There was a large party out looking for me. More like 2 whole days and a half. I was picked up in the heat of the day. I remember this because I shed ALLOT of high-dollar hunting gear as I ran towards the suburban shooting my pistol. Gotta remember, it was dang near freezing when I got dropped off for the morning hunt. Not sure who all was involved in the search. Probably some fellas from the OXY-Terrell plant as well.

Back in April it started raining about 3a.m. at the lease by 10 a.m. it was still raining so we decided to go into town to the gun shop. We came to the "normally dry" creek that now had water running in it. Being in a 4x4 Toyota pu (small one) I figgured what the heck, this ain't nuthin... The truck drowned out in the middle of the 4 ft deep creek and the water rushing against the truck brought the water level to about 2 in below the window. We sat there about 1 1/2 hrs hopeing it would go down, finally the rancher next door saw and came and pulled us out.

I felt bad about not stopping and at least asking my buddy if he thought we should try it...

Lesons learned, don't try and cross high water without KNOWING how deep it is.
My door seals are AWSOME, only about a cup of water leaked in.
And thankfully my truck doesn't float!

One of our customers was cutting hay one day in an open stage tractor and wasn't wearing a seat belt... not a law some do some don't... but woulda helped in this case.... he hit a bull hole and it flew him off the tractor onto the cutter side..couldn't get out of the way in time and ran him over...some how he managed to grab onto the tarp bar before getting ran over all the way and drug his self all the way to the end of the cutter and out of deaths way... he still holds some insane scars from that day though... half his cheek is gone and not off his face... hes lucky to be alive though

I second the knife is NOT a screwdriver!!!

Tractors can be dangerous as all get out. Nav do you wear the seatbelt all the time? What about the risk of a turnover and not being able to jump off? My PTO stops if you're not in the seat.

Just curious...

Sounds like a damned if you do damned if you dont decision.

My Dad was hunting in Colorado many years ago. He shot an elk and was headed down a steep and rocky ravine when he slipped and rolled down. When he came to a complete stop the barrell of his loaded 30-06 was poking in his stomach

That's spooky. glad he didn't get hurt (shot).

1. Shooting a hole in the ceiling/roof with your new "unloaded" .22 when your 10 yrs. old in my family means you don't see that prized possesion until you're 11.
2. Homemade slip-on silencers made from pvc pipe nipples and steel wool, travel quite aways when they aren't aligned with the bore correctly. (same .22, shortly after getting it back).
3. Shooting a skunk in the head at close range, in a small, confined space, will NOT stop it from spraying, and you won't be able to use your workshop for many weeks.
4. If you happen to find yourself in the back of a pickup with a couple of your best high school buds, a .270, and a spotlight, and you happen to drive by a field full of deer at around 0300, make sure it's not actually the neighbors' Black Angus bull before Eddie squeezes the trigger, it makes your allowance go away for many months and makes you sweat-A LOT!
5. Don't drink a lot of beer and dive off of the back your buddy's boat when it's beached in 18" of water, it makes your neck hurt and picking gravel out of your scalp is only fun for other people.
6. Don't drag a boat over an hour to a lake unless the boat key is in your pocket.
7. Don't hand your 10 yr. old grandson your gun if he can't see through the cheap scope on his, when he's looking at his dream deer! It scares the "stuff" out of him, makes him flinch, and makes the deer disappear, leaving you with a disappointed young man kicking himself and thinking it's his fault, all because he was scared of the gun. I still feel this was one of my biggest failings.
8. Don't shoot 250 lb. hogs in the shoulder with 110 gr. hollowpoints, it pixxes them off and makes them want to hurt you back.
8.a. Make sure your spotlight is fully charged before chasing pixxed off, wounded, pigs into West Tx. shinnery in the dark.
9. 9mm Makarov ammo will NOT chamber correctly in a High Power, even if it IS your CC qualifier course.

This is an excellent thread!!! We can all learn from others mistakes!!! Thank you all for sharing!!!

