Post by: mburrows on April 27, 2020, 10:58:09 AM
Ill start.
Most major failure was a Stone Glacier backpack frame breaking while packing out in 2018, luckily I was just over a mile from the truck so was able to make due. I will admit, user error played into the failure a bit, it was very heavy load. Took the pack into Stone Glacier and they replaced it without issue.
Another major failure I had was in college when I was drawing back on a whitetail doe and my release strap broke which sent the arrow about 30 feet over the deer and the arrow sailed out into a wheat field. Couldnt tell you the brand of release, likely a walmart special.
Post by: jstone on April 27, 2020, 11:08:57 AM
Late swakane archery 40 yards from a 4x4 8 degrees and sunny. My release was frozen. I tried to quietly blow on it to thaw it out. Bam.!! He is looking at me in the open.
Busted
Post by: vandeman17 on April 27, 2020, 11:13:26 AM
Post by: nwmein199 on April 27, 2020, 11:13:56 AM
I got one
Late swakane archery 40 yards from a 4x4 8 degrees and sunny. My release was frozen. I tried to quietly blow on it to thaw it out. Bam.!! He is looking at me in the open.
Busted
I just had the funniest visual of being out in the woods and furiously blowing on the release like trying to blow a fire out...haha!
I had one somewhat similar...steelhead drift fishing from the bank when it was like 15 degrees. Took a break from fishing and I didnt notice that the eyelets/line had frozen solid during my break. Wind up for a big time cast, doesnt go anywhere being that the line and fishing pole are now one, and lead weight hammers into my shin...lucky no one was around to see that :chuckle:
Post by: Jonathan_S on April 27, 2020, 11:21:34 AM
Post by: Alchase on April 27, 2020, 11:23:13 AM
Have not bought Danners since.
Second was Rivers West rain gear. Bought my son and myself pants and coats. First hike in the rain they leaked so much at the seams, and it felt like you were hiking in a Hefty garbage bag. They did not breath at all. Soon we could not tell what got us wetter the leaks or the condensation.
The absolute worst gear buy I have ever made.
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 27, 2020, 11:40:42 AM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 27, 2020, 11:46:02 AM
Another good one was with an eberlestock that was my first "nice" backpack.. Dead elk over 7 miles from the truck. Go to shoulder my first load for the trip out and one of the shoulder straps tips off :chuckle: to its credit though, the other shoulder strap held the whole way.......slung across my chest like one of those man purses :chuckle:
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 27, 2020, 12:00:00 PM
Buddy of mine burned a hole in his down bag a few years back in Idaho. What a mess that was! I'm convinced there is 100 geese in a sleeping bag :yike:
Post by: mburrows on April 27, 2020, 12:00:54 PM
I got one
Late swakane archery 40 yards from a 4x4 8 degrees and sunny. My release was frozen. I tried to quietly blow on it to thaw it out. Bam.!! He is looking at me in the open.
Busted
Damn that would be brutal!
Post by: hothand21 on April 27, 2020, 12:08:03 PM
Post by: ctwiggs1 on April 27, 2020, 12:10:36 PM
Muzzleloader powder "pellets" hang-firing, check (those things suck). @buckcanyonlodge witnessed that one and supposedly the deer that he wanted me to shoot was "the biggest one he'd ever seen in the area". Still think he might be messing with me.
My Remington 870 should have it's own Instagram fail page. The butt pad fell off mid-turkey trip once. Just fell off the stock. The screws had just sheared. The stock itself fell off on a later trip when the bolt holding the stock to the receiver sheared. I actually had to do the paperwork for a new gun at that point for a new receiver. I think I got in on a bad production lot or something. Dang thing looks like a Frankenstein gun with various forms of distress on the "camo".
I had a Mossberg 500 misfire and throw sparks all over my face. I guess there really is something to wearing eye protection.
Lost a steelhead when my line snapped halfway up the rod. Upon inspection I found that the little plastic ring they put inside the eyes of the rod had shot out while I was playing a fish and the line was frayed from friction. Brand new $100 or so rod.
Had a Wolverine boot (not recommended) literally come unglued about a mile from camp. I happened to have my little emergency roll of duct tape in my pack so that saved the day.
