Worst thing to happen to your rifle while hunting

[Foxtrot1]

My 1st trip out west was to Colorado for a combo elk/mule deer hunt in 1997. We flew to Denver then rented vehicles and drove into camp. Next day, we checked the zeros and scouted. The weather was great, 50s during the day and clear. When season opened, a winter storm blew in bringing 18" of snow. I was excited, it was my first time hunting in snow. Until I looked through my rifle that morning..... Apparently during the flight the seals had blown on my new Simmons 44 mag scope, the interior was frosted over. My brother and I had to share rifles all week. Not sure if it was the baggage handlers being rough with the case, the altitude, or the cheap POS scope? Since I have upgraded, usually bring a spare rifle or scope, and prefer rifles with iron sights as a back up.

 

[Brian in Montana]

I was hunting in Eastern MT once. Carrying a Tikka .308 under my right arm on a strap system attaching it to my frame pack. It was toward the end of the day, I'd hiked a long way, I was tired. I tripped and fell forward working my way up a muddy hillside. The muzzle of my rifle plunged right into the clay. That was a horrible feeling to see my rifle with the business end plugged with bentonite. The worst part was I was about 300 miles from home and had forgotten a rod and cleaning supplies. Faced with the quandary of my hunt being potentially over, I did the unadvisable and shot the dirt out of the muzzle (yes, I know, that could have gone very badly). I was still concerned about accuracy due to a damaged muzzle, but the following day I tipped over a nice 4x5 mulie from a little over 300yds. When I got home, I cleaned it up very well. Did a lot of shooting various distances at the range, and although that was a nerve wracking experience, determined the rifle was fine.

Disclaimer: even though it worked out for me, do not shoot a rifle with a visible obstruction in the barrel or muzzle. This is a dangerous thing to do.

 

[Mallardsx2]

When I was 16 I was climbing a tree one time and grabbed a dead branch and pulled it right off the tree and fell 10 feet flat onto my back with my scope and rifle on my back. Gun and scope were miraculously unharmed. I laid there for about 10 minutes before getting up as you can imagine.

I deserved it, and I carried a gun rope with me from that day forward.

I cant say that I still dont climb random trees to get a better look at things though...just more careful on what limbs I grab. lol

 

[JohnCushman]

When I was 16 I was climbing a tree one time and grabbed a dead branch and pulled it right off the tree and fell 10 feet flat onto my back with my scope and rifle on my back. Gun and scope were miraculously unharmed. I laid there for about 10 minutes before getting up as you can imagine.

I deserved it, and I carried a gun rope with me from that day forward.

I cant say that I still dont climb random trees to get a better look at things though...just more careful on what limbs I grab. lol

That's what happens to your silly Easterners with your goofy treestand ideas

 

[geetar]

Not actually while hunting but getting ready to hunt. Left my rifle leaned against the rear tire of my truck. Hopped in the pull up a few feet. Of course the rifle fell and I ran over it. Even though it was a gravel drive it didnt put a scratch on it. Leupold didnt even lose zero! Inwas extremely lucky

This would make a great Leupold add. I’ve seen your trucks. They aren’t small.

 

[geetar]

That's what happens to your silly Easterners with your goofy treestand ideas

I was letting my muzzleloader down by rope from my goofy eastern tree stand and somehow the rope had tangled and when I got about 5 ft off the ground with it the slack in the tangled turned loose and bounced my CVA Wolf off the ground. It was an open sight job so no real harm done but it scared me for a minute. John the more I hunt out west the more I loathe sitting in a tree.

 

[2rocky]

Wasn't MY rifle but I saw a guy who Cerakoted a Savage model 99. Some gawd awful sand color.

 

[SaskHunter]

About 8 years ago, I triped and fell in a ditch while getting back to my truck. My muzzle loader tumbled down the ditch which was filled with large rocks. The stock broke in half and the scope was now at a 30° angle in the center of the tube. I bought cheap CVA Wolf that PM, sighted it in and was hunting again the following day. That little CVA Wolf has killed tons of critters since then. One lesson I've learned from that day was to ALWAYS have a back up.

 

[geetar]

Wasn't MY rifle but I saw a guy who Cerakoted a Savage model 99. Some gawd awful sand color.

That guy should be deported. That’s a nice rifle to ruin.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Hunting before school, 1973. Buddy killed a decent buck, we were in his 65 Impala. Threw the deer in the trunk and raced to school. Sean dad would wright him an excuse the rest of us needed to be on time. As the car slid to a stop Seans Mdl 94 came sliding off the ski rack on the roof, slid across the parking lot stopping at the feet of the assistant principal. Rifle took a beating and we had to run laps after football practice. A/P didn’t care we were on time; he was a WWII Marine and as far as he was concerned our squad had failed: we were all on the foot ball team, we were all hunting together and we all were responsible for the rifle being left on the roof of the car.

 

[hank4elk]

Years ago packing out my camp & a rack in the Sierra's after a successful hunt,I took a bad one crossing a creek mile from my truck. The last leg of a 3 mi trip. One previous trip in morning had been OK with just the meat Decided to go back for the rest of camp & the rack at noon. The hike out was the usual bummer with a heavy pack and a rifle in one hand & a hiking staff in the other. It was 3pm when I got to the creek a thunderstorm had swollen the creek.
I got halfway across,swept off a rock onto my side ,hit a boulder with my rifle. Broke 3 ribs & the rack. My hand was mangled & the scope had a ding to match the stock. Soaked I hiked to my truck & got home 4hrs later.
Took the rifle to the range the next week & it was only off a little. But I did not find out til years later the stock was cracked in the grip. It just started wandering in bad weather after that,the groups.
I rebuilt it with a Hogue and it has been dead nuts on since. It was before. 35yrs. Still have that cracked stock too. Reminder. Hike Safe.

