This Happened to me

[Akcabin]

I also enjoy every opportunity I had to learn more about hunting fishing trapping while growing up. I quit reading most because of the advertisement.
Fur Fish n Game. I still enjoy that one. And go to to page 20 first n read about all the tales. Then the how to then did you know. But read the whole magazine and have a stack I reread. I take them out to our cabin.
The this happened to me section was always a favorite. Probably because it pulled up memories of past.

 

[Werty]

I remember many years ago waiting for the next issue of Outdoor Life Magazine I think. My favorite section was called ( This Happened to Me). There were some incredible true stories of adventures in the outdoors that went terribly wrong but the writer lived to tell about it. Some had a funny side to them as well but all were good for lessons learned. Im sure there are plenty of good stories out there so lets hear some of them, throw in some pics if you have them.

Good idea, you have to have some?

 

[crock239]

This Happened to Me:

I was almost killed by a caterpillar. I was in high school and deer hunting in SC with 4 or 5 buddies on a new piece of prime property. We split up and I, with my climbing stand on my back, made my way to my desired area and found a good tree. As I leaned against the tree and reached around to secure the top section of my stand, I felt a sharp wasp-like sting on the side of my neck. I looked at the tree and saw a small fuzzy, stationary caterpillar there, but I figured WTH I would tough it out and went ahead and climbed the tree.



A few minutes later I'd settled into my stand in the tree and my whole head was throbbing--the pain was excruciating!! Soon, even my teeth were throbbing, I was nauseous and my vision and thoughts were blurred. I knew I needed help.

I climbed down the tree, used my knife to scrape the caterpillar into my hat in case we needed to ID it, got to my truck as quickly as I could and raced a few miles home--leaving my friends in the woods. Fortunately, I knew they had a second truck to get home themselves.

My dad met me in the driveway and immediately knew something was very wrong, so he drove me to the ER. At the hospital I was rushed into the ER and treated for anaphylactic shock.

After IV treatment and close overwatch by respiratory therapist I recovered fine in a few hrs, but I heard that a week or two earlier a younger boy had been killed by the same type of caterpillar, a puss caterpillar and the most venomous caterpillar in North America.

 

[Sharp stick]

It was about 6-8 years ago, I was on a diy archery elk hunt with two buddies in the Gunnison NF of Colorado. We had pulled two wheel carts 3 1/2 miles up an old logging road and a reservoir excess road to where we ditched our carts. We brought 2 weeks worth of food, fuel, clothing, etc. One week supply in a frame pack and another week supply in a spare duffle each, not too far into the forest we would hang the duffles to be used later in a tree to keep the bears off of them. From there we hiked another 2 + miles up the drainage where we would set a spike camp. I think it was about two days in, I had gotten up before daylight and hiked up to a bench I knew the elk used to work their way to a bedding area. I picked a concealed position where I could sit and watch trails . As I was sitting I began to feel a sharp pain in my low back, to one side, it was a familiar pain, I had a kidney stone moving around. Now I’m no spring chicken at this time, mid to late 50’s, type 2 diabetic with arythmia and a history of kidney stones. I had had then 3 or 4 times prior to this and had been hospitalized once before for the same thing. I was pretty sure I knew what this was as the pain kept getting worse. My buddies and I had split up on this morning trying to locate some elk and I had never heard of an (In Reach). Our way of communicating was handheld radios and we only turned them on around the top of every hour, we would only speak if we absolutely needed to. I figured the stone would pass eventually so I kept hunting and did not try to contact my buddies. To make matters worse it kept raining off and on throughout the day. I stayed put not wanting to move around much with the intermittent pain . I guess it was about 2-3 hours before dark, the rain had stopped and the sun came out so I decided to get out of my rain gear. I was removing my rain bibs when I noticed a bear below my bench with two cubs working my way. I had already gotten one leg out of my bibs so I slipped my boot back on that foot and sat still to watch these bears for awhile. After they milled around below me to about 25 yards at one point for 20 minutes or so they turned and came uphill to the bench I was on and began milling around again, still not seeing me. Before long they turned and started coming my way. I still had 1 leg in my bibs and one leg out, and was only standing in one loose boot with the other tied up. I stood up when they were again inside 30 yards from me and pulled my pistol. Pointing at the sow Bear I talked to the Bear telling her she didn’t want to come any closer or it might get really ugly around here. She stood up on her hind legs and the cubs got close to her legs, she looked me over and thought about it for a few seconds before dropping back down on all 4,s. She stood back up on two legs one more time still sizing me up before soon dropping back down, turning and walked away. Twice she stopped to turn and give me a look as if to decide if she really wanted to leave or go kick some butt. Thankfully she chose to leave. I knew I was still 1 1/2 -2 hrs from camp and daylight was dwindling. With my reoccurring pains and I was out of water I knew I had to head for camp. I made it back just after sundown with a good story to tell. I decided to stay and hunt as heading out now would ruin their hunt as well. The stone never did pass and I hunted with it kicking my ass for 10 days before a forecast of heavy rains for several days ran us off the mountain. On the way out I packed my gear and pulled my two wheeled cart out 5 1/2 miles in a driving rain while fighting the kidney stone. Once out we broke our roadside camp in the rain and drove the 20 hrs home straight through to Iowa. The story doesn’t end there but that is good for now.

