From: shade mt
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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What's the worst storm you have ever endured while afield?
I can think of a few.
My sons and I were camped out on the side of White mt in the bald eagle state forest. During the night a storm hit, I thought it would rip the tent to shreds, oldest son and I each held on to a tent pole trying to keep it up...was so loud we had to yell back and forth. Found out a tornado had touched down a couple miles away.
A wet Oct snowstorm when the leaves were still on the trees there were so many trees and branches crashing down around me I was about an 1 1/2 hr hike back in. might have been the scariest 1 1/2 ever getting out.
Sat on stand when hurricane Sandy was pounding the east coast, couldn't have been any wetter.
Years ago I sat through a nasty thunderstorm the first day of archery. I have sat through numerous thunderstorms over the years but the odd thing about this one is first thing in the Morning my neighbor had walked past me I watched him go down the ridge and climb up in a large tree that was fallen over and leaning up against another one. During the storm that tree crashed to the ground while he was in it! I thought OMG! was getting ready to climb down and go help him when he came scrambling up out of the branches! He walked under my tree stand and I called out to him. He looked up and said HOLY CRAP DID YOU SEE THAT! I can laugh about it now but it sure wasn't funny at the time.
In northern PA I sat all day in heavy rain I killed a buck that day and when I was dragging him out of the mt. A creek (trout run) I had to cross was now a swirling white water flash flood! I hiked up and down the creek and found where a huge dead hemlock had fallen over against a 10' or 15' rock face...I drug him to it tied more rope on and went across while letting the buck flop in the current. Looking back it was kinda dumb I should have left him till the next day. To hike out another way would have been a couple mile ordeal with other streams to try and cross.
Another time back in the mts on a very rainy day there was a swinging foot bridge on two cable that the local hunting camps had built to get across the creek. I crossed it that night when the water was up to the wooden plank. and it was swinging.
When I was in my early 20's I tent camped in northern PA in hammersley fork back in the mts during the late season. It got so cold ( far below zero)the trees were popping as the sap was freezing. I wasn't prepared for it my bag was not rated nearly low enough. It was one long brutal night.
As much time as I have spent in the mt over the years I have seen about every type of weather imaginable but those couple times kinda stick in my head.
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From: Will tell
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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The worse for me was high winds. When the trees and limbs started falling I gave up.
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From: shade mt
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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I have to agree Will. I can take rain, sleet, snow thunderstorms ect....but when those branches and trees start crashing down.......I'm outa there.
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From: throwback
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Not as impressive as some of the above, but one of the most memorable storms I've hunted in was about twenty years ago. I was hunting at a buddy's camp and it was raining a little and windy when I climbed into the treestand he'd set me up in, at the end of an old beaver dam the deer were using to cross the creek. It was a big pine and the stand was about 25' up, higher than I would have gone myself, considering how close it was to the dam and the shot angle it offered, but it was nice of him to offer the stand and beggars can't be choosers, anyway.
About an hour in, the rain and wind picked up and I was already soaked, so I thought I'd give it a little while longer and pack it up. About that time a doe crossed from my left to right somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 yards, with a decent buck right behind her with his nose glued to her butt. I forgot all about being cold and wet and decided to hang around and see what might develope. Half the time when they use the trail she was on, they'll swing right and cross the dam, so I was hoping.
By now the wind was really starting to pick up, driving the rain directly into my face and rocking the pine I was in from front to back at rate that made me glad I was wearing a safety harness.
I sat there for another couple hours and watched a parade of bucks, the likes of which I've never seen before or since, follow that doe's track. The first was the nicest, but a couple of the others would have gotten shot at if they were closer and I wasn't in a stand that was flying around like a carnival ride at the time.
When I saw the second buck, I wished I'd gotten down, walked over and hid in a juniper bush that they'd walked by, but I really didn't expect to see another buck, let alone a parade and I was half expecting the doe to swing to her right, into a stand of spruce and then come across the dam under me. I would have needed a lull in the wind at just the right time anyway, to have been able to take an ethical shot if they had come my way. What an afternoon in the woods.
That's not the worst storm I've hunted in, but It's one of the most memorable.
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From: rick allison
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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I won't hunt in heavy rain...and have a REAL healthy respect for lightning.
