Your Close Calls

[thomas89]

Leaving in a couple weeks for an antelope/deer hunt.

These poor boys in CO got me thinking about solo hunting a bit more seriously this year and being more cautious than normal.

So let's hear your close calls, I'll start.

Can't recall if I've ever told this story here or not, but anyways, backpacking trip with my uncle, early June, Olympic Peninsula. Mid to low 60's in the low country, but a few miles into the wilderness area and things were chilly and rainy. We were looking for his old hunting camp, complete with cached tent, stove, and drilled eye bolts in the rock for tarps. Right off the bat I could tell my uncle didn't bring a great rain jacket, more of a wind breaker than anything, that by 30 minutes into the slight drizzle was already soaked pretty well through. Being a stubborn Vietnam vet and having spent years in those mountains he didn't want to use my rain coat. Made it into our camp site for the evening, with plans to push higher the next day.

He said something to my daughter the last time we were there reminiscing about the trip about how "your dad saved me" which I thought was a little hyperbolic, but thinking back things definitely could have gone south quick. As soon as we stopped for the night I made him take off his wet "rain jacket" and switch for my down puffy and soft shell. That left me with my raincoat and a merino long john shirt. His fingers weren't working to do the zippers so I had to help get him situated. I stayed plenty warm running around scrounging any bit of dry kindling/wood (no easy feat on the OP in spring time) to start a fire. Fortunately I had some of these little white fire starter nugget things in my pack along with the matches and lighters, so getting a decent flame to start wasn't that big of a deal. I would gather a little pile of sticks, run back, dump them on the fire and check on him, then run back out and grab more sticks and repeat, until the fire was big enough to handle some of the bigger damp stuff. Once he regained his senses a bit and we'd eaten and warmed up, I made sure to help set up his tent and check that his sleeping bag was dry. I could tell he was reluctant only on principle alone when I boiled some water in a nalgene and wrapped it in a wool sock for him to sleep with. The next morning was very similar weather wise, we started another fire to warm up, started up the trail but he was dragging pretty bad. Think the day before took too much out of him. We turned back and called it a trip.

Never seemed like the situation was real out of hand, but I could certainly see how a situation could get there real fast.

 

[Nambaster]

When I was 12 yrs old I set off with my dad on his first ever elk hunt on the North Slope of the Uintahs in Utah. My sister was 14 at the time and we stopped at a meadow to glass for elk. There was a light 3” of snow on the ground and we weren’t far from camp. My sister opted to head back to camp.

As my dad and I decided to check a few more meadows for elk a white out hit out of nowhere. If I stepped 3 feet from him I could barely see him. We had big baldy as a land mark which was a distant mountain. Due to the whiteout we couldn’t see a thing.

The whiteout never relented. This was way before GPS or Satelite Navigation. Once the night came there was still no visibility due to cloud coverage. Back then it was my first time tagging a long. I was in jeans stuffed into general purpose winter boots. Snow had crammed its way into my boots.

Try as we could we couldn’t find roads, creeks, or landmarks to help us navigate.

At the age of 12 when you are cold and out in the dark and hopeless of finding civilization panic sets in. Being I was with my dad we decided to build a shelter and start a fire. My feet were so cold and it was about 4:00 am and I was spent. I remember going to sleep and thinking I might not wake up.

Suddenly we heard sirens in the distance and then police coming over a megaphone. My dad jumped up and fired his rifle in the air 3 consecutive times. In the distance seeing flashlights coming was the greatest relief. I looked down and my feet were bare and my dad had placed them under his shirt and touching his belly to keep them warm.

When search and rescue arrived, I put my feet in my rock hard frozen boots with laces frozen to where they couldn’t be tied. They had direction amd we were no longer lost. With new energy I galloped to a patrol vehicle about a mile away. Once I got in the warm truck I was handed a thermos of coffee and was told to drink, it was then that I realized that my dad wasn’t with us.

He ended up losing all of his body heat to keep my feet warm and had to be carried out. In the end we recovered from severe hypothermia. That experience made me never go out unprepared again. I have since spent a lot of dirt time to ensure that I can overcome such a situation.

