Have you ever lost a bird - in your truck?

[BrentD]

Another day, another pic on a stump - well a log, but that's what we had in a farmer's machine lot.

This was one of the most impressive days of pheasant hunting I have ever seen. We may have seen close to 1000 flushes. Of course, nearly all of them were 100s of yards away. But they were flying in every direction at all times. With the crunchy snow, getting close was hard. But we ended killing 6.

Of course, only 5 are in the picture. I shot the first bird, and afterwards we returned to the trucks in the farmer's drive to shed some clothes. I put the bird in my truck too (it has a tonneau cover). Then we did another large loop and I shot a second bird, and we returned to the trucks for a snack and to drop off birds again. I put mine in the back. And then did a double take. There was only one bird in the truck. The one I just put there. No idea where the first bird went. It was dead as a wedge, but it disappeared out of a closed truck bed. No one was at home at the farm either. Haunted pheasant cover, but oh so amazing.

The farm owner was off at his brother's place which is, apparently, even better pheasant hunting. They got 17 for 6 shooters.

One more day left.

 

[MarvB]

No but I did loose one (dove) in my vest once... don’t ask me how? but it definitely reminded me it was there about a week later. Something about September and a 100+ in the garage

 

[D_Walt]

No but I did loose one (dove) in my vest once... don’t ask me how? but it definitely reminded me it was there about a week later. Something about September and a 100+ in the garage

Just had a similar experience last week when my wife and I got to our hunting camp and the stink smacked us in the face...one quail accidentally left in the bag from 10 days prior

 

[MarvB]

Yup, they don’t “age” well...

 

[Sytes]

Pheasant's lingo for Flock Off .

That is a strange setting. Haha!

Grats on a good time!

 

[MNSportsman]

A few years back my dad and went out pheasant hunting on a Friday afternoon and ended up shooting a limit of pheasants. At the time I had a Toyota Sequoia and I threw both of our vests with the birds still in the game bag in the back of it. When we got back to my house my dad left with his truck and I told him I would clean the birds. I grabbed the 3 birds out of my vest and grabbed only 2 out of his vest. I called him and asked if he shot his limit and he said he thought he did and I said well there is only 2 birds. So at that point I'm not sure if he really shot 3 birds or did one fall out of his vest or what happened to the 3rd bird. I clean the other birds and don't think much more about it. Fast forward a couple days to Sunday morning and we are going to drive to church. My 7 year old son opens the back passenger door and there is a live rooster sitting on the floor looking at him! He said I found your missing rooster. We are running late to church as usual and my wife is wondering why there is a live pheasant in the truck. I grab it and wring its neck hoping my neighbors aren't watching this unfold.

Apparently the bird was only knocked out when my dad shot it and crawled out of the vest on the drive home and under the back seat. I would have thought it would have made a huge mess in the vehicle but it didn't. Sure glad I had weather tech floor mats. Learned my lesson to make sure they are all dead after the hunt!

 

[fishing4sanity]

I did have a 'dead' quail come back to life and get out of my vest while driving down the road. Stopped and opened the door, and he flew away.

I'll check back in hopes of at least one more 'Gus on a stump' photo. Good luck!

 

[Djfan]

I thought I hit a kitten once. I pulled over and it was looking at me. I went to pick it up and it ran under the truck. I couldn't find it so I figured it ran.

About 20 minutes later I hear it screaming from under my truck. I had been on the interstate going 75 the whole time. I pull over and get this poor terrified kitten out of the wheel well, take it into my cab, and it proceeds to run up into my dashboard. I can't see it or hear it.

Off to the dealership to have it extracted. It cost me a lot now, so I kept it and named it Strut. Have to give it up because wife 1.0 didn't like cats. Should have lost the wife and kept the cat. Now I don't have either.

 

[WyoDoug]

I went dove hunting with some of my friends when I lived in Colorado. We were hunting on private land with permission, some of the landowners family and the rest pretty much knew us. Anyway, I shot some doves and put them in a bag and put it behind the drivers seat. Then we went to another field where they had harvested millet. My intent was to clean those doves while we were at the new location, but I forgot all about them. I got another 10 and at the time we could get like 20 or so (don't remember the limit back then). I breasted all the doves we shot at the new location and washed them and put them in a cooler with ice. I still forgot about the other 4 that had slipped under my seat. Well, a month later, the smell got so rancid, I did a deep cleaning of my truck. I had that smell for months and my mom gagged every time I gave her a ride (she didn't drive at all) and we had windows down. I did lose those 4 doves thanks to my lack of attention to detail LOL.

