AK underbrush on a steep hillside. We got to our gear just in time, the packs were pretty saturated but the binos were just enough higher to avoid ending up in the drink. Lesson learned, we usually try not to leave our stuff at all anymore...and as folks who mainly hunt inland, we were reminded that we need to pay attention to the tide table.

 

[tttoadman]

I set a spotting scope and a tripod on a rock late in the day, couldn't find it the next day. I am really glad it was an entry level.

I hiked out at night to move my camp this year. I moved a couple miles to a new trailhead. The next morning I realized the rino 530 was not clipped on where it was supposed to be. I hauled ass in the pickup and found it sitting on the ground on the road where I was parked. In my rush, i snagged the clip and never noticed it coming off. The cool part was I could see my tire track missed running it over by a couple inches. I was taking this to the grave, but now I see I am not alone.

 

[rodney482]

Sunglasses

 

[5MilesBack]

When I was 15 years old I lost a $250 camo daypack that had knives, game bags, a fleece jacket, food, flashlights, ect....... I put it down to go on a stalk at last light. When we went back to get it, it was dark out and we did not have any flashlights with us as they were in my pack. We looked for 3 days but never found it. We figured a bear must have found it and carted it off. I will never buy another camo backpack again!

I have a hunter orange pullout in my pack. If I drop the pack, I pull it out over the pack before I leave it. You can be 10 feet from a good camo pack sometimes and your brain just won't pick it out. That's also why I have sunset orange and fire red strings on my bow.

 

[Buster]

I have a hunter orange pullout in my pack. If I drop the pack, I pull it out over the pack before I leave it. You can be 10 feet from a good camo pack sometimes and your brain just won't pick it out. That's also why I have sunset orange and fire red strings on my bow.

Good idea, I think I'll be borrowing that one. Maybe pink surveyor ribbon at least.

 

[6mm Remington]

I forgot to mention that I also lost (and then found) about a $40.00 Timex watch quite a few years back. A buddy had shot a really nice mule deer buck and I helped him dress the deer out. I had taken it off so I would not get it all bloody and set it on my day pack or jacket or something. I forgot to put it back on or it fell off whatever I had set it on and I did not realize it. Hours later I realized the watch was gone. Went back to look but with the snow I just couldn't find it.

Next fall I was up hunting in the same place and was with this same guy. There was some snow on the ground, but not much. I made a comment about how this spot on this trail was about where I lost my watch the previous year. I looked over and there was my Timex watch in the snow. I picked it up and it was still ticking (I know Timex, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking right!!) As soon as I picked it up the water that had gotten inside the watch got into the parts and it stopped. It was now toast, but at least I did find it!!

I just remembered that I lost one of my favorite layering/warmer weather hunting jackets this year. It was one of those light weight fleece numbers with a hood from Cabela's. It was light, warm, and dried quickly. I had it for years. This year over in the Missouri Breaks elk hunting I put it on the back of my day pack under the orange pack cover but did not strap it down. I just figured that it would stay on there without doing that but I figured wrong. I never went back to locate it because I had been on quite a journey and to find the exact spot I might have walked would have been a nightmare.

 

[Becca]

I have a hunter orange pullout in my pack. If I drop the pack, I pull it out over the pack before I leave it. You can be 10 feet from a good camo pack sometimes and your brain just won't pick it out. That's also why I have sunset orange and fire red strings on my bow.

Good idea, I think I'll be borrowing that one. Maybe pink surveyor ribbon at least.

Both good ideas. While we rarely drop packs these days, when it does happen we have taken to marking them on the gps, and then the gps goes in a zippered pants pocket. We also mark the tent on the gps when we leave for any length of time. Plans can change quickly, and coming back in the dark or the fog, it's great to have another method to find your way back.