Your best outdoors "Bush Fix"
Equipment
Interested to see what others have come up with over the years. This one isn't archery but I was in the middle of nowhere on a 4 day fishing trip when I realized I didn't put my oil cap back on after filling up the night before we left..
Fire extinguisher nozzle as a fuel line once also stripped both ends of a broken wire and tied them together with fishing line once spliced a tranny line back together with the body of an ink pin that thing held for like 50000 miles.
This is what you have to do when the whole wheel assembly falls off your quad trailer twenty miles back in the bush, in the northern BC wilderness
Not my best but my most recent. I forgot my spoon on a 10 day backpack hunt so I made a spoon out of a pair of dollar store reading glasses and some zip ties.
I forgot to put toilet paper in my pack once...and came back to camp with a half tee-shirt on.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention, lol !
Some of you are much more Macgyverish than I am. Except for Ken I'm probably on about the same level as him :)-
Ken you couldn't whittle a spoon? I've whittled lots of utensils. Used a tree stand haul rope and a stick to make a bow press to get my dad's string back on his bow solved probably the most pressing problem we've ever had.
APAULS... Didn't you and your brother use some salvaged nails for shear pins on your moose trip????
I also forgot the toilet paper once... my buddy could never figure out where he lost one of his gloves.
I have heard of guys using their sock and or shirt sleeve when no toilet paper. I just use a broad leaf plant... as long as it isn't stinging nettle or poison ivy.
Killed a rabbit once and used a beer can flip top lid to skin and clean it. Seen where someone had a flat tire on their ATV so they cut open the tire and stuffed it full of weeds.
Hmm, I used a cut-off aluminum folding chair leg for a mufler on my dirt bike once. It was basically a straight pipe, loud as hell. But better than nothing. Have come out of the woods with one fewer article of clothing a few times too - usually the drawers though, not my socks or shirt. Snow works too... :^X
Ambush's fix to the ATV trailer would have done Fred Fintstone proud, and worked very well until the log wore out from skidding through the rocks! He also arrowed a BC Mt Caribou on that trip.
Not sure if this is a 100% "bush fix", but I'd bet some can relate....
I got up 18 feet in my summit climber, in a big old red oak, one fall day. Unfurled the seat, sat down, and zing... right to the bottom went the lower half of the stand. There I sat, dumb as hell with my feet dangling. So... instead of bear hugging the tree and receiving major arm and torso rash climbing down, I got my bow hanger out, tied it to my bow rope, and fished my bottom portion back up the tree. I made sure I had my rope that attaches both portion intact the next time I climbed up a tree. :)
my very best Bush Fix was when a leaf spring on my pop up trailer broke while I was 150 miles from home and on an isolated gravel road in the Flat Tops Wild Area of Colorado. The breaking of the spring allowed the tire to flatten, as it lowered and scraped inside of the tire well. I had a spare tire but how to raise the trailer off the axle and make it home.
I jacked up the trailer off the axle, put on the spare tire, and then replaced the spring with a wooden block shim on top of the axle and between the bottom frame of the trailer, and tied it in place. Now I had clearance but then had to keep the axle in line so I measured the other good side, pulled up the axel/tire to that same measurement on the bad side. Then I used ratchet straps to keep the tire/axle in place and in line. Drove home without any issue. Ordered two leaf springs for both side and replaced them. Sometimes a little "bailing wire and duck tape" works.
i once gutted a buck with a single blade out of a savora broadhead
Yes we also used salvaged nails for shear pins. But I thought that was normal lol When we fuel tank problems we also cut a hole in the tank and ran the hose direct to fuel. Forget what we macgyver'd to make the seal.
FYI wet moss is nature's bidet for a no TP situation. Discovered that via necessity this past fall and now I dare say I spoiled and would much rather use moss than leaves. Wet and cool to the touch in case of some of those heaters.
