Anyone else lost something of sentimental value?

[devon deer]

When i started deer hunting 20 years ago i went out and bought a Buck Vanguard with a wooden handle, a cracking knife that has served me well, always sharpened up as new and dealt with more deer than i care to remember.
So today i used it on a deer before i loaded it into my pickup, i get home and my heart sank, the leather sheath was empty, i had left the knife on the bumper and drove off.
I quickly drove back and no sign of it.
To say i am gutted is an under statement.

Richard

 

[deer_shooter]

I did that once but got really lucky and found mine after hours of searching.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

I lost my first hunting rifle when I was a kid. Set the case on the bumper of the truck while we were loading up in the dark and when my dad shut the door on the canopy he didn't see my rifle in the hard case sitting there and I didn't think to ask him if he loaded it.

Long story short my bad ass Sako rifle disappeared and never came back. Someone got a nice rifle and I still feel bad 20+ years later.

 

[tarheel]

Lost my Dad's prized Case hunting knife one night while a friend and I were raccoon hunting. We teenagers were scrambling through the woods and swamp bottom trying to get to the dogs which had treed the masked marauder after a three hour chase, and I still hadn't worked up the nerve to tell my Dad three weeks later when the landowner came by the house with the knife. By chance he had found it in the deep woods under a large pine with a good carpet of needles while he was squirrel hunting. He said it was easily visible in the daylight; not so with our weak flashlights.

 

[noharleyyet]

I lost my first hunting rifle when I was a kid. Set the case on the bumper of the truck while we were loading up in the dark and when my dad shut the door on the canopy he didn't see my rifle in the hard case sitting there and I didn't think to ask him if he loaded it.

Long story short my bad ass Sako rifle disappeared and never came back. Someone got a nice rifle and I still feel bad 20+ years later.

...winner. I'd still be bawling like a baby.

Thought I'd lost a trusty old twenty dollar CRKT guthook fixedblade a couple of years ago but found it down in the rear ATV rack about a year later.

 

[LopeHunter]

Nothing but I tend to be very careful anytime am about to move locations by foot or vehicle. I did have my GPS go dead an hour before I spotted a nice pronghorn buck. I shot and it ran over a knoll. Was close to dark so I dropped my pack and sprinted through the sage and cacti. The buck was done when found it a few minutes latter. Was getting dark and as I backtracked in the fading light, I could not find my pack (had my headlamp in it). Used my cell phone light to hike out to the main road to wait on my brother who had dropped me off o-dark thrity that morning while he hunted another area. Used a flashlight he had to get back to the buck, got it to the truck then went to look for the pack. No luck that night so went back in morning at first light and it was about 50 yards from where I thought it was. New rules. Headlamp goes in pants pocket. Carry spare batteries. Mark with GPS anytime have gear out glassing, etc, in case need to return to look for a lost item.

 

[JCW]

Opening day of deer/elk season we decided to canoe into some public land on the Clark Fork. About half way to our desination we took the wrong fork and ended up rolling our canoe in the river. In an attempt to save me from drowning (I was only 13) while we were bobbing down the river my dad dropped his gun so he could grab me by the back of the collar. The gun was a Rem 722 originally chambered in 300 savage that I had shot my first antelope with the year before. Looked long an hard on the bottom of the river for that gun on multiple occasions to no avail.

At the time I really didn't put any thought to it, but thinking back and putting myself in dad's shoes I would of dropped that gun in trade for my son every single time too. Thanks Dad.

 

[ida homer]

I lost my shotgun this last spring. I feel like an IDIOT. My buddy shot a bear at last light. It was dark by the time we got back to the rig. I took everything out of the jeep to organize and fit the bear in etc, left my shotgun leaning up against the bumper. I realized the next morning and drove back up there and it was gone. $500 in the shitter...

 

[Sawtooth]

While cleaning a buck I shot during a very cold late season deer hunt, I lost my Wedding Ring. Sometime between the processing of the deer and the clean up at a small creek, the ring came off my frozen finger. Didn't realize the ring was off until I got home. Needless to say my wife was bummed, but my first year teacher salary didn't have room for a replacement. Went three and a half years without a ring, until one of my students tried to fix me up with her aunt. After telling the young girl that I had a wife and new son, I went down and bought another ring.

 

[idnative1948]

Sorry Richard, I first thought of the virginity thing......

Myself, a ring that was my grandfathers from Scotland. It still hurts every time I am lucky to break an animal down just thinking about it.

 

[OriginalOscar]

My grandpa gave each grandson a folding pocket knife. I lost mine many years ago and every time I use another knife to gut fish or birds I wish that I still had that knife. Grandpa was an amazing guy.

 

[devon deer]

Sorry Richard, I first thought of the virginity thing......

You mean you can remember that far back?!

Reading the other posts mine pales into insignificance when compared to losing a firearm.

Cheers

Richard

 

[putm2sleep]

i lost a set of lucky unddies i.e. dra's to early morning IBS and no a$$wipe in the pack.

 

[tarheel]

Tmi.

 

[Dinkshooter]

AZ402 lost his innocence on a hunting trip with Schmalts.

 

[putm2sleep]

Tmi.

 

[2rocky]

My Grandfather lost his wedding ring while gutting a buck one morning . Went back that evening and the gutpile was gone with nothing but a blood smear on the grass.....and the wedding ring in the middle of it, shining in the sun.

 

[noharleyyet]

AZ402 lost his innocence on a hunting trip with Schmalts.

AZ was demonstrating a Greco Roman submission technique:W:...and. well, the rest is sordid history......:hump:.........

 

[JohnDeereGreen]

When my grandmother passed away, my dad collected some of her old things and asked me if I'd like to have any of them. Among the items was an old sheath knife. I asked my dad what it was and he replied that it was his dads hunting knife. My granddad passed away when I was very young, and I never really got to know him, let alone go hunting with him. To say that I was excited to have found his old hunting knife would be an understatement.

My dad gave me the knife, and I took it home and cleaned it, had it sharpened by a good knife sharpener, and had a new belt sheath made for it. That fall I took it hunting with me and scored my first elk. I used that knife to clean that cow. It was a harried affair packing out, and the next day when I went through my gear, the knife was gone. I was shattered. I was miles away from where I'd killed the elk and it was hot out. It was either look for the knife and let the meat spoil, or get the elk to the processor and hope my granddad would forgive me. I got the meat out and left the knife behind.

Three years later, on another elk hunt, I unzipped a small side pouch on my pack to look for a Clif bar, and pulled out my granddads knife. My hunting companions came running over, because they thought I'd hurt myself, with all of the yelling I was doing. I showed them the knife and tried to explain what it meant to me to find it again, after being certain it was lost.

Three years in my backpack had done it no favors, and I had to do a lot of polishing to get it cleaned up. I didn't take it hunting after that. It spends the year in the gun safe. This fall I went up to the farm for antelope hunting. I decided I'd take that knife with me. I shot a nice buck, and took it back to the farm to clean. I hung it up on the tractor bucket, and drove out into a stubble field that my granddad must have plowed a couple hundred times in his lifetime, and used that knife to dress it out.

I've since retired that knife. I'd much prefer to know it is tucked safely away, than to use it. I'm just glad that I have it back.