The American Beagler Forum

Okay, who has the nerve to tell about the WORST day in the field you ever had. I mean the day when everything went wrong from start to finish. The day you should've stayed in bed. When Murphy's Law bit you square in the butt, your most hopeful pup took off on a deer after you bragged it up to your friends, your truck broke down, you wouldn't give a nickle for your own dogs, and you split the seat of your pants to boot. Let's hear some of those stories - we all have them and it will be good for a laugh.

Now that I've posted this, I will have to think about my own worst day in the field. Maybe some of your stories will bring mine to mind. Pack your pride away for this one - let's hear them, lol!

Oh yeah....there might be a prize for the person who had the worst day. (don't be makin' stuff up, tell the truth, lol.)

my worst day took place on feb 24th 2003 in tennesee. i was runinng two youngs dogs at the time ( 1 male- jose and 1 female- maria). i was hunting with 3 other people who had dogs as well. we hunted for the first hour or so with no rabbits jumped. then some of the dogs started one up that we found out later to be a deer. as soon as i realized it was a deer. i began to shock my dogs.
we had hunted our way half way around a huge lake from the truck. when i shocked the dogs one came back and one didn't. the other dogs all came back. then i began to worry jose hadn't come back after 10 minutes or so, so i shocked him again. he sounded like he was over by the lake. as the others hunted on, i walked over to see and sure enough he was swimming across this lake to get back to the truck that was probably 500 yards wide. by the time i got to where i could see him he was near the middle and i was gonna wait for him to get to the other side and then began to call for him again.
just before he got to the bank i saw him stop moving and trying to break thru the ice that was on the bank. i began to go to him which was a long ways away. when i got to him he was tiring badly.
as i got to him, i remember thinking "there's no way i am going in after him". i started throwing rocks and logs out trying to break thru the ice for him, but it was no use the ice was too thick. he was looking at me like "please help me, please do something". he then let out a cry like bark which i knew i didn't have much time then. i immidiately paniced and started trying to rip my boots and clothes off. it took what seemed like forever. by the time i got my clothes(3 or 4 layers) off down to my underwear he began going under and coming back up. it took me several minutes to break thru the ice to get to him. i remember i kept saying "hold on, just hold on boy"
by the time i got to him it was too late. he had been under water for at least a minute. i rushed him back to the bank and done cpr on him for 30 minutes and brought him back to life for a few minutes but then he seized and passed on. it was then i looked down at my legs and saw blood. where i had went in after him the ice had sliced my thighs and knees wide open. thisis by far my worst day in the woods. i still often think about that day and the dog

Gabe, that was sure a sad day. Made me sick just reading your story. I'm sure sorry that you had to lose a hound like that. I'm just glad that you didn't drown also.

Rick

I have had a couple of bad trialing days but the one that sticks out the worst,was in Kentucky,,Randy was on a cast with Leroy and I was on another with Ranger I believe,,,We got our cast done and was at the clubhouse..waiting on the others..well here came Randy with NO Leroy???I thought where is Leroy,,, well Randy and Dale said he is lost or dead (It was 90 degrees that day)and Leroy had just gotten back into trials cuz he had went threw heartworm treatments...So Randy took me to where they were running ,,we hollored and hollored,,Randy went one way and I the other,,I heard some wimpering in the distance and just kept walking to the sounds and there he was burning up on his side I had bottled water with me I yelled for Randy and started pouring the water down Leroys throat.. then we picked him up and got him to a nearby pond,,it was very scary but he was alright,,I told Randy I wasnt leaving that spot till I found Leroy dead or alive,,Leroy passed away last winter from inoperable bone cancer ,,,,,but he sure gave us alot of memories .,,,,,Shannon

Gabe that sure was a sad day. I am going to wait to post my worst day.

LOL. This is an easy one. I have two.

