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What have you forgotten while hunting?

muddy

Well-Known Member
What have you left in the woods when you get in a hurry to get home?

Aside from the obvious, 2 springs ago I left my binoculars laying in the grass and forgot to pick them up. I freaked out and ended up being quite late to work the next day because I knew if I didn't go get them they'd get carried off somehow. Then, a few days ago I was hunting with a buddy and the morning after I could not find my "new to me" Swarovski binoculars. :eek:

I called my buddy and asked him if he remembered me wearing them out but he coudnt' remember. I came home to find an empty binocular case and no binoculars anywhere to be seen. I ended up driving to the commutor parking lot where my wife drives with all 3 kids and tore the truck apart looking for my binos. I got back home and proceeded to tear the garage apart again to find them wrapped up neatly in my coat and in the joggging stroller? Good grief did I feel a weight off my shoulders! All the kids and I almost went on a death hike on public land to my tree stand that morning!

What have you forgotten? Did you find it?
 
Oct 29th this year, my buddy on the other side of the farm texts me and says he just arrowed a pig. I was so excited to go help him I basically ran back to my truck. Threw my stuff off and went to help him. Looked for 7 hours, no buck. Next hunt I go to grab my brand new $450 Leopold rangefinder and find an empty case in my pack. No idea when or where I might have dropped it. Tore apart my truck, retraced every step from my stand to the truck, looked everywhere. No rangefinder. So before Nov 1 I was already back at Scheels buying a new one. Not the best start to my season....I was so excited and in such a stinkin hurry to go see this buck I have zero recollection about what might have happened to it.

Never buy a camo rangefinder!
 
I can't think of anything I've left in the woods while bow hunting, but I do remember a time a few years back when i lost my new Benelli shotgun for about an hour. I shot a rooster that ended up falling across the fence on property I didn't have permission to hunt. I laid my gun down in the waist high grass thinking I would just cross the fence, pick the bird up and be on my way. Well, I crossed the fence, got to where the bird fell and he takes off. So without thinking, I'm on a mad dash chasing this wounded rooster up and down a creek bottom about 100 yards. I finally catch him and head back to where I "thought" I laid my shotgun down. Turns out I was wrong. I looked and looked and for the life of me I couldn't find my gun. I searched for close to an hour until I finally stumbled across it laying right where I had left it. I was sweating bullets thinking someone saw me set the gun down and snatched it real quick while I was playing grab a$$ with that bird.
 
Well it wasn't me, but a good friend that this happened to but the story is too funny not to tell...

The background...My friend and his father-in-law(FIL) and brother-in-law(BIL) were hunting during a shotgun deer season a few years ago and there was a fair amount of snow on the ground at the time. My friend often uses his muzzleloader v. a slug gun and normally takes a pair of shooting sticks with him to give him the best rest possible on any shots he might have. Also, the muzzy is equipped with a carrying sling on it, which he often uses. So a normal sight would be for him to have his backpack on his back, the gun on a sling over his shoulder and the shooting sticks in his hand(s) while going to and from a stand.

Sumthin's missun'...:D One of them had shot a deer and they were all three on the trail of it tracking it through the snow, up and down hills, over logs, etc, in the dark after an afternoon hunt. Well they found the deer and then went for the nearest truck. When they arrived at the truck my friend's BIL said, "J..., where's your gun?". My friend looked down into his hands and there were the shooting sticks, but no GUN on his shoulder or in his hands! :eek:

It seems as though somewhere on the trail of the deer they had shot he had lost his gun and the presence of the shooting sticks in his hands lulled him into thinking he still had it. :D :D Luckily there was enough snow cover that they backtracked themselves until they found the gun! It was neatly leaning up against a downed log and the theory was that it slipped off his shoulder without him knowing it and away he went with the gun, I mean shooting sticks, in his hands! :D

All was well in the end, but had my friend's BIL not asked him where his gun was we all think he would have left out there in the woods until the next season!
 
