# Got to laugh at yourself! LOL



## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

My Dad always used to say to me that growing up you had to learn to laugh at yourself! Well, with my blunders and goofs over the years I can assure everybody I've had a lot of belly laughs! Maybe it's time for all of us to confess some of our bloopers! Beats politics discussions though some of those get pretty humorous, too.

Beautiful evening Friday sitting in a deer blind waiting for a Trudy Point Buck to wander by! Was really enjoying hearing the bird calls, watching blue jays, a bald eagle or two floating by, a porcupine knowing a tree further down the gurgling creek, and enjoying little ND wind for a change! I was watching about a dozen does and fawns with a spike and small theee point milling around about 75 yards away. Two does decided to have a feminist argument and started duking it out, standing on their hind legs and bashing at each other! The smaller one ultimately won.

I had never seen a deer approach from the downwind side, but flipped open the downwind window, glanced out and here's a big high and wide 4X4 looking at my blind from 10 yards. I froze in place and when he turned his head I stealthily grabbed my crossbow (horrible back and can't pull my recurves or compounds any more). Flipped off the safety and peeked out the window! Not surprisingly he was gone, but I slowly opened a window on a different side, and there he was, only this time it would be a long shot, maybe 8 or even a long 7 yards this time! 
I haven't had Buck fever for over 50 years but for some reason my blood pressure must have spiked altering blood flow through my aging brain! I threw the X Bow to my shoulder and jerked the shot and sent the arrow about 1 millimeter over his back!

A CBow makes quite a clank noise when it is shot, and all this guy did was look around, then slowly prance away with his tail up. To add insult to injury, he stopped about 80 yards away and looked and looked at that green blind, wondering what the heck that weird noise was. After 10 minutes he wandered over the hill, and I'm sure he gave me the "dew claw" on the way! Checked for blood and found my clean but dusty arrow/bolt just to be sure I didn't wound him.

After shooting probably way over 100 deer over 60 years, I'd never dreamed Buck fever and impatience would be a problem, but I'm guilty as heck! I told a buddy this story and concluded "I feel like and idiot!" He retorted "that's cause you ARE an idiot!"

Going to try improve my aim and Ego next week!


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I enjoyed that HH. The only good thing about old age is you start to forget some of the dumb things you have done over the years. The bad part is you forget the good things first. The real stupid we unfortunately we never forget.
If you remember the deer pics in the water that I posted a couple of weeks ago that was a screw up. The deer kept coming to the south shore, but would then swim back to deeper water. I was sure a coyote was pushing him back, but this was a half hour before sunrise, and a half mile away. I kept telling myself get the rifle out and load the magazine. Better yet set it up outside on the bipod. I was sitting in my vehicle enjoying a cup of coffee not taki g things serious enough. So I zoomed in on the buck and never looked for a coyote again. So when the buck gets to 500 yards I zoomed out and there is Mr. Coyote looking at me. By the time I got my gun out of the back, out of the case, loaded etc the coyote had a different zip code.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

You had a case of crossbow guilt.. Even though you physically cant use anything else you heart and mind are pure and resisting the use of the crossbow because they know it is not the same.

LOL


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

I will add a story as well. This weekend I was in the bow stand. I decided it was time to take a doe. Hand not seen any big buck and wanted something for the freezer. So along comes a doe. It is walking right it I get my bow up and full draw. It hit my shooting range where I am comfortable.... 35 yards.... and it keeps walking towards me.... 30... 25.... 20.... 15 and turns broad side.... Well I like to hit them a lil high and double lung them... so I put my pin on my mark and let it fly..... sailed it right over her back.... I never switched pins... I kept my 35 yard pin on her... and never went down to my lower yardage ones....

Damn am I becoming that forgetful and I am not 40... LOL Sad part I did this same thing my first year bow hunting 9 years ago.... HAHA.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

Besides using the wrong pin and missing, I've done dumb things like getting to my stand and all settled in before realizing I left my release in the bow case back in the truck.

I was with a guy one time and we decided to still hunt an area of the Killdeer Mts. Hiked all the way to the top and then he realized he had left all of his arrows back in camp. (Edited to add: points to any who can figure out who this was.)


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Now you know why I shoot without sights or a release...... BUT... was bow hunting in the badlands earlier this month and as the sun was about to set I realized I was no longer carrying my back quiver !!!!!!!!!! normally it would have been an easy backtrack with my GPS but I didn't have it on cause I was short of batteries. I backtracked and found it my 3rd previous spot I sat and scoped the terrain. A spot where it rolled about 5 feet down the hill when I took it off and set it down and didn't immediately retrieve it because I was watching a couple deer. :huh:


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

OH God... my did I read this thread today.... it reminded me of a few more stories....

I had forgotten my release 3 different times.... and not back at the truck... BACK HOME! All three times i was lucky/unlucky that the town only 5 miles away had an archery shop.... and i bought three new releases!