But, I get it about getting caught in the outback.
We were tent camping in the Wyoming Bighorns canyon country several years ago in mid October hunting mulies.
Long story short, I was after a dandy 5x5 after getting ahead of him several times while descending into a 2600' canyon. When I spotted him, from the top, right at 1st light I dropped my canteen belt & pack, backed away from the rim, and sprinted about 100 yards to try to get ahead.
He had dropped down, so I dropped also and repeated step one.
After several times, I was half way down and about a mile from my pack when a fierce snow storm hit.
I climbed out, retrieved my stuff, and kept on the hunt until things got REALLY nasty. I orienteered my way the couple miles to camp in a whiteout.
We hunkered down to wait it out...which we did...by the third day. In typical fall mountain fashion, the day after the storm broke it was 75ยบ. This was at 8600' elevation.
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From: RymanCat
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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I wont hunt in the heavy rain either just not worth it for me for deer. Turkeys yes. Big wind storms never liked them when they come up. I just get down and leave if in a tree but that probably has changed for me this year having to probably totally be in blind I'm thinking. I have had the wind so bad that it nearly blew me out of the tree. I hold on and get down and leave. Also sleet storms its like cutting ice just not worth it.
Different story while out bird hunting with dog all bets off on ground so it doesn't much matter. I been out in snow so deep with dog had a hard time getting trough and thought this is simple minded risking injury to us me and dog.
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From: Babbling Bob
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Shade - great post!
Brings back a few memories but not as experienced out there as you and some who pack back in.
Did remember one of those 5-inch windy rains in Oklahoma one fall and we wondered how that canvas tent would hold up when we were in it making coffee and listening to a country truck driver music on my Panasonic radio. The kind that played Red Sovine, Sonny James, and Johnny, Hank, and Lefty. Used a black plastic garbage bag for a rain parka.
Also was snowed-in a few years later in winter, deer hunting in a Starcraft Tent Camper in the Ozarks in Arkansas. Arkansas had a second late season for deer then. Left the camper and went back a got it a month later.
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From: Jeff Durnell
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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I put a portable stand in a giant wild cherry tree one day with plans to hunt it the next morning. The tree was near the top of a side hill, open field behind it for a thousand yards, the direction the prevailing wind came from.... which might explain why the tree was split and hanging at the first Y. My stand was just above the split on the remaining half of the tree. I know, risky, but I was young, foolhardy, and it was the only tree in this tight bottleneck big enough to put a stand in. I had been seeing a big buck in this immediate area. (I just came by there about an hour ago btw).
I was in the stand as a storm rolled in just as daylight approached. The wind was fierce at times and I sure regretted putting my stand in the damaged tree, even turned to hug it a few times so I wouldn't fall out. If I wasn't too scared to club down, I would have. I thought, as soon as I could let go of the tree, I was getting the heck out of there.
Then, to make a long story short-ish, the big boy showed up and I killed him :^) Still the biggest I've taken decades later. And no, I'd never do that again. Stupid.
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From: deerfly
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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In Fl its lightening, I don't care about getting wet, getting fried not so much. Been in lots of bad storms hunting and fishing through the years, but the worst I've ever experienced was in the early 70's at a place called Fish Eating Creek just west of lake Okeechobee. Was still in highschool and me and a couple buddies were there preseason scouting, which was early August, one of the worst months of the year for daily afternoon thunderstorms along any of the flood plains in the state. The lightening frequency and closeness was just unreal. We were literally scared for our lives. I've never been in anything like it since, unless you want to include hurricane Andrew, but that wasn't hunting. :)
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From: StikBow
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Hunting caribou on an island in the Aleutians when a storm ran from the Bering Sea side. We almost belly crawled over the ridge to get out of it-no wonder there are no trees out there
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From: shade mt
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Enjoyed the story's especially the ones where it ended in success.
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From: Elkpacker1
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Got c. aught in the mountains while riding my horse . you would think a train was cokming up the ridge. I just took my horse down into a ravine whch shielded us from the wind and rode it out. Was not fun and the horse was freaked at first
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From: Buzz
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Had a chinook sweep over us in Alberta years ago.
Chasing decoys was fun.
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From: Longcruise
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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Heavy lightning in a boulder field at 13,000'. We could see the lightning strikes all around us. We high tailed it for lower ground and were lucky. Then it started to rain and didn't stop for a couple days.
