Hunting stupid.

Paul Downes

Member
Messages
959
Location
Westphalia, Michigan
I got out hunting today in Northern Michigan. I had hunted in this area once before after seeing a 150+ class buck there a few years ago. It's a rather large cedar swamp. I decided to swing around along a river to get the wind in my favor and then started skirting the swamp. I started following some large tracks and found this buck was making fresh rubs so I followed the tracks into the swamp. I did mark my truck with the GPS before leaving. Well, I got turned around and soon found myself in the middle of the durn swamp knee deep in snow, getting wet, and generally lost. Pulled out the GPS and realized the truck was 1.2 miles right through the nastiest part of the thick cedar swamp. spent 3 hours stumbling around, many false attempts to get out and having to backtrack a lot. Getting dark and starting to pray. I do always carry a survival pack, but was dreading a night out in the middle of nowhere nursing a fire to keep warm and trying to stay awake. Finally headed north away from the truck and eventually found the northern boundry road. Had a long 2 mile walk back to the truck and was pretty beat out. :thumb: The only good thing was that I wore off some of that belly fat. :D I can understand why there is big bucks hanging out in the area. They probably figure no hunter is stupid enough to go in after them. :D

Years ago I was out hunting a different swamp on Thanksgiving day and found a kid chest deep in water nearly dead from hypothermia. A friend and I dragged him for 3/4 of a mile and then I ran and got my truck and buried it axle deep trying to get closer to him. We got him to the truck and stripped off his clothes and put him in with the heaters on high. I had to then jog to the nearest house 1-1/2 miles away and call an ambulance. He spent a week in the hospital. This was on my mind as I stumbled around calling myself names and praying alternately. I wasn't panicked, just mad at myself for being stupid.
 
You weren't stupid.

Stupid would have been stuck in the swamp with no gear. You had the tools and the wherewithal to get yourself out. ;)

Sorry you didn't find the buck you were after, but glad you made it back in time for turkey dinner. :thumb:
 
I got turned around in a thicket once during bow. I got caught in a driving rain storm and got soaked. After about 2 hours I finally found my way back to familiar ground. I'll just say the pucker factor was starting to go up. A buddy of mine came upon a guy once squirrel hunting. He had been lost for about 4 hours and was nearing panic. My buddy led him out of the woods and to say the least the guy was very thankful.
 
Glad yu made it out!

well paul i am glad you got back and like the some of the others said you were prepared,, those of us who have been in the real wilderness can fuly understand your thoughts and would be considerd stupid if we didnt have the gear with us to get out or stay if need be,, i too saved guy one time in a hunting trip he was 8 miles from his camp and we found him in a old out house.. we lead him to the trail to where he needed to be and he thanksed us repeatbly as we were floatin across lake michigan on our return to the main land... the temps were below freezing and had 12 to 14" of snow..he would have perished in that out house had we not found him.. just remebr what you expeiernced paul and learn from it..
 
The area is a good 2 hours away from home and I doubt I will get the time to hunt it again this year. I actually have excellent hunting 5 min. from home. I think there has been something around 15-20 bucks taken in a 4 sq. mile area that were at or outside the ears. My son shot a nice 8 pt. opening day that measures 15-1/2". Nothing spectacular but his second 8 pt. in his 2 years hunting. Last I knew there was a big one still around that was 2-3 in. outside the ears and real tall. We are going into doe harvesting mode now. We need to cull 8 or 10 more. Last winter the deer ate all the shrubbery around my farmer friends house. They were actually standing on the front porch to get at the bushes. He wants as many "corn rats" shot as possible. We took around 6 does last year and it wasn't nearly enough. this year we have only taken 3 so far.

I like to go up North once in a while mostly for the solitude and to get a rifle out, learn new territory, and get some real exercise. :D
 
The wood aren't the only thing that can get you, Winter is hear folks, GET PREPARED, toss a bag of kitty litter in the car, small folding shovel, some non perishable snacks. Keep your vehicle full of gas. Put an extra coat and gloves in the car along with a couple blankets. Got a diesel pickup? pack an extra fuel filter. a nylon tow strap wouldn't be a bad idea either.

