Ok... fess up!!

B

brmfan

New member
What is the most bone headed thing you've done on a hunt that you have never told anyone about or that you still slap yourself in the forehead and say 'duh' for doing?? Who's brave enough to share their 'smooth move'???

I pulled a 'duh' moment a few days ago. I was sitting in a ground blind for 3 hours until dark, and when I went to pack up my gear I started to unload my rifle which had 1 in the tube and 2 in the magazine... or so I thought. As I popped the floor plate release button (Remmy 700), all 3 shells fell into my hand! Turns out when I top loaded the magazine and closed the bolt, it rode on top of the first shell. I apparently hadn't properly set the magazine follower when I cleaned the rifle last.

Had the buck of a lifetime come into my crosshairs, all I would have heard upon pulling the trigger would have been a heart stopping 'CLICK'!!! :o

The teachable moment here is to always check to see that your shell has actually been chambered!
 
This fall while slug hunting in SW MN, my brother-in-law and I were in hot pursuit of an enormous deer for our area. (There was way too much corn left in the fields last year so the deer got big this year.) He dropped me off along a fence line while his dad and brother walked a grove and the beast came barreling out of the grove right down the fence line towards me. The combination of the adrenaline and the overall inaccuracy of 12 gauge slugs caused me to unload my gun and just scrape the huge 10 pointers belly. It's a good thing my brother-in-law was behind me and dropped the deer, but I was so sick that I missed it.
 
When I was 17 years old, I got out early one morning and got out into the forest before daylight. I holed up in some brush on the edge of a meadow, maybe about 10 feet back from the grass.

Perfectly concealed. Had a Lohman mouth call and was well-rehearsed. As the sun came up, I started calling and got a gobbler going right away. He was REAL interested and sure enough, a little while later, I see him on the other end of the meadow. Not straight across, more or less along the side, to my left.

I carefully readjusted and kept the call going while looking down the barrel.

He was about thirty yards away, in plain view and absolutely beautiful.

I called once more and then settled in to breathing right and dangit if I didn't have to sneeze.

I tried. Really, I tried. Couldn't do it. The sneeze exploded louder than the damn shotgun would have and I opened my eyes just in time to see that bird disappear in a mass of feathers.

Never told anyone. Until now.

--Wag--
 
I've never told mine for a reason and it's because it makes me sick to my stomach to think about it.

I don't need criticism on it, it is what it is, I was 19 years old in the military in Shreveport Louisiana, statute of limitations is decades gone as this was in 1973.

I had bought a Sako .243 Forrester and had a Redfield widefield scope on it. The range I shot at had a 300 yard berm and I had done a fair amount of shooting out to five and six hundred yards as well while shooting with friends. That .243 for the time was bad to the bone for easy drop compensation sighted in for about 225 yards.

My friend and I had tree stands on a power line cut through the forest and had about 200 to 250 yards between us. I was dozing and got startled out of my wits by his .30-06 going off, I glassed the other side of him just as he shot another shot over what I thought was a big coyote, I held and snapped off a shot and crumpled the thing. It was the biggest Coyote at well over a hundred pounds we had ever seen or heard of, and nobody we knew had ever said anything about Wolves. We both seemed to know it wasn't a Coyote which would have been okay to shoot, but we were worried about whatever this was not having a legal season.

Fast forward to the 90's and my wife and I were watching a show on endangered and extinct animals and we saw where the last Brown Wolves were seen in that area in the early 70's, it was a Brown Wolf I'd shot.

I consider it to be the single worst thing I ever shot.
 
regrets

I was a young hunter out with dad. freezing cold as then usual. he set me up at this saddle in a ridge while he did a loop around to drive something my way.
soon enough I see 2 deer coming my way. I take a bead on one and pull the trigger. next thing I know 2 deer are running through the saddle and down the hill. now they're 100 plus yards away and stop. with teeth chattering I take a neck shot at the clearest one. The other runs off and the one i shot at just stands there. As I jack another round in she trots off. I scramble down the hill and find a good size splotch of blood. just then dad appears back at the top of the hill and yells "what are you doing?" "looking for my deer" "well , there's a dead one up here!"
Yup, Never saw it drop and put a hole in another one and unfortunately never found it. Stupid.
 
