Forgetting stuff

and how about forgetting one wading shoe... this is somehow worse that forgetting both, which I recently did. With any luck my new, boot-attached waders will show up today.

And there was the time I left the boat at the ramp. My partner had winched the boat up, was having trouble with the safety chain, I came back, unhitched the winch line, got distracted with something the dog was doing, hopped in the truck and started to pull up the ramp. D'oh!
 
forgot the shells one time . remembered after I rowed the sneakbox 300 yards due to low tide. son thought the most important thing was the coffee which he put in the boat(he was 14 at the time)
 
I've forgotten calls but not so much the past 10 years as I don't use them much. I forgotten my personal pillow at more motels than I can remember but always got it back. The last couple of years I'm more in danger of forgetting dog stuff, like his bed, his bowl, his food, etc. How many times have I had to buy 5#'s of dog food at the grocery - can't remember. He's been fed in a plastic halloween pumpkin, my hands, cereal bowl, etc. Forgotten my lunch a time or two.

I pulled up to the ramp one morning, really, really wanting to be the first one there to get a specific spot. I wasn't first but third except that the first guy forgot his life jacket and had to go back home and the second guy forgot his shells and had to go back home.

Don't ever remember forgetting gun, shells or thermos.
 
The funniest thing that has ever happened to me regarding forgetting things was the time I asked the neighbor boy if he wanted to go with me while I scouted for animals on the Kenai Peninsula. I told him to be at the house by 5AM. He was. I guess we were all the way down to the Portage Glacier NP area, when he told me to pull over. I thought he had to go to the bathroom. Came to find out that in his excitement about going with me and being able to scout for moose, black bears, and Dall sheep, he ran across the street in his socks.
Yes, he forgot his boots. We turned around and drove back to his house so he could get them on. We just started out a little bit late, that was all. We also had a good chuckle over that one.
Al
 
I'm having a few growing pains with running two small boats this year. The new sneakbox while wonderful, has been a challenge. One morning I was prepping the 14-ft V-hull at the ramp, feeling very proud to be a bit early. I took the aft tie downs off and decided to hook the fuel line to the OB before tilting it up for the launch. Well the hose was there but... no gas tank. Thankfully I was only 15+min from home. The other major lapse was after a beautiful but birdless morning in the sneakbox, I pick up and look around for my PFD. Can't find it and there isn't too many spots it could be in the little box. I made the run back to the ramp hoping that no officer was waiting to check on returning hunters. Thankfully I was alone, and found the life vest still in the car where it was waiting for me to put it on in the dark that morning. Yes, normally I do wear it and I would have sworn I put it on that morning.

Scott
 
Very apropos that you would post this the very day I did the exact same thing!

The roads were icy & treacherous. The blower for the heater in my truck broke two days before, so fog from my breath was freezing to the inside of the windows. Freezing rain on the windows was so thick and solid the scraper slipped and I skinned my knuckles. Drove half the speed limit to get to the ramp trying not to wreck my truck. Whew! Made it without sliding into the ditch!

Ready to go, Max the Dog?

Whine-whine . . . tremble . . . whine . . .

Um . . . where's my gun?

Didn't get away from the ramp until 8 . . . and still managed to redeem the hunt with two geese and one black duck. Didn't deserve them that day!

Other things I've forgotten:
Waders
Thermos
Calls
PFD
E-Collar
Leash
Paddles
 
I am notorious for forgetting to put the plug in my boat.....I launched my 16' square stern canoe 3 times this year without the plug in and had to pull boat back onto the launch to drain 100 gallons of water :-(

Other than that, the only other serious thing that I forgot this year was the thermos of coffee........that makes for an awfully long day.
 
On different accasions I've forgotton waders, coat and lunch. The day I forgot lunch ws when Sneed was still a pup. I stopped at a 7-11 and picked up some pop tarts and that started our tradition of pop tarts every hunt for the next ten seasons.
 
When I was a kid back home in Canada, my hunting partner once forgot the key for his gun lock. He came out anyways and tried to scare the snowshoe hares my way :) For me, up until this year, I've only forgotten small things like lunch, thermos, water, knife, spare decoy line/weights; nothing I couldn't do without. This year being the first that I've hunted out of a boat with a motor, the number of things I could potentially forget has increased exponentially, and I worry about fogetting something constantly! The worst thus far was forgetting to bring the gasline/hose. Realized it as I pulled into the boat launch... I had my bow with me, so I decided to go deer hunting instead! I'm sure the car parked towing a BBSB looked funny to the other deer hunters in northwest NJ (no water around there for a motorboat for miles)!

