Worst things that happened while hunting ?

M

Mara5

Member
I've had two, that i considered terrible:
1.) My favorite (and best dog) caught in a 330 conibear. Unconscious when released, but came out of it fine. LUCKY me.
2.) Set gun on top of dog box to load dogs. Forgot about gun and drove away. Just coincidently looked in sideview mirror and saw
gun tumbling down gravel road. I was sick, literally. Stopped and backed up to gun, and it was in terrible shape. Cracked stock, bent lever, dented barrel, numerous dents and scratches, and gouge in stock. Took it to gun shop, and 1,190. dollars later it was fixed.
 
Mara5 said:
Set gun on top of dog box to load dogs. Forgot about gun and drove away.
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I did this once, only it was on my tail gate. It was my turkey gun. The value was $600. It fell off on a US highway when I was merging. An off duty EMT saw it when he was driving past shortly thereafter, pulled over, placed it in his vehicle, contacted the local sheriff's office, and turned it in. I contacted that office an hour later after I realized what I had done and within another hour, I had it back in my hands. I am very lucky that someone who knows something about guns found it and turned it in. I was able to get the phone number of that off duty EMT and I promptly called him to thank him. He is a gun owner and hunter himself, and said if it happened to him he would hope the person who found it would do the same that he did.

Not a whole lot of damage to the shotgun, luckily. Scratched some camo off the stock and the rubber butt plate came off, which I repaired. I took it to a registered gunsmith to have it inspected for damages because I wanted to make sure the barrel wasn't bent. He inspected it and said no damage occurred other than the scratches to the camo that I had already found.

I consider myself fortunate that my dog (or I) have never been seriously injured while hunting. No porcupines, traps, skunk sprays, or serious encounters with a barb wire fence.
 
My first dog went flying over a wire fence chasing a bird that was going down and got caught by one leg between the wires. She was just hanging there until we could get to her and get her untangled. Fence was 6 feet high and it wasn't easy! Got her down and she retrieved bird like nothing had happened.

I was worried leg might have broken.

Same dog got caught in coyote snare and we were not paying attention. Found her with snare around the next about 80 yards behind us. Did not have wire cutters so had to work to get snare off.
 
Last year I had a bird that sailed on me . My dog she’s use to fences so she made it through the barbed wire on our side of the road alright. But on the other side of the road there was a 2 wire electric fence., Why 2 wires I have no idea but most of it was laying on the ground and weeded in. She hit the spot full bore where the top wire was still standing. It left a raspberry about a foot long.across her shoulder and chest. 4 or 5 inches higher and I have no doubt it would have crushed her wind pipe and probably her carotid.
 
Worst thing that happened this season was the rain around Christmas and the brutal cold in mid-January. Probably cost me about 3-4 hunts.

Kre, please know you're among friends and any time someone says they can't talk about it, I desperately want them to talk about it. :)
 
ripped open springer from barbed wire. Big 5" flap hanging down on chest. I was sure she'd be dead in minutes - she didnt even know she was supposed to be injured.
And a skunk that hit one of my Goldens square in the middle of her face/chest. That was a log ride home in an SUV. We had air fresheners hanging in front of our faces from our hats.o_O
 
I have had a dog in a snare trap. Also had a dog run into serpentine wire at Ft. Campbell. I always carry flour with me, to stop bleeding.
 
UplandHntr said:
ripped open springer from barbed wire. Big 5" flap hanging down on chest. I was sure she'd be dead in minutes - she didnt even know she was supposed to be injured.
And a skunk that hit one of my Goldens square in the middle of her face/chest. That was a log ride home in an SUV. We had air fresheners hanging in front of our faces from our hats.o_O
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Sounds like my 2 worst things also. My first Small Munsterlander got a big cut on her chest and leg from barb wire that needed like 20 stitches. Same field a year or 2 earlier, got into a skunk. I stopped hunting that field with her after those events haha it was a bad luck field for her
 
About 8 years ago, opening day of Pheasant season in Ks, I stepped in a badger hole 3/4 mile from the truck. I knew something was wrong immediately, intense pain in the lower right leg/ankle area. Luckily my brother was with me, and he was able to get back to the truck and drive it to me. We made it to the closest, very small rural hospital and was diagnosed with what they thought was a complete rupture of the Achilles tendon. They say I could wait 4 days until the mobile MRI machine came to to verify and have surgery. That was an easy pass, asked the doc to give me some pain pills and drove the 14hrs back home to have the ankle expert that takes care of the Alabama football team do the surgery. Missed the rest of Nov, all of December and January bird hunting but on the last day of January the doc cleared to me go hunting to oklahoma for their last 2 weeks of the season.
 
