As I'm about one week from departure to Wyoming from St. Louis for an elk hunt I thought it might be fun to start a thread on what you may have forgotten on previous trips.

It wasn't a hunting trip for me but I was once going to try and photograph some Tundra Swans about an hour from home. To maintain "blind integrity" I'm a believer in being in the blind quiet about an hour before sunrise coinciding with first light typically. Anyway, I got out to the spot to discover that I had neglected to bring my tripod...which is kind of required when doing relatively low light photography with slow speed film. I just turned around and went home and spent the morning drinking coffee and doing chores. Just kind of laughed about it.

Should I do something equally absent-minded on this trip, however, it might cause me heartburn of the mind and wallet.

Anything come to mind?

Once, a long time ago, I had drawn a cow elk tag for the Mt St Helens area. Wasn't 500 miles, but it was about a 5 hour drive. Got my cow down, and found I had left the cow tag sitting at home! While I gutted, skinned, and quartered her, my Dad went home and got the tag. He was checked both going and coming. I had packed the meat out to a road, he found me (it was pitch black by then, raining) and we loaded the meat and left for home. All check stations had closed by then, no stops anywhere. At least it was tagged. And, I don't think I have ever forgotten that little detail again. Nor was I permitted to forget. Paid for the gas, too.

And drove home!!

I just got back from an antelope hunt in New Mexico and a friend of mine related a hilarious story to me while sitting around a fire the first night. He had just gotten back from a mule deer hunt with Kim Bonnet's Bucks and Bulls. Excited to be hunting in the land of huge bucks, he was up early the first morning of the hunt. He and the guide gathered their gear and headed to a remote area of the ranch they were hunting to be there before first light. As they got to the area they were going to glass, they exited the guides truck and began to adjust their packs for the hike up. That's when my pal grabbed his rifle and was going to put rounds in the magazine. Much to his chagrin, he discovered he had not put the bolt in his rifle when he hurriedly pulled it from his guncase the night before. Sheepishly, he looked at the guide and had to confess his small problem. Two hours later, at 9:00 that morning, he began his hunt with a functioning rifle! There is a happy ending, however. His buck missed 200 inches by only one whole inch. All's well that ends well!

the last time I forgot something- I took a friend kayak fishing at Galveston. got down there at dawn unloaded the yaks and fishing gear- forgot both paddles

it was the first day of MardiGras in Galveston so we went and sat on the deck of the FishTails restaurant- drank some beers- ate some barbque shrimp and watched the MardiGras parade go down Seawall Drive.



we made it back at dawn the next morning and had a good fishing trip.

I was hunting mule deer in Salt Rock Canyon in New Mexico when I was in my 20s. I decided to drop over the top and hunt the slope covered in blow-downs and thick timber. I worked my way over and under and around. I sensed something and looked up-slope just in time to see a great buck stand up out of its bed. His neck was framed in the only opening possible for a shot. I nailed him and he dropped back into his bed. He was easily the biggest buck I had ever taken. I just sat and marveled at him.

I then left him as-is, topped out and worked my way back towards camp. I bumped into my brother-in-law and told him what I had. He offered to help. I told him the two of us weren't enough. We located our two other hunters, went back for the jeep and climbed the mountain.

I didn't forget where the buck was. We found him and four of us took two hours to clean him, work him uphill less than 200 yards through the blowdowns and get him loaded in the jeep.

Two men took off towards camp and I road the buck off the mountain. By the time we got back the horns had carved the upholstery off the back seat. That's my brother-in-laws favorite memory, since it was his jeep.

People from other camps came to look at him. The game department showed up. They said it was the biggest buck taken in some years. I took a roll of photos and debated whether to have him shoulder mounted. I remember as a kid seeing my dad's buck on the wall. I thought it was huge. I told myself if I ever shot a buck bigger than that I would have it mounted.

By the time I got home days later, I decided that he was not THAT big, not bigger than my dad's, so I sawed the horns off. I re-wound the film in the camera and immediately got a sick feeling. I kept re-winding until I knew I had screwed up. I popped the back, and an empty camera was all I had. No film, no photos of the buck of my dreams.

The final blow was months later when I visited my dad with my horns. His bucks rack fit inside my rack with about four inches to spare on either side.

I travel just about every week for my business. This week I went to pick up my rental car and discovered I forgot to bring any credit cards. So far, my internet bookings have saved me.

I once forgot my driver's license; luckily, my client picked me up at the airport.

Eye drops. The smoke from the fire was about more than I could stand.

A bigger truck to haul all the stuff I pack to keep from forgetting anything I "might" need!!!

Toilet Paper.



Leo M. When did they make you have a trigger lock on your rifle to transport it in NB?

Ditto on the GD key for the GD trigger lock here in Canada. I wasn't 500 miles from home but I missed one of the best duck season openers that there's been for a long time.

I made it to the field with everything but ammo once. Luckily my buddy was using the same caliber. He only had 5 bullets. He let me have a bullet, and I got my buck with it.

The key for my trigger lock.

kk

I set up camp and was getting my hunting gear ready for a bear hunt on Prince of Wales earlier this month, with all the carfull packing I managed to leave my spoting scope and range finder at home. It turned out I didnt realy need them anyway, but if I had there wasnt any thing I could do about it anyhow.

Jamie