Stuff That Happens

BritChaser

BritChaser

Well-known member
Sometimes a hunting trip holds unexpected events. Let's hear about some of yours. Here's one of my stories.

A long-time hunting buddy and I met up in southern Utah with a guy he knew there. The plan was to hunt desert quail out of Mesquite. We made first contact with him at his place. His wife pulled the Wild Turkey out of the freezer and started pouring shots. Then she wanted to dance - but not with her husband. We got out of there after agreeing to meet next morning. He brought with him two of his local friends who showed up in a new Hummer. After breakfast we pointed our three rigs toward BLM land. Not too far down the road the two guys in the Hummer stopped and began plinking at rocks with an assault rifle. We walked up to the Hummer to check the wtf status. It was 8:30 a.m. and the Hummer boys were having beers and something else. We resumed our quest for desert quail and began descending a bulldozed road to a valley via some hairy switchbacks. Once down we followed a two-track in an arroyo that had puddles from unseasonable rain. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and I looked right to see the Hummer getting air bounding and bucking along the side slope. Later the Hummer guy handed me his video cam and asked me to shoot the Hummer as it hit a big puddle. We and my buddy's friend ended up ahead of the Hummer, so we stopped to wait by a big mud puddle. The Hummer soon approached and, seeing the big puddle, decided it wanted to hit it with dramatic force. SPLAT!!! You've heard of stopping on a dime? The Hummer sank into the red ooze, immobilized. Among us we had one tow strap, which broke, and the one shovel was no help; the mud immediately oozed back where it had been shoveled away. We built ramps with small stones in front of each of the Hummer's tires, but it would not budge. We had to abandon the Hummer. Out in the middle of BLM nowhere.

My buddy later told me that two tow trucks were required to pull the Hummer out of the mud. The impaction of mud in the undercarriage, wheel wells, and suspension was so vast that the owner took it to the dealer to have it removed. The good news? Nobody got shot haha.
 
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So people's kids! I have nothing to compare to that. I can imagine the suction of the mud on the undercarriage. So, was there any quail hunting?
 
remy3424 said:
So people's kids! I have nothing to compare to that. I can imagine the suction of the mud on the undercarriage. So, was there any quail hunting?
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some but meager. the Hummer was the big adventure of the trip haha
 
I don’t really have anything good. There was this one time I went out to hunt in the snow. The linkage had been out on my 4 wheel drive. Retainer clip . I stopped at an oreilly ‘s to grab one but they didn’t have one in store and I would have to drive to the other side of town to get one. So I went without, figuring I could crawl under and flip it manually if I had to.
The snow wasn’t much but it had really blown. And it didn’t take me long to get stuck. No shovel , last time I’ve ever made that mistake.
Well there was no way to get under the truck , being it was packed with snow . So no 4 wheel drive. I managed to get it out , spinning most of the tread off of one of my rear tires.
I should have went home then but I locked it into 4 wheel drive and kept going. It wasn’t long before I was stuck again , a long drift that I thought I could bust. There was a farm house in sight so I walked up seeing if I could borrow a shovel. The guy at the house put on his boots and coveralls grabbed a couple of shovels and came with to me to help. We took turns digging , I started it up pushed up more snow and we would dig again. It wasn’t to long and we had gotten it out.
I politely thanked the man asked for the best road to get back to the highway and headed back to Wichita without hunting a bit.
 
BrownDogsCan2 said:
I don’t really have anything good. There was this one time I went out to hunt in the snow. The linkage had been out on my 4 wheel drive. Retainer clip . I stopped at an oreilly ‘s to grab one but they didn’t have one in store and I would have to drive to the other side of town to get one. So I went without, figuring I could crawl under and flip it manually if I had to.
The snow wasn’t much but it had really blown. And it didn’t take me long to get stuck. No shovel , last time I’ve ever made that mistake.
Well there was no way to get under the truck , being it was packed with snow . So no 4 wheel drive. I managed to get it out , spinning most of the tread off of one of my rear tires.
I should have went home then but I locked it into 4 wheel drive and kept going. It wasn’t long before I was stuck again , a long drift that I thought I could bust. There was a farm house in sight so I walked up seeing if I could borrow a shovel. The guy at the house put on his boots and coveralls grabbed a couple of shovels and came with to me to help. We took turns digging , I started it up pushed up more snow and we would dig again. It wasn’t to long and we had gotten it out.
I politely thanked the man asked for the best road to get back to the highway and headed back to Wichita without hunting a bit.
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Once took a girl friend bird hunting….. didn’t get any… birds
 
