What is your most bonehead move ?

[crumy]

I was answering a post and it came to me that there are have been a lot of "sharing" posts on here lately ... how far is to far?, what is the most expensive thing you lost, etc.... SO I thought I would ask.. "What is your most bonehead move?" So here is mine... what is yours?

I am "newer" to elk hunting.. only did it for 4 years but have had pretty good luck and I will have to say that my bonehead move is packing my wife's elk by myself. It wasn't due to pride and weather was not an issue forcing me to get it out quickly. It was because I didn't want to "bother" anyone. My normal hunting partner was 12 hours away and the only other guy I knew in Laramie that was capable of helping me was going to be going out of town to Denver with his wife. He would have helped me, but would have had to change plans he had for some time . So I didn't ask anyone... I guess I could have posted here and there may have been a few of you willing to drive up for a packout and some beverages.. but you get the picture. I did it by myself in about 8 - 10 inches of snow. Sometime on Sunday I swore I was never packing an elk out by myself again.... and then a week later I was talking about how much fun it was....... still a bonehead move....poor planning...

Jim

 

[tipsntails7]

I've gone on day hunts and forgot my release, I've forgotten a belt a time or two. Other then that not much to speak of. I'm so anal when I'm gonna be gone for more then a couple days it's impossible for me to overlook something. Although this fall I went out scouting for deer in a pair of shorts and a tee with just my gps and binos. Stumbled upon a 400+ pound black bear about 15 yards away. Couldn't decide which item I'd throw at him first. When he finally noticed me I think he was just as scared as I was, took off through the brush in a second.

It's funny you talk about pack outs, I actually gave my number to the local timberland that allows me to hunt it, and told them if anybody gets something down and needs a hand to holler. I really enjoy packing meat out and seeing the smiles on guys faces when it's their animal on their own backs. 2 deer, 1 elk, and 3 bear later not so sure that wasn't a bone head move

 

[5MilesBack]

My biggest bonehead move was reading about how to not drill out your peep, then thinking that those guys were just boneheads and "I" could do it just fine. Idiot!

As far as hunting goes........I have at least one or two complete bonehead moves every elk season. They usually involve a lack of patience on my part, and the bull running the other direction.

 

[Broz]

Hunting with solid copper bullets, but I know better now.
Jeff

 

[orionsbrother]

Making financial commitments that have negatively impacted my hunting time the last couple of years.

 

[colonel00]

I have some pretty good ones. On an archery elk hunt in New Mexico I had a little bull come in. Being limited by time on an out of state hunt, this bull would do so I drew for a shot but managed to clip a limb of the tree I was under when I released. I grab another arrow from my quiver and as I nock it and go to draw, I see the broadhead spinning on the end of the arrow and about to fall off. By the time I got the broadhead tightened back on the bull was gone. Learned my lesson to check my arrows every morning.

 

[Beastmode]

Hunting with solid copper bullets, but I know better now.
Jeff

What's wrong with copper bullets?

 

[realunlucky]

Making financial commitments that have negatively impacted my hunting time the last couple of years.

I took a "promotion" that keeps me at the job more and in the woods less. Sounds less and less like an advancement as time passes

 

[Buckman]

Saying I Do

 

[nflesher]

[/QUOTE]I took a "promotion" that keeps me at the job more and in the woods less. Sounds less and less like an advancement as time passes[/QUOTE]

My exact situation. I had a 15 days on 6 days off schedule and that allowed me to hunt and fish a good bit. Now I am "office guy" on a Monday to Friday schedule, but my phone rings 70-90 times a day and emails are endless......

 

[Buster]

First, killing an elk after nightshift. But that turned out to be minor compared to taking my wife back out a few hours later, when she then proceeded to kill another bull. 2 elk in one day is a blessing, but after nightshift tilts more towards boneheaded.

 

[a3dhunter]

Called a 6 point bull in to 4 yards, drew my bow and the arrow came off the string, went to let down and dry fired my bow!
String broke and bull ran away.

 

[Darren Best]

Not testing my hunting set up prior to hunting season under actual hunting conditions. I had spent all spring and summer shooting under range conditions in bright daylight.

My first archery season I called in a 300+ bull to 9 yards (yes 9) and couldn't find my sight in the super small target peep in the dim early light.

It was the kind of call in and set up you dream about and rarely see in a lifetime. At first light I bugled and he answered from over a half mile away, we took off running at each other and I had barely covered 100 yards and he came barreling down the mountain screaming at me the whole way. I hid behind a giant pine tree and he circled it slowly while bugling and raking brush. He had gone almost 180 around me, paused in a picture perfect opening, completely broadside, looked at me, threw his head back and screamed another bugle.

I was already at full draw but in full panic because I couldn't see through the peep sight. We stood there at a stalemate for a couple minutes and I had to let the bow down because I was shaking so badly. Inside I was screaming because of that one small screw up and it was so easily preventable. When I let the bow down he spooked and ran off.

