lost shotgun

J

jdthomas

New member
Accidentally left my 12-gauge Browning pump shotgun in the grass at the Snowy Dam state game production area parking lot, about 19 miles northeast of Winner on Wednesday Nov 14. Drove back to get it a short while later and it was gone. Inscribed "1988 Pheasants Forever." Have been using this gun for 24 years, ever since I started pheasant hunting – lots of sentimental value. If you found this gun, please do the right thing and contact me at 239-540-4195, or email me at jdt@jdthomas.com. I would very, very much appreciate it!
 
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If you have the serial number report it to the sheriff, if it ends up pawned, somebody might find it. The state patrol does sweeps of pawned guns or resellers. Maybe post a reward?
 
jdthomas said:
Accidentally left my 12-gauge Browning pump shotgun in the grass at the Snowy Dam state game production area parking lot, about 19 miles northeast of Winner on Wednesday Nov 14. Drove back to get it a short while later and it was gone. Inscribed "1988 Pheasants Forever." Have been using this gun for 24 years, ever since I started pheasant hunting – lots of sentimental value. If you found this gun, please do the right thing and contact me at 239-540-4195, or email me at jdt@jdthomas.com. I would very, very much appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Isn't Wednesday Nov 14 tomorrow?
 
Sorry to hear JD. :( I hope it comes back to you. I was so excited last year I left mine against a tree, went to the next area and I didnt have a gun. I was lucky enough that it was still there after I did 90 mph back to that field. But do like the others said and report it and it will turn up, might be a few years but you'll get him back.
 
Thanks for the advice. I did report it to the sheriff's office in Winner. Got my fingers crossed that I'll get a call from them, or perhaps from the person who picked up the gun that day.
 
If you have homeowners or renters insurance, check to see if it's a covered loss. I have a firearms rider (at extra cost) with my weapons and their values listed in the rider.
 
Been there done that. Left a brand new Browning Gold Fusion on the side of the road on a blue grouse hunt. Got home, 180 miles, realized what had happened, drove back, one $85 speeding ticket later, got to the spot. No gun. Started asking at all the elk camps and had a guy packing up and heading home to Minnesota say, well....yes, I found your gun. I offered him a reward, but he refused.

Hope you get your gun back.
 
Not to poke fun at a bad situation......I truly feel for your loss..........But JD and Bird-man.....neither one of you are in charge of the guns or the coolers!!!..Hope like hell someone does the right thing
 
TerryB ... Hey, this was my son-in-law's fault. He should have noticed I left my gun in the grass as we packed up to leave. (Well, OK, I'll take a little bit of the blame.) Thanks for your thoughts.
 
I have left a gun and found a gun, both shotguns ended up with the rightful owner. I will attest, it is a lot better feeling to find one compared to finding out you left one. The local sheriff is your best bet. Good luck.
 
Great reminder to me! Put the gun somewhere I won't forget about it. We all see the guy with his coffee cup on the top of his car, you know how that happens. I just refuse to put anything up there because I know I will be "that guy." Praying you get that gun back!
 
Hope you get it back!


Below is a photo of my 12 auto I left leaning on this chain at an IA public hunting parking lot for an hour and fifteen minutes (opening day) while my partner and I ran to town for lunch. Got to our next spot and I saw the empty case in the back and what a sinking feeling! Covered 5 miles of gravel roads in record time and couldn't believe it when it was still there, 30 feet from a paved road. Sometimes you just get lucky.
 
I'm not trying to pick on anybody, but for the life of me. I can't even imagine leaving my gun anywhere. My guns are like my first born. The first thing I do when loading up from a hunting location is..case my gun in the truck. Second thing secure the dog in it's kennel. Sometimes reversed depending on the dangers to the dog from traffic. If the dog comes first, someone holds my gun until I'm done kenneling the dog. Then the gun immediately goes in it's case in the truck. Never do I lay the gun on the ground to be stepped on or worse yet, run over by a vehicle. I would be so sick and upset with myself. I would have to question myself weather I should be continuing to hunt anymore. That's just me criticizing myself. I'm not aiming at anyone here. I sure hope you get your gun back.
 
Onpoint ... I normally follow the same process: case the guns, kennel the dogs. What happened here is we had just bagged several roosters and decided to take photos including hunters, guns, dogs & birds. That's what changed the routine, unfortunately. After reviewing the images, putting the camera away, and watering & kenneling the dogs, the gun just slipped my mind. God how I regret it.
 
Let me tell you about one of my mistakes.

I shot a grouse or two with a old 1930's vintage model 12 Winchester pump with a solid rib barrel. The gun was a reblue but in very nice shape. I positioned the gun on the rail of the deck horizontally with the birds below. That's when I noticed that "THE WIFE" had not put the memory card back in the camera. I went up the steps of the deck to get the memory card from the house. The jarring of me walking up the steps. Sent the gun sliding down the deck rail and completely off the adjoining side of the deck and onto the concrete sidewalk. How it did that is beyond me. It couldn't happen again like that in a million different tries. It was like someone held up the weight of the gun and slid it all the way across the deck railing. I don't even want to talk about the damage. It's still a good shooter but the eye sore road rash makes me sick. See, wanting to preserve the memories can turn sour for just about everybody at one time or another. Again, hope you get your gun back.
 
I never have left a gun behind, but I did leave two really nice fishing poles at a portage in the BWCA. I realized it about 5 miles and a portage later. Poles are cheap compared to a shotgun...I donated them to Sasquatch!
 
It could happen to any of us!

With your serial number reported to the Sheriffs office there is a good chance the gun can be recovered if pawned. We recover a surprisingly large amount of stolen items here in pawn shops. Have to have the SN though.

I sure hope you get it back.
 
You may want to post to the other Region Forums and General Forums here on UPH Forum as well. A lot of people from different States make their annual trip to South Dakota to hunt birds. Who know's maybe they picked it up or know someone that may have came across it? May be worth a shot?

Very sorry this happened to you! It really could happen to any of us. It just takes one assumption or misstep.

Just my thoughts. Good luck on finding it, I hope it all works out!!
 
Lost Shotgun - just happened

This just happened to me at the SD opener. I was having a great day. Just dumped one bird at 12:02. Let my Dad and son finish the section and was going to pick them up at the end. Saw a spot I couldnt pass up. Dumped another bird and it's 12:12. I'm in a hurry to catch up to my group and in the excitment I left my Beretta 390 on the side of the road when I was loading up the dog. I started driving down the road and suddenly realized I forgot the gun. In a panic I was driving at 70 mph on the gravel roads to get back to the spot as quick as possible. I was fortunate that my gun was still there but I almost had a heart attack due to stress. My wife later called me a dumb-as*.
Others have given great advice - call the sheriff.

I learned my lesson and actually told the rest of our group to slow down. Hope things turn out for you. There are good people out there in this world.
 
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