I remember getting an argument with *I think* @silkonthewetside about buying expensive gear. He mentioned the phrase "Buy once, cry once" and that basically won me over. I save, save, save and try to only buy decent gear. I'm not looking for the next contribution to the landfill.
Post by: Stein on April 27, 2020, 12:10:52 PM
Post by: mburrows on April 27, 2020, 12:11:38 PM
I've experienced the burned hole in a down bag. That makes such a smokey, nasty mess when a bag rubs up against the titanium stoves and then all the feathers fall onto the stove and melt. Tenacious tape saves a sleep bag, a tent or a jacket at least once a year for me
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 27, 2020, 12:22:01 PM
I was waiting for a vortex story lol. I have a vortex on my current hunting rifle and these types of stories are in the back of my mind every trip.this was a campfire and there was no taping it. I've never seen so many feathers and I've cleaned 30+ geese in a sitting :chuckle:
I've experienced the burned hole in a down bag. That makes such a smokey, nasty mess when a bag rubs up against the titanium stoves and then all the feathers fall onto the stove and melt. Tenacious tape saves a sleep bag, a tent or a jacket at least once a year for me
Post by: cougforester on April 27, 2020, 12:26:20 PM
I thought I was gonna die for about twenty minutes while hail was being blown in from 3 sides of the tarp, trees were getting blown over and hit with lightning, and thunder was shaking the ground. Dropped about 2-3" of hail in that twenty or thirty minutes.
Oh and one of my guylines pulled off the stake in the middle of the night. So I had to deal with that as well. It was quite the fire drill.
Post by: Pegasus on April 27, 2020, 12:30:10 PM
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on April 27, 2020, 12:41:20 PM
Spent the morning not seeing any animals so took a drive out a fairly lengthy side loop road into some good sized cuts with lots of little ravines to park on a high spot and have some lunch.
About 4 bites into the sandwich, while looking the area over I notice a deer bedded at the base of a large stump, 60-80ish yards away. It is just calmly laying there staring at the truck, so I grab the binos and see it is a small forky.
Lunch is now over. I have to exit the truck while in full view of the buck without spooking him. Somehow, I did. Now I want to get closer, so since I am above him, I can go onto hands & knees and stay on the far side of the road till I can get right above him for about a 30 yard shot.
Keep in mind, this was a side road that was for logging the area and not regular traffic, so it was not the smaller, well packed road gravel like most mainlines of the day. So I start off on about a 40 yard, very uncomfortable crawl and manage to get in position above him and he is still there!
Get into a sitting position, cap the Hawken and let'er fly....POP! Okay, slowly recap, take aim...POP! Well, third time is charm, so recap, take aim at the most patient deer in the world, EVER, and POP!!
Now I have to crawl back up the road to the truck, pull the ball & charge. Three more caps later and jamming the ramrod into the powder charge to break it up, I get the old powder to finally blow out.
Reload, check deer, he is still there for some strange reason, crawl back down the cheese grater road on now sore hands & knees back into position. Check and, yup, there he is. Cap, aim, squeeze and KABOOM everything disappears in a cloud of black powder smoke.
As the smoke clears, I see a deer moving away downhill at a rapid rate. There is also one laying on its side, but there are no antlers to be seen. Keep in mind this was a buck only hunt. Now I had checked multiple times and verified two things:
1) This was a small, ear length 2 point.
2) There were no other deer visible in the area around him.
Now I am watching one leaving the area at a high rate of speed and another that appears to not have antlers laying on its side deceased...well, this isn't looking too good. Head down the hill, and discover that my mild heart attack thinking I had messed-up and shot an illegal animal was unnecessary.
What had happened was, the angle down of my shot had sent the round ball through the top of his head just in front of his right antler, passed through the skull under it, and exited in the middle back of his head, killing him instantly, but blowing the antler completely off, which was never found.
The equipment failure, was due to my NOT having fired the rifle after the previous days hunt and left it charged over night. It was apparently just enough to foul the charge and cause the misfires. That was the one and only time I ever left a charge in over night and the one and only time I ever had a fail to fire as well.