A girl friend in college gave me a great outdoor “bush fix” one afternoon. Unfortunately, we spread our blanket over a patch of poison ivy. We both paid dearly for that bush fix.
Matt
Hole in a cv boot back in on a moose hunt. Water crossings caused the lube to wash out and bind the steering. Shot the hole full of gear oil and wrapped gorilla tape and chicken wire around it. Ran another 100 miles on it before replacing the axle.
Had a partners bow string come off the cam. No bow press in camp. Used the crotch of a tree that split a couple feet off the ground and an atv with a winch to pull the bow onto the crotch to compress it..
I think you have to go to a fetish site for that kinda “bush fix” these days
Lost my bugle tube while elk hunting in Utah's Book Cliffs in 2010. Remote area, would have basically lost a day of hunting to get to town and back. Used three 24oz Gatorade bottles, duct tape, parachute cord for a lanyard and a bowhunting sleeve for camo/quiet. Worked like a charm. Still have it today as a reminder.
On a fly-in moose hunt in Northern Ontario, I realized there was no drain plug for the boat as the plane was flying away. Found a piece of driftwood, carved it down to be able to start going in then used my hatchet to pound it in from the inside. Put the boat in the water and allowed the new wooden plug to swell up. Used it everyday till the day I left 9 days later with no issue.
My "piece of junk" Bronco 11 overheated and blew a radiator hose 50 miles out while scouting in the back country in Montana. Fixed it with duct tape but no fluid in the radiator. I used my supply of beer and Pepsi as a coolant and made it back to a town. Same vehicle another time in Salt Lake the radiator and block froze solid in dead of winter. I had to get back to Colorado so I finally by various means got the ice melted but I could not get the engine hot. I ended up draining the radiator completely and drove all the way to Colorado with no fluid. This vehicle was by far the worst vehicle I ever owned as it left me stranded on Electric MTN. Colorado as well as other places. Sad to say that I could not do a bush fix (the brain box was faulty) so I had to walk my way out. I have learned to carry a laundry list of items in case of a " bush fix" need. These kits, generators, air pumps, battery chargers,etc. that they sell nowdays have really come in handy for me.
Thanks for the interesting thread.
Six miles in! All of the foam had disappeared, and I had to tie the soles to the bottom of my boot.
Wasn't wearing a belt and pants button separated....and flew off into deep snow never to be found...pants wouldn't stay up as I was walking....cut a thin slice of basswood bark lenghtwise from a small sapling long enough to make a belt and tied it...Got me through the day
from the title I was expecting another "manscaping" thread..
and Badbull, you might as well, just attach and haul another vehicle behind you for an extra, "bush fix".
Randy "Owl" I'll let you tell about my "bear defense" emergency shotgun repair on Kodiak. LOL
The Bronco 2 story brings back memories. It was not a bush fix I was just poor and cheap. I has a Pontiac tempest given to me. It had one minor flaw . It ate 23 guard rails while the previous owner had it. The radiator was folded almost in two. My buddy and I pulled the hood off. Not seeing a future need on the car we made it into a sled. Next we found a dead Oldsmobile with a good radiator. We pulled it off and wired it on to the Pontiac. We had one small problem : the outlet for the top hose was on the wrong side. We solved that problem by taking an old bicycle inner tube and clamping the ends in place. We warmed the car just enough to inflate the tube then we wrapped it with fiberglass reinforced tape. We ran that for a couple weeks and dragged our sled full of firewood until there was no remaining paint. The land owner suggested that we had done enough damage to his farm roads. We were forcefully encouraged to give the car away. A friend decided to take it if we delivered. We started the twenty mile drive just before dusk. In the last five miles we met a state cop. His brake lights came on and he came to a stop and started to turn around. I don't know if it was the look on our fourteen year old faces or if he was laughing too hard to drive . He didn't follow and we delivered the car without incident. Memories!
