Bonehead moves?

[Doc]

Nope! those bonehead moves are just too painful to admit to. But there have been some great ones.....Ha-ha-ha-ha.

[Elmo]

Once setup two dates with two different girls and didn't realize it till about an hour before hand.  Had to call one of them up and come up with some excuse of having to go to NJ and now stuck in traffic story.  She saw through me though.  We talking about hunting related?

[Five Seasons]

13 hours ago, cas said:

My biggest bone head move was staying out too long.  Back when we were still shotgun only, I used to like to lay out in the middle of a corn field mornings and evening. One evening I was fighting the cold something awful, really shivering, but just trying to stay out a little longer. "Just 15 more minutes." "Just 10 more minutes."  After a bit the shivering stopped and I started to warm up.  Time went by, darkness came with no deer showing. When I tried to roll over and sit up, I learned that the reason I'd started to warm up was my body had stopped sending blood to my legs.  There I am in the dark, 1/4 mile from camp, in the middle of a field with totally numb legs. Oh.. a bit of panic set in. lol   I started to rub and punch my legs trying to get the blood flowing. It worked. Lots of pain and my core temperature crashed. Violent shaking with the start of hypothermia. Wonderful.  I managed to eventually get to my feet and stumble down the hill and down the road. Not fun. I was truly scared. I never pushed it after that.

holy crap

[wildcat junkie]

I can recall 3 bonehead moves I've pulled while deer hunting. I will save the best for last, perhaps in a different post since it is a lengthy story.

Bolt Action Rifle Bonehead Moves

My 1st bonehead move occurred within sight of my house. It was the 1st week of the NZ deer season. I was getting off work at 3:30 PM and if I rushed home, I could get over an hour of hunting in since DST was still in affect.

As I rounded a bend just a few hundred yards from my driveway, I looked into a hayfield next to my property and saw a huge deer walking along the edge of the woods about 200 yds from the road. I pulled into the driveway, rushed into the house and retrieved my M700 BDL in .243. A thick fencerow and the rolling hillside shielded my approach as I double timed up to the fencerow where I could slip into that field along a brushline.

As I sneaked to the spot where I had seen the deer I heard a slow but loud thump thump as the deer loped away inside the treeline out of my sight in the thick brush. I was dejected. The animal couldn't have been more than 20 yds  from me as it made its escape. I worked my way back to the fencerow and for some reason, I emptied my rifle before stepping into my hayfield.

As I stepped into the open, I spied 2 yearling bucks sparring about 25 yds away at the edge of the fencrow. They were so engrossed in their battle that they were oblivious to my presence.  This was only my 2nd year here on the farm and I was still in the "any legal buck" mode of deer hunting. While keeping my eyes glued to the 2 bucks, I fumbled in my pockets and attempted to shove some rounds into the magazine. The bucks continued their battle without noticing the noise or my movements. When I tried to close the bolt, the gun jammed. I looked down and somehow 2 cartridges had gotten crossed up in the magazine.

Now I'm coming unglued and I pulled my key ring out of my pocket and was desperately trying to clear the jam. The bucks now ceased their aggression and where both staring at me, one with his head cocked to the side like a dog seeing something that was puzzling to him. As I rattled the keychain trying to pry the crossed up cartridge loose, they had enough of the strange spectacle and bounded into the brush. I had to pull the action from the stock when I got to the house to get the jam cleared.

I vowed to never again hunt with a rifle that had a blind magazine.

 

Fast forward two years to early November of 2001. I had replaced the BDL with a M700 Mtn Rifle DBM (Detachable Box Magazine) in 7mm-08. I also had my 1st rendition of the 8mm-06 Ackley Improved at the time, but had left it home due to the wet rainy conditions and the (still green) boiled linseed oil finish on the stock. For some reason, I left my tripod stand a bit early and walked the 150 yds or so to an opening in the fencerow at the corner of some woods between my N and S hayfields. I had parked my car just on the other side of the opening along the brushy fencerow.

As I stepped into the opening, I popped the box magazine out and with the rifle cradled in my left arm, I was thumbing cartridges out of the magazine into my left hand. Just as the last cartridge popped into my hand, I looked up and saw a small doe at the opposite end of the hayfield about 150 yds away.  A  few seconds later I noticed that next to her was a HUGE buck with a very large forkhorn rack. Again I fumbled with the 4 cartridges in my pocket. I dropped one on the ground, managed to get one into the magazine and inserted the magazine into the rifle. I quickly cycled the bolt, ejecting the live round in the chamber that I had forgotten about, and raised the rifle, getting him in the scope just as the buck slipped into the brush.

 

My last story has to do with a monumentally stupid bonehead move I pulled with my .54 Flintlock rifle that makes these last 2 example pale in comparison. It deserves a post all to itself.

Edited November 16, 2018 by wildcat junkie

[wildcat junkie]

On 11/15/2018 at 11:10 AM, Elmo said:

Once setup two dates with two different girls and didn't realize it till about an hour before hand.  Had to call one of them up and come up with some excuse of having to go to NJ and now stuck in traffic story.  She saw through me though.  We talking about hunting related?

Hey that's better than having 2 show up at the same place even if you don't have a date with either.. When that happens they both dump you no matter what you do.