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Worst thing that's happened to you in the woods

Murph4028

Murph4028

Well-Known Member
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North Carolina
What's the worst thing that's happened to you while hunting or in the woods?

4 years ago on Halloween I was hunting in Uwharrie National Forest. I was about a mile and a half back in an area I had never been to before hunting solo. As usual I stayed until I couldn't see anymore, packed up my stuff and headed down the tree. When I began walking out I knew the general direction so I started walking while powering up the gps. A few minutes into my walk I realized my GPS arrow wasn't moving and the unit was frozen. I thought no big deal and restarted it. Came back on and still frozen. So I switched the batteries. Still nothing. Got out my phone, no reception. Thats when I knew I was screwed. So I started walking towards my best guess in the pitch black. Before I knew it I came up to a creek I did not cross on the way in. So I thought ok, I'll head back to the tree I hunted and start over. So I did. After attempting my exit what seemed like 100 times and trying to get my equipment to work I picked a direction and went for it hoping to find a trail. I was crawling through shrubs at one point and had something growling at me when it hit me that I must've had doe urine on my boots from the base of my tree. Whatever this was may have thought I was a deer. So here I am in the middle of a wilderness area I'm the middle of the night with nothing but a bow and I got stuff wanting to eat me. Great. The one time I left the Glock at home. Eventually, thinking I was just about screwed for the night I decided to try one more thing. Off in the distance I could see some high ground. I thought maybe if I got to that I could get some reception, get on Google Earth and figure out where I am at. So I headed for the high ground and the climb up was terrible through briars and up muddy hill sides. I eventually made it up there and got a bar of reception to get on Google Earth to see that I was super far from the truck. It was about midnight at this point. I eventually got to the trail and got out. I never go in the woods without a gun and a compass anymore. When you hunt a lot bad stuff will happen sometimes but certain situations will stay with you. This one has stayed with me and I always plan for it.
 
I probably had my worst experience this past year. I'll give y'all the full write up tomorrow, but short version is similar to yours. Lost in a knee deep swamp with no light, no cell phone, no compass, and no boat to cross the river to get back to the truck.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I probably had my worst experience this past year. I'll give y'all the full write up tomorrow, but short version is similar to yours. Lost in a knee deep swamp with no light, no cell phone, no compass, and no boat to cross the river to get back to the truck.
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Man it's so fun when everything that can go wrong does
 
Worst for me was on a backcountry elk hunt. Had a dream one night that my 2 year old daughter got kidnapped. Try focusing on an elk hunt the next few days after that dream and not having contact with home for 3 more days. It was just a dream but not being able to check in with mama bear was uneasy.
 
Worst for me....

Ok, I need to describe the flu for me first. For whatever reason I get the flu REALLY bad. I hallucinate, have muscle cramps, uncontrolled vomiting (and the other end), etc. I usually just end up sleeping on the bathroom floor. I have ended up in the hospital just from regular old stomach flu.

I was about 4 miles in and got that slightly dizzy queasy feeling. I just sat there trying to ignore it but nope, threw up 10 min later. I immediately called my partner over and told him we had a big problem and explained. He just said ok and we started for the truck. We had just finished walking in. I don't remember the last 1/3 of the walk, but we got to the truck, I passed out in the bed and he drove me home. That was the end of my elk season that year.
 
Went to take a dump, was about 80 layers deep in clothing. Got the clothes off and sat over a log. Little stick went through my butt cheek, still had to poop with a bloody butt cheek.

Got lost in a white out once, walked 8 hours in waist deep snow. Drank from a creek unfiltered. Slept for 18 hours after.

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High centered my truck , and buried my buddies truck with little cell service and no self rescue once . lol pretty sure we was in a red zone it looked like a tank grave yard I just knew my truck would get blown up over night. so when I made it back to camp I had to drink it off.

I used to never get lost growing up and having a million continuous acres to hunt without a cell phone or gps. Then about 5 years ago I got lost here in TN on less than 500 acres and I know this may sound weird but I haven't found my sense of direction in the woods yet. I get lost or turned around quite easily now. I don't even like staying until dark anymore
 
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Last year I wasn't having much luck seeing deer during shooting hours. It's getting to be hail Mary time so for the last weekend I got permission to hunt a nearby field with a creek running through it. The weekend before I went down and picked out a tree that I could see the creek bed and field from. Now at this point in time I will still using a climber, you know the giant 30lber with the "shooting bar" going across the front.

Fast forward to the morning of and I'm running a little late no big deal just cross an ag field and my tree is right there right?... Nope by the time I get to the creek the sun is starting to show and I can't find my tree. I'm getting impatient and settle for a tree that is absolutely the biggest my stand will fit on. To add to my misery the base is covered with a thorn bush. Whatever I'm tough, just get in a damn tree.

