What's the.....
Wisconsin
What's one of the worst experiences you ever had while out hunting,.....in the field,.....in the woods,.....while "out" there?
I'll start.
Sometime in the 1970s. Black bear bowhunting near Dryden in Ontario. The guide dropped me off at my bait station by boat about 5 miles or so at the end of a remote lake. He was supposed to pick me up after dark along the shoreline where I was dropped off. Come evening and darkness, heavy fog moved in. I could hear him and the boat looking and circling out in the lake, but he could not see my flashlight or find me. Eventually I heard the boat drive off. There I was in the dark five miles from nowhere with no food, no drink, not enough bug "dope", not dressed properly and then a dead flashlight,...and with a bear bait pile less than 25 yards away! That was a long night for me.
Come daylight, it seemed like an eternity later, here he comes in his boat. All smiles. He was the only one in the boat smiling!
As a teenager getting cussed out by men after I shot my first deer because it was their deer. Then later in the afternoin we drive to a field where there were A dozen deer, they pull up right after our truck (same hunting party) and they begin shooting over my head at the herd while I was trying to load my rifle.
And.....I believe that was my last time deer gun hunting in WI.
When I was around 13yr walking with my dad through the woods when he slipped on a sheet of ice and his knee dislocated. His knee cap ended up on the side of his leg, being the man he is he grabbed hold of it and pulled it back into place. I ran to where the truck was parked got it started with the needle nose plyers because the ignition was broke so he rigged it up that way lol and drove the truck to pick him up.
Thanksgiving morning leaving the cabin to go hunting and see the buck my Dad shot the night before had slipped from the gamepole. My Dad is real ramrod and is in crazy mode each morning to get us 4 boys out hunting. He's up on the aluminum extension ladder pulling on the rope and I'm lifting the buck up. The buck is hung and just tied off and he's coming down the ladder when his feet get jambed w/ the big sorel boots on and he decides to just jump off. Well sliding his hands down the sides of the ladder as he goes down his wedding ring gets caught on the outside rung flare. He jumps off the ladder and the ring and his finger stay up there connected still by a much stretched tendon. Blood everywhere in the fresh snow and he goes into the cabin with his finger in the other hand connected by the tendon and slides the whole mess back on the bone stub. A few shots of whiskey later and off to Hayward hospital we go. I"m in the waiting room 10 min when I hear Dad yelling for me from down the hall. I thought he was dyeing but they have me go out to the van and get the tool box. The ring cutter they have is for a thin womens ring and won't cut his ring off. I give the doctor a side cutters, they sterilize it and get the ring off - crazy... If you have an old extension ladder w/ the rung flares on the outside of the rails run it over w/ your truck.
Well, my worst experience is turning into a recurring experience...namely the fascination with dark to dark non-stop AR-15 target shooting that goes on all around my cabin every f'n weekend! Anybody want to buy a cabin on 10 acres of oak wilt in Burnett County? LOL! I don't blame ya.. Turning into the biggest regret of my life. I love guns and gun hunting, but WTF?!?!?!?!? Bang Bang Bang BOOM! Bang Bang Bang BOOM! People must be allergic to solitude these days.
Elk hunting a new spot in Colorado in mid-1990's. The whole thing started off wrong when our "friend" took our deposit ($200 each) for the lodge and bought himself a new .338 Win Mag instead. We were scrambling to find a place to stay and end up finding a shack about a 1/4 mile from a small river. Lime Creek I seem to recall.
Anyway, my plan for the last day was for my hunting party to drop me off up in the national forest and I will walk out. You can see the cabin from about anywhere up on the mountain. It is only a couple miles and all down hill. No problem, right? That is until the snow and fog come in so thick that you can't see 25 yards ahead of you. I try and follow the river back, but the sides steepen into a very narrow canyon and I have no choice but to walk/slide/wade right down the middle of the rushing river. Anyone know how heavy Sorel boots are when they are COMPLETELY full of water?? (The shack owner's German Shepherd had eaten one of my new Browning hiking boots on day two so I was down to my last pair.) At this point, I seriously don't know if I am going to survive.
I had no choice but to just keep going. And going. And going. I finally come out at the bottom of the canyon, and then have to hike the final 1/4 mile uphill to the cabin.
The hunt ended when the same "friend" wanted to stay in Colorado with his girlfriend after the rest of us needed to get home. Like a dumb@ss I loan him $120 for bus fare.
Anyone know what principal and interest totals on a $320 loan over 20 years?
1981, opening day of deer gun season, I was 21 years old. The previous weekend I had hiked about 2 miles into the woods, climbed a popple tree with my homemade version of a Baker climbing treestand. The stand was pretty noisy to climb with and I didn't want to make the noise of climbing the tree opening morning to I left the stand about 20 feet up in the tree and slid down the tree to the ground. I've always been a good tree climber and figured I would just shimmy up the tree and climb into the stand on opening morning (pretty stupid in hindsight, but I was 21 and thought I was bullet proof).
