Opening Day Nightmare

[RM Anderson]

Since this is somewhat anonymous I'll add this story. Several years ago while hunting in ND for pheasant, my brother brought his young teenage son. Like many have said, when nature calls there is little time for debate. Unfortunately for my nephew, a fully furnished bathroom was his only life experience at that point in his life. Needless to say he held out too long for better accommodations. My brother spent the next two hours in a laundromat. Being a good uncle I've never repeated this story. What happens in ND stays in ND.
RM

 

[Joe Friday]

Well, my friends and I sorta had a gun-left-behind episode years ago, but in a reverse kind of way. After we completed our 3-day snow goose hunt in Missouri, we loaded up the truck and began driving east from Mound City, MO to Athens, OH. about 3 hours into our drive the outfitter telephoned us to ask if we'd seen the guide's shotgun. We pulled up for gas and searched the back of the truck to find it there. We were too far into the trip to turn around, of course. After we got back to Ohio, my friend shipped the gun back to the outfitter, but it was quite a head scratching experience.

 

[Charles H.]

Like many others I've rushed out of the house and forgot my shotgun. One cold January morning I got to a large local lake early enough to be the first car in the parking lot. My plan was to hike the shoreline and set a few decoys in a small cove where a tiny creek fed in. Shadow was just under a year old and I hoped to get him one or two retrieves. I stood there dumbfounded at my tailgate trying to figure out if I should run home and come back or call it a day.

Two high school age kids pulled in with a kayak to do their retrieving. I walked over, they had the same plan I did so I explained my situation and asked if I could sit with them and get my dog some retrieves. We saw nothing but good size flocks of common Mergansers, but Shadow got some retrieves and the boys got to stay dry and hunt with a dog for the first time.

 

[William Reinicke]

You know… some opening days nightmares work out tho…

I remember an opening day nightmare that worked out. One opening day, I had the day off but my buddies didn’t. They had the next day off. I went by myself, and the only reason I still have a mud motor is one spot it’s a must. There’s a 400 yard stretch you will blow a lower every time. So I wake up, have the worst head cold and not feeling good. But it’s opening morning and have to go. I get the dog in the truck, I get the boat launched, let the dog out of the truck and she has the runs all the way down the ramp. Obviously we are not feeling good at all. Run to the sketchy part and get stuck stuck. I miss my spot by 40 yards. Work my arse off and push the boat off from being high centered. Dog has the shits in the boat while I’m working to get it off the sand bar. Get to the honey hole like 20 min into shooting light. Just a disaster of a start to my season. Tell myself, I’m not picky today, shooting any limit and getting home to sleep. Shoot a band opening day with 2 nice Drake wood duck and a few gadwall.

So of course my buddies beg me to go next day. I tell them how sick I am and they say just show up and they would do all the work. They want to know exactly the spot I was in. I told them how many mallard were dumping in when I was leaving because I wasn’t picky at all. So they want to be on the same exact spot. So I show up, and of course… I pull another leg band. Of course mallard didn’t show up, but we shot gadwall. The one mallard I shot was banded. I could have not gone, I could have gave up when I got stuck and missed opening shooting light but sometimes just gotta work through the nightmare.

 

[Neal Haarberg]

I have forgot guns and waders, it is just going to happen after 30 years of waterfowling. I now make a pile by the door the night before so I don't have to think when wake up. As long as everything from the pile makes into the truck I am good. But the this was the most memorable case of forgetting something. The routine at the time was that I drive to buddies house which was on the way to the coast. We would move my gear into his truck. He had a dog crate that would hold 2 dogs. We would each bring our dogs. We moved everything over hitched up the boat and were on our merry way exited about shooting some puddlers with a back plan of scoters if the puddlers didn't work out. We were soon out cell phone range for about an hour or so until we made it to the other side of the coast range. Once we were back in cell phone range there had to have been 50 messages on my buddys phone. We forgot to load up Cooper his dog and he chased us down the street barking his head off and continued to make a scene as he did not like being left behind. Of course we didn't notice, but a few of his neighbors did. Who then woke up his wife who was not happy. I don't remember how the hunt went, but I will always remember the uh oh moment of what did we do when the phone went nuts.

 

[Joe Friday]

I have forgot guns and waders, it is just going to happen after 30 years of waterfowling. I now make a pile by the door the night before so I don't have to think when wake up. As long as everything from the pile makes into the truck I am good. But the this was the most memorable case of forgetting something. The routine at the time was that I drive to buddies house which was on the way to the coast. We would move my gear into his truck. He had a dog crate that would hold 2 dogs. We would each bring our dogs. We moved everything over hitched up the boat and were on our merry way exited about shooting some puddlers with a back plan of scoters if the puddlers didn't work out. We were soon out cell phone range for about an hour or so until we made it to the other side of the coast range. Once we were back in cell phone range there had to have been 50 messages on my buddys phone. We forgot to load up Cooper his dog and he chased us down the street barking his head off and continued to make a scene as he did not like being left behind. Of course we didn't notice, but a few of his neighbors did. Who then woke up his wife who was not happy. I don't remember how the hunt went, but I will always remember the uh oh moment of what did we do when the phone went nuts.

I have to imagine what that dog was thinking when he was being left behind! Like you, I would build a pile of gear next to the door the night before my hunts. My dog knew what was happening and would get incredibly excited as the gun and bags were laid out. I miss him so much.

Thanks for sharing that post. it was very heartwarming.

 

[William Reinicke]

I miss him so much.

Ya.... I miss my first lab. She made me look so good when I knew so little. She just had it. She got to a point where she was going blind and thats what cut her hunting short. She eventually went deaf and blind and when I came home and her tail stayed tucked between her legs until I got close enough for her to smell me, I knew she couldnt live in fear like that any longer. The only time she wagged her tail was when that happened or for food but she wasnt eating very much there towards the end. But I remember she could hear the latch of the gun safe turn the night before. She would bang her head on every wall getting to it with just a tail wagging. It broke my heart every time. She was an absolute stud though. The only thing god did wrong was making the good ones die before us, because she could of easily been my forever dog.

Even though she was a HEATHEN for stealing stuff off the counter. The night before I took her to be put down, she still managed an arbys sandwich off the table. I swore one time I was coming home to a dead dog from the ol lady. She was just too old and blind to hunt. I did the thanksgiving deal and then left to hunt the next day. I get a call and she managed to pull down all the turkey grease out of the pan onto the kitchen floor. The anger in the voice I heard on the other end. I was charging a security camera in the kitchen and one morning the dogs were being let out. She made it all the way to the back door, turned around, helped herself to a cookie on the counter and then ran out with the other dogs. I find myself watching that video and giggling every so often. She was just terrible about it, but the things I would do to have one more good hunt with that dog. Its been some time, and I still catch myself thinking about her.

When it came time, I had her cremated and put a little of her ashes in a mini shotgun shell urn and hung it off the lanyard. She still makes every hunt with me to this day..... unless I have one of those nightmares and forget the calls at home. Its happened 1 time in my entire waterfowl career. I sure dont Ank Ank at them well enough to turn them down into the decoys lol.