We went home. LOL
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From: limbwalker
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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"won't hunt in heavy rain...and have a REAL healthy respect for lightning"
This.
Look, this is just hunting folks. Anyone who puts their life on the line for hunting is nuts IMO.
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From: Dubber
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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On a guid d rifle hunt near Gunnison mid 80s. Horse backed in 3 hours and 2nd to last day of hunt guide informed everyone to stay close to camp next morning due to high winds and snow storm coming in morning . A twelve year old young man was killed the next morning when an aspen tree broke off and fell on him . The guide had gone to pack out some drop camp guys and when he got back to camp we had to pack the young lad off the mountain. Until then I wasn't aware how dangerous aspen trees were in a storm. Never forget that.
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From: Dubber
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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On a guided rifle hunt near Gunnison mid 80s. Horse backed in 3 hours and 2nd to last day of hunt guide informed everyone to stay close to camp next morning due to high winds and snow storm coming in morning . A twelve year old young man was killed the next morning when an aspen tree broke off and fell on him . The guide had gone to pack out some drop camp guys and when he got back to camp we had to pack the young lad off the mountain. Until then I wasn't aware how dangerous aspen trees were in a storm. Never forget that.
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From: Dubber
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Date: 13-Aug-17 |
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I should have added temps were in teens and we were later told winds had probably been in excess of 70 knots. The sound of that wind was unbelievable . I understand the aspens become brittle and the wind snaps them off. We had a hard time coming off the mountain due to trees broken down across the trail for several miles. RIP Justin
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From: dean
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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heading out to hunt turkeys in May. I thought a little rain ain't nothing. Then I noticed the blue in the storm clouds coming and constant lightening. While I was running for the van, lightening hit a large cottonwood tree crossed the field, I ran faster. A few golf balls bounced off my van, been there done, I didn't care i was dry. I was thinking about fishing my sandwich and cup of tea then I saw it at the tail end of the storm, the wall cloud. i was hoping that it would remain just a way cloud and miss me. It did neither, and it was coming on real fast a huge tornado. That old van had never gone that fast ever before, foot on the floor and i had to go a half mile towards the tornado, just to get on a road that would run at a a right angle to the tornado. The best Dukes of Hazard high speed gravel road corner ever.
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From: TrapperKayak
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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TNTM, but I stay out of the woods on windy days now. Have been caught way up far into the mountians in storms many times. Washington can have some wicked winds. And the trees are huge. NY has lightning and wind, that's it. Oh, and snow, bring that on!!!
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From: Wild Bill
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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When I trekked into my location there was six inches of snow on the ground and below freezing temps. Sky was clear and stars bright, a couple of hours later in daylight, from over the hill to my west the sky appeared black. A front moved over me and while the temperatures dropped some more, snow started falling in big flakes. I slowly began to feel colder than normal and realized hypothermia was coming to me real soon. I struggled with stiff limbs to climb down, bundle my stand and gear and post hole march my route back out to my truck in almost two feet of snow. The effort warmed me some, but the truck heater was my saving heat. Then the drive home in the storm was a challenge. I'm real careful about checking weather forecasts now.
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From: Marshall
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Had a Tornado on the ground less than 100 yards from me while hunting whitetail In TN during my college days. Several trees that I couldn't wrap my arms around were falling all around me while sitting in the tree, pretty scary day for sure.
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From: N. Y. Yankee
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Just a couple real heavy rain storms and one winter white out during late season where I couldnt tell which way to go to cross a big open field. That was fun.
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From: JusPassin
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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This is an interesting topic. As a kid growing up in NE Iowa I always enjoyed going out for the day in the worst kind of weather. I knew where every cave, blow down, abandoned shack, etc. was and took particular pleasure in being able to deal with mother nature. Something instinctual about that.
I think my most extreme hunting trip involved a jaunt to the Black Hills for Mule deer. It was a nice fall weekend, but Sunday night I woke up to my tent folding down on me from snow. By morning it was 17 degrees and a bit of a blizzard.
By Tuesday afternoon, most of the snow was gone and it was back up to 50 degrees.