One of too many "Bone Headed" things I have done,
back in '74 or '75 I was way over eager and when dropped off at trail head by my father-in-law, I spent the afternoon in my faviorite Cedar Tree. At dusk he honked for me and after climbing down and walking back out I then knelt down to unload my 1894 30 WCF, I levered it open and there was nothing in it!, My FIL asked what I was doing as he seen there was nothing in it and I told him I was double checking, when the truth was I didn't even have a single cartridge on me. The box was right there on the dash of his truck.
I had sat for 4 hours with no ammo:confused: :o


Yes, I had been through firearms safety class 12 years prior but like I stated, I was to Bone Headed.
Back in those days Firearms Safety wasn't taken too serious. :o
Not proud of it, but "It is What it Is"
 
went on my first hunting trip this season for elk. we found some the first day but went back the next morning as it was getting too dark. that morning we had set on top of a hill looking out at the ridge across from us at what we thought to be about 600 yards. i see 100 of them coming out of the tree line and this nice spike comes out. instead of trying to get closer i decided to take the shot... needless to say i missed not by alot though maybe 1ft low and 1ft to the left. when we went closer we realized that ridge and the elk were more like 1,200 yards away. lets just say a range finder is on the x mas list this year.
 
I remember a squirrel hunt with my father, that happened over 30 years ago, on the banks of Mill Creek in N. E. Ohio.

As a 6'2", VERY skinny youngster, I had walked the woods most of the morning with my new Mossberg 500 shotgun. We hadn't seen a thing. Dad suggested we sit down under a large oak to have a sandwich. Well, I laid back on the ground, looked up into the oak tree, and saw, a huge, fat, Fox squirrel peering back through the leaves. Without thinking, I raised the shotgun, and "let 'er loose", while lying on my back. The HUGE RECOIL of the shotgun pinned my bones to the ground with the force of a violent car wreck. I looked at my father through tear filled eyes, who said " I don't think I would have done that"..... He had a silly grin on his face the whole ride home... The crazy ol' fart.... :rolleyes:
 
Pheasant hunting as a kid I saw a rabbit go into a culvert pipe that angled down into a levee to water level. I stuck the shotgun into it on the same angle I could see into the hole if it weren't so dark thinking I'd shoot the rabbit in the hole. The muzzle blast almost knocked me off my feet, it was like I got slammed with a hammer the blast hit me so hard. Needless to say I learned something there.
 
Years ago I was hunting the Connecticut Hill gamelands in Central NY. I didn't often hunt there, but I was able to get an antlerless tag for the unit, so that's where I went. Drove well over an hour from home to get there.

I was seated in a blowdown hoping for a buck. As I watched, three good-sized does emerged from the woods to my right and crossed the clearing in front of me, probably 60 yards out. I scoped the first one ... no antlers. So I moved on to the second and as the first disappeared into the thick stuff on the opposite side of the clearing. Again, no antlers, so I scoped out the third. And as the third antlerless deer disappeard into brush, I remembered that the reason I was so far from home was because I had a DOE TAG in my pocket.

Didn't see another deer for the rest of the day ... of course.
 
My first year... and first day... deer hunting with a gun. I was 16, carrying a 12ga. I was a Savage, the kind where the entire barrel slides back on each shot... looked a lot like the one in this pic, except with a ring sight on the rear...

pop_wm_2028905.jpg


Anyhow, my father and I are walking this hedgerow between a field and a wooded hillside.

To my right is the hedgerow, field to my left and about 150-200 yards farther left is a road.

We are expecting deer to be in the hedgerow and either go up for my dad or across the field for me.

So, we're walking along and I hear a tractor trailer on the road. I look over and here's this deer, running from the road pretty much right at me.

Now, obviously, I can't shoot that way. There's the road, this big truck, a house in fact.

So, I reposition so I can take the only safe shot, straight along the hedgerow.

I'm holding the gun at low ready, but the deer saw me adjust position and decides to change direction.... he was previously running DIRECTLY toward me but now, only 50 feet away maybe, changes direction for the hedgerow, where he will cross my safe shooting lane probably 25, 30 feet from me.

So, I wait and, just at that moment, whip the gun up and pull the trigger....

with the gun about 3 inches from my shoulder.:eek:

Heck, I didn't feel a thing. There's not just adrenalin, this is my first deer EVER with a shotgun.

Well, I got him, he only went 20, 25 yards and piled up in the hedgerow. I walked up, proud as can be and grabbed his leg to reposition him....

One good yank and NOW I felt something. MY GOD! What's wrong with my arm?! I think it's broken.... then it dawned on me what I did.

