Dumbest thing you ever did afield?

[MikeWalking]

It's then when they told us they didn't wait and were back at the boat. 

  Nice to have known ya..

[shootnrun]

There are so many...

1. I fell out of a tree while trying to hang my treestand.
2. Set my alarm for PM
3. Dropped my binoculars and spent the entire high hunt using them as a monocular since 1 tweeked
4. Gone out solo after filling my deer tag scouting for others in camp and coming across many legal bucks and no ability to do anything about it.... 

The list can really go on for ever

[bassquatch]

To put it simply, didn't chain up and almost slid off! DOH 

[marlin]

well just last year I locked my keys and cell phone in my truck.. That was no big deal.. My truck is easy to break in to. 
A couple years ago, a buddy and I were sitting on a stand calling for coyotes, and he somehow shot his .30-06 by accident. Neither of us had plugs in but luckily the gun was pointed in a safe direction.
 When I was younger, about 10yrs ago, I watched a friend trip and fall and stick the barrel of a H&R 20ga into the mud and then didnt think to check the barrel for obstruction. He swung and shot a dove about 5min later and that 20ga was about twice as loud as usual.. I turned around to see why the big BOOM.. the barrel peeled back like a banana. That was my gun I loaned him, but luckily nobody was hurt. The gun I got for $50 and I just cut the barrel down to 20" after that.
 Oh and someone said their shotgun was the conductive medium between them and an electric fence... Well one time when I was about 16 it was dark out and I took a piss... Well I didnt know I was going to be peeing on a Hotwire fence.. OUCH! The current came up thru the stream and got me pretty good.. I was afraid I would have damaged goods and never get it up again but that wasnt the case lol

[MikeWalking]

Think I posted this here on another thread

First full day of my second trip into the Brooks.  I had set up camp on the Junjik river near a spot called Timber Lake.  A local family had an illegally cached hunting camp and had been guiding trips there for 20+ years.  I spotted one of their stands a couple miles off and decided to loosen up with a hike around the valley for a look.  Found a lot of trash from hunts gone by. It was pretty rough walking, 1mph on flat muskeg.

I got close and the ground got worse so I decided to head back. I could see several smooth flat grassy areas between me and camp that I couldn't see before bordered by chest high brush, sage like.  Getting through that brush was like trying to push through a cyclone fence so I found a way to the first grassy field.

Here's where I got Stuuuppiddd.  I had been looking at good maps for a few months before the trip. I had seen all kinds of seasonal ponds in this valley.  It didn't even occur to me what these wonderful flat smooth grassy  meadows might be. 

The bottom of ponds, drained/dried days earlier...  I stepped onto the edge of the first clearing and the reddish mud gushed up to the top of my boot soles, no big deal.   About halfway across a 50-60 foot circle  I suddenly went knee deep before hitting hard ground.  It closed up like cement. I fought till I was dizzy and didn't move an inch.  I heard a plane flying towards Arctic Village and thought about pulling out my radio. What was he gonna do? I watched him go and had some Gatorade. I had 2qts and several Cliff Bars and a couple extra layers of clothes.

I fought till I seriously thought I might be found there 16 days later when my pilot came back.  Then a little voice said...well quit trying so hard.  Huh?  Instead of yanking my feet so hard I pushed my self up on tip toes.  I heard a swooshing sound and felt water running down my leg and could feel pressure under my heel. AHA!

I got my first foot free in about 5 minutes, it felt pretty creepy to have to plant it knee deep again to free the other.  It took about 30 minutes more to get the 30-40 feet to solid ground.  Another hour to zig-zag 2 miles or so through the muskeg to camp less than a mile away..changed clothes. Washed my boots in the creek, they were full of mud.  fired up the stove and had a good meal and a couple shots. 

I like to think I got a lot smarter after that.  Told my pilot about it and he gave me a hard look before laughing.  He said something about learning quick or else.

[iceman91m]

Shooting at grouse with a 30-06 while deer hunting when I was bored. The grouse were in rocks. Waking up too late. Leaving bullets in truck 5 miles away. Have a loaded gun while driving around looking for bear, got stopped by a warden, and he took my gun. Thinking my game cam would be safe on my aunts property in ashford (on 80 acres with no one else around where i put the cam) so i didnt lock it up

[Evoac05]

Showed up at my buddies house at 4:30am to load up the boat and our gear for some duck hunting and set my new iPhone on the tailgate.  As I was reaching for my phone after loading the boat, my buddy asks me to check if his waders were in the truck, needless to say I forgot to grab my phone.  We just pull out of his neighborhood and I go to check the time on my cell  We end up spending a few hours looking for my phone. We end up finding it and nothing is wrong with it, but there went our day of hunting.

