Lost my best box call....

toasty · Post by **toasty** » July 18th, 2012, 10:40 am

So I had a nice Wood Haven cherry box call that I cannot find. I've been looking for it since January and can't find it. I'm starting to think I lost it at the end of last year on the hike back to the truck. I also left some $400 Leupold Golden Ring binoculars on the tailgate once and lost them on the drive back to the farm, but I found them about 1 mile from where I left them on the dirt road. They still work great today, but have a few scuffs. I also dropped my GPS in the middle of a 2 mile hike through the marsh. I found it on the way out which is remarkable in itself since taking the same path without a gps is almost impossible. It was still floating in the water. I dried it out for a couple days and it worked great except for a couple dead pixels in the corner. The worst I know of is a buddy of mine left a Benelli SBEII leaning against a fence in a well used waterfowl refuge and drove off, when he returned it was gone and never did get that back. That one had to hurt. What are some of your tales of lost equipment?

Grunt-N-Gobble · Post by **Grunt-N-Gobble** » July 18th, 2012, 10:48 am

Except for a couple screw-in steps, nothing really.

I did however, leave a pair of Nikon binos on the ground @ the base of a tree after shooting a doe during muzzleloader season one winter. Forgot about them all winter long and realized they were missing while getting gear ready to turkey hunt. A buddy was out scouting and I asked him to go take a look and sure enough, they they were. The one eye cup got chewed on, but they still work and never leaked.

hawglips · Post by **hawglips** » July 18th, 2012, 10:55 am

I lose at least one striker every year.

I left a Hustlin Hen box beside a big poplar in a rhododendrun thicket in the Pisgah Nat'l Forest once.

I lost a GPS a couple years ago somewhere between the truck parked in my driveway and my closet. Darnedest thing.

Post by **Hoobilly** » July 18th, 2012, 10:58 am

My son lost his binoculars while duck hunting one morning...

I was looking through them and in front of this friends he stated: Give them back , those are mine. He did that with a 12 year old punk kid voice that irked me and struck a nerve.

I calmly stood up through the blind, and tossed them like a football. You should have seen that arc through the clear cool sky before they splashed into the lake. And promptly told him to go get his binoculars. I then picked up his gun, to which he promptly asked me if he could have his gun back in a nice 12 year old voice.

I did lose a walkie talkie while yote hunting. Found it the next spring while turkey hunting. didn't work

Johndoe · Post by **Johndoe** » July 18th, 2012, 11:10 am

hoobilly wrote:My son lost his binoculars while duck hunting one morning...

I was looking through them and in front of this friends he stated: Give them back , those are mine. He did that with a 12 year old punk kid voice that irked me and struck a nerve.

I calmly stood up through the blind, and tossed them like a football. You should have seen that arc through the clear cool sky before they splashed into the lake. And promptly told him to go get his binoculars. I then picked up his gun, to which he promptly asked me if he could have his gun back in a nice 12 year old voice.

I did lose a walkie talkie while yote hunting. Found it the next spring while turkey hunting. didn't work

Expensive lesson. My father would have backhanded me. Same result. Just cheaper.

guesswho · Post by **guesswho** » July 18th, 2012, 12:39 pm

I lose typical stuff every year. Calls, hats, gloves ect.

I did have a first this year though. I lost my dang boots. I did find them the next time I went to that property, right where the car had been parked. I still don't remember taking them off. All I remember is getting out of the car when I got home and realizing I had on socks but no boots. Sleep deprivation I guess.

Spuriosity · Post by **Spuriosity** » July 18th, 2012, 12:50 pm

I left my favorite box call beside a tree once in the middle of several hundred acres of game lands. Went back a few days later to try to find it to no avail.

But 1,000 times worse was the time I lost all my turkey hunting gear to a thief and my own stupidity. My cousin and I own a few acres at the top of a small mountain in WNC. I had been hunting all morning and had worked my way down off the mountain along our right of way. It was getting hot, I was tired, and it is a long steep climb back up to where my truck was parked. So I hid my gun (I know) and my vest behind some laurel bushes and hiked up the mountain to get the truck. When I came back down, you guessed it, all my stuff was gone. Someone had to have seen me stash them because you could not see them from the road. A 3" Rem 1100, shells, calls, decoys, binoculars, my hunting license. Just think of all the stuff you have in your vest. And it happened with tags left to fill and a lot of time left in the season.

You can imagine how I had to scramble to cobble together a new vest with all the stuff we take when we go hunting. Fortunately I had a back-up gun and shells dialed in and ready to go. That was a very expensive lessen in stupidity. Fortunately insurance picked part of the tab.

toasty · Post by **toasty** » July 18th, 2012, 1:19 pm

Spuriosity wrote:I left my favorite box call beside a tree once in the middle of several hundred acres of game lands. Went back a few days later to try to find it to no avail.

But 1,000 times worse was the time I lost all my turkey hunting gear to a thief and my own stupidity. My cousin and I own a few acres at the top of a small mountain in WNC. I had been hunting all morning and had worked my way down off the mountain along our right of way. It was getting hot, I was tired, and it is a long steep climb back up to where my truck was parked. So I hid my gun (I know) and my vest behind some laurel bushes and hiked up the mountain to get the truck. When I came back down, you guessed it, all my stuff was gone. Someone had to have seen me stash them because you could not see them from the road. A 3" Rem 1100, shells, calls, decoys, binoculars, my hunting license. Just think of all the stuff you have in your vest. And it happened with tags left to fill and a lot of time left in the season.

You can imagine how I had to scramble to cobble together a new vest with all the stuff we take when we go hunting. Fortunately I had a back-up gun and shells dialed in and ready to go. That was a very expensive lessen in stupidity. Fortunately insurance picked part of the tab.