1. Do NOT let your older brother teach you how to pull the gun tight to get a closer look in the scope before you pull the trigger. It may leave a mark! Especially when older brother doesn't check to see if butt of gun is under your armpit.

2. Matches do burn twice. When your uncle asks if you believe if a match can burn twice, and you say no, he will prove a match will burn when struck and it will burn again when he blows out the fire and proceeds to push the match on your arm. It will burn twice! Lol. No I was not injured, just made for a good laugh

3. Do not wear roper boots with slick soles to hunt rattlesnakes and try to leap from one boulder to another. You will find yourself in between the boulders. God protected me here!!!

4. Don't drive down a trail that is too skinny for your SUV when it is 29 degress at midnite and your friend says it's fine to keep driving. Once your SUV is full of scratches and you try to back up, make your friend stand outside with a flashlight to look for the best route, you can't hear her so you open the trunk lid. She will not see the other tree branch that enters the SUV until I turn around and see a tree limb 4" from my face.

5. When you promise hubby to leave camp when everyone else leaves camp, then do so. Or you will find yourself all alone and standing 2 foot from a coiled up rattler. God protected me here too!

No like I said its personal preferance but would have helped that day. In a turn over even there are to many things that could happen.. If it's nota bad one the rops will keep from crushing you if buckled in... If too much force then not much will stop that much weight... If not buckeled then you have the option to jump off or make a move quick but you have. To be familiar with equipment to know how and when to act and that's just not the case with every operator these days.... I dont wear one at all... Cant stand them while working but also don't like wearing them in a truck... Everything with safety is in the hands of the operator

Fresh out of the Navy many moons ago I was deer hunting at my best friends place. They had property on both sides of a county road with their homeplace on one side. We had hunted the morning headed back to the house for lunch and I decided to drive back into town for awhile. We all left our rifles on the front porch unloaded. I step out and across the road is a nice buck...I slip a shell into the '94 take a careless aim and boom....perfect miss. Put the rifle in the car and head down the driveway...guess what ? There sits the Game Warden....I get out and hand him my license....we are talking and I am about to admit to my crime when "ka-boom"....Warden throws me my license...sprints down the road and sure enough two old boys are putting a doe in the bed of their truck.....never ever broke a game law again....

rick

I have all kinds of equipment and I always wear the seat belt when I am doing more than just moving the equipment. If you wear the seat belt and it rolls you have to trust the ROPS, that is if you even have it on your tractor, which all mine do.

Walter

Don't drink until your wife leaves you and then drive around for 3 days drinking and texting your Cop buddies about "what I'm gonna do."

Sounds funny until the punch line is I just started rehab, wife and kids are gone, and I'm lucky to have parents to be my support as I learn how to be a recovering alcoholic rather than an active one.

A little less depressing than the last one...

Dad and I had two young German shorthairs. We went out chasing quail in SE Colorado one nice November day (I believe is was November, early afternoon). Weather was in the 70's. I was in a t-shirt. We parked by the windmill in a pasture and started walking. We hunted a few hours, hunting thick brushy areas around windmills, then decided to head back to the truck.

It got colder and colder as it got close to dark. Then it started snowing. We finally got to the windmill. No truck. Crap, wrong windmill. Well, it must be one section (mile) further. Walked it, no truck. Now it's snowing, and snowing fast.

We walked about 1.5 miles south to the road, and headed west. We knew we'd hit the hwy in about 10 miles. I was FREEZING. By the grace of God, on a county road where I could drive back and forth for a week and never see another vehicle, about 1 mile further down the road, we looked back and saw headlights.

Couple of half drunk kids on a booze cruise picked us up and drove us west THREE MORE MILES, until we found the pasture where we parked the truck.

Intent on our dogs, we had walked about 5 miles further than we thought. I took my young shaking pup into the shower with me to warm both of us up.

Now...I overdress for every hunt, and carry a backpack. I got a gps for christmas that year, and dad has a "Find Me Spot" for when he hunts by himself.