Taking a dip in the marsh (waders full of water up to my kness for the rest of the day)

[BOWHUNTER45]

Peeeeeesed on an electric fence  while pheasant hunting 

[sirfunkeybut]

if you still have the iphone theres a thing called "find my ipone" that will give you exact locations of your phone as well as let you clear all memory from a computer if its stolen 

Showed up at my buddies house at 4:30am to load up the boat and our gear for some duck hunting and set my new iPhone on the tailgate.  As I was reaching for my phone after loading the boat, my buddy asks me to check if his waders were in the truck, needless to say I forgot to grab my phone.  We just pull out of his neighborhood and I go to check the time on my cell  We end up spending a few hours looking for my phone. We end up finding it and nothing is wrong with it, but there went our day of hunting.

Taking a dip in the marsh (waders full of water up to my kness for the rest of the day)

[marlin]

I already replied in this thread but as of today I have a new one!

 Today I was out shooting my bow, and there were bee's buzzing around.. I was at full draw when a bee landed on my neck and went down my shirt.. Instantly and instinctively, I let go of my grip on the bow to swat it!! My release was still on the bow, and the bow came back and whacked the crap out of the top of my hand. Instant bruise and welt. It hurts and it might be fractured.. Stupid damn bee.

[sirfunkeybut]

had something similar happen to me, but i wasn't drawn back. I had a mosquito on my forehead and swatted at it with my hand and the release hit me in the eye pretty good

I already replied in this thread but as of today I have a new one!

 Today I was out shooting my bow, and there were bee's buzzing around.. I was at full draw when a bee landed on my neck and went down my shirt.. Instantly and instinctively, I let go of my grip on the bow to swat it!! My release was still on the bow, and the bow came back and whacked the crap out of the top of my hand. Instant bruise and welt. It hurts and it might be fractured.. Stupid damn bee.

[JimmyHoffa]

since it's the subject of mosquitoes.....THIS WASN'T ME so it doesn't really count for the thread in a way.....but it was one of the dumbest things I know of.
A neighbor kid was out shooting birds with a BB gun.  When mosquitoes would land on him he wouldn't load the BB, but would pump it up with air.  Then shoot the air at mosquitoes that landed on him and it would blow them away.  Well, must have been in the excitement of shooting starlings that he put a BB in before pumping it up and then proceeded to shoot the mosquito that landed on his ankle.  BB went in an had to be X-Rayed.  Think it lodged between the different bones somehow.  He had to have it removed in surgery, and proudly displays the X-Ray.

[mrmoskillz]

I had a yellow jacket buzzing around my face and swung full force on him only to hit my own goods and drop myself in front of my buddy who laughed so hard he fell on the ground and might have even peed a little.

[BuckHunter23]

Round about my first year hunting I hiked out of camp and slung my 7mm over my shoulder.  As I was walking I realized that I wasn't sure my safety was on.  I reached back to find the safety and found the trigger instead.  Sure enough, the safety wasn't on and my ears were ringing.  No harm done (except to my hearing) but I am more careful now and hopefully wiser.

Had something very similar happen to me.  As I reached back to pull the rifle of my shoulder it got snagged on my orange vest.  it was one of those two dollar cheap mesh ones.  As I struggled to get it unstuck, the rifle slid off my should and kinda flipped over.  Well, I quickly found out that the vest was hung up on the trigger and I for sure forgot to engage the safety.  BOOM.  Thankfully the barrel was pointed at the ground and away from me.  Was probably about 2-3 inches from shooting my foot or worse by hitting a rock and having it ricochet back at me.  I learned a valuable lesson that day and am extremely diligent about making sure the safety is on every time.  I have a few stupid camp stories as well, but since this is about being afield, I will hold those for another time...

[Broken Arrow]

5 years ago, i had one of the best and most exciting elk hunts of my life. I was litterally face to face with a 5x5 rosie for 10 min, each of us screaming, racking trees, etc. I was in a vine maple jungle and could not get off a bow shot for the life of me. Finally he presented a shot. I shot true right behind the shoulder and then after the shot......my brain malfunctioned......i for what ever reason threw my bow in the air (about 10 feet straight up) and proceeded to give the touchdown sign with my arms. My bow came down in from of me and broke off my stabolizer and my sight. I got the bull and a broken bow.