First bad day:
My friend **** and I were deer hunting on a church member's private property. We usually keep in touch via 2 way radios with headsets while we deer hunt, and we also gave the landowner one and told him to just take it with him in case something happened but to leave it off since we didn't have a headset for that radio. Well, it was predawn, and we all used climbing tree stands to get up high in our trees. I was just settling down in my stand about 12 feet off the ground, when my radio crackled to life. It was ****, and he said he had a problem. I asked what was wrong, and his reply was "I gotta go, and I'm already in the stand". Now, I knew the sun would be coming up anytime, so I asked him if he could wait. He replied he would try.
About 5 minutes later, **** keyed in again and said he couldn't wait, that he was going to have to climb down the tree and "go". Well, I really didn't want him to mess up the deer hunting, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. I told him to go ahead, but hurry and try to be quiet at the same time. Not even a minute passed, when **** got on the radio and said "I didn't make it". Now, I'm sitting in my stand, in the dark, wondering what in the world he was talking about. I asked him "What do you mean you didn't make it". He replied he was coming down the tree and could wait any longer. He didn't make it to the ground. Ok, we're guys, and I'm thinking he just stopped halfway down and did his "business". I told him "OK, whatever, just go ahead and climb back up". That's when he replied "I can't, I gotta clean up". Then it hit me, he didn't need to urinate. And all of a sudden, I knew that hunt was over. The funniest part was that the church member did indeed have his radio on and heard every bit of our conversation. He still laughs about it today.

Second bad day:
Deer hunting again, and the sun has just come up. I am again hunting with ****, and a doe comes into view. I raise my shotgun, fire, and look to see her running away. I quickly chamber another round, fire again, and she drops. I wait a few minutes, and get down out of my tree, and lo and behold there are TWO does laying there. I shot the first one, and evidently there was another doe with her which I mistakingly thought was the first. No big deal, I had two doe permits, so I drag them (with ****'s help) to the truck. We load them up, take them to the butcher, and decide we still had time for an afternoon hunt. Now, I always like to do an equipment check before I go into the woods. My knife that I used to gut both does was pretty nasty, and we didn't want to waste any time, so I tossed it into a plastic bag and left it home after **** told me to not worry about it, if I shot another deer I could use his knife. We went out that afternoon and sure enough a 5 point buck made the mistake of walking in front of me. I decided to just go ahead and finish out my season right then. After I fired and he fell, I waited a while and right before dark I got out of the tree and went to the buck. It was then that I remembered I didn't have a knife to gut it with. I waited until it got pretty dark (didn't want to ruin ****'s hunt) and then I keyed my radio and let him know I killed a buck. I also reminded him that I didn't have a knife, and he would have to bring me his. He said ok, and in short order he shows up. We looked at the buck a few minutes (like all hunters do) and then I asked **** for his knife. He chuckled, and reached into his pocket and pulled out a CARPET KNIFE. I distinctly remember looking at him like he was nuts. He laughed again, and said "I don't see why it won't work".
Well, to make a real long story short, it was all I had, so I began trying to use a carpet knife to gut a deer. It actually wasn't too bad, at least not until I needed to cut the ribs along the sternum. I had **** hold the deer's back legs while I placed the front legs under the backs of my knees while I knelt down to perform this task. I placed the blade of that carpet knife against the rib cage and began to put a lot of pressure against the bone trying to get it to cut through. (NOTE TO READER--DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTSANCE, USE A CARPET KNIFE TO GUT A DEER). Sure enough, the blade slipped out of the bone, and fast as lightning I buried the blade into my upper thigh. Up high on my thigh. You get the picture? I barely missed some things I value a lot. At this point, I pulled the blade out and as expected blood started pouring out of the wound. Then I heard the words no redneck wants to hear his friend say. ****, in the fear of the moment and seeing the blood run down my leg and wetting my pantleg, yells "Pull your pants down". Now, that blade hurt, and I knew I was bleeding, but I wasn't gushing blood, and I had already began to calm down. I distinctly remember giving that "you're nuts" look to **** again and informing him in no uncertain words that I was NOT going to pull my pants down. The blood began to slow, so we pulled the buck to the truck and took it to the checking station. You would think this story would end there, but nooooo, it doesn't. While we waited for the guy (an older guy, probably upper 50's) to finish the paperwork, he looked at me and saw the blood. He asked what happened, and I told him (leaving out the "pull your pants down" part so he wouldn't think we were fruits). Then this guy gets on a speaker system he has connected to his house and asked his wife to "come out to the shop, there's some guy hurt out here". He told me his wife was a nurse, and she'd take a look at it. Sooooo, I ended up in the rear of his shop, with my pants down around my knees, with this middle aged woman on a chair looking at my wound. Did I mention the wound was real high on my thigh? She cleaned it, bandaged it, and sent me on my merry way.