Because of that one costly mistake I completely test everything under any hunting conditions I can imagine long before the season actually opens.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Saying I Do

Instead her making you not hunt, you make her hunt, Lol .

 

[Stid2677]

I put together a spring brown bear hunt in PWS with a friend the first year I lived in Alaska. We get together and make our plan to take my boat from Valdez to Hitchenbrook Island. I have a 21 ft Wooldridge Alaskan II, with all the safety gear, sat phone, survival suits, VHF, ect…. Our plan is to take the boat to Shelter bay and stay in the Forest Service cabin. Well Shelter Bay is a bay that is kind of hidden with an entrance to it that is hard to find if you have never been there. Plus the map I had showed the cabin on the open water side. So we get there and can’t find cabin. We anchor the boat and try to scout for the cabin on foot, takes us 15 minutes to figure out where it is and how to get the boat there. By the time we got back to the boat the tide monster had already bit us, the boat was 15 feet from the water on a mud flat. No big thing, already had the anchor out with 200 ft of rode and had another 400 ft coil of rope to tie to the boat and secure on shore. My friend tied off the extra rope and we were on our way to scout around the bay and wait for the tide to come in. We no sooner get around the corner when we spot a HUGE brownie, he had just pushed out and was hanging out just above the tree line.

Okay Rookie mistake number 2, THINGS ARE NOT AS CLOSE AS THEY LOOK. After a horrible 3 hour climb, hampered by rotten snow and fallen timber we get to within 400 yards of him and the wind shifts. He gets our wind and is gone. The skies have turned an ugly black color and there was rain on the wind. We head down and make for the boat. We get there after about an hour and half, cold wet and tired. We are horrified to see that the tide has returned and the boat has come untied and is being blown out to sea by 50 MPH winds.

Rookie mistake number 3, I think that I can walk out to the boat on this mud flat. Water temp is 38 degrees. I get out about 1/3 of the way to the boat and see that the water is over my head. My friend had a boat get away from him as a child in Canada and almost died getting it back, he wasn’t going in that water for love or money. I stripped off to my under wear and started to swim the 400 yards to the boat. The wind was blowing it off shore and as soon as the water got deeper than 200 ft the anchor would swing under the boat and it would have been gone. Almost all of our gear was on the boat, another Rookie mistake. I swam about half way to the boat, that’s is when hypothermia started to set in. I started to not be able to move my arms or legs. I held my breath and was able to reach the bottom. I used the bottom to bounce my way back to shore. Now I’m hypothermic and not thinking good at all. I’m still focused on getting to that boat if it kills me. I see a large tree trunk that has floated up on shore. I get my friend to help me get it into the water, I used it like a surf board to swim to the boat. When I got there I let the tree go and tried to climb into the bow. My arms and legs did not have the strength to get me in the boat. I thought OH $%it I’m going to die right here at the boat. I had enough strength to get to the stern and was able to crawl in using the motor and the trim tabs. Once in the boat I had dry clothes and a propane heater. It still took me 30 minutes just to be able to lift the anchor and motor to shore.

Once at the cabin, I continued to make mistakes in my hypothermic state. I anchored the boat and had to get out of the driving rain and 50 plus MPH wind. During the storm the wind blew the water to our side of the bay, this storm surge along with the monthly high tide and me failing to properly moor the boat caused the boat to end up about 20 feet from the water. It took us 2 days to get the boat back operational and in the water. We never saw another bear. We faced a storm equal to hurricane force winds 4 days out of 7. We were so happy to have the seas die down so we could get back to Valdez. I learned many lessons on this trip. I should have known I was in for trouble when I saw all that 3/8 inch cable holding down that cabin. I felt like a train was driving by for 12 hours straight. The worst storm I have ever seen, we had gust to 90 MPH. So that trip was my scariest out hunting .

Steve

 

[realunlucky]

Steve sounds like lady luck shined on you just being able to walk away from that hunt wow

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Stid that sounds brutal! Your telling it almost sounds comical but it had to have been terrifying.

 

[Stid2677]

Yep,, that was what the Army taught me you would call a "SEE" significant emotional event. I can't tell you how many times I have walked back to double check the rope holding my boat and I NEVER let anyone but me secure it, most times I use 2 ropes. I'm an extremely strong swimmer, but I vastly underestimated how fast water that cold will incapacitate you. Cold water kills folks every year,, I was very close to being one of those.

Still took me a few trips to figure out that @#$% tide.

I did end up with a bear,, but the tide got me that time too.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Stid congrats on the bear and I'm glad you didn't die! You're tougher than I, I probably would have just let the boat go Lol .

 

[Bighorse]

An aluminum bottom boat is an excellent tool in these coastal environments. Did you not have a dingy or packraft? You already nailed your poor manenuvers so I won't. I'm so pleased your still with us. Just shows your much tougher than most.

I've had a boat go high and dry too. I just throw my floater on the shore too. Most experienced men I hunt with carry a shore bag off the boat every time.