I use a thumb trigger release and usually just leave it clipped to my d loop. Well, after a hunt last year somewhere on the way back to my truck I must've hit the trigger because I couldn't find it anywhere! I was seriously pissed because I loved that release. It was the color of leaves (Carter Chocolate Addiction) so it blended in nicely with the ground, didn't have a prayer of finding that thing even though I searched for hours. I had to use my backup for a few hunts while I got shipped (and paid for :mad:) a new one.
 
It happened this year, drove 45 minutes to our hunting ground to realize I forgot to transfer my bow from my truck to my brothers. That was a long ride. I finally get to my stand and crank in my ez hang bow hanger, pull up my bow and hang it.
The bow looks to be hanging goofy so I reach out and grab it and re-adjust the bow hanger, the bolt snaps in half leaving me to hold my bow for 4 hours. :mad: Karma?
 
Rattled my bow buck in last year with a nice set of sheds I had found the year before. That was the last hunt I used those sheds on last year and now I have no clue where they are. Might still be in the woods somewhere, but who knows.
 
Lost my tru-ball pro diamond release this year. Must have fallen out of my pocket somewhere between the ground blind and the long 4 wheeler ride back home. Luckily I always have an extra release although after shooting a hand release vs. wrist release, it wont be long and I'll have another hand release. Man those wrist strap releases are always clangin, bangin, and very seldom are not in the way. I miss it :(
 
lost my cell phone a couple of years back. dropped it under my tree and it had a CAMO cover on it so it blended in nicely with the leaves on the ground. found it the next day on the way into stand.
 
Let's see, lost my Moms phone in 6ft snow drift, dug a area about 15x15 feet around me and finally found it 4 hours later wasn't worried about the Deer I was worried about my life. Lost 3 ski masks, My binos (found them the next day), my iPod (found it a week later), a shed antler found it 1hr later I was LUCKY on that one, and a pair of como gloves.
 
I too am victim of losing a cell phone...was in a ground blind late season last year and got up to leave, got to the truck and no phone. went back to check and couldn't find it in the snow. And of course whenever you lose your phone, it's on silent mode ... NEVER helps
 
Left my 45 dollar bow hanger in a big oak tree when I moved my stand last year. But still get to see it every time I walk in to where I moved the stand just don't have the motivation to get up there and get it
 
I forgot my bow at the base of my tree one evening. Had to change my plans where to sit the next morning but it was still there.
 
my rattling antlers hanging in the tree after I pulled my sticks and stand down and strapped them to my Badlands....

I leave my antlers in the woods about once a week.... idiot....
 
This year after I shot my buck I had my nephew come and take pictures and so on. After gutting we loaded up the deer and away we went.

I had a buddy shoot one the same night so I had to stop at his place and have a few celabratory drinks :drink1:. It wasnt until the next night that I was re- organizing my gear that I couldnt find my $400 binoculars in the new $70 Badlands case along with a $300 range finder and a grunt tube. I went to the base of my tree right about prime time the next evening and there they lay.....whewwww!!
 
I left my bow along side the highway where I had parked. Broke a speed limit getting back to the spot, thankfully it was still there. Gave my new NIKON binoculars a 50 mile ride home on the space between my windshield and the hood of my truck.
 
just last week i went out for a morning sit and got all ready putting scent blocker on and boots. grabbed my bow case to get release out to find it missing. searched the ground as i sat that same stand the night before to turn up nothing. it turns out i left it on top of my box cover the night before and found it after daylight 2 miles down the road in the middle of the road and un usable. kind of like loosing a best friend and now i'm trying to make a new friend. I MISS YOU LITTLE BUDDY WE SHARED SOME GOODTIMES TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking across about 500 yards of switchgrass with my release on my wrist. As soon as I got out, I put my release in my pocket and it was gone by the time I got to the truck. Damn! I had to leave (soccer game) and didn't get back until later that evening and it was gone. I got the same model, but it just isn't the same.

I have left my bow hanger in the tree many times, but it is always there when I come back.

Brian
 
Twice I have left a bow hanger in the tree and figured it out after my stand and sticks were taken down. Man, that makes you feel dumb. One of them is still in a tree that I hunted a few weeks ago. Gonna have to go get it one of these days. Thank God I have a spare.
 
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