 

[IDiot]

Last year I dropped a mallard in a river from way up there, the sound of it smacking the water seemed as loud as my shotgun. He fell in some pretty quick current about 50 yards away. I knew I had to chase it downstream to retrieve it. After scrambling over huge boulders and wading in cold water an inch from the top of my waders for 200 yards I finally put my hands on that greenhead!
However the whole time I was thinking how stupid I was, being so closing to going in over my waders in cold water, in a quick flowing river, with no one there to help if things went bad. After that I decided I was done for the day.
That is just the most recent of sketchy hunting situations I've been in. All hunting has its hazards, but to me hunting waterfowl is near the top. Harsh weather, cold sometimes deep water, boats, thigh deep mud, multiple shooters moving fast for quick shots, dogs knocking guns over, etc.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Working along a ledge chukar hunting in hells canyon, snow and ice on the ground. Fell, slid and dropped about 10feet, broke my right leg. Wasn’t dressed for the cold, was dressed for climbing 1500 feet straight up. I could see the road near where my truck was but I was going to be dead from hypothermia before anyone found me. Took me three hours on a splinted leg to get down to the road.
Been hunting chukar for almost 60 years now, I don’t hunt in the snow, I always carry a puffy coat in my pack.

 

[44hunter45]

I got caught in an alpine lightning storm in August this year. You really get to thinking about how much of our gear is nothing but a lightning rod.

 

[Lab]

Years ago I was hunting several draws in the late afternoon. It started to rain heavy and within 30 minutes snow. It became a white out and it was snowing inches an hour. It got dark and I could not see in front of me and had no bearings. I fired my gun 3 times hopeful my partner would hear it from the tent. I found a large evergreen and hunkered down. I kept firing rounds till about 8 pm when I see ATV lights up on the ridge. My buddy sees my flashlight and hears my shots and I crawl up to him and he drives me back to tent. Next morning we wake up to 18 inches of snow!

 

[gouch]

I was maybe 14 or so. My dad and I went bow hunting deer in November right after a little snowstorm. When we got to the site he went north, and I went south to try and find some deer tracks in the fresh snow. We agreed to meet back at the truck for lunch. It was colder than expected and I wasn't really dressed properly. I was cold right from the start, but I was a teenage boy, so I was tough enough to withstand anything. I got to shivering so hard that I know I wouldn't have been able to even pull back my bow string let alone shoot straight. But there were fresh tracks in the snow, so I pushed on.

Then I got to the point where I could no longer think straight, but I did realize that I had to get back to the truck. I still had enough savvy to know that there was a road fairly close by, and it would be better to hit the road than try to bushwack back the way I came. I got worse and worse as I pushed on, until finally I decided that I was just too tired to go on and laid down in the snow and closed my eyes. Just as I drifted off, I awoke with a start. It was like someone was yelling at me, telling me to keep moving. I got up and stumbled along until I hit the road. At some point I remember seeing a deer, but I just didn't care anymore. That's how bad off I was. I was still about two miles from the truck and could barely stand. I stood there shivering for a couple of minutes when all of a sudden, a car came by. It was my neighbor who I didn't even know owned a bow let alone bow hunted.

He asked if I needed a ride. I didn't answer because I couldn't speak. I guess my motor skills weren't functioning quite at full capacity, so I just silently climbed into his car. I remember him laughing a little and saying, "boy you are cold, aren't you?" I still couldn't respond so he just drove on without talking anymore. He had seen my dad's truck, so he knew where to take me. He dropped me off and asked if I was going to be OK. I just sort of waved as I climbed into the truck. I got the heater going and actually started warming up fairly fast. When my dad got back, he asked if I had seen anything and I just told him no and that I had gotten cold and came back to the truck early. He hadn't seen anything, so we decided to just go home.

I never told my dad about the trouble I had gotten into because I knew that he might not let me hunt alone anymore if he knew. If it hadn't been but for my guardian angel waking me up and kicking my ass into gear and the completely unlikely coincidence that my neighbor just happened to be road hunting in that place at that time, I think I might have had a much shorter lifespan than I've ended up enjoying.