 

[MaddH]

I found a Weatherby Mark 5 while driving down a four wheel drive road in Wy. About 30 minutes later a guy comes up in a panic wondering if I had found a rifle. Guess he left it on the tailgate of his truck. I told him I had it and he said thanks

 

[lpcoutdoors]

My Granddad claimed he had a worst thing happen to a rifle while hunting. He leaned it up against a tree and went off a ways to take a crap and then couldn't find his rifle. We hunted that ranch for 20 more years and always thought we might come across it. He was probably lying, although he did lean his shotgun against the truck while loading dogs and then forgot and backed over it and broke the stock off, so....

 

[6mm Remington]

I was hunting with a buddy one November morning when the snow was waste deep and the temperature was below zero. We were in his 1973 Ford Bronco with the 302 V8 heading up the mountain when we were finally stopped by the snow and were stuck in the middle of the mountain road. We were preparing to dig it out and were out looking things over. He reached up and opened my door from the outside (downhill side of the rig) and my rifle had gotten bumped on the seat to where it was leaning up against the door. HE opened the door and my rifle fell out of the Bronco into the snow and icy road. He didn't think I saw this and tried to pick it up and put it back without me noticing what had happened. Oh man!

Elk hunting one fall my father found a 300 Weatherby leaning up against a tree. Someone had done a business nearby (pee'd) and walked off and LEFT THE RIFLE! My father took the rifle and just had a feeling that hunters from a camp about 1/4 of a mile away might be where it belonged. He took it to their camp and a very worried and embarrassed woman came running up to him and hugged him for finding her rifle. She walked off somehow completely forgetting her rifle and then after she finally realized what she had done, she could not find where she had gone to the bathroom.

 

[GlockZ]

Last year, second day of Pennsylvania's rifle season, my Marlin 336 in .35 Rem froze up solid. It was completely my fault too. Last year was the first time Pennsylvania opened rifle season on a Saturday and that day was perfect hunting weather, there was a slight drizzle late in the afternoon that lasted about 15 minutes, but that's it. I wiped my rifle down when I got back to my truck and didn't think about it, and yup, you guessed it, moisture got into the rifle, so the second day the temps dropped into the teens and it snowed, and my rifle froze up. I won't be so lazy next time is all i got to say. Lesson learned!

 

[MITCHMO]

Our nearby police department left an AR 15 on the car or something like that and drove off. Never to be seen again as far as I know. Lots on the news about it haha. Oops!

 

[BearFoot]

Water crossings have been the worst thing to happen. Have lost two rifles doing that. Water is powerful.

 

[LongCut]

Climbing down the hill after sitting from an hour before sunrise until the end of legal shooting time. Tripped and somehow buried the first 12+ inches of my rifle straight into the mud. As I recall, it was a heck of a chore getting it cleaned out.

Very good friend of mine tried to jump a ditch and came up a tad short. He found out that the water was both freezing cold and over his head. He then realized he was already soaked and freezing, so diving back to the bottom looking for his citori wasn't that big of a deal at that point

My wife's step-grandfather has a gorgeous rifle on his wall. It's a Browning he ordered from sears roebuck decades ago. When it came in, they had apparently checked it, then stapled the box closed and put a ton of holes in the stock. It got replaced and he went hunting. The first time he went hunting, he stepped on a rock, slipped, and cracked his new-new rifle stock in half.... It now lives in a hand made stock, and hasn't seen the woods in a long, LONG time.

 

[prhunter]

I was coues deer hunting with a friend in AZ. One warm sunny afternoon we left camp to our glassing knob. Half way up the mountain my buddy says "Ohh wait... I left my rifle at camp". At that point I knew who was going to do the shooting that afternoon.

 

[Huntnut60]

In another thread I posted you can read about an older model 70 30-06 I own. In around 1990 I was hunting along the coast of Northern California and shot a medium 4x4 buck that was almost on the beach. I had a difficult time working my way down to the buck and once I got there there was no way to go back up. It was late evening and I got him field dressed and hung then headed down the beach to a better location to climb back up that mountain. I had to go past a rocky point that had water all the way to the base of the cliff. I had taken deer there before but at low tide and I could just walk on the sand at low tide. The water was about 2' deep along the rocks but there were enough rocks to rock hop and not get my feet wet. Wrong. I slipped and fell in the water and even my head went under. The gun of course wound up being submerged in salt water. 2 hours later back in camp I completely disassembled the gun and put all of the parts I could in warm water. After cleaning as thoroughly as I could I then oiled every thing with lots and lots of WD 40 and then gun oil. I carry a complete gun cleaning kit in my RV and of course a can of WD 40. Someone on the other thread mentioned how good the bluing used to be and I can tell you that gun never had a rust issue.
No that fall is not why the gun is not a tack driver.
I decided after that fall I will not rock hop in a situation like that ever again. I will just wade and save my dignity and my equipment.

Packing out my cousins buck from an above timberline hunt in Colorado, tripped in a rockslide and my 270 took a tumble out of my packframe. I had a tag also, took a couple shots and couldn't hit a big tree 50 yds away. Ended up shooting my buck 3 days later with his .338wm.