Fear of Lost Keys

[Elkmagnet]

Had a friend do a 3 day backpack elk hunt with his girlfriend. When they returned they couldn't find the keys in their packs they argued over who had them/lost them. Then they figured maybe they locked them in the truck so they broke out a window and still couldn't find them. An hour later she found them in the bottom of his pack.

 

[SaskHunter]

A few seasons ago, I had to take a deuce within sight of the truck after a morning hunt. Finished my business and walked over to the truck but couldn't find my keys (that I had in my pants pocket). Retraced my steps and found my keys close to where I had dropped trou!

Since then, I always have my keys in a zipped pocket and stash a second set near the truck if I'm more than a couple hours away.

 

[MTLabrador]

I once dropped my keys on top of a ridge in the Madison while hunting elk on a backpack trip. I had no idea that they had fallen out of my pack, as they had been in a zippered pocket. Left that spot, kept going to camp, and hunted. On my way out two days later I stopped to glass on the same ridge and was very surprised to see my keys laying in the dirt. That would have been a bad surprise when I got back to the truck. Fortunately I always had a hide a key stashed in my old pickup.

This spring I got back to the truck on a float trip only to realize that the shuttle driver had locked my keys in the truck. I now have a hide a key for my current truck too.

 

[Jwill]

Keypad on the truck is the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[rideold]

Extra key goes in the back zipper pocket of my AGC bino chest pack with my tag. Truth is I could probably just leave them in the truck because my locks are so worn out I'm about the only one in the family that can get the key to turn in the ignition!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Hidden and stashed by the truck in a manner that ensures pack rats won’t be able to carry them off. Each member of the party knows where they are in case of separation and someone needs to return to the vehicle without the person carrying the key.

 

[kansasdad]

My concern with keys isn't that I might drop them somewhere, its the transfer from driving clothes to hunting clothes, with the chance that a wind gust slams the door shut with the keys inside and the doors "magically" locked. So no matter how hot or cold it is, the downwind window is rolled down before I get out and start changing. Locked doors or not, I can reach in and unlock the doors if needed.

Once the keys are in my pocket i can relax my guard.

On partnered hunting, two fobs are at play, each of us having the ability for backup.

Phone, keys, wallet, readers, ear buds, sanitizer.....now I can walk.

 

[LuketheDog]

I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached. My keys always go in the same zippered internal pocket of my backpack, the pocket that only holds my keys and nothing else. I don't lock the truck until everything is outside the truck and ready to go, then I make sure to lock the truck with the fob and not the button on the door, then into the pocket they go. I learned the hard way that keeping them in a pocket with other miscellaneous stuff is a great way to loose your keys when you're rooting around for the other stuff and forget to zip the pocket back up. Once I had to bring something up for the guy in our group who loses everything, and gave him my key (kept the fob) so he could grab it when he hiked out to leave the hunt early. I told him where to put the key and make sure he re-locked the truck. My heart was in my throat worrying about whether or not he did those things for the next couple days...

I used to keep a hide-a-key on the truck too, but after living in Pueblo, CO I quit that. There were too many tweakers and thieves cruising parking lots at places like Lowe's, the parks, and the river parking areas down there looking for stuff not bolted down or secure...

 

[vanish]

A couple years ago while pronghorn hunting I had to stop on my hike back to the truck for some "emergency business". As I dropped my pants, the distinct rattle indicated I had nearly exposed myself in the worst possible place.

Half an hour later, I arrived at my truck only to see my keys safely locked inside, in the cup holder. That could have been real bad!

I learned my lesson and had a spare hide a key in that truck, but now I have a new truck and realize I haven't done so. Sounds like I should learn my keypad though.

 

[2rocky]

Had a friend do a 3 day backpack elk hunt with his girlfriend. When they returned they couldn't find the keys in their packs they argued over who had them/lost them. Then they figured maybe they locked them in the truck so they broke out a window and still couldn't find them. An hour later she found them in the bottom of his pack.

....and that's how she made him marry her?

 

[Dakotakid]

My passenger lock is not functional after my siblings locked themselves out of my truck at hunting camp. They used a lag bolt to pop the passenger lock.
(Spare key is hidden on truck).
I should make a couple spares and issue them a key, maybe threaded in their boots.

This is not the only time they have done it.

 

[Harrier]

I use one of these. One end connected to a belt loop, the other clipped to my keys in my pocket. Bright orange so that even if all else fails and it falls to the ground, it will at least be visible enough to find.

 

[WapitiBob]

I've had an xtra key under my trucks for 23 years.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I stash the keys near the truck and make sure my hunting partners see where I stash them. I do keep a key in my wallet but it would only open the door, my truck will not start without the key fob.

 

[noharleyyet]

...have the same fear of losing a credit card.

 

[Tiohunter]

FYI for anyone with a newer chevy, I think 17 and newer can have a key pad installed similar to the fords.

 

[huntnpack]

Went to pheasant hunt several hours from home. 20 minutes in I realized I had a hole in my right front pocket. I now stash keys on the vehicle.

 

[Elkmagnet]

....and that's how she made him marry her?

Unfortunately it didn't work out.

 

[MTGomer]

I have never taken my keys with me hiking or hunting a single time and I’ve never lost or locked myself out of my truck.
Be an adult and put them behind your gas lid where nobody will ever look

 

[NEWHunter]

Lost one fob/set permanently once. Our not quite two year old daughter had a propensity for throwing things in the trash for a period of time. The set disappeared for a bit and it didn’t dawn on us until after the garbage went out that they might have been in there. We thought maybe we’d find them if we ever moved. We moved - never found them.

Lost a phone bushwhacking back to the truck one time after dark. Went back the next morning and walked it up an hour later. But I digress.

Before I had a Ford with a keypad I had a strict routine. The minute I got to my spot and the vehicle was parked, the keys and my phone went on the windshield. Once I was all geared up and set to go, I’d put my keys in a zippered pocket that wouldn’t get opened until I got back to the vehicle and the phone would go in a different zippered pocket. This way I’d never lock myself out or lose my keys.