HH... why did you start this thread...now i am reliving all my misery.... HAHA.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Chuck my wife once called and asked if I didn't want to take arrows along. 
After cleaning my rifle I headed to the range. I set up my chronograph, laid out the mat, got out the ammo attached the bipod and suppressor. Then into the prone and reached for the bolt ----- bolt----bolt ------no bolt. The scary thing is at my age it isn't going to get better.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

or the times I have gone fishing......and left the tackle box behind..... which is why I now have a stash that stays in the boat....


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I found a really good snow goose feed about 1.5 hours from my house. I got all of my decoys set up in the morning, got my blind stubbled up perfect, set out the ecallers ready. I even had about 45 minutes to spare before shooting time. So I get back to my pickup to take a quick nap. I get up and get in my blind right when the birds started flying, only to realize I left my gun at home.
I called to see if anyone could bring my gun and no one couldn't. I had snows working the spread just perfect and no gun. The one time the birds really wanted to play.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

You could have laid in the blind hoping they would land near it and grab their feet as the pass by.


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

Lots of bloopers! Seems like I'm not alone in leaving stuff behind when heading hunting, fishing or to the range. Earlier this fall I drove out to my favorite deer stand, parked the pickup, got my stuff ready for the short walk into the blind, then realized that I had forgotten my Crossbow 35 miles back in Bismarck!! Maybe another example of subtle Crossbow guilt!

Then I think back of all the times over the years that I've been hunting, had to empty my seemingly always full bladder, get a urine tsunami going, (OK, at my age, maybe just a refreshing little trickle) then have a Buck, pheasant, Wild Turkey,etc. flush at 15 yards midway through the flood! How many of us will admit to trying to save the day but only resulting in a wet pant leg or shorts, or a flash flood roaring down your leg, turning your new Kennetrek into what will forever be known as "Boot Lake!" I'll plead guilty to this blooper - a repeat offender, too!


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

The other day, I set up a ground blind for my Grandpa and myself to hopefully shoot a deer. After taking a couple of loads from the pickup to the blind, we get settled in and are waiting for a deer, it wasn't long until a buck and a doe walk by. I had my Grandpa the gun, and get his shooting sticks ready for him and starting ranging the buck. The buck and doe finally get to his shooting range (up to 100 yards) and my Grandpa ask me, "Did you load the gun? Because I didn't." Well, I didn't load the gun or bring any ammunition. He forgot, he had to remember to bring three things, gun, bullets, and his tag. So we had to watch the buck and doe bed down about 100 yards away from us for almost 1.5 hours, before we called the hunt. Live and learn.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I have to tell you a really funny one. I don't know who the guy was the fellow who told me the story would not tell me who did it. Years ago when those five color camo and reversible white came out they were like insulated coveralls with a zip away hood. This guy was duck hunting when mother nature called. He went back into the cattails and reappeared with no hood on his new fancy suite. Asked where it was at he said he left it behind. Why? He had dropped his drawers to answer the call and forgot about his hood. Yup, crapped in his hood.


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

Ha Ha! Plainsman, I personally know a guy who was ice fishing, went over to a willow covered shore and crapped 
Into the hood of his coveralls. Not me, honestly! But a pretty good friend!

Cleaned my 22-250 once in anticipation of an antelope Hunt! Had worked out special tack driving handloads for the occasion. Was younger and more physical then and made a pretty impressive 1/4 mile belly stalk after a mile walk up a rugged wash on a really nice Buck! Went to load my Swiss Watch Tuned double set trigger hammer forged barrel favorite rifle and grabbed a shell. Never needed more than one with that rifle. AND - like Bruce - NO BOLT! It was home on the cleaning bench!


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

This is a bit of a long somewhat windy post, even for me, but I thought readers might appreciate a little description of the idiosyncrasies of the old Springfield Trapdoors, .50-70 pre 1873 45.70 models! And a description of my hillbilly blind, that all my buddies now call the HillBobby blind, because I built it! Wish I knew how to post a picture and give everyone a HUGE belly Laugh!