Years ago my brother,brother in law,and his 2 boys were pheasant hunting with our farmer friend. Guys came out the field and were headed to their vehicles when dog found where someone had taken a emergency squat on the shoulder of the road. Well dogs love rolling in nasty smelly stuff and human crap smells horrible so the sh×#necking commenced. Then the nephew who owned the dog got in his club cab truck to get some towels and soap to try and clean up the dog a little.Well dog heard his name and saw the truck door open so...now there is crap all over the interior of the pickup. Brother , the other nephew and the farmer were laughing so hard that the guy filming had more video of those guys then the dog/truck scene.

There was video of this incident but I don't know where it went.
 
First of all, I've always been cursed with a terrible sense of direction. I'm the only one this way in the family. A buddy and I went up to the boundry waters to hunt grouse once. The locals were all road hunting, but we would not lower ourselves (YET) to do so. Being lost more times than not I am always pretty well armed with maps and compass. We found the most secluded place we could and took off. We made a pretty big half circle and came back to the truck. We had some flushes and shot a bird, so we were pretty happy. The weather was warming up, so I took my vest (with map and compass in it) off and threw it in the truck. We decided to make another circle the other direction and I left the vest in the truck. Long story short two hours later we were lost and couldn't find the truck. Then the temp. started falling and it began to rain. As it started getting dark, I started to look for cover. But my buddy wouldn't give up. I found a couple downed trees I knew I could make a shelter out of and sat down. My buddy was adamant about continuing but I knew it was dangerous after dark. After some heated discussion I agreed to go a little farther. 50 yards farther and we stepped out in the road within sight of the truck.
 
I was not along on this trip, but my dad and uncle were in Iowa. They heard a terrible ruckus in an unpicked cornfield--like a slasher movie. Our Brittany came out dragging a small pig he'd just killed. They got him in the car and left in a hurry.

And this isn't pheasant-related, but my dad's current dog, a small Lab, steals things. Usually hats if you lean over. But the one time he took her to a dog park she took a set of keys off a table. She stole a t-shirt out of a car where the couple was entangled. And stole a bag of dope from a canoeist parked on sandbar. In all cases, she runs around carrying the loot and eventually he gets it back.
 
Hunting up is SD at a friend's farm in November probably 10-12 years ago. It had been a drought year so everything was really dry. My buddy had a brand new Suburban that he was really proud of. He kept driving it through sloughs, and I warned him that there were still wet spots out in the middle of these things. Well he buried it in the middle of a slough about a mile from my buddy's house. We had to make the walk of shame back to the house, and take our dose of shi&^. My buddy takes his tractor out to pull us out, and gets the tractor stuck. Had to break his big boy tractor out and pull the tractor and the suburban out. Still hunt up there every year, and smile every time I walk through that slough. Never found his front fog light that got sucked out LOL.
 
One of my favorites happened about 12 years ago in South Dakota. My sons were 18 and 13 at the time. Right before going in November my truck had a transmission issue so I talked my wife out of her Tahoe and off we went. She wasn’t real keen on me taking it as she had seen me come back with a muddy mess at times, but I assured her she would never even know we had driven it. We had 3 days of great hunting ( birds were thick that year) and decided to hit one more cattail spot before we headed home. Well about halfway through it the dog started almost convulsing and trying to rub his face and eyes in the grass. I soon realized why. Direct face hit by a skunk. We flushed him out with water as best we could, but without the truck he had to be kenneled in the back. It was pretty cold twenty or so and we are driving back alternating between windows down and freezing and up and eyes watering. We found a dog wash in Mitchell and spent about 40 bucks on de skunker but it was still strong. Got some peroxide ant tomato juice, but it was still there. Spent 300 on a detail when I got home. She claimed she could smell it for 6 months but I didn’t smell anything 😂. Needless to say her car doesn’t go hunting anymore.
 