I've dislocated my shoulder twice while out hunting, both times in a slough. First was chasing a cripple and tripped and fell, 2nd time was walking the edge on some ice and slipped and fell. Both times I was a considerable distance from the truck which made for a extremely long and painful walk. The last time I was by myself a mile from the truck and it didn't get put back in for over 4 hours after the hour long walk back to the truck, 2 hour drive and 1 hour in the waiting room.
 
Was talkin on the phone when I got back to the truck and leaned my M2 against the front of the truck. Got off the phone, put the dog away and drove an hour to the next spot. Oh the confused look on my face when I realized my gun was not in the case. The ride back was the worst part, just thinking about all the different sinereos. I did eventually find it laying in the grass, that was a heart stopping moment too
 
We hunt lots of drainage ditches in east central, IL. Extremely cold one day late in the season. There was a beaver damn on this particular ditch, so it was probably 6-8 feet wide. It had been below zero for several days so the ditch was iced over, and the temp that day was in the single digits. I had crossed other ditches that day with no problem. Started walking across the ice. No pops or cracks at all, the ice just broke and I went straight through up to my armpits. I was by myself as well. Tossed my gun to the bank and managed to get myself out. I was a good 3/4 mile from the truck. I took off as fast as I could go. Finally made it back to the truck. Everything I was wearing was froze solid. Managed to get the truck started and I stripped all my clothes off. Truck heater never felt so good.

I have a healthy respect for the ice and cold after that incident.
 
Bamaquail said:
About 8 years ago, opening day of Pheasant season in Ks, I stepped in a badger hole 3/4 mile from the truck. I knew something was wrong immediately, intense pain in the lower right leg/ankle area. Luckily my brother was with me, and he was able to get back to the truck and drive it to me. We made it to the closest, very small rural hospital and was diagnosed with what they thought was a complete rupture of the Achilles tendon. They say I could wait 4 days until the mobile MRI machine came to to verify and have surgery. That was an easy pass, asked the doc to give me some pain pills and drove the 14hrs back home to have the ankle expert that takes care of the Alabama football team do the surgery. Missed the rest of Nov, all of December and January bird hunting but on the last day of January the doc cleared to me go hunting to oklahoma for their last 2 weeks of the season.
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That’s a fast recovery, was it ruptured?
 
Have a friend that forgot his dog at rest area off I-94 NoDak. Just a few miles out and a U-turn thru the median strip. Dog fine but she asked "Why Me"? The group knows we are all responsible for our own dogs. Never assume and double check.
 
On the first field of the '22 - '23 season, my second step went into a badger hole and drove my recently doctored knee into the ground. Down hill from there. Pretty close to getting something done to it again - another scope or a new one, don't know.
 
On a crisp2 degree day in the judith river,I fell through the ice trying to get to a honey hole.Luckily I was young and athletic and didn't drown. I went completely under water and there was current. I could have easily died that cold December day.My 78 Bronco was about a half mile away. I was hunting alone as usual. Luckily I had my beater 870 slung over my shoulder.That thing didn't skip a beat.I had crossed that thing many times, and always found roosters.I think it was private. It was just this one day,my luck ran out.That was the last time I ever tried to get into that spot.Very scary!!!
 
ehudgens said:
Started walking across the ice. No pops or cracks at all, the ice just broke and I went straight through up to my armpits. I was by myself as well.
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This is a big reason why I stay out of the cattails until they freeze good and hard. You could step on a soft spot anywhere in there and go into the muck up to your waist, or higher. I've stepped in plenty of times above my boot and it ruins your hunt for a while but its not really a serious issue. Stepping in deeper is. No rooster is worth walking into those things until they are froze.
 
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