Post by: CoryTDF on April 27, 2020, 12:46:55 PM
Post by: KP-Skagit on April 27, 2020, 12:54:47 PM
The first year they had the new late snow goose season in Skagit Valley my dad and I put a hurting on them. 12 geese in about 15 minutes. My whole life I had used his "old" duck stringer which was probably made of leather from a cow slaughtered in the late 1890s. I told my dad I would pack the geese if he carried my gun. Stringed them all up and heaved. Pow, the strap broke in half. So the mile plus pack to the truck in foot deep snow and chest waders was done with my fingers looped through the d-ring of the stringers.
Another one was a few years ago blacktail hunting. It was raining so hard you could hardly see 100 yards. I came across a bedded buck about 80 yards away. Pulled up the gun, boom, deer is still sitting. Squeezed again, click. (I had been having issues with my mag feeding). Squeezed again, click. Reached up for the bolt and started to pull it when BOOM. What in the world. Racked again, click... waited this time, 3 count later, BOOM. Deer is still sitting there (classic blacktail). Tossed my second mag in and at the same time noticed duds at my feet. Had 1 of 4 go. Deer sitting there looking at me like I was an idiot. I ended up coming back with my buddy and he shot it. Later read a bit about gun oil getting into primers and ruining ammo. When I had issues with the mags I oiled the crap out of them. Must have gotten into the ammo. The next day at the range the rest of the box went off just fine and on target.
Post by: Mtnwalker on April 27, 2020, 01:00:28 PM
Post by: fishngamereaper on April 27, 2020, 01:17:57 PM
Maybe its changed in the last 10 years but I'm never going to give them a chance.
Post by: vandeman17 on April 27, 2020, 01:26:52 PM
Post by: buglebrush on April 27, 2020, 01:42:36 PM
I spent a couple hours within a couple hundred yards of a big 7x7 and came to full draw 5 times. The fifth time was right before dark, and at half draw my D-loop broke. The arrow smacked into a large tree, and the bull stopped broadside in a shooting lane at 25 yards before bolting when I tried to get another arrow. :bash:
The second, I called a 6x6 in close on a really steep downhill. I leaned out around a bush to shoot and about tore my head off because my pouch of mouth calls got caught in my string. Arrow only penetrated about 3". :'(
Post by: Duckhunter14 on April 27, 2020, 02:02:29 PM
Post by: Oh Mah on April 27, 2020, 02:08:38 PM
Hunting dog with a seizure. Thought the dog was dead at first. Carried him out with my gear several miles. Dog was fine once we got back close to the car. Grrrrr.very smart dog :chuckle:
Post by: Mark Brenckle on April 27, 2020, 02:19:39 PM
:chuckle: :chuckle:Hunting dog with a seizure. Thought the dog was dead at first. Carried him out with my gear several miles. Dog was fine once we got back close to the car. Grrrrr.very smart dog :chuckle:
Post by: birddogdad on April 27, 2020, 02:20:59 PM
Post by: Wanderer on April 27, 2020, 06:05:35 PM
Post by: Jhughes32 on April 27, 2020, 06:14:42 PM
Post by: highcountry_hunter on April 27, 2020, 06:17:04 PM
Post by: Archry on April 27, 2020, 06:49:38 PM
Post by: JimmyHoffa on April 27, 2020, 07:14:56 PM
One time I hunted in the rain for a few days and didn't know about stock swell at the time. Turns out point of impact shifted about 8 inches at 50 yds.
Had the foggy scope that wouldn't clear up.
Had boots drying by the stove and didn't know a buddy loaded it up and let it roar during the night. I got suited up and made it out the door, but not much farther before the soles fell off.
Post by: Tbob on April 28, 2020, 01:00:07 PM
I’ve got a few as well..
was shooting targets in my yard one day, I would shoot into my open garage “just in case”. So on like arrows 20 or so, I pull back and get to about 80% full draw and BAM! The whole thing feels like it exploded in my hand. I punched myself in the throat so hard I actually thought I might die for a second! Arrow went flying about 10 feet up into the front top half of my garage (luckily not into the neighbors yard). Looked at my bow after I could breathe again and the D loop that I had just gotten put on had broke. I couldn’t believe how violent that event was! Lol.
Last summer my brand new Crispi boots seemed to be leaking a bit just after walking through some wet grass. So I contact Crispi and they told me to send them in for testing. I send them in for “testing”. About 2 weeks later they let me know that they have tested my boots and they absolutely do not leak!!