I've got 1 good skunk story, several that involve getting stuck, & a REALLY good one about a buddy having an "emergency situation" in the middle of a slough (but you really had to be there for that one). But the one that stands out to me happened while fishing about 30 years ago, probably in April.

The ice was just going off lakes in the Brookings, SD, area, & one gorgeous day I decided wetting a line was in order. So I drove to one of the little lakes nearby & hiked about 1/4 mile off the road to a point there was enough open water offshore to fish a little. Put on a Rapala & started casting & it wasn't long before I got hung up in a tree that overhung the water. But even at that time, the lure was brand new, had cost about $5, & I could see it. So I shimmied out a little tree limb. I got close enough to grab the lure & release it from the jaws of the lure eating tree. But just as I reached for it, the branch I was on broke, sending me down, into the branch that held the lure, breaking that branch too, & into the lake. Oh wow, was it cold, but luckily only about 3-1/2 or 4 feet deep. So....I got my lure (the important thing), freed my line up, & got out onto shore. But I figured it's early, it's a fantastic, sunny day, & I'm 1/4 mile from anywhere, back in the grass & bushes. I'd kind of like to fish some more. So I stripped down to my underwear, wrung everything else out as much as possible, & hung it on another branch to dry in the sun. And continued fishing & enjoying the sun. After awhile, I noticed a person hiking the same path I'd taken to my "secret" fishing spot. So I'm scurrying around, trying to put somewhat wet clothes on, when the person arrived, catching me in the middle of what must've looked like some fairly strange behavior. Luckily, it turned out to be one of my real good friends & fishing/hunting buddies, who ALSO knew about the secret spot & had the exact same idea that day. So in this case, I was able to simply explain my situation (much to his delight), & he said he wouldn't be too offended if I stripped my wet clothes back off to let them dry some more. So we spent the rest of the afternoon fishing, I wearing far fewer clothes than he, & enjoying a truly gorgeous day to be alive & outdoors. We didn't catch anything, so didn't have the burden of cleaning fish, & it was even too early in the year for ticks.
 
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Living in Texas I took a friend who is 13 years older then me back to S.Dak. for late season roosters. We went to hunt at cattail slough 3/4 of a mile long by nearly a 1/4 mile wide. It is zero and the wind is 15 to 20 mph. 1 guy drives around to other end of the section to block and pick us up. 4 of us with 4 dogs head in. Wind is coming across our backs but this is the best way to hunt this as the other side goes to a narrow point.
I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a Frog Togg (paper raincoat) over it a and a hunting vest for shells and carrying birds. Henry has on insulated coveralls and a snorkel parka with a full face puller stocking cap. I told him he is going to overheat. Nah I will be fine , you are going to freeze your ass off.
Not 200 yards in and he says heh I am way to hot how about I go back take some clothes off and drive the truck around and block. I said great but put those clothes back on before you go into block. You guessed it he stripped down to jeans and a flannel shirt with his canvas coat and came in to block. Standing facing into the wind already sweaty he was about froze when we were done. He told my son "listen to your dad when he tells you how to dress. I am a grown ass man and want my mommy".
 
I wasn't with on this trip (thankfully) but have heard the story many times. My two uncles and cousins are staying the night at a hotel after hunting all day. Instead of having the dogs in the hotel, they had them sleep loose in their van (which they'd done numerous times) but my uncle decided to give them some leftovers from the bar in town before putting them up for the night. So they wake up the next morning to go let the dogs out and one of the dogs had explosive sh** all over the inside of the van. And the way it's been told to me, ALL over. On the seats, the windows, the ceiling. Just everywhere. They cleaned it up the best they could with the WHITE hotel towels the cleaning staff gave to them but apparently it was quite an unpleasant 3 hour trip home.

Another trip, (in the same van) they decided to sleep in the van with the dogs (I believe this was before the explosive incident). My uncle woke up the next morning, and the same explosive dog dropped a load right next to his face which he damn near rolled over onto 😂
 
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