Let's say you drove 2 hours to where you hunt...just for the day...BUT your dumb butt forgot your shotgun and you didn't realize it till you got there. Do you stay and go in the woods just for the experience, give up and go home feeling stupid, or make a long trip to fetch your firearm wasting valuable time? Asking for a friend's wife. :popcorn:
Make the trip home to get the gun. Done it b4 but I was only 10 minutes out.
Asking for a friends wife... Sure you are
That far, I just make it a scouting mission for next time.
I had somebody come from out of town and I was so fixated on getting him setup I left my shotgun on the chair next to the only door out of the house. This was for deer season many moons ago, I went back and got my gun, it was opening day after all.
I've asked a lot of similar questions for "a friend's wife",...or whoever I could think of at the moment to cover my bonehead mistake of the hour. :)
Personally, if I was there at first light, I would stay and do recon on the turkeys there. I would be checking out the "roosted gobbler count" and making note of where as many of them as I could locate were at. Depending on how much future hunting time I have available, I would then decide if it was worth the effort to drive six hours that day (two to get gun, two back to hunt, and two back home),...or just plan the next trip based on the information gleaned from my "gobbler count".
If my hunting time was extremely limited, I might do the drive time,...but as it stands now, I would be making plans to go back another day and be there at daybreak near one of the roosted gobblers I found on the first trip.
Drive back cursing at yourself. Go back and get that mid morning Tom.....lol
You have 2 hrs to get home and 2 hrs back and you could be back hunting for that 10:00 time which has been good to me. I would go get my gun and hunt.
At least gas prices are down this year, so your friends wife won't be taking too much money out of the grocery budget for the extra gas money.
If you were there at "gobble thirty", I would never leave to go back before determining gobbler numbers and locations. In that thirty-minute, golden period before sun-up, you will glean much more valuable information by staying than the thirty minutes you will lose by hurrying home to get your shotgun. (At least that is the reality of hunting out here in the vast, public-land expanses of the west)
Like said above stay and scout out any roosted birds BUT I would be on the phone pleading and begging for the wife or someone to start there with my gun The wife always love to have a one up on the other half especially when they double up the honey-do list
I would call my wife and sweet talk her into heading my way with the gun and meet somewhere half way. Would not stay and hunt without a gun. If I did that I would end up calling up a half dozen different longbeards withen 20 yards on 3 different set ups. Thats my luck.
If you have you HEC's suit and turkey scent you are still in business. Just wait till he gets close enough and give him one of those karate chops to the neck and then the people's elbow for the finisher. On a serious note that sucks. Feel for you. I routinely drive an hour one way so I can imagine the frustration
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I'd hunt and shoot them with my cell phone if I got the opportunity. Getting them to the killing spot is most of the fun anyway.
I'm not dumb enough to forget mine , when it comes to going turkey hunting. LOL.... :OGturkeyhead: Asking for wife friend ..
Man you blew it big Time. Go to the nearest gun dealer or store and buy a new gun. Tell the Mrs. you had to have it to hunt with and you'll sell it and get the money back.....if she ask later about when you'll sell it, say after season, then next month you forgot, then next month you posted in in the forum and no takers, if she remembers the next month say you got a guy coming to look at it.....keep going until she gives up
Wouldn't tell my wife OR post it here :funnyturkey:
Eggshell's answer is the best. Use the situation to your advantage, to acquire a new firearm. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
This is another reason for carrying my trusty Boy Scout mirror. Take it out and look at it so you can see who screwed up.
I'd go back and get it. I seem to kill the majority later anyway. Once in awhile I even tell myself that when the alarm is going off in the early A.M.
Don't feel bad. I have a friend I went to school with that we only see each other once a year for opening day pheasant season and he forgot his a couple of years ago. He lives a couple of hours from where we hunt. Now that's the first thing I ask him when we get out of our pickups.
2 hours....id probably drive back and get it, its only a 1/2 day loss at best. if I was states away from home...id probably stop by a sporting goods store grant it was legal and all and purchase a simple pump shotgun. maybe even a pawn shop. and do a quick pattern test in the woods to make sure my POI was decent and go hunting.
Quote from: WV Flopper on May 03, 2020, 05:35:02 PM
Wouldn't tell my wife OR post it here :funnyturkey:
Wasn't me so I don't care. Couldn't believe someone would do that on a guided hunt but nobody is perfect. His wife was mad that he took time off work to turkey hunt and left his shotgun leaning next to her car in the garage. I laughed about it but he was embarrassed. Last I heard they are still married. :TooFunny:
Eggshell,
That is exactly what I was thinking, go buy a new gun.
Really would depend on the property I am hunting.... And how far away my house is. And how confident I am that I either know (or don't) the general pattern of the bird or birds I am hunting.