This is a recent 2017 blooper with a bit of a safety lesson. This gun season I drew only a doe tag, so decided to use my.357 5 shot CW carry Taurus with its under 2 inch barrel. I have built several blinds on weldee upwheel sets ( so far my amateur welds have held) and one of them is parked 1/3or so miles from a good friend Ranchers home base. Used mainly for archery, ir sits inthe bottom af a steep ravine and deer trot by from 10 feet to 20 yards.
Not wanting to wound anything, I took the onlyrifle I happened to have in my pickup as backup, an original Springfield Allin Conversión Trapdoor 50-70. Black powder/450 grain Cast lead bullet.
Settled in the plywood blind, I laid the .357on an extra chair beside me, then thought I may as well load the Trapdoor. To load it, you cock the hammer, then flip up the " Trapdoor" which houses the firing pin and spring, then drop in a shell, close the Trapdoor, then drop the hammer to half cock. My Trapdoor is an original early one, like the one Abe Lincoln test fired on the Whitehouse lawn, and has no half cock safety like most hammer guns. 
Knowing this, I'm careful lowering the hammer, so checked one window of the blind to be sure no one or no dogs followed me out to the blind, pointed the muzzle in a safe direction and lowered the hammer. I had cut my thumb in an ATV project a couple days before, and still sore and covered with a thin slippery glove, the hammer got away from me, then BOOM!? Black powder fire shot out the barrel almost blinding me and the sulphur. smelling black powder smoke instantly filled the 6 X 6 X 6 foot sealed plywood cube I was entombed in, my only air hole being the .50 caliber lead lined hole blown through the side of the plywood Blind.
I blindly (pun intended) groped around like so many of our politicians these days, but in my case trying to find my shooting port openings with ringing ears and hearing aids shutdown at 80 db's, while coughing and sputtering, burning eyes closed......you black powder advocates (not so much modern pyrodex or 777 burners) will get the picture. 
Got the shooting ports open to clear the smoke and while NDis always windy, for a change there was absolutely no breeze and even a half hour later there was still more than a trace of foul sulphuric smelling scent hanging in the ravine. No self respecting deer would come within a mile of that mess, but a friend had dropped me off and wouldn't be back till dark, so after 1 /2 hour I returned to the. Blind! Darned if soon after a troop of about 10-12 does and fawns and one big 5X5 trooped by at long range-from 3 1/7 to 8 1/5 yards, stopping long enough to sniff my burned black powder lure, and for one fat dry doe to go down with a .357 bullet thru the top of the heart, out the other side and maybe still heading SW as I typethis! Still surprised they didn't shy at all that smell and previous ruckus. I wouldn't recommend the Habitat Huggerburnt blackpowder deer attractant though.
As I I try to teach my hunter ed students - beware ancient guns - most are all different and few if any have adequate safety mechanisms! Muzzle control and a knowledgeable operator are the only safety! 
Be careful out there, and have fun and laughs, There are plenty of "Campfire Stories" on this thread so far. Keep em coming!


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

Had a two base hit yesterday. I'm an idiot! Because of severe back problems my wife suggested, insisted that I buy a new Ulterra bow trolling motor. The one that deploys and stows itself. Not cheap, but for me, almost medically necessary. The alternative would be to buy farmed fish in a supermarket! LOL
Anyway, as we spend 5months at Lake Havasu 8n Az and as I had bought a used boat to keep down 5here, I put the same quick mount in my boat here as my ND boat. I bought the Ulterra fairly late in fall and only used it,twice, both times with my son and another,fellow familiar with use. Running it is simple, it I,had never deployed it!
Yesterday I ran into the biggest shad boil I had ever seen, fish, fish eating birds, strip d bass jumping after millions of shad, etc. Usually we park upwind and drift the boil, or pop in an electric and sneak along the edges. So I grabbed the minn Kota remote, took me a few minutes to even figure out how to turn it on, then I couldn't get the darned thing to deploy! Everything seemed to be working but the motor just sat there in its cradle giving me the prop, the minn Kota version of the middle finger! And as far as I could tell I was doing everything tight, though had left the directions by my bed at home! 
I finally gave up and drifted, did a lit of engine trolling, etc. Luckily fishing was so good it didn't matter what you did. I caught and released a bunch, lost a bunch, kept three nice 4-5 pound eating sized, then home! 
Couldn't sleep last nite, so explored the Minn Kota website again. You buy a 2200 dolla4 motor and they do NOT supply you with an owners or operating manual, and it isn't all that easy to find on their website either, and if you are somewhere you don't have a p4inter.....go figure.....
Anyway, after finding info in three different spots, I found out how to,deploy it with the remote. Turns o7t I,was doing everything right, except you have to hit the deploy button after finding it in the menu, TWICE! I was only hitting it once! This am, it works perfectly! Not much of a learning curve, even for an old guy, but........
The moral of,the story is read the directions if available, and familiarize yourself with new equipment before venturing out! I'm sure the double hit is for safety, as they repeat over and over that when it stows or deploys be sure you want it to and keep your fat fingers out of the way or they'll get pinched or worse! Another goof from Habitat!

My second goof was when I got to,the dock. I've started to cut Striped bass's throats, bleed them and toss them head down in a narrow garbage can for the trip home. Taste better that way. Just like walleye even. I unloaded the garbage can and some other stuff on the dock, and had my dog on a leash as it was rough coming back up the lake. I had put my phone in a shallow open pocket of my jacket and I suspect it fell out on the dock. I heard a splash while putting stuff away and found that the dog leash had wrapped around the garbage can and tipped it in the lake when my dog went to sniff butts with another one further down the dock! Only was able to fish one fish back out. Never thought about the phone till later, found it gone, and when we called it it,went directly to voice mail and didn't ring! I suspect it is at the bottom of the lake right now, swept overboard with the same leash as the garbage can. trying to Skype some largemouth for me! 
Two dumb moves in one day! Otherwise, life's great!


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