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From: Bowmania
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Early bow season Northern WI I was in a climbing Baker death trap treestand. Little breeze and then quiet dead quiet. Then a little breeze. Started to hear a train and I could think of where there were any tracks. I was just puzzled, because I knew the area well enough to know there weren't any tracks around. Before I figured it out the wind was blowing and I just didn't have time to get out of the stand.
Leaves and small branches were blowing around and I felt like they were whipping me. I bear hugged the tree and with my right hand grabbed my hat and pulled it over my face. The treestand went right to the ground. A tree near me that was about 18 inches in diameter snapped off and hit me in the right thigh. Almost knocked me down from the tree. Don't know how long it lasted, maybe a minute or two.
When it got calm again I shimmied down. My bow and arrows were at the bottom of the tree not too far away. I heard some noise and saw a doe and a fawn running straight for me. I grabbed the bow and nocked an arrow. They stopped about 20 feet from me. I had the bow pointed in their direction, but my hands were shaking and the arrow was rattling against the bow window. They looked at me for 10 20 seconds and got the heck out of there.
I started walking back to the cabin where I was staying. Just a hundred yards away every tree in the wood was snapped off. Kind of looked like a clear cut without the lumber taken off. The ruined tree area was about 150 yards wide and as far as I could see long all was flattened. Pretty sure you wouldn't be reading this if there was better deer sign in this area.
I got to the cabin and couldn't see my car. There were some huge oaks in the yard. One of them snapped off and was on top of, and over the car. I drove it out from under and had one little scratch near the trunk.
I was limping pretty hard on the way to the cabin. I pulled my pants down to look and found a good sized bruise. After a day or so it was football shaped and black and blue. Gland it didn't hit me in the knee.
Another time I was sheep hunting in CO. I was above timberline and had sheep spotted a couple of hundred yards away. A storm came in and it started snowing so hard that at times you couldn't see 20 feet. Well, when that was happening I was running. Then it would stop and I'd stop. Snow again and I was on the move.
I'm thinking this is the greatest weather the good lord could have sent my way until the thunder and lightening started. I was now about 50 yards from the sheep under a bit of cover kneeling. All of a sudden I could feel static electricity in my hat band. I dropped the bow with aluminum arrows and rolled about 30 feet and stayed put. Never saw the sheep again.
I'm not a firm believer in dying in bed at 90. I'll take cashing in the chips on a mountain or in the woods.
Bowmania
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From: shade mt
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Limbwalker.....
You don't have much choice if your a long hike from getting out.
Doubtful anyone here goes out hunting in a thunderstorm , tornado ect....LOL ... but some of have been caught out in bad storms at which time none of us would sit up high and out in the open on some talus slope exclaiming.."awe look at the pretty lightning" LOL!
Anyway rain don't bother me, and I've sat out thunderstorms simply because before I got out, they will more than likely pass over anyway.
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From: GLF
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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We were elk hunting in Montana a couple years after I had move back to Ohio. It was the first week of season and weather was perfect. About our 3rd or 4th night we went to bed it was about 60 degrees. When we got up in the morning one our temt pole was bent down. Looked out n it had turned cold and snowed a bunch. Once we got out we could see our 4x4 wasn't leaving those mountains but we were gonna try using the winch n spud bar.After we got loaded upwe made it about 100 yards before we hit our firt snag. the snow pon humps was 3 or 4 inches but the wind had blown everything flat with snow. We hit a low spot in the road where the snow was 8 or 10 ft deep. I was about to wlak out when we heard heavy equipment. Here came a small dozer to our rescue. When he got to us he explained a logging company had came up after one of their men n saw us. He worked for them. Anyhow I told him I wwas about to walk out when he got there. He said it was 45 below zero. Anyhow he'd push a little snow then warm his hands over the stack sowe gave him whatever we had that might help keep him warm till he got us out. Then told him to keep the stuff.When we got to Butte we found out all the passes were closed to instead of hunting we spent the next few days in a motel room till they cleared the pass. This is our rescuer. As you can see there the snow was not bad on high spots. But the dips in the road were filled so he had to plow our thru the sagebrush to go around those.
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From: GLF
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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When we got down to the valley below there were elk everywhere on the ranches. Lol, they beat us out of there.