Maybe I should find another hunting partner?

Brian

Gabe & Shannon, those are certainly sad days .

Brian .................ROOOTFLMMMAAAOOOO!!!! *wipes tears* I don't think you should get a new hunting partner - I just think you should start keeping a journal. That was some funny stuff...I don't care who you are... LOVE the carpet knife, LMAO. I'd give anything to have been a mouse...

Mine was a lot of years ago.
It was on opening morning of archery elk season on Mt Emily in Oregon.
I had set up a stand on the side of the mountain long before day light and sat back listening to the elk slowly working their way back up the mountain from the grain fields below. Then a couple of moterbikes start roring back and forth on the dirt roads above me. --- Elk, exit stage left---
So I start back up the mountain thinking maybe about removing the spokes from some moterbike wheels. About this time the bikes get shut off, but I keep walking to where they were. Then all of a sudden a shotgun goes off!!!!!! and I am wondering what in the he!! a shotgun is doing in an archery aria. Unknown to me they had also opened the aria to grouse hunting. When I get to where I can see them, one of the boys is laying on the ground in a pool of blood, and the other one is standing beside him. (the boys were both about 16 yo)
The boys had been walking single file with the one in front holding his gun millitary style and the one behind carring his like an old suit case or something. The gun the boy in back was carring low snagged some brush or something and went off hitting the boy in front of him in the back of the head. The boy was alive but unconcience. I sent the one boy after my car while I did my best to treat the one that was hurt.
Leaving my wife and children sitting under a tree (I forgot to leave her the diaper bag) I headed down the mountain with the boys. Evedentlly a forest ranger had seen what happened from a fire tower and had called it in. As I got close to the highway I could see a state police car pulled off into the brush and two others blocking the highway. The police car that was parked in the brush pulled out in front of me and the other two behind me and they were trying to make me go over 100mph,,,,,,,, well an old Volkswagen won't go 100mph,,,,,,,,, When we got to town (Lagrand) they had every intersection blocked off and at the hospital they had a full fledged operating room set up right out in the parking lot. I have no idea what the forest ranger told them, but he sure got their attention.
The boy did survive, but it was sure a hunting trip that I will never forget.
OH,, and my wife still doesn't think the diaper bag thing was a bit funny

tom

Well, mine is plenty lame compared to what I have already read.... but here it goes.

I am home on leave from the navy, and my brother was taking me out to a permanent tree stand to show me where I was going to sit opening day. Now let me tell you, a lot of money was put into the stand part of this thing, but the ladder was made of a couple of small trees and some 2x4's. He told me that he was up in the stand earlier during bow season, so I started up the ladder to have a look at what I could see. I was just about to grab the stand itself and haul myself up when the ladder brokes in half right where my feet were. My feet went towards the trunk of the tree that the stand is in, and I missed my grip on the stand, so I started to fall away from the top. Of course, this all happened in slow motion. As I am falling, I remember that there are some little scrub trees around the bottom of this tree and that I certainly will hit some as I fall the 15-20 feet to the ground. All I can think of is, "This is going to hurt, this is going to hurt, this is going to hurt." as I head down. As luck would have it, my other hand still had a death grip on the ladder, so that was coming down with me. I landed flat on my back and the ladder landed right square on top of me, and there stood my brother laughing is backside off in NO condition to see if I was alright or not. The good Lord was watching over me that day (as He always does) and I didn't even get the wind knocked out of me. I started laughing too as soon as I realized that I was ok. The real funny thing was that my my brother outweighed me (at that time) by more than 50 lbs. Anyway, I am glad it happened then and not opening morning.