Get up the tree don't see anything. I'm sure I scared mother nature herself that morning. Sat there all morning till I was as cold as I could stand and started coming down. Got to about 6' off the ground and my stand is now caught up in thorn bush. I can't get down any further. I'm cold not having a good time and I just want to get it off this tree. So I duck under the shooting bar and I'm standing on the edge of my stand like I'm going to do a back flip off a diving board. All I have to do is step back and drop down.... As I do this I'm wearing my binoculars on a harness and they catch on the shooting bar. My feet hit the ground I look up to see why I'm caught up and the binoculars sling shot directly into my face. Now I'm cold and laying in a thorn bush with a broken nose, evaluating my life choices....

And that's how I found saddle hunting.
 
Being from Alaska my cousins and I basically lived in the woods. One Christmas break we were doing some winter camping high up on resurrection trail and we were crossing a creek. Being heavier I went first and made it after careful testing of the ice. My younger cousin went next followed by my older cousin as that's how we hiked, youngest in the middle. We must have made the ice weak with our crossing or the creek was flowing under the ice because my older cousin plunged right through the ice into water over his head. Luckily he had his rifle at patrol carry position and the rifle caught on the ice and snagged him or he would have been swept under the ice. He bobbed back up and my younger cousin and I fished him out, rolled him in snow and threw together a hasty bivouac with fire to thaw him out. After that we got the tent set up, zipped our sleeping bags together, stripped naked and made a cousin sandwich to keep him warm. So yes I've slept naked with my cousin. But that's probably the most scared I've ever been in my life. We were 20 miles up the side of a mountain in January in Alaska and I thought for sure my cousin was going to freeze to death. Thank the Lord he was watching over a couple of dumb kids.
 
I’ve thankfully avoided anything too serious in the woods but have definitely put my self in some dangerous situations when I was younger and dumber.

So I think my “worst thing” is actually an interaction I had with another hunter, if you can even call him that. I was hunting the last morning of rifle season on a farm that several hunters have permission to be on but didn’t see any tracks or trucks at the gate that morning. I get in my tree at the back of the slough I was hunting and right at day break I drop the best buck of my life, 16 points and mid 150”. I was elated and on cloud 9 walking back to the truck. Before crossing a big field I stopped to look for orange to make sure the other guys weren’t there hunting. Thinking the coast was clear I walk back to my truck and drive through the farm to park closer to the buck for the drag out. As I’m driving through the big field mentioned earlier a guy comes out screaming at me, wearing a black hoodie with no orange, and holding his rifle at his side. I don’t recognize the man so I attempt to turn the truck around and leave but by this time he’s at my window and still holding his rifle and dog-cussing me. Instead of leaving, I foolishly try to calmly talk to him and calm the situation. He only grows angrier and is now slapping the hood of the truck and trying to goad me into getting out and fighting. All the while holding his rifle. At this point I’m finally realizing that I’m putting my self in danger the more that this situation goes on and take off. As I’m leaving, one of the guys that I know that hunts the farm as well shows up as well because he heard the shouting across the 250 acre farm. It turns out that the angry dude was his son who I had never met. They had got there after me and had seen my truck but didn’t text me or let me know they were hunting.
The mans dad went and found him, talked him down and made him leave. He then helped me drag out my deer, but by that point all the enjoyment of the morning had been lost.

It really ruined what should have been one of the best mornings of my life so far. I also realize in hindsight that I should have never tried to talk to him and should have just called the GW. He was so angry that I can see now that it could have easily escalated into deadly violence.
 
The worst was the time I was turkey hunting and walked up on a guy self pleasuring himself.

I did spend an unplanned night in the woods once in CT, but I was asleep the whole time so that doesn’t really count.
 
Thankfully nothing too dramatic.

Does forgetting toilet paper count? I've lost a few articles of clothing that way. It's always a tough choice.

I've been turned around a few times and forgotten flashlights but never really considered that too dramatic. I always say I may not know where I am, but I'm never lost. Personally I think it's good for the soul to get turned around once in awhile.
 
Went fishing on The Vedder River in B.C.
I was dropped off to be picked up 4 hours later.
I decided to strip down and wade the river out to a sand bar. The water was knee deep all the way until the last step. I dropped fully under. It must have been 5 1/2 deep.
Somehow I managed to hold on to all my clothing and gear but everything was soaked. The sky was overcast, the temp was 10c.
It was too cold to wear the wet clothes, so......I hung them on the bushes to dry and fished naked for the next 4 hours. I just hoped no people or bears came before my ride.



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Luckily nothing major when "in the woods" But I was rushed by a grizzly while rollerskiing the ALCAN highway in AK. We were pretty much "in the woods"....
 
Lacky said:
Worst for me....

Ok, I need to describe the flu for me first. For whatever reason I get the flu REALLY bad. I hallucinate, have muscle cramps, uncontrolled vomiting (and the other end), etc. I usually just end up sleeping on the bathroom floor. I have ended up in the hospital just from regular old stomach flu.

