Gear that failed to the point that the hunt was over?

[oldgoat]

I had an arrow come unnocked shooting at a ground squirrel while on a day hunt after elk, almost completely severed my bowstring, my wife[gf at the time] wouldn't give me the string off her bow, so my hunt was over. Haven't left the truck without a spare string in my backpack since! Meant to have one that year, but think I forgot or something.

 

[fencesitter]

Had a wall tent fail once.....we experienced a downpour and came back to puddles on top of each of sleeping bags. Game over..... and very dissapointing!

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[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

On a particularly cold PA rifle season opener my brother had his .243 fail on a really great buck. We determined it was temperature issue that made the oil around the firing pin too thick to the point that it would dent the firing pin but not enough to set it off. The same thing happened to me 2 years later, luckily I was able to grab dads 30-06 and get the job done.

My uncle and I were the only ones in camp the first morning of archery a few years back. He was in the cabin right before heading out and drew his bow, an old mathews, and had a cable snap. Being that it was an old bow and it was 5 am, he wasn't able to find the part until late in the day. That was a pretty ruined hunt.

 

[jwatts]

I had a water filter crap out on me in MT a few years back. We may could have made it all work, but honestly we went in over our heads. There was a ton of snow on the ground when we got there. We only made it about halfway in to where we intended to hunt due to the terrain being so slippery. We set camp and I went to filter us some water to cook with and have to drink. About the 3rd pump on my filter the barb where the suction hose comes out snapped off. I tried submerging the suction side of the pump, but it didn't get it. We ended up boiling snow to get water to cook with and for the walk out. We packed out, went and bought a ton of water, and camped close to the truck. Next time at least 2 of us will have some sort of water purification system even if one of them gets left in the truck.

 

[TheCougar]

In the last 4 months:

Peep broke off my bow opening morning: took 8 hours to get fixed, then got a buck right at Sundown.
Broke my quad swing arm suspension in half.
Took a youth hunter on a javelina hunt with brand new magpul magazines and new ammo that had never been tested. 5 missed shots and 30 clearing drills later, we used my buddy's 243 to seal the deal.

 

[JaySalt]

A few years back on an elk hunt in Colorado we had our tent flooded in a 4 day soaker, which left us no choice but to come off of the mountain to dry out and get a new tent. That wasn't at all a gear failure, just inexperience. I am much more picky on choosing a camp site now.

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[mfllood3800]

Main drive belt on my Polaris ranger side by side.

Was heading in at 4:00 AM climbing the mother of all hills where I would normally hide it and then hike up the ridge to my elk spot. Half way up the hill it started making noises and jerking. Got it to within a 1/4 mile of the area of hiding, and it gave up the ghost. I sat there hoping another hunter would be in the area on this day, arguing with myself, "should I go in and hunt, or stay and wait for a person to get me out". My camp was over 10 miles away and I had no excitement thinking of walking back.
Then I thought, "why ruin someone elses hunt having to haul me back to camp, go hunt you idiot".
So I did. After 2 hrs of legal hunting I heard a faint sound of a vehicle in the distance. Aha Road Hunters. I have never ran so fast downhill at 11,000' ever in my life. It was over a mile and I was like Bruce Jenner, well the old Bruce Jenner- you know the dude kind.


They drove past before I could get to them, but miraculously they pulled over to take a leak. My 2nd wind kicked in and I bolted to them. They were in a Ford F150- couldn't believe it- this was a UTV trail. But hey I was grateful. They towed me to camp, and we have been friends for the past 3 years. I even gave them location of 2 of my deer tree stand spots and we seek each other out every year. I am a local and they are out of towners wanting intel on elk and deer.

Sorry for the novel, but that's all that has failed me that actually caused an end or a 2 day delay to my hunting

 

[SLDMTN]

On a sheep hunt in the Chugach with my Dad, our Sierra Design 2 man started leaking. We made the call and my brother in law hiked his Mountain Hardware Trango 4 back in to where we were. He set it up next to the SD tent, pulled the leaker down and headed out before we returned for the night from glassing (my sister did the family a solid when she married that guy). As we were tucking in for the night, the wind kicked up something fierce. The following day while we were out again, the wind ripped the Trango tieouts right off the tent. Folded it up like a broken kite. When we returned at dusk, it was tumbleweeding through the bottom of the valley collecting creek water as it rolled. We had a lot of money get flushed that trip. We run Hilleberg tents now, haven't blown one down yet, knock on wood.

 

[Beendare]

I think if a guy reads between the lines in this thread....there is some solid advice here!

Chit happens...some can be anticipated-plan accordingly

...some user error and its a learning experience...

some is neither and there isn't a darn thing you can do about it except forge on!

 

[elkyinzer]

I was 15 or 16 and missed three bucks, three days in a row, before I decided I should probably check my sight and found that it was shooting 18" high. Didn't fill my tag that year and didn't deserve to, lesson learned.

Colorado 2013 we were backpack spike camp hunting 3 miles or so into Wildnerness. I hung our food in a dry bag about 10' up a tree. A bear climbed that tree and ate everything good. Found out bears don't like Mtn House either, so we were able to survive the rest of the week on that and scant rations of granola bars. Lost a few pounds and learned another lesson.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I was 15 or 16 and missed three bucks, three days in a row, before I decided I should probably check my sight and found that it was shooting 18" high. Didn't fill my tag that year and didn't deserve to, lesson learned.

