Ok... fess up!!

[aarondhgraham]

I owned 2 military surplus rifles that I could hunt deer with,,,
My British .303 and my trusty 8mm German Mauser.

Deer camp was way out in the Boonies,,,
I had decided on my Mauser for this years hunt,,,
Over 40 miles of bad road away from even a gas station,,,
That's when I found out that .303 ammunition doesn't fit an 8mm Mauser.

So I drove the long miles to the gas station,,,
Got directions to a hardware store that had 8mm ammo,,,
Drove there and paid an outrageous $12.00 for that one box of cartridges,,,
Then drove back to camp only to find that there were 10 rounds of 8mm in the rifle case.

Over 40 years ago and my spooky old gray haired daddy still teases me about that one.

Aarond

[Nnobby45]

Was hunting dove out of Fernley, Nv. at a place called Swingle Bench. Late 70's. Great place to buy melons in September.

Well, after 9 shots I had nine dove and it dawned on me that I'd never killed 10 dove with ten shots. Figured I'd pick out an easy incoming bird and fill out. Missed my next half dozen shots.

[rmocarsky]

Many, many years ago . . .

I was still hunting and had read somewhere that one way to do it was take 10 steps, stop and be still and watch for 15 minutes then repeat.

Well OK, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Wait and watch.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Wait and watch.

1, 2, 3, 4 . . . CRASH! BRUSH! LEAVES BEING HURRICANED! SOMETHING BIG HURTLING AWAY FROM ME! . . . 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Wait and watch.

Honestly did happen.

I'll never understand why I did not respond to the commotion.

Guess I just follow instruction too well.

Rmocarsky

P.S.: Once I hit "submit reply" I will probably regret doing so just as much as I did not engaging my brain many, many years ago.

[1873Colt]

The last bone headed thing I did was walk about 2.5 miles from the Truck and realized wow its 47 degrees and Im in shorts, t-shirt, and moccasins. I could picture my jacket in the drivers seat. Oh and allllllll my bullets were in the jacket pocket as well good 5 mile walk aint ever hurt nobody. still had a great time

-Trenten

[jhgreasemonkey]

My buddy and I are hiking down a burmed off logging road while deer hunting and a come up on a nice fat grouse. We look at each other and shrug "why not". So we each take a headshot with our rifles. And expected to see a dead grouse but he's still bobbing around like nothing happened. We fire again, nothing, we both missed. So we both unload our 4 shot magazines on this grouse and it eventually flies off with out even a scratch. We look at each other and start laughing our butts off. After we hiked back to the truck his concerned uncle yells, "what in the hell was all that shooting?!" We looked at each other sheapishly and both replied, "I don't know?". lol that was embarassing but funny.

A couple years ago I came across a huge grouse the size of a chicken on top of a ridge while deer hunting. I didn't want to pass this one up. So I raised my rifle, and knowing that I had sighted my gun about 2" high at 100 yards I compensated by aiming just below the head and pulled the trigger on my .06. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the grouse completely exploded in a 30 foot wide plume of debris and feathers. Yep, I hit him a little low.

[egor20]

Shhhhhh......

Took a 3 year old mare I was training out to checking fences a few years ago, saw a rattlesnakes and took a shot with a .38 with CCI snakeshot. OK ended up rubbing my butt and walking back 3 miles to the barn. I forgot I hadn't trained her for gunshots

Got the snake though....... Boy did she gallop

[Prof Young]

Shot hole in ground next to foot when I was squirrel hunting with pistol.

Spooked biggest buck I've ever had a shot at with un-needed movement.

Forgot turkey call.

Put wrong nipple on muzzle loader.

Tried to shoot a 20 ga shotgun with one hand and it jumped out of my hand.

Yea, I think that's it.

Live well BE SAFE!

Prof Young

[Bomberman]

I watched my Dad get a deer almost every year as I was growing up and couldn't wait until I was old enough to hunt. Finally, I'm 12 years old and legal to hunt and on my stand the first day of the season. I hear shooting behind me and all of a sudden a spike buck bursts by me going full tilt. I raise my lever action Winchester 94 30-30 and put three rounds into it and it falls about 75 yards away. My Dad, who was nearby, comes over to see what I had shot. I walked over to my deer and thinking it wasn't dead, put another, then another, then another, then another round into it. My gun is empty so I start reloading just as my Dad gets there. He asks what I'm doing and I say the deer is still alive. He asks how I know and I stated that every dead deer I ever saw had its tounge hanging out of it's mouth, and this one didn't so it must be alive. He got a great laugh out of that and told me to set the gun down and fill out the tag.

I had never gutted a deer before that and I turned to Dad and asked him if he would help me. He says "Yep" and handed me his knife...then he sat down on a log and ate his lunch while I did the dirty work. Thanks Dad!

[Duckboat Brown]

The most boneheaded thing I ever did relating to hunting was to invite some guy from work duck hunting with me. We got to the blind before sunrise, and after the decoys were out and we were settled in, he yanked out a joint and started puffing away. I was shocked.

He offered me some, and although I am not totally against weed, I do believe that weed and guns are a lethal mix, so I said no.

By 8:00 AM he had eaten all his lunch and was randomly taking pot shots at just about anything. A sapling, a clump of marsh grass, anything that he could aim at was fair game.

I called the day a wash and pulled the decoys by 10:00 AM and we went home. Needless to say, I never went hunting with THAT guy again!

