Will you share your mistakes?

[fourfive8]

You could say that. Let's see. Fingers almost cut off by a skilsaw. Shrapnel from shooting. One side of left index finger shredded by table saw. Hammered too many times to count. Middle finger broken catching baseball. All that and I still have it and it works.

Oh, I was just thinking mistakes related to hunting and fishing- hah. I know all about table saws and fingers. Fast grabbers aren't they!! I have some scars on top of leg from skilsaw and a long scar on a knee cap from a chainsaw. But the dangerous machine is the table saw- missing a finger to one. Got nine more and not enough years left to use them up.

 

[Randy F]

Oh, I was just thinking mistakes related to hunting and fishing- hah. I know all about table saws and fingers. Fast grabbers aren't they!! I have some scars on top of leg from skilsaw and a long scar on a knee cap from a chainsaw. But the dangerous machine is the table saw- missing a finger to one. Got nine more and not enough years left to use them up.

Try to hang on to your trigger finger would ya?

 

[Longwalker]

Driving a snowmobile after becoming way too tired from a long trip around the trapline. Hit two ridges of hard packed snow in a row, while only going about 30 KM/Hr. Just enough to make me lose my balance. Fell off the machine in slow motion. Left my foot attached though. Splitting your Tibia lengthwise is not recommended for someone who likes to walk long distances over rough country while hunting. The stainless steel screws in my knee remind me most days about how foolish I was.

 

[Probono]

There has been a few...

Taking the wrong hunting partner. I hade a huge buck coming in to my tree stand. It was just about to step out of heavy brush so I could fire. Before it could step out here comes my hunting partner yelling to see if I had seen anything. The buck took off of course. It was 10:30 am, the plan was to meet back at the truck at 12 noon. I could've shot him, but I didn't. Never saw that buck again.

 

[meigsbucks]

I was in my mid 20’s and a guy from work wanted to go deer hunting with me. So I took him to a 100 acre woodlot I had permission to hunt. I put him on this hillside at the edge of a swampy valley. I went about three hundred yards up the valley. About an hour goes by and I start smelling skunk. Soon after that, I hear something coming up behind me from the direction opposite where my friend was. It was him! I asked him what’s going on. He had a bottle of skunk masking scent and spilled the entire bottle. It was so bad he couldn’t stand it. I thought it would be pointless to even hunt that evening but suprisingly we both shot deer that evening.

During the ‘80’s I hunted a few times with an outfitter in MT. I developed a reputation for falling and sliding down mountains. One day he and I were working our way down a hillside. He heard a crash and turned around to see me in a laurel bush with only my arms and legs sticking out. He was laughing so hand, he almost rolled down the mountain himself. From that time on, whenever a client fell he called it a Wayne’r.

 

[IvW]

Do not pass up a good trophy animal and then decide a day or two later your PH must find it again......

Have fun and enjoy your trip....

 

[Probono]

Drove an hour to hunting spot, made the mile walk back to my stand. Climb up in climber, get situated, bag hung, bow in holder. Sat down to relax and wait for sun to come up. Hear something coming thru the woods, getting excited, heart rate climbing, grab bow,shit where is my release. Scramble as quietly as possible as doe walks thru shooting lane, FUCK I left my release at home. I now carry a spare in my pack.

Year was 2003, was on call for second weekend of gun season. Had gotten called into work. After working met my dad where we were hunting. Left hunting boots on boot drier and only had my work boots to wear. No big deal, they are covered in diesel fuel, oil and grease, deer smell that all the time on farm equipment right...... Sitting in fenceline adjacent to a small patch of woods. Look into the woods and see what I thought was two does walking away from me. Wind was not in my favor, then what I thought were two does turned his head. I about shit my pants. Biggest deer I had ever seen in my life. He catches my scent and bounds off, replay that scene over adn over in my head all the time

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The universe does not hold enough gigabyte space for me start in on my mistakes but two of them are…

1. Not hunting Africa sooner.

2. Not hunting Africa more.

I can’t do anything about the first one but working hard on the second.

@RandyF
Like yourself I have made more mistakes than I care to admit BUT hopefully I learnt something from them and they made me who and what I am today. I would change any of them if I had the chance to do it all again.
Yes I got to Africa late in life but I did it with the 2 people I love the most, and got there before all this shit that is happening now. A mistake, I don't think so . A joy and a privilege definitely.
Bob.