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Really expensive mistake

Westdesign03

Westdesign03

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2019
Messages
1,929
Location
Ohio
So I’m just now getting to the point that I can even talk about this. I did a really dumb and expensive mistake about a week ago, as of this post. Still makes me sick to my stomach and is not like me to let something like this happen.

I came out of the woods and walked back to my car with all my gear hanging on me. Set everything down and opened up the car and piled in everything to leave. It was dark out of course. I apparently piled everything in except 1 thing… my Beast stand. It wasn’t until over a day later that I realized I was missing it. It occurred to me it was gone while getting ready for another week long hunting trip… at like 11:30 pm. Went to the places I could have set it here at the house and nothing, not in the car etc.

I had nothing else I could do but get in the car right then and drive an hour to the public ground parking area just to check and see if by some miracle it was there. Of course it definitely was not. But at least I looked and might be able to sleep a hair better. Got back to the house at 2am with no stand. What a dumb oversight that was. I sure hope whoever found my stand and drove off with it appreciates my generous donation.

I don’t have the stomach to spend that much money on a stand again. So I jumped on the Novix Black Friday sale and bought another Helo. It is a great stand but it’s not the Beast stand for sure. Live and learn I guess. Hopefully I’m not the only one on earth that has done a bone head move like this before.
 
Man, hate to hear that happened. I've come close to doing something similar to the point that I am almost OCD about checking and rechecking that everything is in the vehicle. I usually make a final walk around 360 degrees before I leave. I did leave my GPS on the ground one time and drove off without it. I came back and I had run over it. Luckily the ground was soft, it had mashed down in the soil, and it was OK.
 
Westdesign03 said:
So I’m just now getting to the point that I can even talk about this. I did a really dumb and expensive mistake about a week ago, as of this post. Still makes me sick to my stomach and is not like me to let something like this happen.

I came out of the woods and walked back to my car with all my gear hanging on me. Set everything down and opened up the car and piled in everything to leave. It was dark out of course. I apparently piled everything in except 1 thing… my Beast stand. It wasn’t until over a day later that I realized I was missing it. It occurred to me it was gone while getting ready for another week long hunting trip… at like 11:30 pm. Went to the places I could have set it here at the house and nothing, not in the car etc.

I had nothing else I could do but get in the car right then and drive an hour to the public ground parking area just to check and see if by some miracle it was there. Of course it definitely was not. But at least I looked and might be able to sleep a hair better. Got back to the house at 2am with no stand. What a dumb oversight that was. I sure hope whoever found my stand and drove off with it appreciates my generous donation.

I don’t have the stomach to spend that much money on a stand again. So I jumped on the Novix Black Friday sale and bought another Helo. It is a great stand but it’s not the Beast stand for sure. Live and learn I guess. Hopefully I’m not the only one on earth that has done a bone head move like this before.
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You’re far from alone on here I’m sure. Just last week I had a mollie pouch that was attached to my pack come off. I’m not sure where, I retraced my steps from the day to the best of my ability. At any rate, headlamp, binos, and rangefinder are either a part of nature now or someone else had a good day.
 
While not in the cost category of a beast stand, I once donated a brand new pair of scentlok bib overalls and a new pair of boots to some lucky soul exactly the same way. It was during rifle season here in Michigan and I parked in a field I had been camping in during my remote bow season. It started raining as I was walking out and I dropped the bibs and slipped out of my boots. In my hurry to pack up in the dark and rain I must have missed them laying on the ground. I noticed the missing bibs almost immediately since I was looking for them prior to my next outing. The boots I wore were not my usual deer hunting boots so it took me longer to realize I had added those to the donation. Unfortunately it snowed about a foot before I could get back to look for the bibs. I dug around in the snow to no avail, and went back early in the spring also to no avail. Either someone found them the next morning or beat me in there after the melt off.

Since I had been camping there for a couple of weeks I held out a small hope the finder would be an honest soul who would come and inquire if I lost them and possibly return them at camp the next season . . . yeah right.

I didn't realize I had left the boots as well until the following turkey season as I was looking for my lace up "walking boots" (I wear rubber boots almost exclusively deer hunting). I even went so far as to accuse my wife of misplacing them somewhere in the house. Once it finally dawned on me what had happened to them I had to eat crow and apologize. :tearsofjoy:
 
I left my bow on the ground where I had parked while at a wma and didn’t realize it til I got home. It was in pretty tall grass so you would’ve had to run it over or walk right up on it to know it was there.
It was about an hour drive each way, felt like two on the way back out there. Luckily it was there and in one piece when I showed back up.
 