 

[JustinsDad]

It was about 6-8 years ago, I was on a diy archery elk hunt with two buddies in the Gunnison NF of Colorado. We had pulled two wheel carts 3 1/2 miles up an old logging road and a reservoir excess road to where we ditched our carts. We brought 2 weeks worth of food, fuel, clothing, etc. One week supply in a frame pack and another week supply in a spare duffle each, not too far into the forest we would hang the duffles to be used later in a tree to keep the bears off of them. From there we hiked another 2 + miles up the drainage where we would set a spike camp. I think it was about two days in, I had gotten up before daylight and hiked up to a bench I knew the elk used to work their way to a bedding area. I picked a concealed position where I could sit and watch trails . As I was sitting I began to feel a sharp pain in my low back, to one side, it was a familiar pain, I had a kidney stone moving around. Now I’m no spring chicken at this time, mid to late 50’s, type 2 diabetic with arythmia and a history of kidney stones. I had had then 3 or 4 times prior to this and had been hospitalized once before for the same thing. I was pretty sure I knew what this was as the pain kept getting worse. My buddies and I had split up on this morning trying to locate some elk and I had never heard of an (In Reach). Our way of communicating was handheld radios and we only turned them on around the top of every hour, we would only speak if we absolutely needed to. I figured the stone would pass eventually so I kept hunting and did not try to contact my buddies. To make matters worse it kept raining off and on throughout the day. I stayed put not wanting to move around much with the intermittent pain . I guess it was about 2-3 hours before dark, the rain had stopped and the sun came out so I decided to get out of my rain gear. I was removing my rain bibs when I noticed a bear below my bench with two cubs working my way. I had already gotten one leg out of my bibs so I slipped my boot back on that foot and sat still to watch these bears for awhile. After they milled around below me to about 25 yards at one point for 20 minutes or so they turned and came uphill to the bench I was on and began milling around again, still not seeing me. Before long they turned and started coming my way. I still had 1 leg in my bibs and one leg out, and was only standing in one loose boot with the other tied up. I stood up when they were again inside 30 yards from me and pulled my pistol. Pointing at the sow Bear I talked to the Bear telling her she didn’t want to come any closer or it might get really ugly around here. She stood up on her hind legs and the cubs got close to her legs, she looked me over and thought about it for a few seconds before dropping back down on all 4,s. She stood back up on two legs one more time still sizing me up before soon dropping back down, turning and walked away. Twice she stopped to turn and give me a look as if to decide if she really wanted to leave or go kick some butt. Thankfully she chose to leave. I knew I was still 1 1/2 -2 hrs from camp and daylight was dwindling. With my reoccurring pains and I was out of water I knew I had to head for camp. I made it back just after sundown with a good story to tell. I decided to stay and hunt as heading out now would ruin their hunt as well. The stone never did pass and I hunted with it kicking my ass for 10 days before a forecast of heavy rains for several days ran us off the mountain. On the way out I packed my gear and pulled my two wheeled cart out 5 1/2 miles in a driving rain while fighting the kidney stone. Once out we broke our roadside camp in the rain and drove the 20 hrs home straight through to Iowa. The story doesn’t end there but that is good for now.