Two points to notice here, one being learned in Hunter's Safety Class. NEVER, I mean NEVER climb into a stand with a firearm (loaded or unloaded)! Number two, make your ladders with pressure treated wood!

thats some good stuff there lol!and some sad stuff.
#1=i was rabbit hunting with 2 dogs we had i was just a boy about 8 0r 9 at the time my dad was with me this time as i was walking thru some weeds i seen i was fixin to put my foot down on a snake i jumped high as i could and for some reason i screamed hit theb ground took 2 steps back in tears while dad bust a gut laughing.it wasa black snake just got myself back together trying to gather myself to look like a hunter instead of a scared little boy ,,when low and behold as i go to put my next foot down ___u guess it another snake another scream dad has to sit down now he is out of breathe and holding his belly ...well i wasa glad he was haveing such fun but i still remeber that very scary morning... i still went on and killed a few bunnies that day. as i remeber dad didnt kill any!
#2now a full grown man of probably 22 i was deer hunting with a bow forgot my deer stand in a rush after work ,but had a stool so went to where i wnated to go and sat still got inbettweeen some trees and some bushes and put deer s\cent on as time went bye i began to let my mind wander when all the sudden out of nowhere is 2 big bucks any mag would love to have on its cover standing not 15 ft from me wiuth a few does i decide not to be picky as the smallest of the 2 was closest and easiest shot wne t to pull my bow back when i realised i didnt have the strength to do it,,as i wrestles with it the arrows starts hitting the bow which scares the deer and they run off.. i am so shaken i just decide to go i get back to truck trip and fall mind stilll wandering lol...not beliveing how i didnt even get a shot cause i couldnt pull the bow back i shoot all the time...gop to store to get a coke to settle me i grab for the door handle and lean back while i am supposed to be grabbing it miss it and fall backwards.. kinda embarresing.buy the coke open it as i go outside not sure if i was still shakeing or what but then coke spues all over me when i open it.i thought that day really sucked!

My worst day happened 3 years ago towards the end of the season on a Sunday. I had 2 dogs (Harry and Ready) and a new pup (Daisy) that hadn't opened up on a rabbit yet. It hadn't been a very good day but we finally got to a spot that is usually pretty good. I noticed Daisy showing all the signs of smelling a rabbit and she opened up on a track, I saw the rabbit several yards in front of her and thought everything was great. The other dogs came, started running the rabbit, and got way out in front of where Daisy was. They disapperared over the hill and I waited for them to come back around. They kept getting farther away and after several minutes I couldn't hear them anymore. I knew what happened, they jumped a deer over the hill and got on it, but they were too far gone for me to call or shock them off it. I searched, called, and waited a few hours for them but they didn't come back. I took Daisy back to the truck and drove the surrounding roads, asked at houses, and still didn't find them. Nobody called that night, but I figured they would show up at someone's house and hopefully they would call. The next morning my wife called me on her way to work. She told me that she saw a beagle dead on the road on her way to work. I went out to check and there was Harry in the middle of a bridge about 3 miles from where we were hunting the day before. It was a very sad day for both me and my wife as he was a good dog with one bad habit (deer). The good news was that we did get Ready back OK, she was found by the people who live just on the other side of that same bridge. I still have Ready and Daisy is now a very good dog. But since then I have been much more cautious about keeping track of my dogs and calling/shocking them off sooner when things don't seem right.