Paul, after the last episode I wised up and decided to sell the Bronco ll. The forsale sign read "For sale cheap, do not buy unless you are a master mechanic". I actually refused to sell it to several people that I felt did not know what they were getting into. Otherwise, I probably would had to do what you said. Good hunting..........Bob
I had a old Lohman grunt tube. I lost the plastic mouth piece that covered the reed. I cut the brass off of a 12ga shot shell and used the plastic shell in its place. Worked fine until I lost the whole thing and got a new one.
Had fuel pump in truck STB 200 miles in Ontario towing a 16ft Alumaweld. Woulda been screwed. Took fuel tanks out of boat ran ball and lines from bed to fuel line. Drove several hunnerd miles on those fuel tanks and siphoning fuel out truck tank.
K
The pin that holds my release aid to the wrist strap came out and i had no way to draw my bow.
i use the spring that comes on the grunt call lanyard - stretched it out in a wire and threaded it through the pin hole a few times and cut it off with my leatherman. Killed a doe that evening.
Technically this wasn't in the bush, but was a macgyver type repair. Had towed my ranger bass boat to north carolina from central michigan to spend a month or two with my brother along with my new bride. Once packed up and headed home we hit a November snow storm in Kentucky, pulled into a rest area for the night. Did a walk around ispection of everything and notice one of the boat trailer inner axle seal had made its way out and near extinction... 10pm, and not wanting to waste the morning hunting down a new seal- I pulled a 1/2 box wrench and 2 hose clamps out of my box. Tapped the seal back in, put the closed end of the wrench against the seal and hose clamped it to the axle. Squirted some grease on it, filled the bearing back up and hit the road in the morning. A couple fuel stops and added grease to the wrench end- made it home without a hitch...
I've had several over the years. Probably the best was when I was hunting a large privately owned property where you were required to park at the gate and walk in, but were allowed to drive in to retrieve deer. You had to ask the caretaker to unlock the gate, and he locked it back when you were in. Coming out, same deal.
I walked 4 miles in, shot a smallish 8 point and recovered and field dressed him right at full dark. I hung him head up from a sapling just off the access road and walked the 4 miles back to my old, rusted out Chevy Suburban at the gate. Got Charlie to unlock and he admonished me that he had a meeting in town at 9PM so please be out by 8. Not a problem, the roads were "good" jeep trails so I'm looking at no more than 30 minutes round trip, right?
At about the halfway point there's a split in the road, and at the split when you take a left you ford a small stream and start up a steep hill.
On crossing, the battery hold down broke, battery turned over and the cable yanked the side-post terminal completely out of the battery case.
The cable shorted out on the frame, and the truck died, lights went out, the works. It's now after 7 PM. 2 mile walk back to the gate. Doable but....??? Then what?
I stuck the terminal back into the battery case, it sparked and made contact and the lights came on. Turned loose it broke contact, no lights.
I scrounged in the back and found a scrap of phone service cable I'd picked up on a construction site earlier in the day (I am always picking up trash) and wrapped it around te battery and over the terminal, twisted it tight. It held, lights stayed on. I knew the fix wouldn't hold up the steep roads to the deer so I started the truck and gently backed it back across the creek. Parked it, dropped the tailgate and left it idling. RAN up the mountain to the deer. No walked, RAN. Grabbed the deer and started run-dragging it back down the mountain. Ran til I dropped, panted awhile, ran some more. Got back to the truck and it was still running. Tossed the deer in and closed the gate (remember I was 30 ish years old and fit back then) And drove back to the gate as fast as I dared. Got there at 8:15 and Charlie was unlocking the gate to come look for me.
The terminal held another 6 miles to a lake side boat-dock convenience-store that sold marine batteries. Bought a side post boat battery, changed out and went home
^^^How did you lose the hitch?
Was kind of wondering the same thing and how he pulled the trailer?? :)
LOL, probably wrong choice of words there... made it home "with no problems" (IE- without a hitch)