Sounds miserable but good determination and a great story.

 

[.270Rem]

When my brother and I finally started to read Outdoor Life, that was the first thing we turned to. Pop had a subscription to that and Field & Stream and we took home the old issues whenever we went for a visit. Good memories.

 

[ovis2]

My THTM story (at least one of them...)

• “Spring” musk ox hunts involve temperatures that rarely get above -10°F, lots of wind, and being endlessly towed across the frozen tundra and ice in a teeth-jarring wooden qamutik behind the Inuit guide’s snowmobile in search of the prehistoric beasts. For safety reasons, guides and hunters always travel pairs.
• After spending a few days hunting from a remote cabin, our twin snowmobile/sled caravan decided to head back across a long-frozen lake to town for a good night’s sleep and a hot shower.
• As the meager sun was slipping behind the horizon, a small duffel fell off the lead sled and my guide, Brian, stopped our machine to pick up the bundle and handed it to me back on the qamutik as the lead sled disappeared into the blowing snow.
• I felt an odd jerk on the sled and from my periphery vision, I saw Brian take a couple of clothing-limited running steps, slipping and rolling behind the qamutik and along the ice as the snowmobile and sled combo began picking up unexpected speed. The snowmobile’s accelerator was stuck open.
• I stuck my head above the front wall of the qamutik and saw I was heading toward the boulder-strewn shore of the frozen lake.
• Thoughts of pulling my way up the tether and getting the runaway snowmobile under control paused in my head only long enough for me to recognize that Indiana Jones I am not. I climbed over the qamutik’s side rail did a rolling jump, really more of a moderately controlled fall, onto the frozen lake.
• Brian walked up to me and we both silently watched the snowmobile and sled roughly bounce through the shoreline boulders and disappear into the blowing snow. I looked at Brian and he just calmly said, “Huh.”
• We didn’t have too long to really ponder our situation, it was but a few minutes before the headlight of the lead snowmobile appeared from behind us through blowing, snowy curtain. The two Inuits had a short talk, left the other hunter with me and took off after the missing snowmobile.
• The other hunter and I had been standing on the ice for maybe five or ten minutes when we saw a headlight cutting through the snowy, wind-blown fog off to our left, heading right for us. We assumed they had quickly found the missing machine and were coming to gather us up.
• But it wasn’t slowing down. As the vision of the sled came into focus through the snowy wall, we saw it was the runaway machine, still towing its now empty qamutik. We stood dumb-founded. It zoomed by us, took a wide arc across the ice and smashed solidly into the boulders it had managed to avoid a few minutes earlier. With the heavy winds and thick parkas, we couldn’t really here crashing, but we saw the crazy dance of the headlight on the veil of the blowing snow and watched as the snowmobile and the sled silently exploded into several pieces.
• We began walking toward the wreckage when we saw another light cutting through the snow from the direction the runaway had come. The two guides rode up to us and asked if we had seen the other machine come by and I just pointed at shore-side wreckage.
• The setting sun was almost covered up by the blanket of the western horizon and I was trying figure out how we might come up with a way we could survive the night. We had most of our gear and could probably form some kind of shelter from the remaining sled/qamutik combo and the parts and pieces of the other. However, the guides thought they could double up on one snowmobile and the other hunter and I could squeeze into the remaining sled.
• The trip back was cold, long, and uncomfortable, but we got back to town well after dark, cramped, shivering and very appreciative of the motel’s hot shower. For the next couple of days as we waited out a storm and reset our logistics, almost everywhere I walked around town I was greeted with laughing handshakes and slaps on the back or was the subject of pointing and hidden snickers as I am sure the guides had told their stories of the hunter who jumped out of a runaway qamutik.