This happened to a good hunting buddy of mine....but I'm this sure fellow would say it was his worst hunting story. This fellow was not much of a deer hunter, not really much of a hunter but really wanted to go deer hunting. My buddy took him to a place that required them to take about a 30 min. hike up the side of steep ridge to get to their stands. They met realy early that morning b/c my buddy new this fellow was overweight and was going to be moving slow up that ridge. Well, we aways carry our coveralls in b/c you can work up a sweat hiking even in freezing weather. This fellow was bundled up, wearing everything he had w/ a big pair of coveralls on top.

Sure enough, this fellow was really huffing and puffing up the side of the ridge. My buddy was getting frustrated b/c they were running late. When this big fellow out of breath said he had to take care of some business. Well that really got my buddy pretty frustrated , but there was nothing he could do. This fellow started unzipping and unbuttoning layers and finally got squatted behind a tree. A few minutes later he reappears re-zipping and re-buttoning all his layers and just before they start back up the ridge the big ole fellow flips his cover all hood up over his head and let out a big squall !!!..............you guessed it, he had taken a dump in his hood!!

I cant beleive I am going to tell you this but here goes.Several years back during the early goose season I woke up early one saturday and deciced to go back behind the house and see if I could bust a couple. Well about 20 minutes before sun up I was struck with the erge to go. Now I usually carry toilet paper with me but I seacher my pack to no avale and since I was in a corn feild that had been picked and bushhogged there wasnt anything there. I tried to wait it out but it became apparent I needed to go and go now. Well I could see the house light off in the distance and figured I could get there and back before the action started. So I trudged off in a discussed mood when I reached the fence behind the house. I could have just walked down the fence row 150 feet and walked through a open gate but no I had to climb over . So I climbed up and threw my first leg over and proceeded to jump down I found out half way down my other pant leg was tangeled in the barb wire. I landed flat on my back with one leg up in the air and yep you guessed it . After about 5 minutes of cussing and trying to get my pants free I began the walk of shame up that final 100 feet of yard. To make matters worse my wife at the time saw me coming and met me at the door. She wanted to know why I was walking like a bow legged cowboy that had chaffed thighs All I could say was shut up as I headed for the shower I havent goose hunted since

PREACHERS KENNEL wrote: i am so shaken i just decide to go i get back to truck trip and fall mind stilll wandering lol...not beliveing how i didnt even get a shot cause i couldnt pull the bow back i shoot all the time...

LMAO! We call that "buck fever" up here. I don't usually suffer from it, but if I get interrupted or have to pull my gun back down...

One time I was deer hunting (had a "guide" of sorts along with me) and he whispers, "You see that buck comin' down the bank?" I was already drawn up on it and following it just bit to bust him when he cleared two little trees - about a 65-yd shot. So I go "Yeah, I got him" The guy whispers loudly "NO! WAIT!" (I'm like what the heck - is there a person down range or what) I lowered my gun. He continues "When that buck gets to this side he will turn and come right past you.. "(5 feet away). Needless to say, the buck chose this day to turn the other way, I didn't get my shot, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The weeble-wobbles had set in so badly I couldn't have raised the gun again if I had to, lol. the best I coulda done was use the stock to clobber the guy on the head. I don't hunt "with" anybody anymore. I had a good shot and should have taken it.

I have alot of them but one that I always remember is trying snuff (red man I think) for the first time. I was 15, my first deer hunt. My dad and a couple of uncles told me my hunt would'nt be offical until I tried some of this stuff. Well it was about fifteen minutes later when I reached my stand, but I was so dizzy and sick I just sat next to the tree the whole time. Hunting was the farthest thing from my mind. A deer could have came up and kissed me that day, I would'nt have cared. My dad and uncles laughed the whole way home. They made that a traditon because I can't wait to get my boys. lol