Worst thing to happen to your rifle while hunting

[Islander]

I put a little scratch on my Wingmaster 870 this year that I bought in 1984; the first one. After so many trips afield, it sort of broke my heart. Then I remembered that this gun is a tool, and scratches are memories. Thankfully never had anything happen as bad as the others on this thread.

 

[antelopedundee]

It got put away at the end of the day without firing a shot.

 

[44hunter45]

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.

I've had one Simmons 44 Mag scope. That is the only scope that has cost me an animal. I snuck in on a bull to about 75 yards. He did not know I was there. When put the rifle on him and took aim, I saw an X instead of a +. The gimbal had come completely loose inside. I sent it back to Simmons and they repaired it but I never put it on another rifle again. Warranties mean squat if they ruin your hunt.

 

[diamond hitch]

I ordered a Browning High Grade BAR and put a leupold scope on it. On one of the first trips out my horse stepped out on frozen ground and fell down, rolled over me and then slid a couple hundred yards down a nasty slope through the trees. The stock was broken off the action, the forearm was reduced to pieces and the barrel had a 45 degree bend.

After 6 months I got my gun back only I had $3000 in it before I killed my first elk with it. A couple years ago another horse fell on a trail and I got to put a new stock on it. I have no doubt that there will be more repairs in the future. It's just a thing that happens.

 

[Dsnow9]

I ordered a Browning High Grade BAR and put a leupold scope on it. On one of the first trips out my horse stepped out on frozen ground and fell down, rolled over me and then slid a couple hundred yards down a nasty slope through the trees. The stock was broken off the action, the forearm was reduced to pieces and the barrel had a 45 degree bend.

After 6 months I got my gun back only I had $3000 in it before I killed my first elk with it. A couple years ago another horse fell on a trail and I got to put a new stock on it. I have no doubt that there will be more repairs in the future. It's just a thing that happens.

Horses sound even more expensive when they are causing that much damage!

 

[diamond hitch]

Ice and horses make for an exciting hunt!

 

[Anschutz]

Not a rifle but I was bowhiking for elk in Colorado and slipped on a rock after it rained. Bow landed right on the sight. Luckily it is a Spothog and built right. Left a deep gouge in the housing but tested zero on a squirrel within 15 or so yards and barely caught one side of it with a small game head. Whopped it with a stick and had him for dinner. Went to the truck for my target and no target. Drove 3 hours to the closest shop and was off 6 inches at 40 yards. Got that fixed and drove back but my knee was in serious pain and I cut the hunt short a day.

When I was a kid, I took my great grandfather's 1894 (built in 1895 in 32-40) out without asking my dad while he was out of town and came back and the rear sliding sight was missing. While I was doing laundry emptying my pockets, I found it. Somehow it had fallen off right into my vest pocket. My rear thanked me for that.

 

[T Bone]

I was sitting in a saddle thoroughly enjoying a morning parade of big game past me, just waiting for the right buck....when my poop wouldn't wait anymore. I lsaw more deer working their way up to cross, but I had to go NOW....

I leaned the rifle against a frost covered rock well within reach while did my best to execute a punctual poop. When done I stood up and bumped the rifle.....and it fell right into the steamy pile.

Even after scrubbing it with grass and sage I couldn't get it totally cleaned out of the checkering....

 

[CouesSniper]

It didn’t go with and stayed behind right where I left it...on the couch! Borrowed guns aren’t my cup-of-tea!

 

[tikkaman]

Sit my rifle up against a small cedar tree and it fell knocked scope off and missed a shot this was when I was young and dumb .

 

[The Yetti]

My first hunting rifle was a Browning BLR in 243, made in the early 80's and had the epoxy gloss finish on the stock. I was dragging a buck down to a logging road in Northern California and it got going faster than I was and went ass over tea kettle before I could let go. Landed on my back on top of my rifle. Put a nice big scratch in the finish, but not through the wood and put a dent in the eyepiece on the scope. Somehow it still held zero. Never tried to fix the finish on the stock, as every time I pull it out of the safe it reminds me of that buck!

 

[WyoDoug]

Worst I did was shoot a deer with a 300 ultra mag. The wood stock split right down the middle. I got the buck but the rifle was toast until I found a replacement stock and I paid close to $300 to a gunsmith to put it back together. That gun had one hell of a kick to it but accurate as hell. I could shoot a 500 yard shot with it where most I shoot now is 300 yards.