Reminds me of the time some kinda sketchy dudes showed up to a remote shooting range late in the day. In my haste to pack up and leave I left the box containing a Harrells range reloading press, the dies I was using, powder, bullets…oh yeah, and my shooting stool :D. Drove an hour back out there hoping they’d still be there but to no avail.

Oh well, live and learn. Add it to the Lamson fly reel, Redmax 8500 backpack blower, and Stihl 020T chainsaw that I’ve lost along the road for other lucky souls to find :D
 
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Somebody in western Nebraska has a really nice custom made First Lite ghillie jacket from three seasons ago, thanks to my bushwhacking through public land! Dropped my Spyderco this past season (one that I’ve had since my last deployment in 99)‘went back 3 days later and luckily there it was. Really hate it about the beast stand tho.
 

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Yet to check that one off my list, but there's always tomorrow.

I've dropped my GPS twice, which is one of my most inavluable worldly possessions. If anyone finds that, they have 10+ years of scouting and spots on there. Probably too many at this point to know what to do with, but still. Luckily both times I realized it pretty quickly, within 100 yards or so, and was able to backtrack and find it.
 
If you have Facebook or someone you know does, you could always post the name of the WMA and date/time and that you left your stand by mistake and ask if anyone knows anything about it to let you know. There might even be a WMA or area hunters group. My stepdad didn't strap down a viper on the back of his truck on a morning hunt a few years ago, and some dude about ran over it on the way into work. He picked it up and went to work. Anyway, word got back to him whose it was, and he returned it. I think my stepdad gave him a finders fee and thanks.

Good people do exist, and I'd say it's worth a shot. Right now they just don't know who it belongs to. So adding a name and number or something like an apple tag is also a thing you could do in the future.
 
five said:
If you have Facebook or someone you know does, you could always post the name of the WMA and date/time and that you left your stand by mistake and ask if anyone knows anything about it to let you know. There might even be a WMA or area hunters group. My stepdad didn't strap down a viper on the back of his truck on a morning hunt a few years ago, and some dude about ran over it on the way into work. He picked it up and went to work. Anyway, word got back to him whose it was, and he returned it. I think my stepdad gave him a finders fee and thanks.

Good people do exist, and I'd say it's worth a shot. Right now they just don't know who it belongs to. So adding a name and number or something like an apple tag is also a thing you could do in the future.
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Good point and it reminded me of what I used to do. I have a set of those steel stamps and always put my name and number somewhere on the stand, in hopes that if I lost it or it got stolen and pawned, etc I could prove it was mine or someone could return it to me if they found it. The carabiners to all my keys have my phone number stamped permanently into the side.
 
Westdesign03 said:
So I’m just now getting to the point that I can even talk about this. I did a really dumb and expensive mistake about a week ago, as of this post. Still makes me sick to my stomach and is not like me to let something like this happen.

I came out of the woods and walked back to my car with all my gear hanging on me. Set everything down and opened up the car and piled in everything to leave. It was dark out of course. I apparently piled everything in except 1 thing… my Beast stand. It wasn’t until over a day later that I realized I was missing it. It occurred to me it was gone while getting ready for another week long hunting trip… at like 11:30 pm. Went to the places I could have set it here at the house and nothing, not in the car etc.

I had nothing else I could do but get in the car right then and drive an hour to the public ground parking area just to check and see if by some miracle it was there. Of course it definitely was not. But at least I looked and might be able to sleep a hair better. Got back to the house at 2am with no stand. What a dumb oversight that was. I sure hope whoever found my stand and drove off with it appreciates my generous donation.

I don’t have the stomach to spend that much money on a stand again. So I jumped on the Novix Black Friday sale and bought another Helo. It is a great stand but it’s not the Beast stand for sure. Live and learn I guess. Hopefully I’m not the only one on earth that has done a bone head move like this before.
Click to expand...
I leave stuff all over the place
 
When I’m packing the car for a trip is my wife’s - love her dearly - favorite time to come talk to me in the garage… I eventually demand solitude to finish the job. Wrangling gear requires extreme focus and even then I usually forget something I’d like to have with me, and this is even with pretty decent bin organization. I cannot have a conversation while packing for a hunt.

A month ago I bought a machete for about $40, and already I can’t find it. Something like that will nag at me off and on for days, I can only imagine the pain and frustration you are coping with, my condolences.
 
Did it with my bow once. Lucky for me it was there the following evening and somehow I hadn’t ran it over.

I lost a gps once and am not sure but I think I set it on the roof of my car, didn’t get that one back.

So you’re definitely not the only one. Really does suck and I hope someone gets it back to you somehow. I honestly think in that situation there’s probably a lot more people that would try to get it back to you than just take it but I may be overestimating humanity.
 
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