Anthony
 
I have personally not done the gun thing yet, but I have seen it more than once. I tend to forget things like extra coat, gloves, that kind of thing. For me the issue is more the boat....did you remember the plug?? how about unplugging the lights??? Strap off the boat??? and this year was a new one....the transom saver is still on the boat....gee, why doesn't it lanch???????

When a couple of you mention the key thing and trucks, my explorer has a lock deal in the rear by the back door. If you are not careful pulling out stuff and loading it into the boat in the dark while you are barely awake, you can hit it by mistake, closing the hatch, you have now locked yourself out.

I have learned from this mistake in the driveway at home and now EVERY time I back a vehicle, I always UNROLL the drivers window. That way I can hear someone yelling if need be, or the sound of the bike getting run over, or more importantly, GET back into the truck IF the door gets locked!!! Been doing that for years, works like a charm.
 
I forgot that I turned 64 on Saturday. During my days in New Jersey hunting the salt marshes we launched our BBSB on Dennis Creek and off I go, we get to the mouth of the Delaware Bay and low and behold the shotgun is back in the truck safe and sound, long ride back to the truck. I still get some flack over that one. Hard to believe but I did this twice.

Now that I live in New Mexico (30 years) some things never change, after our morning hunt on the Rio I look for my keys and they are no were to be found, I re-trace my footsteps, hunt around the truck and no luck. I am now getting ready to jam open my window on my nice F-250 Ford when I mention to my buddy that I could not believe that I misplaced them, I always put them in my pants pocket.

Just before I jam open the window, I feel this lump in my upper shirt pocket and yes here are the keys. So much for getting old.

Dennis S. (Rio Rancho, NM)
 
When I was a kid back home in Canada, my hunting partner once forgot the key for his gun lock. He came out anyways and tried to scare the snowshoe hares my way :) For me, up until this year, I've only forgotten small things like lunch, thermos, water, knife, spare decoy line/weights; nothing I couldn't do without. This year being the first that I've hunted out of a boat with a motor, the number of things I could potentially forget has increased exponentially, and I worry about fogetting something constantly! The worst thus far was forgetting to bring the gasline/hose. Realized it as I pulled into the boat launch... I had my bow with me, so I decided to go deer hunting instead! I'm sure the car parked towing a BBSB looked funny to the other deer hunters in northwest NJ (no water around there for a motorboat for miles)!

Anthony

Ah... I just remember one occasion where I forgot to replace the plug in my gun when I was cleaning it before an important government sponsored/guided snowgoose hunting trip at Cap Tourmante, near Quebec City. I relaized it when the conservation officer checked the plug in my partner's gun, and I told him that I forgot to replace mine after cleaning it. He then said that he would give me 10 minutes to make one, right there on the spot, before checking my gun! A nearby bush provided a length of green branch; we measured two 2.75 inch shells and cut the length accordingly (gotta love that handy swiss army knife) and inserted it just in time! Whew, that was close. My partner hasn't let me live that one down since, and he's in his 80s now :)
 
If it makes you "older" guys feel better, this fourty yr old leaned his SBE agianst the front of my truck after hunting. After talking to the other hunters and drinking some coffee went to drive off and heard a crunch. I guess I caught it with both tires and ruined a my gun, you can imagine explaining that one to the Mrs.
 
Well, when you get old the memory is the second thing to go. The first thing is Ahaa ahaa,, Just a minute......Well it doesn't matter....

Forgetting to load you gun. Try this especially when hunting with a partner. A pair of ducks come in right over the decoys. Get um. You both swing, your partner shoots. You hear a click and remember you forgot to load your gun...Turn to your partner and say " Boy I really nailed that one" Then look at his face... The fun begins when he finds out you forgot to load your gun....

As far as forgetting all these other things.. I don't remember... Ohh There's is one. The boat plug. Now that can be exciting !!!

 
I've done a lot of dumb things and I haven't hit 30 yet so I guess I can expect much more to follow. Most recently, last year I got got up very early to be the first at a public spot with lots of potential on that day. I was hunting solo and after a 35 min car drive and 15 min boat drive I hopped out on the island and unloaded everything only to discover I had forgotten my gun. I never even considered laughing...
 
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