One month later hiking into our backcountry elk camp I am pouring water out of those same damn boots and had wet feet the entire week! Never again will I ever buy a Crispi boot!
Post by: Fletch on April 28, 2020, 02:14:13 PM
Post by: Ironhead on April 28, 2020, 02:33:53 PM
Post by: Machias on April 28, 2020, 02:37:34 PM
Post by: Machias on April 28, 2020, 02:39:12 PM
Hunting dog with a seizure. Thought the dog was dead at first. Carried him out with my gear several miles. Dog was fine once we got back close to the car. Grrrrr.
:chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: I'm NOT letting my dog read this one!!
Post by: Pegasus on April 28, 2020, 03:45:06 PM
Post by: jstone on April 28, 2020, 03:59:11 PM
Post by: ironbuck on April 28, 2020, 05:03:58 PM
Post by: actionshooter on April 28, 2020, 07:24:12 PM
Hadn't shot the bow in 4-5 months, got it out in the spring to start practicing for the year, shot one arrow through it and heard a funny "pop".... Of course I am not smart enough to look at it closely... shoot a second arrow and one of the limbs delaminate... full on bow explosion..... lower limb swings on the cable and a pie shaped shard about 1/2" x 1"x 4" decides to jump completely through my left hand... literally all the way through, sticking about an inch out the palm of my hand.
It hurt...
Post by: pd on April 28, 2020, 07:48:23 PM
Post by: Alchase on April 28, 2020, 08:29:47 PM
Hunting above Winthrop, we were all sitting around the campfire. I ask my son to get the garbage from the camp kitchen and we will burn it in the fire. He walks over and dumps the garbage bag in the fire. A couple minutes later there was an extremely loud "BOOM" and shrapnel from the fire goes everywhere! On piece glowing red, spun and buzzed like a buzzbomb and nails my then 12 year old son smack in the forehead! My son bales with the reflexes of a cat with its tail on fire and takes off running. While were are all still sitting there stunned, he is 30+ ft away hiding behind a tree. :o
When he comes out you can see a two inch burn blister in the middle of his forehead. Then my hunting buddy says, "crap, I put AA batteries in that garbage bag."
I asked "how many?"
He replied four! :yike:
And we all bailed for the trees. :chuckle:
We waiting about ten minutes hiding behind trees, and realized the first one blew the others out of the fire. :rolleyes:
Who knew AAs could produce that much of a boom :dunno:
:chuckle:
Post by: KNOPHISH on April 28, 2020, 08:54:09 PM
Post by: 300rum on April 29, 2020, 09:33:29 AM
Post by: Bullkllr on April 29, 2020, 10:11:54 AM
There was a doe someone had shot in the hindquarter that I tracked through the snow. I got to a brushpile when she stood up on the other side- probably <20 feet away. I raised my gun and aimed- the trigger fired and the bolt didn't. I figured out what happened and rolled the gun over still at my shoulder to defrost it by breathing on it heavily. The bolt came free and I was holding it with my right index finger. By this time the doe started to spook. I released the bolt (kinda like an arrow), but missed (shockingly). Luckily my brother was just around the hill and was able to finish off the doe with a neck shot. Made for a weird/fun story.
Post by: Jpmiller on April 29, 2020, 12:10:39 PM
Opening morning take one of the shells out, load the rifle and it won't chamber. Take it out and the bullet looks like it is barely seated in the Shell at all, way too far out for the thing to chamber. Had to make a quick run into town to buy new shells. That ended up being the only day I hunted last year as my wife ended up with some health complications and I ended up on daddy duty.
The absolute worst failures have been my own fault. I left my boots in my truck when I was out with a buddy and spent a day hiking wet snow in my ankle high merrells. Wet cold miserable feet day. The previous year I had forgotten to put my custom insoles in my hunting boots so we get about a mile from the truck, off trail of course, and I cant figure out why my feet hurt so bad. I pull my boots off to realize I don't have any insoles in them. My partner offers to run back to the truck to grab em but I told him I'd just push on. Huge mistake, could barely walk the next morning had to sit on a knob and glass all day.
