What’s the worst item you’ve lost?

As painful as it is to admit this, I drove off yesterday after an antelope hunt and left my rifle laying next to the truck. I had my son with me for a first hunt ride along, and in the process of getting him loaded it was the forgotten item. Drove back an hour later and it was gone. Near Lavina,MT if anyone happens to hear anything. A family gun, which doesn’t make it any easier 😩
Did you call the Sheriff Dep? Someone may of done the right thing and turned it in.
 
GPS with many way points. Very sad. Got onX after that, tried to remember them all but I'm sure I forgot a few.
 
During the pack-out of my elk last week, I lost my wallet out of my cargo pocket along the trail. I think the tow ropes from the sled working against my thigh somehow worked the wallet right up out of my pocket. After an exhausting night of packing out, I was back on the same trail at first light the next morning, retracing my steps in search of the wallet. I found it about 1.5 miles up the trail. It was a miracle!
 
Lost a pair of vortex diamondback binos after leaving them on the bumper on a WY antelope hunt. During first season CO Elk this year my javelin bipod got snagged by a bush or something on a hell hole hike.
 
My late great uncle's homemade antler knife. I received it after he died, and when I was 15, i brought it with bowhunting and while waiting at the gate for my mom to pick me up, I believe I left the knife behind. Still bothers me...
 
A woman hunter in the 1970's in the Little Belt mountains of Montana took a pee and left her 300 Weatherby rifle leaning up against a tree. My father came along a while later and found the rifle and just had a hunch it belonged to a group of hunters in a camp not too far from where he and friends had their camp. This lady was OH SO GLAD that my father was honest and came looking for the rifles owner. Not all losses have a bad ending!!

Not my loss but a really good friend of mine has now lost TWO (2) Garmin top end GPS's!! TWO I know about the one because I spent a full day hunting one of his GPS's the next spring. He only recently told me about the second one.

He has also lost TWO (2) Swarovski 10x42mm binoculars. I just don't know what to say about those losses.. Man he needs to have them surgically attached to his carcass!!

Another find and a good one. A fellow I know from Great Falls was hunting a few years back and found a Ruana knife (An old one made by Rudy Ruana himself!) while hunting. He thought he had just found a cheap gas station knife and took it home. He then used it for all sorts of things that would make a grown man cry around the house such as cutting sod with it!! Long story but I showed him some Ruana knives with the Ruana stamp and he began talking about how that logo looked familiar and he began telling me about the knife. He luckily had saved it and it was in a box in his attic. I got him in contact with Ruana who verified the knife. This thing was worth some money and was in good shape and not all rusted up. He had no personal connection to the knife and put it for sale on the internet. He got some substantial dollars ( I believe $1000.00 to $2000.00 but he never would tell me how much.) He used that money to buy himself another Ruana knife and one for each of his two sons!

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As painful as it is to admit this, I drove off yesterday after an antelope hunt and left my rifle laying next to the truck. I had my son with me for a first hunt ride along, and in the process of getting him loaded it was the forgotten item. Drove back an hour later and it was gone. Near Lavina,MT if anyone happens to hear anything. A family gun, which doesn’t make it any easier 😩
Look at montana duck and goose hunting on facebook someone found a gun on there.
 
I lost my Dad’s hunting knife. He loaned it to me when I was first starting to hunt on my own. Retraced my steps, but never found it. I had to tell him. Gulp. “Son, I’ve had that knife longer than I’ve had you!”

Several years later I finally found the same model “Old Timer” on eBay and “replaced” it. It was actually in a little better shape than his had been. Although it wasn’t “his knife”, I think he appreciated the gesture.
 
I lost a 44 mag, Leica binos, and a digital camera one night. Found the binos and pistol a week later. Picked up the camera several years later while on a bow hunt.
 
Got a new one over the last weekend.

Lost my release out hunting, and it was not a cheap one. Thought I found it. Turns out what I saw in the bushes was some other bozo bow hunters arrow.

Had to drive to Williston, ND to get a new release that was vaguely similar. Luckily I had a block with to shoot at and figure out my new anchors. Total gong show. Didn’t kill a deer in the end even.
 
A woman hunter in the 1970's in the Little Belt mountains of Montana took a pee and left her 300 Weatherby rifle leaning up against a tree. My father came along a while later and found the rifle and just had a hunch it belonged to a group of hunters in a camp not too far from where he and friends had their camp. This lady was OH SO GLAD that my father was honest and came looking for the rifles owner. Not all losses have a bad ending!!

Not my loss but a really good friend of mine has now lost TWO (2) Garmin top end GPS's!! TWO I know about the one because I spent a full day hunting one of his GPS's the next spring. He only recently told me about the second one.

He has also lost TWO (2) Swarovski 10x42mm binoculars. I just don't know what to say about those losses.. Man he needs to have them surgically attached to his carcass!!

Another find and a good one. A fellow I know from Great Falls was hunting a few years back and found a Ruana knife (An old one made by Rudy Ruana himself!) while hunting. He thought he had just found a cheap gas station knife and took it home. He then used it for all sorts of things that would make a grown man cry around the house such as cutting sod with it!! Long story but I showed him some Ruana knives with the Ruana stamp and he began talking about how that logo looked familiar and he began telling me about the knife. He luckily had saved it and it was in a box in his attic. I got him in contact with Ruana who verified the knife. This thing was worth some money and was in good shape and not all rusted up. He had no personal connection to the knife and put it for sale on the internet. He got some substantial dollars ( I believe $1000.00 to $2000.00 but he never would tell me how much.) He used that money to buy himself another Ruana knife and one for each of his two sons!

View attachment 160631
Maybe the one my Grandfather lost just South of Harlowton Montana while pronghorn hunting around 1985...

Dad and I told him we could look for it and he said, "No, never did like that knife enough to go look for it...heavy, hard to sharpen, and more appropriate for a sword fight than hunting."
 
Worst for me was in high school. I went hunting in my dad's '72 Caprice Classic. Got back to the car, laid the shotgun on the trunk to get some layers off. It did not make the ride home. Never did find it. Dad was less than pleased.
 

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