I was about 4 miles in and got that slightly dizzy queasy feeling. I just sat there trying to ignore it but nope, threw up 10 min later. I immediately called my partner over and told him we had a big problem and explained. He just said ok and we started for the truck. We had just finished walking in. I don't remember the last 1/3 of the walk, but we got to the truck, I passed out in the bed and he drove me home. That was the end of my elk season that year.
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I had a similar experience around twenty years ago. I had made plans to go deer hunting for the day with a buddy of mine. I woke up early that morning not feeling great, but since I knew he was already in route to my house I felt like I was committed. I continued to feel worse on the one hour ride up to the property. After the 30 minute hike in I got to my spot and was so exhausted I decided I just had to lay down for a minute before I climbed my tree. Woke up an hour and a half later Feeling 10 times worse. I can’t remember how I got myself out of the woods that day, but when I got home around lunchtime I climbed into bed and passed out for 24 hours.
 
GCTerpfan said:
That's one of the oddest statements I have ever read....
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WEll, there was a time I was training to reach the Jr olympics in Biathlon....

A friend was from Chugach and had always had a dream to roller ski the entire ALCAN highway from Dawson Creek BC, to Fairbanks AK. 1523 miles. So one summer, we outfitted an 18 passenger van and did it--relay style in 7 days 5 hours and 23 minutes. There was always one skiier, and 1 mtn biker. On one of my shifts, I came up a big hill and planted my poles a few time"click, click". All of a sudden I heard what I thought was a moose coming from the woods on my right, I was like "COOL!!!"....not cool. Very large grizzly, 15-20yrds from me. I went as FAST as I could. Turned out I just startled it becuase I was so quiet till I planted my poles. It stopped dead and stood up on its back feet, kinda gave me a *** look, then slowly in a controlled manner lowered itself back down and sauntered a way...stoppint an looking back ever 10 ft or so. We had bear spray, it was in the water bottle holder of the mtn bike. Too bad my buddy didnt wait to see what happened...the second he saw it he booked it as fast as possible. HA! Van was parked about 2 miles ahead. WE got in and drove back. Bear was still kinda chilling and milling around. I got good pictures :)
 
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A couple seasons back, I started walking towards the area I intended to hunt and realized I had to take a #2. This was great news to me because it was the rut and I was planning on sitting the same tree all day......great news, as in, I wouldn't have to get down later in the day to handle business.

I always keep toilet paper in my pack so that wasn't a big deal. I rolled down my coveralls, popped a squat next to a tree, and got the job done. Rolled by coveralls back up and off I went....

I got settled in well before sunrise and made myself comfortable for the all day sit.

It wasn't long after, I got a whiff of something awful but the odor didn't seem to stick around for long. This kept happening all day long and I couldn't figure it out......

I sat till dark with no luck. I climbed down my tree and started to shed clothing for the walk out. I rolled down my coveralls and that's when I saw it...... I had a 6 inch turd sitting in the hood of my coveralls for an all day sit. A lesson learned for sure.
 
NW_Arkansas22 said:
A couple seasons back, I started walking towards the area I intended to hunt and realized I had to take a #2. This was great news to me because it was the rut and I was planning on sitting the same tree all day......great news, as in, I wouldn't have to get down later in the day to handle business.

I always keep toilet paper in my pack so that wasn't a big deal. I rolled down my coveralls, popped a squat next to a tree, and got the job done. Rolled by coveralls back up and off I went....

I got settled in well before sunrise and made myself comfortable for the all day sit.

It wasn't long after, I got a whiff of something awful but the odor didn't seem to stick around for long. This kept happening all day long and I couldn't figure it out......

I sat till dark with no luck. I climbed down my tree and started to shed clothing for the walk out. I rolled down my coveralls and that's when I saw it...... I had a 6 inch turd sitting in the hood of my coveralls for an all day sit. A lesson learned for sure.
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I can't resist. I see you're relatively new here and may not have seen this. Enjoy!

https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/everybody-poops.11809/
 
NW_Arkansas22 said:
A couple seasons back, I started walking towards the area I intended to hunt and realized I had to take a #2. This was great news to me because it was the rut and I was planning on sitting the same tree all day......great news, as in, I wouldn't have to get down later in the day to handle business.

I always keep toilet paper in my pack so that wasn't a big deal. I rolled down my coveralls, popped a squat next to a tree, and got the job done. Rolled by coveralls back up and off I went....

I got settled in well before sunrise and made myself comfortable for the all day sit.

It wasn't long after, I got a whiff of something awful but the odor didn't seem to stick around for long. This kept happening all day long and I couldn't figure it out......

I sat till dark with no luck. I climbed down my tree and started to shed clothing for the walk out. I rolled down my coveralls and that's when I saw it...... I had a 6 inch turd sitting in the hood of my coveralls for an all day sit. A lesson learned for sure.
Click to expand...

Man that is awesome
 
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