 

[NECALI]

It’s embarrassing to admit, but I bought one of those laser bore sights and you guessed it, I left it in one time while sighting in my Browning A bolt 300 WSM. Luckily I had a few weeks before a Wyoming hunting trip so I had time to buy a new rifle. Had the A bolt made into a 243 WSSM for the wife and love it. On another earlier Wyoming trip my wife was using her dads Browning bar 30-06. We had a real nice 5x5 dead to rights walking close to the road on our way back to town. She got out, off the road, put the clip in, put a shell in (she thought) and pulled the trigger. Nothing. The clip wouldn’t go in all the way and a shell never came out. By the time we had it figured out another hunter we didn’t even see killed the buck. Talk about disappointment. One last bad trip. Had my rifle in the scabbard on a quad running over rough roads to our hunting spot. Missed two nice bucks that trip over a few days and couldn’t tell why. I had sighted the rifle in when the hunt began so I figured hunter error. When I got home I couldn’t hit a two foot target 2 out of 3 times. Found out the rear scope base was completely loose. I’ll never put my rifle in a quad scabbard again.

 

[ShortAction]

I'm particularly hard on my guns. Fell in a swollen creek last spring with my turkey shotgun. It and I were completely submerged. Dropped my .243 from a treestand. Had just pulled it up and was reaching for it when it fell. Guess I hadn't gotten the rope on it properly in the dark. It landed butt first so I climbed down and got it. Shot a buck shortly thereafter...only 10 yards, so...

Have fallen numerous times. Just yesterday while squirrel hunting I was crawling over a rather large fallen tree and slipped off. My dad's Rem 541S hit the ground first and then I landed on it. Didn't want to look at it, but amazingly, it was fine. Me? Not so much.

The best one is actually about a friend. We were groundhog hunting and he shot a rather large one. Because it was so big he went to get it to show me. This involved crossing a barbed wire fence. Upon returning he tossed the pig over the fence, where it landed on top of his rifle. Blood and guts all over the rifle and scope. Pretty funny...to me at least.

 

[ShortAction]

I was sitting in a saddle thoroughly enjoying a morning parade of big game past me, just waiting for the right buck....when my poop wouldn't wait anymore. I lsaw more deer working their way up to cross, but I had to go NOW....

I leaned the rifle against a frost covered rock well within reach while did my best to execute a punctual poop. When done I stood up and bumped the rifle.....and it fell right into the steamy pile.

Even after scrubbing it with grass and sage I couldn't get it totally cleaned out of the checkering....

Well, that stinks!

 

[Prof7mm08]

Once incident involving two rifles has provided high comedy for years. One October when I was a kid, a buddy and I were squirrel hunting in an area where several creeks drained into the river. One of the creeks had extremely steep banks and there were no rocks or debris in the creek bed, just some tree roots sticking out of the red clay. I crossed and climbed up the tree roots first while my buddy held the rifles, just as the game warden had taught us in the hunter safety course. Once I was up, I reached down for the rifles. My buddy had my 10/22 slung over his shoulder and his Marlin 39A in his hand. He took a step to try and grab one of the tree roots as he was handing the Marlin up to me and lost his balance, causing the barrel to tip forward and smack me right in the family jewels. I fell forward, knocking his rifle out of his hand, but not falling down the bank. He tried to grab the rifle before it landed in the creek, but only managed to lose his balance and fall flat on his back right in the middle of the creek--on top of my 10/22. Being concerned for my rifle and my friend (we will not discuss which was my primary concern), I jumped down to help, promptly slipping in the mud and taking a dip in the creek myself. I will never forget the look his pop had on his face when we came walking back up to the camp . . . Both rifles were fine, though.

 

[Vidimus]

My grandpa was crossing a river on his horse with his favorite Savage rifle in the scabbard, when the newb he was with somehow got into trouble with his horse in the middle of the river. He fell off his horse so my grandpa rushed out to help, and while his horse was lunging across the river the bottom of the scabbard must've banged into a rock, he says it launched that rifle 6 feet into the air and completely out of the scabbard and into the rushing river. Never recovered it, maybe someone found a used rifle downstream at some point.

Grandpa passed away last year, but I always smile remembering that story. His favorite part was describing how this new guy, when he fell into the river, the first thing my grandpa saw was his "long hair, it just floated up to the top of the water before he started splashing around" haha.

 

[eoperator]

257wby forgot my ammo nothing available locally ended up borrowing a junk rifle. I think about that alot when choosing the caliber on a new gun.

 

[Pagosa]

I always bring 2 back up rifles. Main rifle, backup bolt action to that, and my 30-30 for if it's raining or foggy enough that a scope would be worthless. I have had to go to the back up bolt rifle a few times over the years. It was nice to only hike to the truck and pull another rifle out than to spend the afternoon resighting a bumped scope.

Same here, I always have a old level action 30-30 for snow days, tracking in the timber, and long hikes where I will be shooting short distances. I’ve only had a couple scopes get knocked off center.

 

[Zander_Nelson]

Not myself, but my old man leaned his rifle up against his rear bumper one day at the end of shooting light. Forgot he had left it there, and proceeded to back up and punch a hole through his bumper with the rifle barrel. Get out and the rifle is wedged into the ground and the truck. Pulled it out and examined it, didnt appear to be any damage to the rifle. Killed a nice buck several days later, and hasnt had a problem since. If your gonna be dumb, at least be lucky!