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From: pondscum2
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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have sat in tree stand with rain blowing horizontally. was in a stand once in Tellico watching a field when the first bolt of a thunderstorm hit a tree about 75 yards away from me. amazing how fast you can get down out of a tree if properly motivated...
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From: George D. Stout
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Never got caught in storms while hunting, but once while in a tree stand...in February, when it was 12 degrees out and the wind was blowing....I was shivering like a hound dog poopin carpet tacks and just barely was able to get down the tree safely. I think I damn near shivered for two days after that.
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From: Babysaph
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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I've been like that George.
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From: Lowcountry
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Date: 14-Aug-17 |
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Only had one semi-bad episode while hunting. A buddy and I were turkey hunting in a swamp bottom one afternoon when a storm blew up. We we sitting there when it was just like someone flipped a switch. The wind kicked up pretty hard, and all of a sudden branches and leaves were falling all over the place. A medium sized dead tree fell over about 30 yards away and that was our cue to get out of Dodge.
The one time I was really concerned though (too young and dumb to be scared) was fishing. Same buddy and I got caught well over a mile from shelter on a beach in a violent thunder storm. We were the tallest thing on the beach for over a mile with lighting popping all around us and 10 ft surf rods in our hands. It wasn't until we made shelter that I thought about how lucky we really were.
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From: Pappy
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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Love these stories, thanks for sharing. Pappy
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From: shade mt
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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Cold Jan late season....Ive noticed its a lot easier crawling in to your treestand in the morning than it is crawling back down in the evening after sitting all day for sure.
What is really comical is I sat in a beech tree one late season not to many years ago. Hunted all week out of the same stand. beginning of the week I hunted morning and evening without seeing anything, But I saw tracks in the snow. So I thought possibly because it was so cold the deer were moving in the afternoon when the temps got into the balmy low teens.
So I crawled up into my stand before daylight temps a couple degrees below zero...sat all day....In the evening when the sun was setting and the temps dropped I like George was shivering pretty bad. The thought occurred to me ..can I even draw my bow back? Lol... took me around 3 or 4 tries.
I had to laugh at myself, you fool ya just sat here dark to dark shivering and ya can barely get your bow back! hah! Its a wonder every deer in the county didn't come past. But it was another deerless day.
Climbing down through the beech branches...was a task that for sure.
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From: mahantango
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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A few years back I was about 18 feet up a hickory opening morning of Pa rifle season. As the sun came up, so did the wind. By 8:00am I was facing the tree, hugging it, and by 9:00 the motion sickness set in. Had to climb down to keep from puking.
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From: Hal9000
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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Public area, checking out a corn field/timber edge, but too close to the timber to see the sky off to the west. Big black roll of clouds were coming in and I was quite a ways from the truck. Rained so hard my chore boots were completely full of water. Had to stop every now and then on the way back to empty them out as the water from my clothes would refill them. Was using a Cat Quiver... my feathers were dry :)
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From: buckabow
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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George what were you hunting in February out of a tree stand?
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From: Bowmania
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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Here's one about good or neat weather that caused me trouble. We have a huge wildlife refuge mid eastern side of WI. Probably 100 SSW of Green Bay. Late October and I walked out to some islands of trees through a cattails marsh. It was 25 degrees and calm. It's about a 45 minute walk and on the trail the water is 6 inches to a foot deep. I had two sets of felt liners on my feet and knee high rubber boots.
I sat until dark and could have shot a good eight, but not good enough to drag him out on a 45 minute regular walk. Right at dusk it started snowing. Dead calm, but the snow flakes were the side of silver dollars. I started out on my trail, bow and treestand on my back. Not 10 minutes into my walk it really started to come down no wind, but so hard at times I could only see 10 feet. Other times not much more than 20 feet. I have a head light on my head and I'm kind of enjoying the weather. UNTIL I loose the trail.
Now the water is sometimes a foot deep, but in most places it's two feet. Plus because of the felt liners each foot weights 30 pounds. In addition, I have to break trail and the old growth cattails are at mid thigh level. Every step is a huge effort and I have probably 40 minutes if I'm going in the right direction. But I'm in good shape.
I have a compass in my right hand. One of those little balls with a clip. Don't know why I didn't clip it on, because if I drop it I'm dead. I suspect I was afraid to clip it on, because that's when I might drop it.