We also never leave town without telling someone where we are going to be hunting and when we are coming back.

One time I shot a canvasback on a very very cold day out at a public lake. I had never needed to use anything to retrieve birds because I had always hunted over shallow water, or I figured the wind would blow it to the shoreline. Well of course there was no wind and it stayed right where it had fallen. I considered going in after the bird, but we are talking about 32 or less degree weather. I would of had to taken my waders off and hopped in and swam close to 20 yards. Then we would have had to make the mile walk back soaking wet (I say we because my girlfriend was on the hunt with me. She did not like the idea of me putting my own health at risk.) So Eventually I left it. I felt I had dishonored the animal and was not a worthy hunter because I was unable to retrieve it. I was pretty sick about it. I did not break the law however because I tried everything in my ability to retrieve it.

Also one time I had an accidental discharge of my rifle as I was loading my gun to get into the deer stand. It was a rifle I was not used to so I could not remember which way the thumb safety needed to be. There was only a color red or no color, it was dark and I always second guess whether or not the safety is on or off. So after putting it on, so I thought, I did a quick test to make sure it was on and bamm. The shot rang out in the dark went morning around 6 before the sun was up. I was shocked and pissed. I realized with my shotgun during duck season after I would unload my gun I would put it on safety and pull the trigger to make sure it was on safety. A very very very bad habit and muscle memory to get into. I realize, thats why this is the stupid mistake thread. Anyways I am much much more careful now. But I was careful enough from the beginning to have been following the other gun safety rules. My gun was pointed in a safe direction the whole time I was loading it. I could have been turning 180 degrees to the left and blown a hole in my truck. Who knows what damage it wouldve done to the truck and I.
Lessons learned.

Or 180 degrees to the right... <grin>

Good on ya for going to rehab. My dad is a recovering alcoholic. He's been sober for 15 years. Its not an easy road but it is doable. Good luck and God bless

My dad pulled this one....

One day he takes my step-mom to help him fill feeders at the lease in Leakey. He is rushing because he was tired, and decides to go up a rickety aluminum ladder with 50 lbs of corn on his shoulder. (Dad weighs about 260) Needless to say, the ladder collapses and he comes crashing down on top of the deer block which he had dropped under the feeder. Broke two ribs and bruised his lung. It was a very long and bumoy ride to Wilford Hall from the lease. Moral of the story? Don't be in a rush and have someone hold the ladder.

Don't swim for $30 decoys. Don't drive around a property you don't know in fog at 2 am. Don't assume the ground looks hard enough. Don't trust the West Texas weather forecast. Don't tell someone the game warden will never show up when they just moved to the house bordering the property you are on (they were legal except their hunting documents were 360 miles away at their house). Triple check your backpack for ammo before going to the airport for a Mexico trip.

Good luck to you sir! I work at a rehab and I know it is not an easy conclusion to come to but it will be worth it. If you have any questions about being inside feel free to ask! and the answer to question "Can I have just one?" is no....

Buddy and I decided to do something about the skunk population and wanted to reduce the risk of rabies spread. So we used spotlight and pellet guns to do so. They weren't all one shot kills so sometimes we followed them thru the grass after they had sprayed. Got home that nite about 1:00 am and when wife opened front door I was informed to go to back door and better not have a stitch of clothing on and go straight to the shower. I spent the nite sleeping on the couch.

Went varmit calling at night with a friend on his family ranch west of Waco.

We called for a bit then he shined the spotlight and there were green eyes coming out of the brush about 100 yards away. He said those are coyotes shoot between the eyes, I shouldered the borrowed 7mm wby mag flipped the safety off and said you sure they look awful big for coyotes, he said shoot, something didn't feel right and I said if you want to shoot you do it I don't think they are coyotes. We drove closer and found a herd of bedded cattle. I was terrified to shoot anything the rest of the night!

I once asked ,"What would happen if you shot a deer illegally on corps of engineer land"...BIG mistake