Post by: birddogdad on April 29, 2020, 02:25:01 PM
cleaned my rifle bore.. left the bolt on my bench at home. Figured this epic fail out when i pulled it out of sleeve stopped to go deer hunting not close to home!!!
Post by: vandeman17 on April 29, 2020, 02:32:26 PM
oh here is another brain fart!
cleaned my rifle bore.. left the bolt on my bench at home. Figured this epic fail out when i pulled it out of sleeve stopped to go deer hunting not close to home!!!
Sounds like something similar that happened to my old man last year. I loaded up my pickup with my gear, headed to his house on the other side of town and we loaded his gear. Hit the road for Montana with plans to get there mid day and have the afternoon to hunt a little and see what was around. We got to our spot, started changing and during the process, realized that he had forgot his pack at home which had his license and tag in it. :bash: Luckily, we hunt western montana and its only about a 4.5 hour drive so he hit the road and met my mom in moses lake to grab his pack and head back. Worst part is my mom had went out into the garage about 5 minutes after we left and saw the pack sitting there but just figured we had left it on purpose. If she had just called us to ask but how was she to know? Oh well, I can pitch him crap now about it. :chuckle:
Post by: Humptulips on April 29, 2020, 02:56:19 PM
I was elk hunting on Canoe Creek north of lake Quinault. Really rugged country but at that time you could access it through the Park on the North Shore.
I left the road and started up the side of a very steep side ridge. After about an hour I topped out on the ridge and looked over to see many rock cliffs. At that time I decided to go down the ridge and out as it looked to steep for my liking. Soon after I noticed elk tracks going down the ridge the same direction I was heading. Maybe 15 minutes later I came across the biggest elk I have ever shot at. He was broadside and unaware of me. I shot and the elk stepped forward behind a tree and looked uphill towards me but seemed to be unaffected by the shot. Of course I worked the bolt and took careful aim and was rewarded with a click. Worked the action , same result and again. Finally had to take my eyes off the elk and look at the gun. A piece of lint was sticking the magazine and not allowing a shell to come up. I punched it with my fingers, a shell came up and closed the bolt. When I looked up the elk was gone. What a sick feeling but then I saw his legs fly up in the air as he rolled down the hill.
He ended up sliding under a windfall and hanging up as his horns were too wide to fit. I had to cut his head off as I could not get to him where he was. He rolled down the hill another 200 feet before he stopped. Big black horns with 7 on each side.
Post by: Stein on April 29, 2020, 03:37:17 PM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 29, 2020, 03:55:23 PM
First Lite boxers. Not really a horror unless you remember how much you paid and how few times you washed them before they came apart.the Dodson boxers were the single greatest garment I have ever put over the top of the boys! Too bad they only lasted a single hunt :chuckle: if they hadn't been free I'd have been really annoyed. Zero possibility there was actual R&D that went into those. How could someone realistically use those on a hunt, come back to the office and say oh hell yeah we need to bring these to market asap :dunno:
Post by: huntnfmly on April 29, 2020, 04:05:30 PM
Tom is coming in to decoy full strut beutiful 15-20 yrds daughter shoots pulls the shot Turkey runs straight at us she goes to shoot again gun jams Turkey veers off daughter with benelli in other blind has to finish him off on the run and if any dad's out there have very competitive daughters you understand it wasn't pretty😅😅
Post by: Pegasus on April 29, 2020, 04:12:55 PM
Post by: actionshooter on April 29, 2020, 08:27:43 PM
Back when I first started muzzleloader hunting, I had the bolt freeze on my TC Thunderhawk.
You just reminded me about an issue when I had one... Bought a ThunderHawk the 1st year they came out. I liked the gun but after a day in the rain, the bolt would RUST and stick... like you needed WD40 and a hammer... Sold it and bought a MK85
Post by: Shawn Ryan on April 29, 2020, 10:13:42 PM
Befuddled, I finally check the zero. At 25 yards, its 8" high and 4" wide. At 50 yards on the passing broadside deer, I was 16" above my hold. Idiot. Dork. Never again. Can't say that was really gear failure, except for the initial sling swivel failure.