I'm walking west. Walked over an hour and my feet started to get numb. After another 10 minutes they were so numb I started to stumble every once in a while. Snow gave up a little and I could see a woods to the north. But I had to go a tad south to catch a trail that my truck was on. So I didn't want to go N. Looked at my watch and decided if I didn't figure out where I was in 5 minutes I'd have to go north to that woods and start a fire.
I kid you not!!!!!!!!! One minute to go and I saw a familiar tree line. I still had to walk a good distance to get to the tree line and then the truck.
Once I got to the truck, I stripped down and got the heat blasting. Lucky in WI there's a bar every 10 miles in any direction. I found one in a little town called Burnett on the western side of the marsh. Another good thing about WI almost all those bars have a grills. Got to warm up, ate, and of course rehydrate.
Weird how a little thing like felt liners almost killed me.
Bowmania
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From: twigflicker
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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Some great stories fellas...
Youth has a way of showing our ignorance or stupidity...
I was just a couple months past my 17th birthday... a buddy and I decided we were going to go out an join another friend who was camping on his family's place... it was a great setup... they would drive their RV across the creek and park it up in the field for us through the entire bow season... yeah... pretty cushy setup...
Anyway, when we got there in the pre-dawn hours... the creek which was normally a trickle was probably mid-shin deep... no biggie, we were young and macho... waded right across, could care less if our feet got wet... we had hunting to do...
We spent the morning in the woods... it didn't rain that hard through the morning, but off and on showers till about noon we decided we were wet enough and started back to the truck... on the way I stopped to get my duffel bag from the camper... one of those "mega duffels" that was full of clothes and whatnot...
When we got back to the creek it was no longer mid shin but closer to mid chest and rolling pretty good... we didn't have any alternative plans or ways back to the truck and here's where the stupidity kicked in... my friend and I both started wading across... Jack got across without to much difficulty as he didn't have any extra baggage... me on the other hand started floating downstream a bit with the duffel acting like a bobber and me trying to keep my bow up out of the water...
I ended up a hundred yards or more downstream when I finally got across and considered that fortunate... when I think back on this more than 30 years later it absolutely scares the crap out of me... what could have been...
Lesson learned...
Jonathan
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From: Lowcountry
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Date: 15-Aug-17 |
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I had one more close call, but it wasn't weather related. Years ago I climbed a tree with my climber. Unbeknownst to me, I set up under a walnut tree that every squirrel in the county was visiting. My lord, there needed to be a sign stating: "HARD HATS REQUIRED".
I tell you, I barely made it out alive. Lol
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From: shade mt
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Date: 16-Aug-17 |
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How about fog? I have been in the mts quite a few times when the fog rolled in and cut visibility to maybe 50 ft, or even less.
Back before GPS and cell phone my 2nd to oldest son and I Bear hunted in the Sproul state forest, Down over the side of shoemaker branch. Fog rolled in and kept getting worse. Having no compass and needing to go across a wide flat on top full of mt laurel. I decided we better get to heading out. It was like 3:00 in the afternoon and I hated to quit before dark. But I didn't want to risk getting disoriented and be stumbling around in the dark in that fog.
Found him and said "come on boy get your stuff together and lets get out of here while the getting is good"...By the time we got on top you could see nothing, but made it out ok.
Another time my oldest son and I were hunting in the canyon (PA grand canyon) We were parked on top were a road dead ended. It was rifle season and I had shot a nice big doe. Weather got bad, freezing rain mixed with snow and it got windy. I drug her up over (brutal) When I got to the truck I saw my son had left his pack. In it contained his flashlight, lighter extra clothes ect...I thought oh boy....
I headed down over and waited on a point were he would need to come up over in order to hit the road. No point looking for him he could be anywhere for miles and miles.
The weather got worse and it was really raining and windy and cold. I was totally soaked and knew he was too. But I know my sons, and I knew there was no quit in him. About 4:00 in the afternoon I heard a single shot way down the canyon and I just knew it was probably him. I've breathed a quick prayer for my sons more than once in the mt. And that was one of the times because I knew there was no way that boy was gonna be out by dark if that was him.
About 5:00 and very little light left, and the temp dropping fast, rain and heavy wet snow and poor visibility. I began to yell trying to direct him to the right point. If he cut up over at the wrong place he'd miss the road get on top in lots of laurel.