[bamaranger]

I was bowhunting and had a nice buck, probably in the 100+ class in range at about 30 yds. Shot and missed, low. Deer really didn't spook, and I was able to nock a second arrow and shoot again. Again, miss, low. This time he bolted and went about 10 15- yds, but still stayed at my max range of 30 yds. Nocked a third arrow, but by this time I was rattled. I shot again, but hit a limb right in front of the bow, the arrow never got off the string but broke right there in front of me ,pieces flew everwhere (aluminum). He did not stick around for that. They killed him the opening day of gun season, about 2 wks later.

Another time, I was hunting a food plot, and started seeing, and missing, deer. Took my last shot at dusk and was out of arrows. Went back the next AM w/ the good wife and we collected all 5 of them. Stuck out there in that green patch, with all there bright fletching, it looked like a flower garden.

Was zeroing a pair of rifles for a friend, last minute, in a hurry deal. Got the ammo mixed up and shot a .270, in a 7mm mag. Twice.

Undid my safety belt and stepped out/off a climbing stand and out on a big limb to trim a shooting lane. OK. Came back in, clipped in my belt, and stepped back onto the stand. It fell away about 3 feet. I spent several harried minutes, that seemed like hours, flailing away, till I hooked the stand w/ my toes and pulled it back up to where I could get back on board.

Tracked deer all afternoon in the snow and when I got an opportunity on a shot, snapped on an empty chamber. I had cleared the chamber when I climbed down from a nailed up stand that AM and had been hunting all afternoon w/ a half loaded (mag only) rifle. There were so many deer in that laurel thicket, I managed to get a shell levered in and did kill one.

Found an old nailed up stand one afternoon and decided I'd "test climb" it a bit before I went up w/ my rifle. I got about 10 feet up and a big spike walked by. My M94 was propped over yonder against a tree.

How's that for a start?

[Gbro]

bamaranger your stories bring back a few of my own,

Hunting new area and found an old stand that was higher than it was suppose to be and the main platform was broken from a windfall, well I figured I could stand on the seat. Heck i never had a stand before that with a seat anyway.
The seat was in bad shape also, but to a 24 <> YO hunter it didn't matter, I had a tree to hold on to.
A spike comes out behind me and as i turned the seat broke, I grabbed hold and shot the spike while holding myself up 12 feet off the ground. Had a very hard time getting re-loaded and getting down.
And that is why I worry about my Grandchildren hunting

Another,
Was climbing into a huge cedar tree. Had my 1894 30 WCF tied with a rope across my back.
The knott came out and I watched the rifle fall and when it hit the ground I was looking right down the barrel of that "LOADED" Rifle.
The next time I climbed that tree my rifle chamber was empty and there was a string of knots connecting the rope to the barrel.
About half way up the tree a nice buck gets out of a bed and is sneeking away. I hurriedly untie the action and lever one in, take aim and all I see is knots
That is when This BONE HEAD went to bolt action w/sling.

[Legionnaire]

Originally Posted by Gbro

bamaranger your stories bring back a few of my own ...

Yeah, me too. Also in the Connecticut Hill game area, I was climing into a tree with a nice natural fork to stand it when the makeshift sling on my Mossberg gave way. It hit muzzle first and buried the end of the barrel six inches into the mud and snow. I was able to use a twig to clear most of the crap out of the barrel, but I didn't have a cleaning kit with me so couldn't get it clean. Also concerned that the scope would have been knocked out of alignment, so that was it for that day.

Now I have a real sling on the shotgun, and always carry a cleaning kit with me.

[5RWill]

Somewhere around not pulling the trigger on a very big trophy buck years ago because i was young, and me falling in a beaver run while duck hunting. At the same time dropping my 870 down in the run. Lol i figured i was already wet so i went under and got my gun back. Hunted the rest of the hunt soaking wet and decently cold, but thats duck hunting

[brmfan]

Blackops- Don't feel bad... I dress in my hunting camies when I get to the field and wore flip flops today on the drive out since it was somewhat warmer than it has been lately. When I got there I unpacked my gear and to my dismay, I had no socks!! My boots are lightly insulated but it didn't stop
my feet from going numb after a few hours.

[Uncle Buck]

I remember quail hunting with my uncle and father. Uncle was carrying a single shot ten-gauge with a very long barrel. (No one seems to remember what ever happened to that gun. ) Dad and I both had 20 gauges.

We flushed a covey and both dad and I shot. We hit a few of them and while picking them up, my dad said "There's on!" We look over to where he was pointing and there was a quail, obviously hit, running in circles.

My uncle proudly proclaims "I'll get it", and before any one can say anything, from five feet away he blasted that quail to nothing.

Now I know why no one ever wants to take him hunting with them.

[woodguru]

When I was 15 or 16 I spent a lot of time Coon hunting with a friend who had Black and Tans and a bigger bear dog. I would go out every weekend with him and my mom had settled down a bit on the worrying thing. We were going camping or something so my friend took another guy with him I didn't like very much, let's just say that Ray was a bit low rent country for my taste.

Got to school Monday and the talk of the school was on how my friend had shot Ray but he was still alive. Shotgun blast from five feet away that took off half his lower jaw, upper teeth on that side, cheek, and a chunk of throat.

There was the cover story which was that the shotgun fell down and went off when it hit the ground as ray was going through a barbed wire fence. Then there was the real story that I finally got out of my friend which was that he was holding the shotgun as he jumped over the fence or was holding it spread for Ray, and he accidentally discharged it.

My coon hunting days were done , (I couldn't blame my parents for making that call) but I can assure you it was a formative event that shaped my current inflexibility concerning the handling of firearms around me. I have done very little hunting in large groups as cavalier attitudes about guns really really annoys me and I make sure the offenders know it.