Post by: huntnnw on April 29, 2020, 11:19:57 PM
Post by: Rob on April 30, 2020, 08:45:06 AM
In retrospect he realized that he had experienced two similar instances where this had happened in the past. At the time he thought he had bumped the trigger when taking the safety off.
Rem fixed it under the lawsuit/warranty repair situation.
Post by: mburrows on April 30, 2020, 10:51:56 AM
Post by: Geoffphrye123456 on May 01, 2020, 06:59:21 AM
Woke up early in the tent, wanted to get it warmer for my guys to wake up to.
I attempted to restart the fire. I did not check the spark arrestor... I also didn't notice the drips of creosote coming down the stove pipe.
Suffice to say I wasn't getting a good draft... so I added more pitch wood and news paper...
FILLED THE TENT WITH SMOKE!!! AND it gets worse. Walked outside and knocked off the soot, got a real ripper going in the stove. Stove pipe goes straight up, well the creosote had pooled outside against the stove pipe on the stove jack. It caught fire. burned a really nice hole in the jack and the tent..... :bash: :bash:
Post by: mburrows on November 25, 2020, 12:31:09 PM
Post by: Fl0und3rz on November 25, 2020, 12:34:01 PM
Post by: Crunchy on November 25, 2020, 01:21:23 PM
Post by: Magnum_Willys on November 25, 2020, 02:18:24 PM
Don't take leather boots to SE AK. Knee-high rubber boots only. Even if you sink up to your knees in muskeg, you can pour the boots out, wring out your socks, and continue on.
Guides in BC dumped boots out every nite and wrung wool socks out. When its really wet with no heat just rubber and wool is the rule.
Post by: lewy on November 25, 2020, 02:28:51 PM
Here's one with a happy ending.
I was elk hunting on Canoe Creek north of lake Quinault. Really rugged country but at that time you could access it through the Park on the North Shore.
I left the road and started up the side of a very steep side ridge. After about an hour I topped out on the ridge and looked over to see many rock cliffs. At that time I decided to go down the ridge and out as it looked to steep for my liking. Soon after I noticed elk tracks going down the ridge the same direction I was heading. Maybe 15 minutes later I came across the biggest elk I have ever shot at. He was broadside and unaware of me. I shot and the elk stepped forward behind a tree and looked uphill towards me but seemed to be unaffected by the shot. Of course I worked the bolt and took careful aim and was rewarded with a click. Worked the action , same result and again. Finally had to take my eyes off the elk and look at the gun. A piece of lint was sticking the magazine and not allowing a shell to come up. I punched it with my fingers, a shell came up and closed the bolt. When I looked up the elk was gone. What a sick feeling but then I saw his legs fly up in the air as he rolled down the hill.
He ended up sliding under a windfall and hanging up as his horns were too wide to fit. I had to cut his head off as I could not get to him where he was. He rolled down the hill another 200 feet before he stopped. Big black horns with 7 on each side.
Gotta see a pic of him after hearing the story Bruce!
Post by: Stein on November 25, 2020, 04:25:14 PM
I was out in a good place, set out my duck decoys and not one of them worked. Worst performing decoys I have ever used, if they weren't four or five years old they would be going right back to the store.
Post by: CaNINE on November 28, 2020, 07:26:33 AM
Post by: Zardoz on December 05, 2020, 02:48:25 PM
I had a horse failure on several occasions. Does that count? Last fall, rode across a creek in Wyoming to access some good elk country. It was sub zero temps. Tied to horses up to a tree for a while, built a fire and started to glass. Didn’t see anything worth going after and went back to the horses. Everything seems fine. Get on board and my horse rears up and sets into a full on saddle bronc mode. I tried to yank his head around to no avail. I managed to stay on for at least a full 8 seconds. With no pick up man in sight and no signs of calming down I decided it was time to eject. He continued to buck his way down the trail out of sight. So here I stand unharmed fortunately several miles from camp in the dark with my horse gone awol and no good way to get across that creek. I stated marching down the hill and round the corner and here he is feeding peacefully. Fortunately my rifle still attached to his side and in one piece. It’s then I noticed that baseball sized ice balls frozen to his tail. Turns out he didn’t like those hitting the back of his legs. Well it was all good entertainment and I learned a thing or two.
I think we would all agree, no one likes that. :chuckle: