Worst things that happened while hunting ?

Cow moose with calfs can be very protective.
All my hunting friends in Alaska have been charged by cows, mostly in early summer.

I've been fortunate, never had a major dog injury in 40+ years.
Had 5 "bad bear" experiences in Alaska over 30 years...4 grizzlies, 1 black bear.
Also had to kill a bull moose in Alaska in self defense.
By law I was required to haul the 500 pounds of meat bags and the antlers 200 miles into town
to the Wildlife Trooper.

By comparison the worse thing pheasant hunting was a barbed wire ripping open my shin
which required a Thanksgiving trip to the walk-in clinic for stiches.
 
It was about 50 years ago but memories of it are vivid and permanent. I was 19. It was the day after Thanksgiving and my buddy, his younger brother, and I headed to Askov MN to ruff grouse hunt. We had fresh snow and it was a sunny blue-sky morning. There were lots of birds and lots of shooting. I was working the woods parallel to the main trail. My friend and his brother stayed on the trail. We were about a mile from the road when I heard a shot from the trail, then screaming. My friend had shot his brother in the upper arm near the shoulder at very short range. When I got there it was bad. The image of the blood on the white snow was horrifying. I had an intense urge to just leave, run away. I think it was part panic and part a fight or flight primal urge. Even today, I can still feel that sensation. I was just a dumb kid with no mental or technical tools to handle this mess. In the movies, they use a tourniquet for this but the bleeding was at the shoulder and I didn’t know how to do that. All I could think of was to pack it with snow and use pressure. We couldn’t get out of the woods together so I left the scene to get help. I can’t imagine how terrible it must have been for my friend to be left there with his screaming brother. I ran the mile out of the woods to my old rear wheel drive Chevy. The nearest farm house with a phone was 2-3 miles away. The roads were hard packed snow and I ended up in the ditch a mile down the road. I remember how hard my heart was beating as I ran the next mile or two to the farm house. Then I remember standing on the road waiting what seemed like forever for the ambulance. When EMTs arrived, I told them where to go and they left me behind. The farmer pulled me out of the ditch and I met them at the little local hospital. The rest is blurry. The brother made it but no one told me how he was. I remember the police asking brutal questions. I felt like an outsider and went home sometime during the night. I was living at my parents and I had no voice to tell them what happened until the next day. The brother lost his arm. Although I didn’t see much of my friend after that accident, he seemed to deal with it OK. Just writing this brings it all back.

Today, my love of hunting still is strong. In retirement, I have given up deer, grouse and duck for almost exclusively pheasant. Just me and my dog. This accident long ago probably has something to do with my desire to hunt solo.
 
This year , struggling to walk through cover over my head. Couldn’t see what was in front of me. Took a step and literally fell over into a washout area that was 3’-4’ deep. Landed horizontal to the ground on my gun. My head hit the receiver and I almost knocked myself out!
 
I also lost a dog for an hour about 15 years ago. Missed a rooster. That disappeared over a hill. The dog went after it for the retrieve and his e collar shut off due to battery. Talk about a sickening feeling! It was really windy that day too. A friend suggested blowing a whistle and that worked! A few tweet tweet tweets and we heard a mournful sound. I kept tweeting and the sound became louder. That worked! I carry a whistle in my vest now just in case!
 
One other funny one… I lost my cell phone in a field. It was in a cell phone holder the became detached from my vest. Luckily it was not windy. Went to my friends house and he and 2 other guys were kind enough to come back to the field and help look. And, luckily, the ringer was on. An hour and 47 or so calls later we found it!
 
About 30 years ago (no dog), a friend & I were out on opening day, when I decided I'd better go kick through that little clump of real thick grass. Put my right foot down in it & thought, "Huh. That feels weird." Looked down. I'd stepped on a skunk!! I jumped the wrong way. He got me point blank on my right leg & boot. I'm over there, keeled over, gagging, while my buddy Jay was laughing his fool ass off. There's more to the story, but it gets long. That's the gist of it. Most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me.
 
4shot said:
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
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You put your dog in a cage? Thumbs down.
 
gimruis said:
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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I've fallen through ice 6 times.Very scary, and very dangerous. Pheasant hunting isn't worth dying over.I still walk on ice at times, because I'm stupid I guess. On a lake, stay very close to shore.If you do break through, you will be ok,except frozen.
 
Goosemaster said:
I've fallen through ice 6 times.Very scary, and very dangerous. Pheasant hunting isn't worth dying over.I still walk on ice at times, because I'm stupid I guess. On a lake, stay very close to shore.If you do break through, you will be ok,except frozen.
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A lot of times on frozen sloughs, I try to stay out away from the cattails a few feet, the ice will be stronger. The ice right next to the cattails can be thinner as the dead vegetation soaks up heat from sunlight.
 
Years ago, a friend that I worked out and bar hoped with asked me to take him hunting. I knew he was a novice but hoped he was knowledgeable enough to be safe. I knew he probably couldn't hit a quail, so I borrowed my dad's beagle. He showed up with a nice old 11-48 12 that had belonged to his dad. Having owned a couple when I was a kid, I knew from my dad and brothers that they could be dangerous if misused. He shot and crippled a rabbit, which ran under a small brush pile. I was walking up from behind him when I saw him reach in with the butt like he was going to drag it out. Then he drew the gun back over his shoulder to take a stabbing type poke with it. I screamed no but it was too late. I turned my head and ducked as it went off. When I looked back, the gun was a few feet away and he was lying face down on the ground. Funny what goes through your mind at times like that. All I cou
ld think about was how I was going to get him out. The shot missed us both, but the end of the barrel was just a couple inched from his right ear. x
 
birddude said:
Years ago, a friend that I worked out and bar hoped with asked me to take him hunting. I knew he was a novice but hoped he was knowledgeable enough to be safe. I knew he probably couldn't hit a quail, so I borrowed my dad's beagle. He showed up with a nice old 11-48 12 that had belonged to his dad. Having owned a couple when I was a kid, I knew from my dad and brothers that they could be dangerous if misused. He shot and crippled a rabbit, which ran under a small brush pile. I was walking up from behind him when I saw him reach in with the butt like he was going to drag it out. Then he drew the gun back over his shoulder to take a stabbing type poke with it. I screamed no but it was too late. I turned my head and ducked as it went off. When I looked back, the gun was a few feet away and he was lying face down on the ground. Funny what goes through your mind at times like that. All I cou
ld think about was how I was going to get him out. The shot missed us both, but the end of the barrel was just a couple inched from his right ear. x
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Accidently hit the wrong button. He was ok but can't hear much for that ear!
 
Bob Peters said:
A lot of times on frozen sloughs, I try to stay out away from the cattails a few feet, the ice will be stronger. The ice right next to the cattails can be thinner as the dead vegetation soaks up heat from sunlight.
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Yes, but you can fall through where someone else fell through.
 
Goosemaster said:
You put your dog in a cage? Thumbs down.
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Just got shamed😕 when we go hunting next year, you drive and I won’t put my dog in a cage. Not responsible for what he pisses on. Sooo this year was hunting with a guy who had a male dog, while talking at the end of a push my dog snuck up behind him and pissed on the back of his legs. I watched the whole thing unfold. I didn’t really know him that well and never told him.
 
I was duck hunting in the U.P. one year. We were hunting a lake that had a low water level. I started walking into the lake bed towards a duck we shot. I walked into the thickest muck you can imagine. I was wearing hip waders, couldn't move. My buddy went back to camp and got snow shoes for my recovery. He crawled out to rescue me. Both of us tried to pull one of my legs up out it. No luck. Finally we decided I should pull my legs out the waders to get out. It took both of us to pull each wader out of the muck. We both crawled out with the help of snowshoes. He had been stuck a couple of days before. Not sure why he didn't warn me. He is up in the sky chasing Grouse now.
 
4shot said:
Just got shamed😕 when we go hunting next year, you drive and I won’t put my dog in a cage. Not responsible for what he pisses on. Sooo this year was hunting with a guy who had a male dog, while talking at the end of a push my dog snuck up behind him and pissed on the back of his legs. I watched the whole thing unfold. I didn’t really know him that well and never told him.
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My dog is the family pet.He doesn't go in a cage.Rides on the front bench seat.
 
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