You could get caught out in a snow drift or ditch anytime.

Back in my over the road days I was running route 2 across Montana with a couple other trucks. We came across a truck sitting in the middle of the road. The guy had been there 3 hours with gelled up fuel filters. We got him into my truck in the bunk and covered him up, one of the other guys had fuel filters so we got his truck running. The team split up and we got him and his truck to the next town. Called the local cops and they got him an ambulance. Don't know what ever happened to him.
-28° and the only jacket he had was a windbreaker. :doh:

I can't tell you how many times I saw guys up there running from their trucks into the truck stop with nothing more than windbreaker on. :rolleyes:
 
I'm from Canada, British Columbia, Kelowna. It gets COLD in the winter, not as cold as it does further North, but more than cold enough to kill you if you are not prepared for it.

Every vehicle I've ever owned has had some sort of emergency kit in it, my quick definition of an emergency kit?

Tow Strap
Jumper Cables
Basic tool kit
Pot to cook in
Food
Chocolate bars
Dry cocoa and soup mix
Water
Lighter and or waterproof matches
Old newspapers (good for lighting fires, can provide extra insulation, and to read while you wait)
At least one old milk carton (again good, no, great for lighting fires)
12'x12' plastic tarp
A couple of them silver emergency blankets (which DO work)
Good length of good rope
Decent knife
Axe or hatchet
Fold up saw
Shovel

That is a good kit, I know people who would see this in my trunk or tool box in my PU and laugh, but I tell you, when you need it, it is a life saver

Got stuck on a road out of a friends cabin once, early winter, and a freak snow fall, the truck we were in go stuck, it was getting dark, and snowing to beat all, I knew we were not getting out that night, so I suggested that we head back to the cabin, it was a long two mile trudge through the snow, but we made it, had a nice warm sleep, and then we went back the next morning to get the truck out, this time I took a bunch of tools from the cabin (rope, shovel, axe) to get the truck out, my buddy did not have any such kit in his truck, he said he was afraid of it getting stolen :doh:

We just had the truck out when his dad showed up as he knew we did not make it home that night, and came looking for us.

One other time, myself and my two cousins were out snowmobiling up near Little White, we got hit BAD by a storm, and we were losing visibility fast, so we headed down to an old cabin we knew about, it was maintained by the local snowmobilers club just for this kind of thing, not much too it, a good solid roof, a door that closed and a steel drum wood stove. The floor of the cabin was about 3 feet off the ground, in the summer, and under the cabin was filled with cut wood for the stove. In our snow machines we had some extra food, matches, soup and a pot to cook, we parked the snow machines, and put a cut piece of wood under each track, so they would not feeze to the snown,and then we tied a rope from machine, to machine and then to the cabin, as it was snowing a LOT.

Spent a warm snug night in the cabin as the wind raged outside and the snow fell. The next morning, after a breakfast of snickers bars :D we dug out our snow machines, it has snowed a good two feet, all powder too, had a great time heading home. I think I was about 14 at the time, I was up at my uncles, and when my mother phoned to see if I was OK, as the storm hit the city fairly hard too, my uncle lied through his teeth, saying that his two sons and I came back, and were in bed, as we were so tired. :D He knew we would be OK, and he also knew there was nothing he could do that night to come get us. He met us about halfway down the mountain the next morning, coming to get us, when we got home, he asked us what we did and why, and what we would have done differently, he is a great teacher of life skills.

:wave:
 
I've been lost, turned around, disoriented so many times that there is no place I could start to begin to list them all. Some may say that is because of stupidity, but I disagree. I think its just comes from spending so much time in such isolated areas. One good windstorm and the fir thicket that was here a month ago looks as strange as the surface of the moon, it does not take long to get turned around in that.

With so much time being spent farming, about the only time I get for adventure is in snowmobiling. Because I ride alone, and often log 350-400 miles on a day, I have to be prepared for a lot of stuff, including getting lost and dealing with break downs. My wife says my backpack is the reason I have a bad back, and my friends make fun of it as they ride unprepapered.