 

[hank4elk]

A few...LOL. Hunting or just life?
Was packing the last load with a rack and camp from the High Sierra. 12,000 ft pass and shale trail went. I slide a couple hundred yards and stopped on the edge of a 2 thousand foot drop. Ice axe save. Broke 2 fingers. Was still back at my truck by dark.

 

[WVmike]

Last year being my first year elk hunting in Colorado, my longtime friend that was in the same grade growing up, went to college with, have hunted together for years went with me for the hunt. We decided on 2nd rifle and we were about 3 hours south of Glenwood Springs in the West Elks and we hunted the same spot for 2 days but decided to move down in elevation due to a bad storm coming that was forecasting mid 30s-40s during the day on the 3rd day followed by dropping to the teens and with about a foot of snow or more where we were in elevation. Mind you the 30s-40s on that day was also calling for rain/snow. We did not have a zoleo/inreach. Which is problem #1 for me but the even worse issue for me is that my longtime friend wanted to drive back even further to be able to camp at another lake he thought would be "cool" to sleep by for the night. This lake was another 6-7 miles back in further with no cell service and the weather like aformentioned being pretty miserable. I did not think it was a good idea and we chose to hunt somewhere before deciding to pack up all together due to the time constraints of the trip and the weather. I can't help but wander if we would have done that with the bad weather coming if we wouldn't have been in the same situation as the recent hunters that were lost. He is no longer my hunting partner and for good reason amongst other things following that trip.

 

[schmalts]

Almost drowned in the Ugashik river in Alaska and then Hypothermia followed. I listened to bad advice from the older outfitter as a young stupid man and it almost cost me my life.

 

[sclancy27]

More than I'd like to admit, that's for sure.

Flipped our canoe on the Yellowstone in February (why we were canoeing in February, who knows), I swam to shore, ran down and drug my buddy on to the ice shelf, then took off after the canoe. Caught it after 2 miles.

Duck hunting in January, crossing a side-channel to shoot a duck, water got too deep and fast, I went under and towards a log jam. I powered up and flopped on the logs and drug myself out. Had to strip to nothing and put on dry clothes (thankfully I always pack a full dry clothes setup when floating) and put my waders back on since we were an hour or 2 from the takeout. It was 10-20F and I had to stop every 20 minutes and do wind sprints on the side of the river to stay warm enough.

Archery elk hunting in extremely wet conditions (2+" of rain in 24 hrs). We packed in and got on a bull, he finally busted us at 11 am and I was absolutely soaked 5 miles from the truck and prob 1.5-2 miles from camp. Got under a huge doug fir tree, stripped and started a fire and laid there for almost 5 hrs drying out and getting warm.

Lightning storm up high in the Beartooth's working as an intern for FWP on Mountain Lakes Survey crew. Storm came in insanely fast, it went from 70F, to crazy lightning, hail, temp dropped enough that it eventually snowed. We all split up 100 yds in case lightning struck one of us there would be someone left to revive those hit. I took shelter under a big rock outcrop, I remember the rocks were humming.

Another big storm up high in the Beartooth's, torrential downpour. We had camped across the basin from a huge face. About an hour into the storm it sounds like a commercial airliner is going to crash nearby, crazy loud. We go out and see a huge rockfall across the basin, probably enough material to cover half a city block. Glad we decided to camp where we did.

There are more. I take less risks in the hills than I used to, especially with weather. If one thing is going to get you out there, it's bad weather.

 

[WildWill]

I got caught in an alpine lightning storm in August this year. You really get to thinking about how much of our gear is nothing but a lightning rod.

About 10 years ago I got caught in a storm above timber line one afternoon in early September. I actually put my muzzleloader and pack a good distance away and laid on my belly with a tarp over me.

 

[Dsnow9]

I’ve had plenty. The Alaska slip was the most recent. Pack out of part of a deer and trying to side hill around a face. Everything was wet. Made one more step to look around a corner and my head was quickly below where my feet just were. Grabbed everything I could and pulled myself back up the 8-9 feet after my heart started to beat again. Would have slid for a long time and likely smashed some trees as the bottom of the 100 or so foot nearly sheer face.

The other that I think about regularly was a lightning storm that came out of nowhere in Wyoming a couple years ago. The thunder and lightning were a ways off but intense so started filming it. Then one struck right next to me. That messed me up for a while mentally.

 

[noharleyyet]

I've stumbled into a narrow thin ice snow covered waist deep water filled crevasse while leaving a meadow the wrong direction after dark. Alone, disoriented, and freezing wet wicking up my body was terrifying...& I wasn't but a quarter mile from the put in.

 

[NoWiser]

Fell through the ice 2 miles from shore while fishing in northern MN. Managed to crawl back on the ice twice but fell through again both times. I had zero strength left.l to kick my legs and get out of the water again. Luckily, my gloves froze to the ice after a few minutes of clinging to it and I was able to get on top and stay on top one last time. Hypothermia set in but I saw lights on in a shack on shore. I fell countless times on my way there because my legs wouldn’t listen to my brain anymore. More than anything , I just wanted to lay down and take a quick nap but I knew I’d never get back up. Somehow I made it. I couldn’t really talk when they answered the door. They had no idea how serious of a condition I was in. I slowly warmed up by their fireplace and recovered.

That marked the end of that youthful feeling of immortality that is so enjoyable in your teens and early twenties. I’ve approached everything with more caution since then.

 

[brymoore]

My worst was a late November elk hunt with my two youngest kids (teenagers). I made a series of mistakes that could have led to the perfect storm.

Our plan was to hike about 1.5 miles to glass a wilderness section. There was a couple inches of snow on the ridge line. First mistakes at the truck was not putting on our snow gear - boots, pants for the kids and gaiters. Second mistake was I took out my survival bag from my pack to be able to move fast. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Hike in was easy as we found horse tracks to follow in the snow. Snow level was deeper the farther we walked. We immediately found a lot of bulls. Most were too far to stalk but them three very nice bulls show up on our ridge about 1,200 yards away. We watch them head into a bedding area. Ok - hike in above them and be prepared when they show themselves.

I figured hiking roughly 3/4s a mile slightly uphill would take an hour. As we walked the snow was deeper - calf deep for me. We post holed through a bunch of down timber, getting sweaty to where I wanted to be. It was a good workout. It took us three hours.

We have to drop way farther down the ridge than I expected to get to the area the bulls use to graze. Very steep hill. We sit down to wait and my son says he can’t wait until we shoot a bull so we can start a fire. I look over at my kids and they both have purple lips. Ugh. My kids are getting hyperthermic. High for the day might have been 15. Other problem is we’re soaked to our hips from the snow. I decided the kids need a fire now.

I dig in my pack and have bic lighter but no fire starter. I try lighting dead pine needles to no avail. I finally cut all the edges off my tag and get a fire started. Kids get warm and we wait. I should have left after they are warm.

We wait and wait with the kids wanting to leave but I was stubborn because it was the last day of a very good elk tag.

Ten minutes before end of shooting time, the 7 point comes out. He’s downhill on a ridge 1,500 yards but it’s a straight shot. Son says let’s go. We run hard downhill, I get within shooting distance, have him in my scope but move for a steadier rest. I get set to shoot and watch him walk over the ridge in my scope - 3 minutes left in shooting time. I happened to have cell service there. I called my wife and said we’re walking out. I’ll call her when we’re at the truck.

Now the fun begins. My daughter kicked out the fire and slowly walked downhill to catch up to us. We’re about 3 miles from the truck. I figure a two to three hour walk to the truck. A mile uphill and then two easy downhill miles on a forest service road.

It took us an hour to get back to our glassing position. We were really cold and stood looking at the dead fire. Our one mile uphill took about three hours to get to the top of the ridge and the easy forest service road. We were all having leg muscle issues from post holing every step.

The forest service road is thick with snow and difficult to walk. I plow ahead as much as I can making a trail until I get too tired then my son takes his turn. It’s wearing all of us out. I have my daughter’s pack tied to my pack at this point. She’s dragging behind us.

