Just pondering...

Anyone ever had a far-n-away hunting trip ruined 'cause you lost/forgot your ammo and couldn't replace it? (ie wildcat chamberings) More importantly, has anyone salvaged that same hunt by finding avaliable factory ammo?

I've never even known anyone who has had this happen, but I know it has to someone...

Well, we weren't in a far away place, but it happened to my brother in our regular deer camp a couple of years ago. He brought his 7mm mag and forgot the ammo. We went down the road a ways to the Walmart and they were out. Luckily for him, I always take a spare rifle and ammo. He was stuck "just" shooting a 308. It was good for several laughs.

My brother in law forgot his gun once on a deer hunt. I make it a point to bring that up at every deer hunt.

Forgot the ammo to my 7mm STW last year going moose hunting. I'm still catching flack from the guys at work for that one. I did have my 454 Casull Encore with me though. Didn't have a scope on it at the time, so any moose would have to get very close. And wouldn't you belive it, I had a nice bull walk up to about 50 yards from me. However, he was just short of legal so I'll have to wait until this fall to get him.

No. But a hunter friend of mine forgot his bolt in the cabin one morning.

Magnar

I have only loss ammo while out hunting, it is still irritating once I lost about 10 30/06 rounds.

I lost 10 rounds of 264 Win Mag ammo off my belt one time while hunting mule deer. I didn't notice it was gone until I was back to the road. I was going to college at the time, so the next afternoon after class I went back out there to look for it. I retraced my previous day's route starting at the river and going up the mountain (very steep.) About a half mile up the hill, I saw a nice two point mulie, so I shot him. That was my first mule deer...I never did find that ammo.

In my teens and 20's the opening day of deer season was a religous holiday for me. I would spend two weeks preparing for the event. One year I started reloading and had worked up a pet load of 165 gr Noslers in a Ruger 30/06. Loaded a box of 50 rounds and left them on the reloading bench. The first morning setting in camp listening to everyone shoot around me was one of the longest mornings in my life. The really strange thing is out of 8 hunters in camp that year I was the only one shooting a 30-06. Not that the bastards (Texan for loyal life long friends) would have loaned me any ammo that morning anyway with a 800.00 dollar pot on the big buck. They thought it was to much gun for Texas White Tails and kicked to much. The times haved changed.

Saludos....Frank

When I was in high school, I hunted deer after school often. One day I returned home to find that my rifle was not in the gun cabinet. A friend of my father's had come to hunt with him that day, and brought everything except his rifle. So my dad gave him mine. I had to use an open-sighted 30-30 that I had never shot before. I did not see anything worth shooting that evening, so I guess I could have been carrying a broom stick, but I still think about my father's friend and the hassle he heard for forgetting his rifle. By the way, he didn't get any shooting either.

cwilson

No but this last fall I drove about 70 miles toward my elk area for a week long trip and then I remembered my tag and made a U turn. The added stress of a high speed extra 140 miles caused my truck to break down about halfway between my home and elk camp (about 140 miles from either). I ended up spending opening morning camping in a cheap motel waiting for a driveline to be built. Got up on 2nd to opener and blasted a decent bull after a 30 minute hunt.
Another time I drove approximately 60 miles of remote dirt road by maglight because my alternator went out.
Half the fun of elk hunting is getting my early ford bronco to elk camp!

A couple of years ago I was guiding my wife for moose. She shot the moose, and it went down in some thick brush across a waist deep creek. I put on chest waders and carried her piggyback across the creek. When we got to the other side, the moose stood up at touching distance and had to be shot twice more. Her rifle was then empty, and she said she was out of ammo. This was in Grizzly country, so being around 1,000 lbs of fresh meat and no ammo could be a problem. I pointed out to her that she had 9 rounds in the holder on her buttstock. She hadn't lost her ammo, just her mind in the excitement.