Well they used to say that. I have never needed the tools in my pack for myself, but I have for other people. Once Debbie hit a tree with her sled and in a matter of minutes I used my saw to cut down a sapling, pried the aluminum back to its original shape, used some 5 minute epoxy to hold the fiberglass hood back together and then sanded down the repair. In a matter of half an hour her sled was driveable again and you could hardly tell it had been banged up.

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I think the craziest ride where my often-made-fun-of-backpack and subsequent tools, had to be the ride where Mark's sled lost its skis.

He just picked his sled up from the repair shop where they rebuilt almost everything, except the ski skegs. (Steel runners that help you steer). We got a few miles down the trail and he realized he could not steer. Tipping the machine over we could see why...they were worn out. We head into Newport and can't find an exact replacement. He has some that are close but the sled shop lets us use their tools to drill new holes through the plastic skis so we can ride.

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We are in our happy place, riding several hundred miles that day often hitting speeds of 100 mph or more. Anyway we just coming back into Newport when Mark notes he is being sprayed with snow. He stops and Joe comes from behind holding his missing ski. The skeg bolts that we modified held the ski to the sled on as well. Riding all day had worked the bolts back and forth and they sheared off and with it the ski. Luckily the trail was icy and the post slid on the ice rather then digging in.

So I go to Walmart, riding through city streets which is a funny story unto itself, pull up to the front doors and go in. I look funny shopping in Walmart (the only store open) in full snowmobile gear, but those bolts saved the day...or so we thought.

10 miles down the trail the other ski falls off, but this time the trail is snow and not ice. The post digs in and flips the sled over. The sled is wrecked. So after looking things over, Mark says.."if we have a hammer we could knock that trailing arm back and it might make it home." Well I don't have a hammer but I got an axe, so I proceed to thump it back, tip the sled right side up, get it started and Mark drives home.

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As we are sitting in the field after our 16 hour ride, Mark casually says "That was a pretty good ride." It was funny because it cost him nearly 1500 bucks!! Still we were lucky because if those skis had come off while hitting 100 mph the result could have been different. Needlessly to say they DON'T make fun of my backpack anymore!!
 
We rarely get as cold as "up nawth" here in Arkansas. But, when I ride my ATV in the forest I carry emergency supplies. First aid kit, an epi-pen (warm weather), several Bic lighters, flashlight and extra batteries, my cell phone in a watertight bag, high energy food, water, tire repair kit, a couple knives, saw, lots of cord and rope, a plastic game drag thing that can double as a sorta-stretcher for getting injured person out, compasses, more warm clothes than I think I'll need including a heavy wool sweater (wool will keep you warm even if wet), usually a gun and more. Might not get buried in a snowbank but once went chest deep into a hole in a creek that was only about four inches deep otherwise. Even in mildly cold weather that could have serious consequences.
BTW, recently learned that texting with a cell phone does not require the kind of signal that talking does. So, even if bars aren't showing, a text message will probably go through. I have mine charged before going out, then turn off and seal in a waterproof bag.

Edit: forgot, also carry a hand held Garmin GPS unit so I can send location, if needed.
 
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Hey Paul don't feel too bad, it happens to the best of us, even our maritime friends who have excellent navigational ability... :)

WATERVILLE, Maine — A wayward seal that made its way nearly 50 miles upriver from the ocean is in recovery after being rescued from a parking lot in Waterville.

A biologist with the Department of Marine Resources was called after the small seal was discovered in the parking lot of the Hathaway Building along the shore of the Kennebec River around 5 p.m. Friday. The animal’s mouth was bleeding and it appeared to be thinner than it should be for 5 or 6 months old.

The seal apparently made its way up the Kennebec River to Waterville, which is about 50 miles from where the river flows into the ocean.

Biologist Lynn Doughty said it’s unusual but not unheard of to see seals travel inland from the coast.

The seal was taken to the University of New England marine animal rehabilitation center in Biddeford, where it will be treated before being released into the ocean.
 
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