The following weekend, opening day was a cold, crisp clear morning. I hiked to my tree and shimmied up the tree in the early morning darkness with no problem. I grabbed a hold of the stand and worked my way out to the end of it so I was hanging from it like a pull-up bar. As I jerked my body up to muscle my way onto the stand I heard a loud pop and down I went with the stand in my hands. I remember throwing the stand away from me so it wouldn't land on me and it seemed like the fall took forever, like slow motion. I remember looking up into the black sky with the bright stars as I was falling and then I saw a bright flash and everything went dark.
I don't think I was out very long and when I came to my left leg was bent and I was kind of laying on it. The pain in my left leg was excruciating from my foot up to my butt. I felt like I was going to puke, pass out and hyperventilate. I remember dragging myself a couple feet to slight depression and laying on my back and letting my head droop into the depression to try to get some blood to my brain because I was so light headed and felt like I was going to pass out. At that point I was thinking that the pain would subside and my main concern was that my stand was busted and now I was going to have to hunt from the ground. After laying there for a while I realized that I was in trouble. My leg was okay but something was busted in foot or ankle and I thought maybe my pelvis or hip was busted. Later I realized the pain in my butt must have been from my heal jamming into my butt cheek when I hit the ground.
I laid there shaking uncontrollably from the pain and cold until it got light and realized I needed to start making my way out. There was about an inch of snow and I started to try to hop out on one leg using my rifle for a cane but I fell and slid down the steep ridge that I was on top of and had crawl on my hands and knees back to the top to get my rifle. I made my way back down the ridge kind of crawling and sliding on the side of my butt that wasn't bruised. At the bottom of the ridge was some lowland with some tag alders. I cut a couple crutches out of small forked alder trees and wrapped some of my clothing layers in the forks to pad my armpits. As I was crutching my way out with my rifle slung over my back, a doe and two fawns running toward me stopped 20 yards away before seeing me and running off. I had time to drop my crutches and aim at them and it's probably a good thing that one of them wasn't a buck!
It took me a few hours and several rest stops and I was almost to my car when some other hunters in the parking area saw me coming. They ran to me and I must have looked pretty worn out because they picked me up and carried me across a small single iron beam bridge over a stream that I had to cross and then carried me to my car.
I drove the 45 minutes home and I knew that when I got to the hospital they were going to cut my brand new Sorel Caribou boot off so I very painfully pulled the boot off of my foot. I then made a couple phone calls and found a buddy to drive me to the hospital.
I ended up having surgery to repair 3 broken bones in my foot and a nice pin inserted. I was actually pretty lucky!
Southfarm where in Burnnet County may I ask? I also have a cabin in Burnnet just north of Webster. We do occasionally hear shots at night but that's just the neighbor poaching deer I am sure. It actually doesn't really happen as much anymore as he is old and disabled now. It drove us nuts for years though just thinking of all the deer he was killing but we couldn't prove it. The last couple of years has been pretty peaceful though.
The wolf incident I posted on wolf poaching, without a doubt.
WOW! Good stories guys,.....errrrrr, bad stories. Today they make interesting reading but back in the day they weren't much fun to live through! We've all had our share of problems, right? It'll be interesting to hear what other misfortunes have befallen us.
Just thought of another one...Wisconsin is raising my non-resident license fees and Minnesota is raising my resident fees. A double whammy!
Nothing worse than a stuck zipper on camo coveralls at 16 feet and a upset stomach. By the time you hit the ground from the last wrung of your ladder... it's all over and I mean all over.
Youth Hunt 3 or 4 years ago. I took 2 young hunters, their Dad and Grampa out the Sunday before the hunt to check the stands and make sure everything was OK. When we got to the first stand on Saturday morning it was tipped over and vandalized. I figured it was the wind from the week before, so on to the second stand, same thing, and on to the final stand, same thing. As the sun cam up we realized the stands had been vandalized. Spent the better part of the day on Saturday with a detective making a report and figuring out what we could do to get a deer. Sunday the young hunter shot his first buck. I put out information wanted posters and offered a reward. Certain people from the area moved out and haven't had any issues since....Knock on wood.
Then there was the time back in the mid 1970's when we were hunting up north near Star Lake. We wer bear hunting and it was the opening day of the archery season. Shooting off of dirt roads was legal at the time. We were out checking the baits, we came around the corner and there was a car that was stopped in the middle of the road and a lady was screaming for help. Dad got out and asked her what the problem was, after she calmed down, we found out that her husband had shot a deer and while he was gutting it out she thought he had a heart attack. Mom took the car and drove to the nearest phone with my 3 brothers. I stayed with Dad, he did CRP, when the paramedics got there they rolled the guy onto a back board and it was found that he had fallen on his arrow the he had left on the ground. It went in into his spine and he passed almost instantly. One day I will never forget.....
Roughly ten yrs ago, bowhunting at my friends place in Merril. We had gone to the bar the night before and got back to his house around 3:30 am. Both of us were completely obliterated drunk. Knowing we would never wake up to hunt if we went inside to sleep we made the decision to get dressed and sleep in our stands. We could hear a pack of wolves chasing as we left his garage. At this point they were still a good distance off. We made it to the fork in the road and my buddy tipped over. He could not regain his balance and I was of no help(mainly because I was laughing hysterically). Then comes the vomit. After a night of him drinking vodka and cran it looked like he was puking blood.
All this time we could hear the wolves getting closer and closer. He decides he's going to pass out right there on the trail. Being the amazing friend I am I open my knife and place it in his hands in case the wolves find him and I leav his ass right there.
I stumble my way down the trail to my spot. All the while the wolves are getting closer and closer. It was clear they were chasing something through the woods. As I get to my spot I trip over my own feet. The pack is now VERY close and still on the chase. At this point I was genuinely scared as I know I was drunk enough I wouldn't have a fighting chance against a poodle let alone a pack of hungry wolves. Before I could regain my footing and gather my stuff the pack chased a deer right under my stand within 10/15 yds of me. They did catch and kill that deer under 100 yds away and I was able to hear the whole thing.
To make matters worse, I woke up around 8 am to see a six point buck ten yds away only to realize I'd forgotten to pull my bow up after I'd climbed the tree. FYI, my buddy was still laying in his spot sleeping like a baby when I headed back to the house.
Roughly ten yrs ago, bowhunting at my friends place in Merril. We had gone to the bar the night before and got back to his house around 3:30 am. Both of us were completely obliterated drunk. Knowing we would never wake up to hunt if we went inside to sleep we made the decision to get dressed and sleep in our stands. We could hear a pack of wolves chasing as we left his garage. At this point they were still a good distance off. We made it to the fork in the road and my buddy tipped over. He could not regain his balance and I was of no help(mainly because I was laughing hysterically). Then comes the vomit. After a night of him drinking vodka and cran it looked like he was puking blood.
All this time we could hear the wolves getting closer and closer. He decides he's going to pass out right there on the trail. Being the amazing friend I am I open my knife and place it in his hands in case the wolves find him and I leav his ass right there.
I stumble my way down the trail to my spot. All the while the wolves are getting closer and closer. It was clear they were chasing something through the woods. As I get to my spot I trip over my own feet. The pack is now VERY close and still on the chase. At this point I was genuinely scared as I know I was drunk enough I wouldn't have a fighting chance against a poodle let alone a pack of hungry wolves. Before I could regain my footing and gather my stuff the pack chased a deer right under my stand within 10/15 yds of me. They did catch and kill that deer under 100 yds away and I was able to hear the whole thing.
To make matters worse, I woke up around 8 am to see a six point buck ten yds away only to realize I'd forgotten to pull my bow up after I'd climbed the tree. FYI, my buddy was still laying in his spot sleeping like a baby when I headed back to the house.
One of my worse experience Was before we went out . Had a thirty four year old guy come up to hunt on my property and he died from a heart attack . First time he was ever away from his wife and four kid's . Was not a good phone call the next day . I've had a few bad time's . Actually some I won't even talk about .
Swampy, I'm 34 and have had 2 already. Have a stint from the last one and will eventually need open heart. The best advise I can give is LIVE LIVE TO THE FULLEST UNTIL YOU DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and have BIG life insurance.
Archery bear hunting in Gliden WI and a grouse hunter flushed the birds eating on my bait. Got hit in the back with shot. Guy ran away and left me there.
Crusader live life to the fullest , but don't live it to fast . Have way to many R.I.P. patches on my Harley vest from buddy's that lived life to the fullest . I want you to be around awhile and I'm sure your kids do also . Hope you don't take this post wrong .
Swampy, no, I didn't take it the wrong way. I am pretty healthy now. I just get cold easily from the blood thinners. I eat better now than what I used to. And exercise with my wife. I still smoke cigs though. I just feel like if I'm going to die, it's going to be living they way I enjoy. It just goes to show you don't have to be a fat guy to have a heart attack. At the time of mine I was only 170lbs.
Crusader - Live life the way you enjoy it! Amen to that. My best friend just had a heart attack, flatlined three times and they brought him back. I'm sure when he's back on his feet, nothing will change to the way he enjoys life. Hunting every minute he can.
