Worst day hunting?

krizia829

Senior Member
Mine was a hunt in Alabama where I tripped and fell on a root walking to the stand early morning and I landed on top of my rifle which was on my back on a sling. I shot 4 times at a doe and completely missed. When I came back home, I realized the scope tube was bent and was almost a foot off zero!! What's your absolute worst day hunting? Was it more than 1 deer you missed? Coming across a trespasser? Falling and getting hurt? Let's hear it!
 

snuffy

Senior Member
Rum Creek about 20 or so years ago.

On the way out after a morning hunt. Saw a doe on the way out. Dropped her and on the way to her tripped on an old down hog wire fence and broke my ankle.

Was a PAINFUL walk out.
 

Geno67

Senior Member
Shot a heavy racked 9 with webbed tines 4 times with buckshot and never recovered him. He was also shot by two other hunters and shot at by an additional two hunters. I was parked in the exit route of a swamp that got hunted by houndsmen. When I shot him, he turned and ran back through all the standers prior to the dogs being turned out.

I was not with the dog hunting party, I was using them as my drivers - lol.
That backfired on me that day.
 

PopPop

Gone But Not Forgotten
I fell in the river while duck hunting, like to have froze to death, literally, but the absolute worst was taking a fall last January that broke my back. Been a minute getting over that.
 

Ruger15

Senior Member
Mine was a hunt in Alabama where I tripped and fell on a root walking to the stand early morning and I landed on top of my rifle which was on my back on a sling. I shot 4 times at a doe and completely missed. When I came back home, I realized the scope tube was bent and was almost a foot off zero!! What's your absolute worst day hunting? Was it more than 1 deer you missed? Coming across a trespasser? Falling and getting hurt? Let's hear it!
Been there my friend!
 

RootConservative

Senior Member
Worst day hunting looking back I laugh at it now. 20-25 years ago in South Carolina I was hunting a swamp bottom in a climber. I had to "go" real bad. Climb down and after having the runs realize I forgot to put toilet paper in my bag. So I use leaves to clean myself. Later realize it was poison ivy b/c around 4 hours later I break out bad. I hiked a good 2 miles to get to this stand and have a climber on my back. It was a long walk out of there. My rash lasted a couple of days and I had to drive back to Florida without really getting any hunting done. To this day my checklist for going into the woods is 1) wet wipes 2) gun/bullets bow/arrows 3) thermacell 4) water.
 

Jim Thompson

Live From The Tree
Both of my worst days on stand stem from the weather.

One would be back in 2010 in IL. It was not brutally cold and was only down to about 20 with no wind to speak of. Sounds like a perfect morning! Until I was crossing a frozen 10" or so deep creek. I was about halfway across in knee high rubber boots, which btw go horrible on ice, when I slipped and fell backwards breaking thru the ice. I landed on my bow and backpack and knocked the wind out of me. I laid there a minute to get my bearings.

After standing up I made sure nothing was damaged I head onto stand. Course my clothes are all made for the wet and cold so no problem.

Although after laying in broken ice and water my clothes were now freezing pretty solid!

But the worst part was that about 9am I start notinging I cant feel my right foot. I wiggle out of my boot and yep you guessed it, it was full of water :bounce:
 

LONGTOM

Senior Member
I have never had a bad day hunting however I have been cold , wet turned around and tired to the bone. Oh and I did fall about six feet down a small cliff in Colorado and broke my shoulder and my bow. After a trip to the ER I stayed in camp till the other guys finished their hunt.
 

baddave

Senior Member
a friend and i was going to set up and try to call in a coyote .. so we decided he's gonna be over there and i'm gonna be over here .. so when the time got right i started the caller .. about 15 sec. into calling i hear his gun go off and i knew it really didn't sound right but the timing was perfect but i really was already a little concerned .. i try to call him on phone and he don't answer . i holler , no answer , i search , nobody, i finally see him walking up the hill toward MY truck mumbling sumpin.. i get em up and go to truck and find out he dropped his rem 700 and it went off hitting him in the meat of his ankle .. i take him to the monticello ER .. after it was over i had to ask " if you shoot yourself in the foot don't you want to tell the guy that has the keys to the truck in his pocket"? not a real fun hunt .. i have others but am tired of typing
 

Wayne D Davis

Senior Member
Cant think of any really bad days but I did have an event that was crazy. After a morning sit (tree climber) I decided to come down and relocate for the evening hunt. As I lowered my bow I had 4 doe come in super fast and stopped directly under me as my bow spun on my cord just above their heads. I managed to get it back up to me in time to only wave goodbye
 

Snookpimpin

Senior Member
was hunting with my brother in long county and he had shot a doe over a clear cut and we couldn't find blood but he had seen crash into the brush. now its dark so I tell him to get back in the stand and shine his light where he shot and ill follow it to where she crashed. so he did and boom I find the deer and yell back to him, and in the excitement he walked right off the top of a 20' ladder. I heard the scream then him hitting the ground. I for sure thought he was dead. he tore up his shoulder and knee and had a perfect bruise of a glock on his hip.
 