Hunting Private land, I generally arrive a bit later (cause I can), generally about 1/2 hour before sunrise... I might hang out and wait for those early gobbles.... I might even try to instigate them just a bit early with some hen calling (which I would never do if I were hunting and staying).
Hunting public, I am driving home and getting the gun (arriving 1 - 2 hours before sunrise)... Maybe go to a closer area to home than I had originally chosen. I generally get 1-2 days a week to hunt, no way I am throwing away a day to scout when I might not get to hunt that spot again for another week.
I did forget my gun duck hunting a couple years back... I was taking my young daughter out the night before, with the promises of staying in my duck cabin and watching a favorite movie and eating popcorn... 1.5 hour drive, and realized I forgot the gun when I was almost there... Appologized, and drove back to get the gun.
Now... I hook my keys to the gun case of my gun... Especially for turkey hunting where I am generally leaving earlier in the morning, and a bit more groggy.
A week ago, I was frantically looking for my gun and keys (everything else loaded the night before)... Finally realized I had moved them in a little nook by the front door (to save time); a time saver which cost me plenty of time.
I would head back, and I would be seriously dejected.
Why was it out of the truck to begin with ?
I would probably just drive home and head back that afternoon or the next morning.
I'm in line with Gobnlenut here.
I've done this more than once with my release for my bow. Helpless feeling when you're all set-up and no release.
Now, I always have an extra release that never leaves my pack "just in case". Problem solved.
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on May 03, 2020, 04:51:03 PMWould not stay and hunt without a gun. If I did that I would end up calling up a half dozen different longbeards withen 20 yards on 3 different set ups. Thats my luck.
Mine too!!! ;D
Quote from: Happy on May 03, 2020, 05:01:28 PMIf you have you HEC's suit and turkey scent you are still in business. Just wait till he gets close enough and give him one of those karate chops to the neck and then the people's elbow for the finisher.
:TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny:
Quote from: KentuckyHeadhunter on May 03, 2020, 09:04:57 PMCouldn't believe someone would do that on a guided hunt but nobody is perfect. His wife was mad that he took time off work to turkey hunt and left his shotgun leaning next to her car in the garage. I laughed about it but he was embarrassed. Last I heard they are still married. :TooFunny:
I don't know what would be worse, actually doing it, or the ball breaking I'd receive afterwards from my friends!!! ;) ;D :lol: :TooFunny:
If your ever around Apalachicola Florida and happen to hunt the water management area of Tates Hell, you would understand this story.
In this particular area, the shotgun is not that important. It is the thermacell...
If you forget your thermacell, go home and get it... No chance on venturing out into the woods without it. No chance... Dont care if they are gobbling by the truck...
No chance...
I believe I would find somewhere closer to huh
I'd drive back home and curse myself about every half mile along the way.
A guy I went to school with drove 5 hours to duck hunt at the outer banks and left his gun at home. Another time, the SAME GUY left the coast and on his way back home he realized about half way that he'd left his gun leaning against some brush where he was parked. He had to turn right back around to go get it. What a moron.
Jim
I'd go mushroom hunting
Perfect opportunity to buy another gun, your wife might not think so but I think in that situation that would be the best choice.
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Quote from: dublelung on May 05, 2020, 07:27:19 AM
I'd drive back home and curse myself about every half mile along the way.
This is exactly what I would do. And no, I wouldn't go home and get it then turn back around. But, I'm not leaving home without my gun in the first place.
Quote from: Jbird22 on May 05, 2020, 08:36:25 PM
Quote from: dublelung on May 05, 2020, 07:27:19 AM
I'd drive back home and curse myself about every half mile along the way.
This is exactly what I would do. And no, I wouldn't go home and get it then turn back around. But, I'm not leaving home without my gun in the first place.
I said the same thing... Started hunting at 9 years old, and I waterfowl hunt every weekend of the season.... Took me till I was 50 years old, but I finally forgot it. Almost everyone I know has forgotten their gun... Albeit, it generally happens only once, but it is a memorable lesson.
Maybe the alarm does not go off, or maybe there is some minor issue that delays you, and causes just a bit of a frantic panic to get out of the house.
As I mentioned before, now I hang my keys on the case....
Go get my gun...duh. Best hunting is after 9:00 anyway.
Quote from: KentuckyHeadhunter on May 03, 2020, 03:28:47 PM
Let's say you drove 2 hours to where you hunt...just for the day...BUT your dumb butt forgot your shotgun and you didn't realize it till you got there. Do you stay and go in the woods just for the experience, give up and go home feeling stupid, or make a long trip to fetch your firearm wasting valuable time? Asking for a friend's wife. :popcorn:
I almost did this.... I would possibly try and borrow a shotgun nearby...or buy the cheapest shotgun known to man.. like a 100 dollar used break open (actually same as i hunt with anyway). or go home feeling stupid, and just get work done at home.