Hunts with a higher percentage to lose your life

[BeastOfTheTrees]

What hunts do you guys think have a higher risk factor? Obviously sheep hunts but I’m talking certain mountain ranges that seem to attract worse weather, or coastal areas that funnel the storms, places where bears seem more aggressive, local population that are more prone to violence towards an outsider hunting there..... places or activities that drive the risk level higher when hunting there.

 

[BluMtn]

The one where you tell your wife you are going on a two week backcountry hunting trip with no cell service and your wife sees you on facebook in Las Vagas with a stripper.

 

[dtrkyman]

Seems like hunting is grizz contry is getting pretty dangerous, too many guys being killed retrieving game. Leaving meat in the field and going back to get it is risky business these days!

 

[Bruce Culberson]

I've been on a few mountain goat hunts where some prayers we being issued to the big man upstairs...

 

[Travis Hobbs]

Statistically, you’re probably more likely to die falling out of a tree stand hunting whitetail in your backyard or just having a heart attack in the field. Even out west, I know our local search and rescue teams usually gather at least 1-2 guys up a year, especially if there is significant weather.

Heart attacks, vehicle accidents/rollovers (mostly atv) and horse accidents, just don’t get national attention like a bear attack. But they are happening all the time,

 

[Cactus kid]

Anything with horses.

 

[Steve O]

I’d say goat hunts more than sheep hunts and Kodiak in general has brutal weather, not so much terrain, and definitely the bears add another layer of pucker.

 

[Blockcaver]

Small planes or helicopters add a fair bit of risk. Boats too. ATVs can be risky. Horses absolutely are.

Grizzlies heighten your senses for a good reason. Firearms cause a few deaths to hunters every year.

Tree stands kill or severely injure hunters every fall....(not funny).

Hypothermia can be deadly.

Without stats to back it up, I bet a lot more hunters die in traffic accidents than all the others listed, probably combined.

My riskiest hunts have been for Mt Goats. Some memorable climbs....mainly down were why I don’t hunt goats anymore. I do have two on the wall.

 

[wesfromky]

I wish there was a hunting and/or general back country version of the yearly "Accidents in North American Mountaineering."

 

[AKBorn]

Hypothermia can be deadly.

Without stats to back it up, I bet a lot more hunters die in traffic accidents than all the others listed, probably combined.

I'm betting you're right about the traffic accidents.

Hypothermia, while it can be deadly on its own merits, also leads to impaired neurological abilities and questionable decisions, which can then lead to severe injury or death by reasons other than hypothermia.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Goat hunts maybe

 

[KurtR]

Taliban. Those greasy sons of bitches make it interesting

 

[sb7000]

The one where you tell your wife you are going on a two week backcountry hunting trip with no cell service and your wife sees you on facebook in Las Vagas with a stripper.

 

[mdp22]

Meateater had an ER doctor on the podcast last fall. Seems treestand accidents top everything by a fair amount IIRC.

 

[Marbles]

When it comes to odds of dying, small planes up the danger quite a bit. While airlines are significantly safer than driving, general aviation is significantly more dangerous in terms of fatalities to hours of operation.

Much of safety is attitude and knowledge and the choices those two things lead us to make.

Snakes kill more people a year than bears in the US.

Of course, none of those really address your question. Any hunt that involves mountaineering activities such a glacier travel or a need to place protection (i.e. rope up). Also throw in winter hunts in avalanche terrain. All areas where risk can be mitigated, but at times the right choice is to not go.

There is a goat hunt I want to do where my access method would involve mountaineering and the weather is such that digging wind protection for a tent every night is highly recommended regardless of how nice things look and even with a good weather forecast it could turn into a week of being stuck in the tent hoping the wind does not shred it waiting for the weather to clear. Their are also brown bears in the area. However, it is a draw tag and I'm not inclined to name the area. Though, I've given enough away someone could figure it out if they wanted.

South East AK has some wild country. I know some locals who say they will never hunt Baranof Island and Etolin Island again due to the conditions. I also know I guy who puts in 60 plus days a year, every year, between those two, so clearly they are huntable. The last goat hunt I did in the South East, one of the local SAR guys said he had been up that mountain and would not be going up it again so I had better not need to be rescued.

He had a point too, it would have been a nightmare of a place to try to find a person in and a whole new nightmare to extract them. Easiest way I can think of would be to cut a large enough clearing on a 35-50 degree slope to allow a Coast Guard helo to hoist someone out. The weather made the skiff ride back out a bit dicey and once I was in an area with roads I chose to put in and call for a ride rather than attempt the run back to the boat ramp.

 

[FLAK]

Asia.
Africa., esp. Central Africa.
Bush Planes.

 

[SaltySailor]

Kodiak goat was the only time I can recall saying to myself, "If I lose my grip right here, I'm dead."

 

[UpSideDown]

Solo mountain lion backpack hunting in the winter.

 

[Wapiti1]

Tuskless elephant hunt. From a risk from the animal stomping you into a mud puddle standpoint, nothing compares. Herds of cow elephant with calves are dangerous whether you are hunting them or not.

High altitude hunts >15000' like Tajikistan or Nepal.

Goats in coastal areas (BC or Kodiak, etc) where there is a lot of wet grass on steep mountainsides, lichen and slippery rocks. You need crampons for climb in some of this country and an ice axe is a good idea.

Jeremy

 

[ZDR]

Southern NM desert mulies in the drug runner corridors.

Actually my one float plane trip for caribou near gates of the arctic was of a bit hair raising ride. Only saw one griz and it ran away from us. I do wonder how many saw us though...