What's your worst mid-hunt equipment failure?

[generalist]

What piece of gear was it and how did you overcome the problem?

 

[JWP58]

Trusty black diamond headlamp gave up the ghost after 6yrs. I hit it until it came back on.....it was spotty after that.

 

[Huntindog45]

my transmission blowing up really put a hurt on my hunt...

 

[canuckhunter]

Squeezed off on an old 270 pump, at a nice mule buck. Firing pin broke. The one that got away!!

 

[cusecat04]

Head lamp... made it to my hunting partner right at last light to grab a few pics of him with his first bull. We sat down had some water preparing for the work that was about to begin. It was dusk, clicked on my head lamp, no bueno.

Buddy laughs says its gonna be fun doing this with your back up. I hadn’t brought a spare head lamp, always keep a small led flashlight as a back up.
He proceeds to get in his pack to pull out his head lamp... to find he left it at the truck in the morning. was organizing gear again before leaving in the dark and set it on his seat.

We butchered his bull with flashlights in our mouths, dribbling spit every where. Not a game breaker but a royal pain in the a$$. Still have that flashlight but now pack a back up head lamp.

 

[dtrkyman]

Took a mid day brake bowhunting whitetails, left the bow hanging in the tree, climbed back up, knocked the bow off the hook and it broke my cable guard!

 

[FLAK]

Opening morning of Deer season (late 80's) here in Alabama. I had a Tasco 3x9 Scope on top of a Remington 742 Woodsmaster. Spike shows up, get him in the scope and the crosshairs looked like X instead of a vertical and horizontal. Still killed the deer. But the crosshairs had come loose in the scope. Sent it in for repair, everything seemed ok till the next hunt. Same deal with the X. Yanked the scope off, bought a Leupold and never looked back. I wont buy anything with the Tasco name on it.

 

[Pigdog]

My first bow had that piece of tubing that stretched out to pull the peep sight straight. That broke on a late season cow hunt. On the walk back to the truck I saw several cows feeding by a noisy creek that I probably could have stalked in on.
The trip to the shop started with replacing the tubing and ended in a whole new bow. I still hunt that set up and I really pay attention to the durability of all my components.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Had a 5 hour drive to the base camp spot, set up camp, checked and double checked everything for opening morning. Put on the pack, got 10 steps onto the trail, and the shoulder strap fell off of my pack. Like completely unstitched! I sat down right there, and stitched it back on with some Spider Wire I keep in the repair kit. Back on the trail in 20 minutes.

 

[kopecsean]

Well done repair!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[rayporter]

first elk hunt we went with a summer dome tent and of course it snowed. and snowed and snowed.
tent broke and collapsed on us about midnight. propped it up with sticks and slept very well as we had 2 bulls down and were done. well, except for the 12 mile pack in deep snow.

 

[robtattoo]

A friend of mine's knee.
Flat Tops Colorado, 2015.
That put a crimp on the hunt, real quick.
I carried his pack, plus mine, 3 miles back to the truck while he crippled his ass along using my trekking poles. Drove to town & he spent a week they're getting a full knee replacement.
I'm still waiting to finish the trip!

 

[kopecsean]

Last year, my best friend and I, had a November elk hunt in Idaho. We found a herd on a far mountain and marched down the one we were on in 1 1/2 feet of snow heading north. I fell multiple times stepping on fallen branches I couldn't see. Started up the next mountain, minimal snow, until we could not go farther because we're would be spotted. Remington 700 SPS 7MM Rem Mag. Shot from 250 yards and the trigger was solid. Horror. Tried again, solid. Said screw it and put the safety back on, BANG! Wasn't even on Target. Scared the shit outta me. I'm assuming the firing pin was frozen in the bolt due to getting stuffed with snow, me continuing to hold the rifle by the receiver in my hand. it probably melted snow that had gotten packed in from falling and then refroze while I was sneaking up on the herd. Got back to my camper and warmed up the gun and it has fired perfectly ever since. Took the bolt apart and cleaned it after that trip. Still debating on buying something else for this year's trip? Not to trusting any more!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[amassi]

Came off the mountain and my buddies truck was gone from the trailhead... Slept there that night, next morning walk 18 miles until we hit cell service. Got ahold of my wife and found out shed called the cavalry since we had missed check in by 24 hours. About that time a game warden pulled around the bend, asked our names and got on the radio and called off the search.
He was nice enough to give us a ride to the nearest town. Chp found the truck rolled and abandoned on hwy 20, 90s Tacoma with a billion miles. No idea why that tweaker was that far in the backwoods, wish that truck had a black box haha

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Frozen engine block way up on the Kiabab,24hrs to thaw out then headed for home!

 

[Boardmstr]

Last year I put a significant amount of effort to close in on a very respectable bull. It was a sure thing until I shouldered my rifle and couldn’t tell the difference between the scorched trees, dead grass, and snow Everything through the scope was a complete blur. My new scope had a failure and acquired condensation internally during a storm the day prior before freezing on the inside of the glass. Very high end glass which will remain unnamed, but they took excellent care of me after the fact. I still see that monster when I close my eyes at night.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

Headlamp on a backpack hunt. Fortunately had a cheap back up to get by as well as my brother's backup and have since upgraded both my primary and backup to top dollar lamps. No more messing around with cheap headlamps for me.

 

[wildbill34]

My old jaw-style release failed to open with a bull in range on day one with an archery bull tag...threw that thing out immediately and bought a new release.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Drove to the end of the road in my 86 Ford F-250. Screwed around with a couple bulls, we got both of them. Packing back to the truck could see a plume of smoke, figured one of our group had built a camp fire at the trail head. 1/2 hour later reached the trail head found the smoldering remains of my truck.

 

[journeyman713]

Had been sitting in a hard rain on opening morning of deer rifle season for hours, headed out for an early lunch break. On the walk out - two big does not 50 yards away appeared in front of me, raised my rifle and looked through my trusty old Leupold and what would better be described as a kaleidoscope at that moment. Squeegeed off scope with finger, same thing, scope had filled with water. The ones that got away.