jmac7469

Senior Member
My worst day was on a hog hunt in a management area. I've hunted this place a ton in my life and know the area I was hunting very well. Late in the afternoon I heard a few pigs deep in the swamp and got down to put a stalk on them. Ended up on the north end of the swamp. Never caught up to the pigs no big deal. As I started my trek out I was roughly a mile from the truck. Again no big deal. Looked at my GPS plotted a quick route back to the truck. Stopped just before the swamp called my dad to tell him where I was and it'd be a while before I reached the truck. It's now dark turn on my head lamp and it won't come on. Swap batteries still no light. Okay cell phone flashlight it is. I'm roughly half way through the swamp and cell phone dies. Great! No light now following gps. Get through the swamp to the edge of the pines. GPS cuts out. This is getting ridiculous at this point. Okay I know if I keep the swamp on my left and pines on the right I'll come out to the trail and can follow it back to the truck. I'm an hour in at this point wondering in the dark. Finally reach the trail okay take a right and head to the truck. Walk for a few hundred yards and realize this isn't right I know the landmarks I should have past even I the dark and haven't yet. I yell to see if my dad will respond, nothing wait and yell again nothing. Okay pull my pistol ring 3 shots and wait. Hear 3 shots in return along way off and way behind me. Turn around cover the couple hundred yards again. 3 more shots dad returns still a ways off but in the right direction. Few hundred yards and I yell dad yells back. Cut straight to him. Reach him finally after more than 2 hours. But we aren't at the truck we are on the trail I thought i was on. I explain what happened we laugh about it now but had I been alone it would have been a long long night. The trail I ended up on would have dumped me out on a different road no where near the truck. I carry a regular compass now.
 

krizia829

Senior Member
was hunting with my brother in long county and he had shot a doe over a clear cut and we couldn't find blood but he had seen crash into the brush. now its dark so I tell him to get back in the stand and shine his light where he shot and ill follow it to where she crashed. so he did and boom I find the deer and yell back to him, and in the excitement he walked right off the top of a 20' ladder. I heard the scream then him hitting the ground. I for sure thought he was dead. he tore up his shoulder and knee and had a perfect bruise of a glock on his hip.
Oh man that's horrible!!
 

krizia829

Senior Member
My worst day was on a hog hunt in a management area. I've hunted this place a ton in my life and know the area I was hunting very well. Late in the afternoon I heard a few pigs deep in the swamp and got down to put a stalk on them. Ended up on the north end of the swamp. Never caught up to the pigs no big deal. As I started my trek out I was roughly a mile from the truck. Again no big deal. Looked at my GPS plotted a quick route back to the truck. Stopped just before the swamp called my dad to tell him where I was and it'd be a while before I reached the truck. It's now dark turn on my head lamp and it won't come on. Swap batteries still no light. Okay cell phone flashlight it is. I'm roughly half way through the swamp and cell phone dies. Great! No light now following gps. Get through the swamp to the edge of the pines. GPS cuts out. This is getting ridiculous at this point. Okay I know if I keep the swamp on my left and pines on the right I'll come out to the trail and can follow it back to the truck. I'm an hour in at this point wondering in the dark. Finally reach the trail okay take a right and head to the truck. Walk for a few hundred yards and realize this isn't right I know the landmarks I should have past even I the dark and haven't yet. I yell to see if my dad will respond, nothing wait and yell again nothing. Okay pull my pistol ring 3 shots and wait. Hear 3 shots in return along way off and way behind me. Turn around cover the couple hundred yards again. 3 more shots dad returns still a ways off but in the right direction. Few hundred yards and I yell dad yells back. Cut straight to him. Reach him finally after more than 2 hours. But we aren't at the truck we are on the trail I thought i was on. I explain what happened we laugh about it now but had I been alone it would have been a long long night. The trail I ended up on would have dumped me out on a different road no where near the truck. I carry a regular compass now.
That's what scares me about relying on electronics! Thankfully you found your way!
 

westcobbdog

Senior Member
Worst day hunting looking back I laugh at it now. 20-25 years ago in South Carolina I was hunting a swamp bottom in a climber. I had to "go" real bad. Climb down and after having the runs realize I forgot to put toilet paper in my bag. So I use leaves to clean myself. Later realize it was poison ivy b/c around 4 hours later I break out bad. I hiked a good 2 miles to get to this stand and have a climber on my back. It was a long walk out of there. My rash lasted a couple of days and I had to drive back to Florida without really getting any hunting done. To this day my checklist for going into the woods is 1) wet wipes 2) gun/bullets bow/arrows 3) thermacell 4) water.

leaves of 3 let them be.
 

Turpentine

Senior Member
Had a lot of stress that year, went from 210 stacked to 170 out of shape. Tried to scout and chase some furrys with my same tactics and a throw together set up at a new spot on the mnt. Got lost about 5 hours in. I realized it 6 hours in. No cell phone, no flashlight, no map or compass. Camelback out of water and I had officially pushed my out of shape body as far as it could go. I sat down in the coolest spot I could find in the area and passed out. A rumble in a dream woke me up to darkness. I sat in that spot until light. Finished climbing the hill. Humbled and level headed. I managed to make it back to my ride in about 4 hours.
Been very few times in life I have been that scared.
 

The Donk

Senior Member
We planned a long weekend hunt in the Mtns for a big buck we had on camera. The trick was we had to cross a river that was raging from recent rains. First day we split up and both tried to cross but failed. To make it worse a pair of fox hounds who had gotten loose found us and spent the rest of the day and night hanging out with us. Next morning we leave the hounds at camp and barely get across the river about a mile from camp. By 9am heard them baying where we crossed the river and 5 min. later they are in my lap. Ruined the hunt and all my clothes stunk of hound dog for a while. And I took a dip in the river on the way back trying to cross.
 
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