I did something even worse in the Marine Corps when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton. I went fishing off the pier off the main drag in Oceanside and caught about 10 mackerel. Well, I had no cooler, no bucket. Put them in the trunk of my brand new Plymouth Horizon (should give you an idea of the year LOL). Needless to say, I was scrubbing and cleaning that carpet they installed in the trunk. I eventually pulled that carpet and replaced it with some leftovers the maintenance guys working on the barracks gave me.

 

[F250]

I watched a duck hunter one afternoon shoot a Black Duck and a Mallard out of a flock that passed by him. After he retrieved the birds and returned to his hide, I made my way over to him. I knew the hunter, checked his license, stamp, shotgun, etc. I sexed and aged the ducks for my notes, and returned them to where he had placed them. As we stood there visiting, the Black Duck started flopping around, and flew off before either of us could react !!!

 

[Hunting Wife]

Hunting Husband had a hun come back to life in the back of the truck once. Cleaned the birds and realized it was missing. Went back out to the truck (it was dark) to grab it. Could see something up towards the back of the cab, and when he reached in to grab it it exploded into flight and bounced all around inside the topper. I think he about had a heart attack. Finally had to catch it with a fishing net.

Nice pics! Finishing the season strong.

 

[Sask hunter]

These stories are great

Shooting ruffed grouse with a 22 head shot one and didn’t realize it wasn’t dead. Was cleaning birds and it was sitting up but didn’t try to fly or run away or anything like that

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Had a taxi friend then asked for some goldeneyes for a mount he was doing. He was out when I got to his house after hunting so I just put three of them in the utility sink in his garage.

When he got home there were two in the sink... apparently the third was hiding under the work bench.

 

[stevejfarms]

Was driving to the next set several years ago and a “dead” coyote stood up in the back of the truck. Didn’t know what to do for a minute, ended up hitting him in the head with the hook on the chain I keep in the bed

 

[Nick87]

Coon hunting when I was a kid with my dad and uncle when we pulled into the drive it hopped over the tailgate. A rodeo ensued and was able to chase him down and hit him with a mag light. Wasn't enough time to take the gun out of the case and load it. There was snow on the ground at the time. I still remember the look on the school bus drivers face the next morning looking at our yard. It looked like a murder scene in the snow

 

[skyfire]

You are all reminding me of one of my favorite childhood books, “Danny, the Champion of the World”.

 

[WyoDoug]

This is almost as bad as the senior prank I pulled when I graduated from high school. The wall lockers had removable panels on the top to reduce dust collection (I think). Anyways, I bought a big salmon and put it in that space and put the cover back on. From what I heard it took time to be found and I was just getting into advanced training in the Marines when I got a letter from one of my friends that they finally found it. Them smells of rotting animals stay with you once you get a whiff. LOL

 

[Gellar]

Not going to lie. I was hoping this was going to be like in tommy boy where they put the road kill deer in the car and it comes back to life.

 

[schmalts]

No but I did loose one (dove) in my vest once... don’t ask me how? but it definitely reminded me it was there about a week later. Something about September and a 100+ in the garage

Ha! been there done that. A bobwhite can hide pretty good, and make a damn nasty stink. Here's a good story..... Was at the dog training place and my lab caught an unshot Chukar and made a great retrieve. I choked the bird out and put it in my vest with all the others shot birds and tossed my vest and gun in the trunk when done. Got home, cleaned the birds and thought I had 5 but I guess we only got 4? Oh well. A few days later I went ice fishing. Met my buddy in the parking lot and opened my trunk to get my gear out and there was a chukar staring at me! I picked it up and tossed it at my buddy and just before it hit him it took flight into someone's yard and walked away. The look on my buddies face was priceless.

 

[Rzrbk]

Another day, another pic on a stump - well a log, but that's what we had in a farmer's machine lot.

This was one of the most impressive days of pheasant hunting I have ever seen. We may have seen close to 1000 flushes. Of course, nearly all of them were 100s of yards away. But they were flying in every direction at all times. With the crunchy snow, getting close was hard. But we ended killing 6.

Of course, only 5 are in the picture. I shot the first bird, and afterwards we returned to the trucks in the farmer's drive to shed some clothes. I put the bird in my truck too (it has a tonneau cover). Then we did another large loop and I shot a second bird, and we returned to the trucks for a snack and to drop off birds again. I put mine in the back. And then did a double take. There was only one bird in the truck. The one I just put there. No idea where the first bird went. It was dead as a wedge, but it disappeared out of a closed truck bed. No one was at home at the farm either. Haunted pheasant cover, but oh so amazing.

The farm owner was off at his brother's place which is, apparently, even better pheasant hunting. They got 17 for 6 shooters.

One more day left.

I lost a duck in a canoe. I picked it up (dead?) off the water and threw it in the front of the canoe. A couple minutes later the duck started flapping and proceeded to launch out of the front of the canoe and fly off!