Ouch!! I've thought of dumping stuff and coming back to it, but could never talk myself into leaving anything more than a couple decoys.

GLS · Post by **GLS** » July 18th, 2012, 1:31 pm

In the same vein, but more in the line of destruction than loss: A buddy hunted a Neil Cost box call and it got wet. He put it in the oven to dry at a low setting, forgot about it and came back to find very expensive charcoal.

I had Winston 3 wgt. graphite flyrod and a 2 7/8" Hardy Perfect with line stolen at the Railroad Ranch section of the Henry's Fork in Last Chance Idaho. We'd carry two rods in and fish the lighter line until the wind got up, then switch to heavier lines. The river is a huge meadow stream in that section with unrestricted visibility. A bank walker wiped us out. My homeowners covered the loss without deductible and I bought the same equipment with the insurance money.

Turkey Hunting losses: gps and strikers beyond count. Two really nice strikers, both carved morel mushroom heads, one of wood, one of antler. I hated losing the antler carving.

toasty · Post by **toasty** » July 18th, 2012, 1:40 pm

GLS wrote: I had Winston 3 wgt. graphite flyrod and a 2 7/8" Hardy Perfect with line stolen at the Railroad Ranch section of the Henry's Fork in Last Chance Idaho. We'd carry two rods in and fish the lighter line until the wind got up, then switch to heavier lines. The river is a huge meadow stream in that section with unrestricted visibility. A bank walker wiped us out. My homeowners covered the loss without deductible and I bought the same equipment with the insurance money.

I love fishing that stretch of water, people walking up and down the bank all day with no cover, I wouldn't expect another fisherman to pick it up and haul it out, but they probably made a good bit of money on the setup. When I fish Henry's now days, I head down to osborne bridge, less people and a little bit bigger fish if you can stand a little bit deeper water. I'll be there in a couple weeks, can't wait to hit the caddis hatch in the evening.

GLS · Post by **GLS** » July 18th, 2012, 2:05 pm

Toasty, I haven't fished the Ranch in 20 years. I was lucky and fished it in the late 70s through the 80s when it was at its best. I understand it is on the rebound. We'd usually go in at the mailbox, fish up past Bonefish and back down stream not quite to Osborne, staying on the Ranch. There's no prettier fishing and at one time, no better fishing to big heads anywhere than at the Ranch. What a resource! I was lucky to be able to fish it with the late Chuck Gash. He was a retired school teacher from California, guided in the 1950s for Bud Lilly, and lived during the season in a camper in Last Chance. He fished it every day and had the pulse of the river better than anyone. I was lucky to have him as a friend and mentor. The rod was stolen at the scratching post. A partridge caddis was a killer pattern, #18 dry. Gil

toasty · Post by **toasty** » July 18th, 2012, 2:58 pm

I fished it quite a bit in the mid to late 90s, my Grandpa has a cabin at Macks Inn and I'd fish whenever I could get away from the family during vacation. Fishing was decent, probably not as good at the 80s before whirling disease, but 18" 3-4lb bows were pretty common, I'd catch 2 or 3 of those each day and a lot of 16".

What I enjoyed the most was catching fish with my $100 dollar rod and reel and $50 dollar waders while all the guys sporting $1000+ setups kept asking "What are you using?" I fished a lot of emergers and nymphs when they were look down on by the dry fly purists. The last few years up there, I've done OK, but it takes time to figure out a river. I just don't have the time to figure it out, just take my chances, but always catch a few.

GLS · Post by **GLS** » July 18th, 2012, 3:19 pm

Chuck was a proponent of breaking through a hatch, particularly the parlep (#22-24) with either a black ant or elk hair beetle, #16-18 dry. We used a lot of "Skinny Nelsons" (version of a PT nymph) and mahogany dun emerger's during that hatch. Fun days in the fall after Labor Day.

devastator · Post by **devastator** » July 18th, 2012, 4:37 pm

i left this box on the bumper of my truck the year before they allowed all day hunting in pa.stopped into
chat with a land owner after i left a spot trying to locate one for the next morning,went to leave and try again and i looked on the seat,ohh shhiiizzz.1 other truck had come up the same road 10 min. before i left the land owners.i found it in the middle of the dirt road on a sharp up hill corner,all in one piece.if i loose that box im going to cry like a baby.

drenalinld · Post by **drenalinld** » July 18th, 2012, 4:44 pm

I have lost/left a handful of strikers. Broken several glass calls. I lost an expensive benchmade knife at a setup. Worst to date was an expensive limited edition trumpet that I broke but I don't know how I did it.

GLS · Post by **GLS** » July 18th, 2012, 4:46 pm

A friend lost an old acorn shaped striker (a peg surrounded by a wooden cup). His grandfather had made it. I found it in a public area, recognized it and gave it back to him. He was ecstatic.

Jaybird · Post by **Jaybird** » July 18th, 2012, 5:01 pm

I've lucked out, and only lost strikers, which is a yearly event

One year sat at a tree I hunted the year before, and there was one of my favorite strikers waiting for me.

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » July 18th, 2012, 5:41 pm

I have found good knives out hunting and a Remington 788 22-250 with a Redfield scope laying in the middle of a gravel road opening day of antelope season. I think the genius must have used it to glass around the area and then leaned it up against his pickup and took a leak and drove off. never saw another vehicle that day.

ccleroy · Post by **ccleroy** » July 18th, 2012, 8:57 pm

guesswho wrote:I lose typical stuff every year. Calls, hats, gloves ect.

I did have a first this year though. I lost my dang boots. I did find them the next time I went to that property, right where the car had been parked. I still don't remember taking them off. All I remember is getting out of the car when I got home and realizing I had on socks but no boots. Sleep deprivation I guess.

That's just awesome!

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