We’d stop for breaks but I made the kids push forward. Both begged to stop for a fire. There was no way we were going to get a fire to start without the proper fire starter. I keep telling them if we stop, we’re dead. Keep moving. My daughter is starting to shut down the last mile. I’m carrying her on my back occasionally to help her. Son says he needs to keep moving to stay warm. I let him go ahead if he promises to stay on the road. I can follow his tracks too.

Daughter and I finally make it back to the truck. Total trip was close to six hours. Poor son made it to the truck but didn’t have a key. He walked circles around it until we arrived. He was looking at the warmth he needed but couldn’t access the whole time.

Temp on the rig said -1. It took forever for us to warm up. Wife was panicking when we finally called. We had to drive almost a hour before we hit cell service. She was organizing a rescue mission with my oldest son and his college buddies for the morning. She said it was the only time in 30 years she was worried about us. I always call on time.

Kids and I were supposed to drive home that night. We walked into a hotel at 2am to sleep. We were all cold for a few days.

Son and I still discuss what would have happened if I had killed an elk. We role play how we would have handled it. I don’t think things would have ended well for us.

What did I learn? Our whole trip would have been much better wearing our snow cloths and having my survival bags. Son and I both have emergency bivies.

As I said, I made some very stupid decisions because I thought I was tough. My daughter wouldn’t hunt with either of us for a few years. She kept reminding us that we almost killed her.

 

[Gulf of America]

I think I've posted about it before, but deer camp 2 years ago in the central MT breaks, the forecast was for a low of 32, a high of 36, and 1 tenth of an inch of rain. We drove in on frozen mud, and proceeded to get rained on steadily all day. We'd hiked 16 brutal miles and get back to the truck absolutely soaked. It was 34 degrees and still raining hard, and at the one coulee crossing, we hit the bottom and didn't even make it 50 yards up the other side. Trying to rock the truck kept sliding us closer to the edge of the road. We were 10 miles from the camper, no houses anywhere between that and us, and I'd forgotten my inReach in the camper that morning. Fortunately I had a set of chains, and while we didn't have a ton of hope that they'd help in the mud, they dragged us right out of there. But without chains it could've been a rough night. There probably wasn't enough gas in the truck to run all night with the heat on, and nobody was going to be stupid enough to come down into that coulee for the next 24 hours. Walking to camp would've been the only option, and I'm sure we would've made it, but still a bit of a scary situation.

 

[Nameless Range]

Spooked and Humbled

This afternoon I decided to go look for a whitetail in a few hundred acres of muck and beaver dams. I ended up having what was the most intense moment of my hunting life. I got to the spot at 2, and had a doctor’s appointment at 5 o’clock this evening. I figured I would wander around in the...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[gouch]

We had a job at work once that for some unknown reason had to be done right away. Forget the fact that it was at 6000' in late November and there was 4 ft. of snow on the ground. We would drive as far as we could then chain up all four tires and go until we were stuck then hike the rest of the way in. One morning as we started hiking, we heard a vehicle back on the road. The guy had the peddle to the metal and sounded like he had it up to about 6000 RPMs Then it stopped so we went on about our day.

The next morning, we were already past our chain up spot when we run into a guy in his seventies walking down the road wearing nothing but a tee shirt, denim jacket, blue jeans and house slippers. He told us he ran his jeep off a side road a few of miles up, spent all day and all night trying to dig out and was now walking back to town, about 20 miles, to call his brother to come help. We offered him a ride and at first he refused saying he was all right. We insisted, mostly because we didn't want to deal with finding his dead body in the road on the way back in the afternoon.

I don't know if that guy was just tougher than nails, dumber than a post or a little of both, but I'm sure surprised that more people don't die out there in the woods than actually do.

 

[FairWeather]

Nearly impaled myself on a sharp limb of a fallen tree 2 years ago. I was still hunting through some reprod, the ground was covered in waist-high ferns; couldn’t really see when I was stepping. Predictably, I take a step and go right off a 3ish foot drop off. Get up and gather my senses and realize if I’d fallen maybe 4 inches to the left this gnarly branch would have gone right through my thigh.

Lesson learned; always be sure of where I’m stepping BEFORE I step.