Colorado 2013 we were backpack spike camp hunting 3 miles or so into Wildnerness. I hung our food in a dry bag about 10' up a tree. A bear climbed that tree and ate everything good. Found out bears don't like Mtn House either, so we were able to survive the rest of the week on that and scant rations of granola bars. Lost a few pounds and learned another lesson.

How the heck did the bear get it? You hung it between two trees right?

 

[6mm Remington]

Snuck down on some elk feeding at 200 yards and sat down to get a good shot at them with my Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 25-06. It was cold and wet hunting for several days prior to this and with a bit of crud and ice inside the bolt, it would not fire. I pulled up slowly and shot the 5x5 bull. The rifle went click. I lifted the bolt and tried it again. Once more click. I did that two more times. The firing pin barely dented the primer. I will add that with wind chill it was about -20 degrees!! I put the next cartridge in from the magazine. Did the same thing four more times. No bang, just a lot of clicks. Did it with the remaining two cartridges. Same thing nothing. Finally the elk figure out something isn't right and drift off! I got back to the truck a couple miles away and shot into a tree. First cartridge went bang! I went home that night and tore the bolt apart and cleaned it up. Went back the next morning and got on some more elk and got one at 350 yards with one shot! Of course this one was much harder to pack out then the first one WOULD HAVE BEEN! I've been a lot more picky since and typically pull the bolts apart at the end of the season now and clean them whether they need it or not.

Got over to our hunting spot the night before and set up camp. Ready for 6 glorious days of hunting. About 200 yards from camp heading up a ridge in my pickup, a small rock about the size of an egg was flipped up into the fan area and somehow got between the fan and the surpentine belt on my 93 Dodge Dakota. The belt snapped and the rock going around with the belt put a nice flat spot in the idler pulley. Even if I had an extra belt it would not have worked as the pulley was toast!

I did not take my tent on a Mountain Goat hunt with two buddies who went along with me and my tag one fall. My buddy said I didn't need my tent. We got 13 miles back in the wilderness on horseback and set up camp and ate dinner. At about dusk it started to rain and snow never letting up for the next THREE DAYS! And the wind was blowing the whole time up to about 40 mph! About an hour after it started we had a small stream about 3 inches wide running from one side of the tent to the other. It ran between me and one of my buddies. Thank goodness it did not get any worse or it would have soaked one of more of us. We spent three days and nights in this tent as it was too miserable to get out of the tent. Only time we did was to go to the bathroom and feed the horses.

Even though it was miserable we ate jerky and told tall tales and lies for three days and had a great time! Made the best of what was given to us.

 

[EC4reel]

I picked up some mail on my way out of town. When I got to the trailhead I thought it would be smart to go thru it and make sure no unexpected bills were in there. I opened a large envelope and inside was a robtattoo calendar. I was sick for 3 days straight, still have flashbacks.

 

[alexanderg23]

If that would of happened to me. Gun probably would of stayed out there wrapped around a tree.

Snuck down on some elk feeding at 200 yards and sat down to get a good shot at them with my Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 25-06. It was cold and wet hunting for several days prior to this and with a bit of crud and ice inside the bolt, it would not fire. I pulled up slowly and shot the 5x5 bull. The rifle went click. I lifted the bolt and tried it again. Once more click. I did that two more times. The firing pin barely dented the primer. I will add that with wind chill it was about -20 degrees!! I put the next cartridge in from the magazine. Did the same thing four more times. No bang, just a lot of clicks. Did it with the remaining two cartridges. Same thing nothing. Finally the elk figure out something isn't right and drift off! I got back to the truck a couple miles away and shot into a tree. First cartridge went bang! I went home that night and tore the bolt apart and cleaned it up. Went back the next morning and got on some more elk and got one at 350 yards with one shot! Of course this one was much harder to pack out then the first one WOULD HAVE BEEN! I've been a lot more picky since and typically pull the bolts apart at the end of the season now and clean them whether they need it or not.

Got over to our hunting spot the night before and set up camp. Ready for 6 glorious days of hunting. About 200 yards from camp heading up a ridge in my pickup, a small rock about the size of an egg was flipped up into the fan area and somehow got between the fan and the surpentine belt on my 93 Dodge Dakota. The belt snapped and the rock going around with the belt put a nice flat spot in the idler pulley. Even if I had an extra belt it would not have worked as the pulley was toast!

I did not take my tent on a Mountain Goat hunt with two buddies who went along with me and my tag one fall. My buddy said I didn't need my tent. We got 13 miles back in the wilderness on horseback and set up camp and ate dinner. At about dusk it started to rain and snow never letting up for the next THREE DAYS! And the wind was blowing the whole time up to about 40 mph! About an hour after it started we had a small stream about 3 inches wide running from one side of the tent to the other. It ran between me and one of my buddies. Thank goodness it did not get any worse or it would have soaked one of more of us. We spent three days and nights in this tent as it was too miserable to get out of the tent. Only time we did was to go to the bathroom and feed the horses.

Even though it was miserable we ate jerky and told tall tales and lies for three days and had a great time! Made the best of what was given to us.

 

[RCR]

My tent decided not to be waterproof during the first night packed in. Luckily I was able to pack out and hunted the rest of the week from the truck.


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[Tejasbow]

cheap sleeping bags gave me an excuse not to hike 4 hours to a herd of elk above timber line on my first elk trip. Bought some cheap generic brand 20 degree bags at Acadamy. First night my buddies zipper blew out. we were camping in 30 degree weather and I was pretty cold.

I have since spent a little more on my sleeping bags.