Believe it or not, that's the most painful injury I've ever had. The next day, I had a bruise that went half way down my bicep, up my neck a ways, over the top of my shoulder, and 4 or five inches down my chest. I couldn't even lift my arm for days. It was bad.

Let me tell you, you only do that one time.
 
double set triggers

I let a doe walk slowly by as I pulled one trigger and then the other to finnally realize I had not cocked my muzzleloader.

Squirrel hunting with my left arm in a cast. I set the shot gun on top of my shoulder to shoot straight up. It felt like a sledge hammer and drove me to my knees. I killed the squirrel but I took a long time to get up and walk out of the woods.

Forgot the caps for my muzzleloader once.
 
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I was all fired up for black powder season. I set my rifle,powder and accessories out in the garage a few days prior to opening day.

Opening morning came and as usual I was up at about 0300 :rolleyes:. Went to the garage, loaded the rifle and set it in the corner. Grabbed my speed loaders, loaded them and put them in my fannypack.

About 0500 I started out to my stand cause you know its mandatory we hunters go out and sit in the freezing cold at least two hrs. in total darkness opening day ;).

Anyway, about two hrs after daylight, I looked down and happened to see black powder laying in a curled leaf. Upon further investigation, I found the rest of the powder that was supposed to be in my barrel all around my feet.:o

I simply forgot to load the ball when I loaded that morning.

Glad I had my speedloaders.
 
Woodguru said:
Is that picture really a Savage or is it a Browning?
Click to expand...

I don't know, it came up on GunsAmerica when I did a google search for Savage shotguns pics. My gun looked nearly identical to that, except for the addition of a square block and ring sight on the back of the receiver. I was told, back in the day, that the gun was an "Ithaca Savage", which I didn't know at the time was not possible... I'm almost positive it was actually a Savage, but it definitely was not a Browning.
 
Easily The Stupidest Thing On Here

It's so stupid I know you'll be wondering why anyone would do something like this.

Normally a .22 has virtually no appreciable recoil, you don't notice it.

I was sitting in the shade with a friend on a hot summer day resting from a long day of rabbit hunting in 100+ heat. I was sort of laying on my back with my head against a tree with a six foot thick trunk. Not wanting to shift position to shoot at something going by in the creek I put the butt toe against my lower lip to where only the sharper point was touching lip, this gave me the perfect sight line up.

Get the physics here? Head against a big immovable tree, lip against teeth. It split my lip and like to have knocked a tooth out, it loosened two teeth to where I could wiggle them. Both my lip inside and out and my teeth were bleeding. My friend laughed so hard the rest of the day he couldn't think of anything else because of the fat lip. My parents were pretty convinced I'd had a fight with my friend because my story sounded too stupid to be true, in fact their words were, "come on, what really went on?". The only thing that salvaged the truth is that my friend was laughing so hard telling them about it they knew he couldn't fake that. He was in hysterics and he had both my parents in hysterics as well, I couldn't laugh well because it hurt too much to laugh. I even had to admit that it was ludicrously funny.
 
woodguru said:
It's so stupid I know you'll be wondering why anyone would do something like this.
Click to expand...

You know, that just reminded me of something I did too...

When I was trying to get my wife into shooting and she had ZERO experience, never having so much as held a gun.

She was convinced that my 10/22 would hurt so I....

oh man, I can't believe I'm telling this to the world...

I held it against my forehead and shot.

Man, that hurts. Of course, I couldn't let on, since I wanted her to shoot but, that hurt.

I can imagine how it would feel on a "immovable lip".:eek:
 
Buck had his butt toward me, feeding out of a PVC feeder 50yds away. Muzzleloader season. Could either shoot him up the butt or take a neck shot. Took the neck shot. Missed his vertebrae, I think. Found corn in the blood from his esophagus, and tracked him but the blood trail dried up and I never found him in the thick woods of Louisiana. Nice buck. I should have either waited for a broadside shot or just passed on the buck. Hurt my pride pretty bad, and was a 150 class buck. Not a waste, though. Coyotes and buzzards cleaned up on him later, I'm sure of that.:barf:
 
I rarely duck hunt anymore. I think it's too much like work and I'd rather bowhunt but....let's see.
I've tripped and filled my waders a few times, once plunging my Browning Sweet Sixteen 6" deep in muck. I also had to have stiches in my finger after tring to cut it off breasting out Mallards. Been lost in pea soup fog many times. And, continued all that fun for 25 years but, we killed a boat load of ducks.
 
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