 

[OntarioHunter]

It was about 6-8 years ago, I was on a diy archery elk hunt with two buddies in the Gunnison NF of Colorado. We had pulled two wheel carts 3 1/2 miles up an old logging road and a reservoir excess road to where we ditched our carts. We brought 2 weeks worth of food, fuel, clothing, etc. One week supply in a frame pack and another week supply in a spare duffle each, not too far into the forest we would hang the duffles to be used later in a tree to keep the bears off of them. From there we hiked another 2 + miles up the drainage where we would set a spike camp. I think it was about two days in, I had gotten up before daylight and hiked up to a bench I knew the elk used to work their way to a bedding area. I picked a concealed position where I could sit and watch trails . As I was sitting I began to feel a sharp pain in my low back, to one side, it was a familiar pain, I had a kidney stone moving around. Now I’m no spring chicken at this time, mid to late 50’s, type 2 diabetic with arythmia and a history of kidney stones. I had had then 3 or 4 times prior to this and had been hospitalized once before for the same thing. I was pretty sure I knew what this was as the pain kept getting worse. My buddies and I had split up on this morning trying to locate some elk and I had never heard of an (In Reach). Our way of communicating was handheld radios and we only turned them on around the top of every hour, we would only speak if we absolutely needed to. I figured the stone would pass eventually so I kept hunting and did not try to contact my buddies. To make matters worse it kept raining off and on throughout the day. I stayed put not wanting to move around much with the intermittent pain . I guess it was about 2-3 hours before dark, the rain had stopped and the sun came out so I decided to get out of my rain gear. I was removing my rain bibs when I noticed a bear below my bench with two cubs working my way. I had already gotten one leg out of my bibs so I slipped my boot back on that foot and sat still to watch these bears for awhile. After they milled around below me to about 25 yards at one point for 20 minutes or so they turned and came uphill to the bench I was on and began milling around again, still not seeing me. Before long they turned and started coming my way. I still had 1 leg in my bibs and one leg out, and was only standing in one loose boot with the other tied up. I stood up when they were again inside 30 yards from me and pulled my pistol. Pointing at the sow Bear I talked to the Bear telling her she didn’t want to come any closer or it might get really ugly around here. She stood up on her hind legs and the cubs got close to her legs, she looked me over and thought about it for a few seconds before dropping back down on all 4,s. She stood back up on two legs one more time still sizing me up before soon dropping back down, turning and walked away. Twice she stopped to turn and give me a look as if to decide if she really wanted to leave or go kick some butt. Thankfully she chose to leave. I knew I was still 1 1/2 -2 hrs from camp and daylight was dwindling. With my reoccurring pains and I was out of water I knew I had to head for camp. I made it back just after sundown with a good story to tell. I decided to stay and hunt as heading out now would ruin their hunt as well. The stone never did pass and I hunted with it kicking my ass for 10 days before a forecast of heavy rains for several days ran us off the mountain. On the way out I packed my gear and pulled my two wheeled cart out 5 1/2 miles in a driving rain while fighting the kidney stone. Once out we broke our roadside camp in the rain and drove the 20 hrs home straight through to Iowa. The story doesn’t end there but that is good for now.

I have dealt with kidney stones. Yow!
Very lucky you didn't get an infection. With diabetes that could have become a life threatening situation. The misadventures seem to make the most memorable adventures.

 

[OntarioHunter]

This is exactly the kind of stories I would love to read. Something we can all learn from. It may save a life some day. Can’t wait to read it. Thank you

Sorry, it will have to wait. I spent the last two days wrestling with cleaning up the mess the African taxidermist made of my sable's horns and now carpal tunnel is absolutely killing me. No wonder that euro didn't look right. I went to put them back on the skull and discovered it wasn't my sable's skull. This one has a bullet hole in the right horn stump and I definitely didn't shoot my bull in the head! How did I not see that earlier? Time to dip into the oxycodiene again. Ibuprofen ain't doing it.