Your Worse Back Country Experience

[MJ from Oregon]

Lets hear some.

Mine was in the Brooks Range of Alaska in 1993 when our bush pilot wrecked the plane on a river bar. No one was hurt but the plane lost 5' off its wing. I was dropped off at another location and had no communication with no one for 8 days after I was suppose to be picked up. That was tough mentally.

Here is the wing in the background. (yellow chunk)

 

[luke moffat]

Man what a story....I have been stranded a day or two on fly out hunts but 8 days?!!? Wow. Thats rough man!!! I guess my worst backcountry experience was when my wife broke her leg on a goat hunt on Kodiak Island. Lets just say thank God for the USCG and satellite phones!!!

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Nothing that bad, but my Dad went with me on a Colorado rifle hunt in October. Had a couple thousand foot climb in with about 5" of snow. He ended up getting elevation sickness the first night around 1-2am. We got 36" of snow that night.......and I had to pack him to a lower elevation in the morning.
Believe it or not it turned out to be a great trip though.

 

[MJ from Oregon]

Man what a story....I have been stranded a day or two on fly out hunts but 8 days?!!? Wow. Thats rough man!!! I guess my worst backcountry experience was when my wife broke her leg on a goat hunt on Kodiak Island. Lets just say thank God for the USCG and satellite phones!!!

Wow!!
I am concerned about an injury in the back country. Glad it all worked out.


The crappy end of my deal was I had to wait on that bar. If I was out hunting and someone landed I would have been screwed. The Fed's stop by at day 8 and told me what had happened and someone was going to pick me up late tomorrow so with 1 day left I went out and shot a dink Caribou to go along with my Moose.

 

[craitchky]

It wasn't in the backcountry, but I broke me knee whitetail hunting here in IL. I had to rig up a crutch out of a branch, and limp back the 1/4 mile to my truck.
Haven't had anything scary happen in CO yet, hope it stays that way.

 

[Rick Seymour]

Nothing like your - almost got into the Alfred Packer mode, huh? - I had to filter water for 3 days out of a "chit" hole about 6" in diameter. Found out that the filter was broken. Got very ill for over a month. Had a boatload of hair that started to fall out in clumps. Your weakest body cells "or close" are in your scalp -hair. I went bald for over half a year. STRANGE

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Wow, you guys have had some rough experiences!

 

[>>>---WW---->]

Broke my thumb once. Sprained both ankles pretty bad so many times many times I lost count. Twisted knee a time or two. Hypothermia twice but got warmed up quickly enough to bring myself out of it.

But I think the scareyest one was when I stepped of into a quicksand bog. It was right smack dab in the middle of a game trail I was walking on. It wasn't very wide so I decided I could jump across it. The edge I was trying to land on looked good and solid. As soon as I landed, I sunk in up to my a$$ and I still hadn't hit bottom. Luckily, I was able to reach out and grab hold of a tree root and hang on for dear life. That thing was just like a suction cup and it took me quite awhile to free myself.

 

[Bowhuntr64]

Last Fall my buddy and I got caught in THREE consecutive mudslides during a torrential downpour in CO Unit 82. It was crazy! There had been a forest fire the year prior and the rain was washing it all down. 20' Aspen and huge boulders were being knocked down with it and we were stuck. We locked arms and fought our way through it. Crazy experience!

 

[dreamingbig]

Not my experience buy my dad's and his brothers. They were 7 miles in and his BIL had taken an elk. Anyway his BIL was around camp moving the stock and doing other chores. While he was moving the stock, one of the mules spooked and took off running. For some reason he thought he could slow it down and held onto the rope. Well a fluke thing happened and he got pulled over a root and ended up face planting into a tree. Long story short, he had many fractures in his face including his orbital bones. They were able to call out on their cell and the rescue chopper landed right in the meadow and picked him up. Good thing they had cell coverage and a gps to give coordinates. This was 15 years ago now and he made a full recovery.

It was a scary ordeal for them to all go through. It took a few years before my Dad's BIL made another trip but he did go again. And now he drops the rope!

 

[keep]

MJ, the outfit that wrecked the plane is the same outfit that dropped you off in another location? I'm assuming that's it's then the same outfiter that left you there an extra 8 days?
What did they have to say about the extra time being left there?

 

[MJ from Oregon]

Keep.........We had a guy from Oregon fly his Super Cub up for us. He had some experience flying in AK as a bush pilot but he came in a little too hot on one landing and wrecked.

We had a big migration of Caribou moving about 10 miles from our moose camp. I killed a Moose and my other 2 partners wanted a Caribou. I told them to go and I could take care of my Moose by myself. They left and my pilot was suppose to pick me up in 2 days. 11 days later the pilot contacted RAM Aviation to fly me out.

 

[keep]

Keep.........We had a guy from Oregon fly his Super Cub up for us. He had some experience flying in AK as a bush pilot but he came in a little too hot on one landing and wrecked.

We had a big migration of Caribou moving about 10 miles from our moose camp. I killed a Moose and my other 2 partners wanted a Caribou. I told them to go and I could take care of my Moose by myself. They left and my pilot was suppose to pick me up in 2 days. 11 days later the pilot contacted RAM Aviation to fly me out.

Did the pilot say why he never came or why he waited 11 days to contact someone? Was the pilot that was supposed to pick you up a hired service after the wreck?
Sorry for all the questions but the drop camp DIY has always intrigued me but my primary concern is being forgotten about or just left. I guess that comes from the dive instructor days and hearing the stories of divers left out then seeing a boat pick one up that another operation left.
I will have a Spot when I go.

 

[MJ from Oregon]

It was during the beginning of Moose season and the earliest they could hire a bush pilot was then. They were trying to get me out but I was the last of 6 guys to get picked up. Next time I went I planned out a hunt I was a little more "selective" on who I went hunting with. The part that pisses me off was that the Federal Fish and Game cops knew about me and could have let me know what was going on a lot sooner. Nerve racking to say the least.

Not sure if RAM Aviation in Koetsabue AK. is still in business but they did a great job once we got on their schedule.

 

[keep]

Thanks for putting up with my questions. Glad you made it out ok but like you said it would have been nice to know about their plan.
Thanks again

 

[rodney482]

Tore my ACL and meniscus 3 miles
below basecamp with a pack full of elk.

my buddies split my pack and I gimped
all the way back to camp.

The good thing was I was tagged out.