Right at dark here he came...lol...he was really hoofing it. Turns out that was him that shot. It was so steep there she rolled down the mt and went over a cliff and plunged into pine creek and was swept away. I was amazed he made it out as fast as he did. RECORD time for sure. Hiking up a steep mt once, a friend watched my son going up ahead of us, turned and looked at me and said in between gasping for air.."that boys all sinew and grisle"
That time in the canyon its good he was. Here is a pic of the canyon area.
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From: Jim Moore
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Date: 16-Aug-17 |
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Here in NE Nevada like a lot of other places, if you don't like the weather, give it 30 minutes...lol.
Was hunting mulies with a buddy of mine. It was getting on toward the end of the day and we pulled stakes and were heading back toward town. We saw a couple of sizeable, shootable deer but they were "way up on the hill." Me, being somewhat of a mountain goat at the time, decided I could make the hump with no problem. There was a road on the other side of the hill, and I had plans to have my friend pick up there.
Problem was we hadn't noticed the thunderheads on the backside of the mountain. I made it up about 2/3's of the way when the lightning and rain came. It was a gully-washer as they say. The deer bid me vaya con dios and headed the hell out of there. Left me to face the elements my ownself.
I had lightning hitting all around me and it was raining so damn hard I could barely see 50 yards. I hunkered in next to a boulder as it was the only thing I could get next to of any size. Had just got to wondering about "how come I always manage to get myself in these situations" when two bolts hit about 30 yards away. I was slack-jawed and soaking with the hair on my arms standing up a bit.
Made it out of there finally, soaking and shivering, but it was literally a hair raising experience.
Same buddy of mine of mine got into a very similar situation in Arizona whilst javelina hunting. It was raining so damn hard, we were 'walking down a hill" and it had about an inch to an inch and a half of water running down it...the whole hill side.
The little wash we hopped across was now a class 5 rapid that you could hear boulders rolling down. Made it back to a warm tent finally, soaked and shivering.
Have a few other weather adventures in the 45+ years of chasing critters with fur and fins. Losing all references while piloting boat a couple of times in the fog when I lived in Alaska. Thats scared me worse than anything. You really, really don't want to beleive the GPS and compass because your sense of direction is messed up, but you really, really need to force yourself to. Vertigo or something. Kills pilots all the time.
Good stories.
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From: GF
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Date: 16-Aug-17 |
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" You really, really don't want to beleive the GPS and compass because your sense of direction is messed up, but you really, really need to force yourself to. "
My sense of direction - or lack thereof - is Legend among those who truly know me... so I always carry at least 2 compasses into a large area. I'm dumb enough to disagree with one, but not stubborn enough to argue with two! Upside of that, I suppose, is that I'm pretty decent with a map and compass, and I tend to pay a lot closer attention to landmarks than most people do.
In school, I got to do a month-long winter ecology course that saw me out on snowshoes all day, every day in temps that started off at -50 most days. OK as long as you're moving, but these days I marvel at the sheer knucklheadedness of planning to spend an entire day in those temps - covering real miles, and bushwhacking ALL of it - with nobody expecting to see me until dark.
But I never did get into trouble that way. Worst encounter with weather was flyfishing the North Platte and letting a storm get WAAY too close before heading back to the car. Touched the key to the door and felt a strange, cutting sensation where I was holding the rod in my left hand. Put the key into the lock and the cutting sensation turned stronger and tinglier and began to seem familiar. That's when I recognized it from having touched (but not peed on) a few electric fences as a kid...
Scared the spit outta me!
And on the Magic side.... One year I followed a doe mulie and her fawns down off of the mountain in a thick, foggy snowstorm... I trailed them at about 40-50 yards just about all the way home. Never closed in for a shot, but it was its own kind of magic to just share the moment with them....
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From: Bob Rowlands
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Date: 16-Aug-17 |
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An incessant sea to shore night wind on my little mountain tent. Of all places it was at Half Moon bay on the Pacific coast in California, an hour south of San Francisco, in May 1974. I remember the date because the SLA shootout occurred during that trip. Worst sustained wind I ever camped in. Tent flapped like a mofo all night. Learned that lesson the hard way. Never camp on an exposed beach
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