Worst thing you've forgotten before a big hunt trip?

[KayakMacGyver]

Hoping for some lesson's learned by others to avoid in the future...


I was running a pretty great streak of not forgetting anything important for a hunt trip until last year:

September 2018. First elk hunt and first hunt trip out west. I had everything planned to a tee, including a spreadsheet list of all the items (or so I thought) I'd need to remember. I slipped out of work early on a Friday to load the family up in the car and start a 5 hour drive down to Orlando where I would catch a flight the next morning at 6AM. We get about 3 hours into the drive and my 6 month old baby girl gets to grunting in the back seat. Wife says it's time to stop for a diaper change. THANK GOD for that crappy diaper, because at that point I decided we might as well stop and get some gas too.

Start looking for my wallet and it's nowhere to be found. Long story short, I left it sitting on the counter at the house. No way I'm flying without identification and it's now Friday night with a flight 10 hours away. Had no choice but to turn around and a 5 hour drive turned into an 11 hour drive. It could have been worse, I know, so I'm thankful I discovered it missing when I did.


So, what's your worst "forget"? Garage open? Doors unlocked? Forgot your tag? - and what was the outcome and how did it affect your hunt?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Forgot my sleeping bag for a turkey hunt... it was a cold couple of nights

 

[rwc101]

I've left the garage open while turkey hunting. More than once.

I left my rifle's bolt at home once. At least it was for a hunt 30 minutes away and not across the country.

 

[RockinU]

I'm the poster boy for shooting a commonly chambered round, as I forgot my box of handloads for a big hunt once. Last year I forgot the charge cable for my inreach.

 

[jtm307]

On my very first ever elk hunt, I forgot my tag.

 

[gouch]

I forgot my tags once but luckily I noticed before I started hunting. It was only a two hour drive back home but that is still a bunch of gas I won't get back.
My partner an I use to split the food, I would supply one day and he would the next for the whole hunt. One trip he got in a hurry and forgot all his share of the food. We had our shotguns so we spent some of our elk hunting time hunting quail, squirrel, grouse and anything else edible.

 

[grizzly_]

It wasn't a major hunt, but forgot my shotgun on a duck hunt once. IDIOT!

 

[JLDemo]

I was about 12 and going on a bird hunt in Western Kansas with my family, I was so excited I couldn't sleep. Grandpa came in and told me it's time to go and grab my stuff. I did, well I thought I grabbed everything. We loaded up and off we went. We got about two hours from the house when we stopped for fuel. My dad was checking gear and asked where I put my shotgun. It hit me. I had left my shotgun in my room. Boy was he hot, lol. He and my uncle went to meet my mom to grab it while the rest of us went on ahead. I have yet to live that one down.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I forgot the key to my fourwheeler once. Had to use my multitool to take apart the ignition and jump the key with a wire I cut off the tail light. Worked but it was a pain.

I also forgot my bow release

 

[glass eye]

After driving about 40 minutes I remembered that I didn't pack my arrows.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I took my brother (who lives in Sweden) on a turkey hunt and in the rush to get out to the field, I realized I left my shotgun at home. He had the shotgun he was borrowing from my dad, but I didn't have one. I figured if we got lucky enough to see turkeys, maybe I could shoot the same gun after he got one. As it worked out there were about 7 that came by the blind, but unfortunately, as soon as his hit the ground, the other 6 disappeared. If I'd had my gun I could have easily doubled with him that morning.

 

[glass eye]

I just remembered the worst thing I forgot. My hunting license, and of course I got checked. Now all my licenses for several states are in my wallet, they don't come out until they are replaced with a current year. That brain fart cost me $150 plus a day off work to drive 2 hours each way to show the clerk my license and have the fine reduced.

 

[deer_shooter]

Years ago I took a kerosene heater along for a trip in Colorado and found out you can't just pull up to a kerosene pump like you can here. I was fortunate to find a couple gallon cans in an Ace Hardware for around $12 a gallon.

Not a big trip, but I once hiked a half mile or so to archery hunt. Got up the tree in my climber, got everything set up and pulled my bow up then realized my release was still sitting on my truck seat.

We were a half hour in to the drive to our spot in Pa for rifle opener once an my wife realized she didn't have any rounds for her rifle.

Three years ago on my drive out to Wyoming, I was in Nebraska somewhere pumping gas and noticed oil spray in the wheel well. I soon discovered the oil cap missing. I had changed oil in the truck right before leaving and forgot to put the cap on. Had to stop at a wally world for a quart and hose clamp. Used a couple plastic bags and the clamp to seal it then called ahead to a parts store in Laramie for a new cap.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

My wife figured out when we were about 11 hours away from home that I had left my travel bag with all of my shirts at home. Only shirt I had was the one I was wearing. We found a store in Elko Nevada and I bought some new shirts then went on my way.
My son left his wallet at home with his license in it once when he was about 15 but that was only an upland bird hunt and he was just a retriever all day long. He wasn't much of a pointer.

 

[WapitiBob]

Unzipped the rifle case in Wyoming last year and discovered the rifle didn't have the scope on it.

 

[thusby]

Forgot to chamber a round while sitting in a deer stand, in 20 degree weather, and shivering all day. Thank god I didn't see anything but felt like an idiot for suffering that long and it wouldn't have mattered.

 

[brownbear932008]

Underwear yeah it was a tough week in the mountains.

 

[KipCarson]

Last year my dad realized he had forgotten his sleeping bag. Unfortunately it was after we were setting up camp deep in a Colorado wilderness area after driving up from Louisiana. He toughed it out for 3 nights but man was he miserable. I bet he won’t ever forget that again!

 

[vanish]

Forgot to chamber a round while sitting in a deer stand, in 20 degree weather, and shivering all day. Thank god I didn't see anything but felt like an idiot for suffering that long and it wouldn't have mattered.

Yup, done that one before, pretty recently.

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Forgot ammo on a pronghorn hunt once. Luckily we were shooting a .270

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One morning I was hiking in to hunt elk from a busy TH. I appeared to be up and moving before the multitude of other hunters, and I knew a saddle about 3 miles in that would be a great spot to be when the others started pushing in at daylight. About 1.5 miles in I paused, realizing I didn't have my bow. ( SERIOUSLY? ) Dropped my pack and hauled butt to get it. Later that day I had a cow in range, but passed because I was too tired to pack her out after wasting 3 miles in the morning.

 

[marshman]

It wasn't a major hunt, but forgot my shotgun on a duck hunt once. IDIOT!

Forgot my 12 gauge in the duck blind one day...had to go back out to the marsh and re launch the boat at midnight to retrieve it. Also left my rifle leaning on a tree while hunting. I was able to walk (and hunt) a half mile before realizing it, go figure.