Gear mistakes thread

It is time to share our worst gear decisions. Did you give everything away during a break from hunting or leave something at a campsite? Let's learn from each other's mistakes.

I'm an 'opportunity hunter' as I call it. I carry the lever gun while working. If the opportunity presents itself I take it. If I don't have the firearm it will certainly happen and I will kick myself. If I do have the gun the chances are slim. That's how it goes.

I have too much to do to sit under or in a tree waiting for the magic moment. My magic moment is what I described above. Work / chores AND some food at the same time. Then I have to deal with the animal during other priorities which is a mixed blessing.

Hopefully it is a healthy animal. But this is covered in other threads. We have BUNCHES of does around, way too many. The bucks get taken / poached. I get really angry about this aspect but it is what it is. And the deer in this area are small - not the big bodied animals I enjoyed in the midwest. Just the neck of a midwest deer was much of the carcass of a WA deer. I have a mount over my desk. The rack is one thing - the neck behind it is the rest of my story. In 18 years owning our 160ac of forest canyon land we have taken ONE legal buck. The most are gone before the season starts.

So the gear is not an issue. Other than the lever gun rattling around at the bottom of the Gator. If I brought it along.

Sorry, Alan. This isn't what you expected, I think. But it is the first thing that came to my mind as a WA land owner.

I have to admit to a real dinger involving not just a piece of gear, but THE piece of gear. I had worked on a small pistol and needed to test it at the range. So I loaded up its magazine and a few more rounds I had, and then grabbed a bunch of my main carry pistol mags and loaded them up, everything in my range bag, ready to go in the morning. So I get to the range, test the little pistol (fixes worked fine) and then unloaded my 10 practice mags and reached for my carry pistol in the holster. The holster was empty...

Of course you just left it behind...?

Sometimes I forget the spare mag, or my watch, or my ring, but never my carry pistol. I was shocked! I thought "Where did I drop it", "Who took it?" Utter confusion, tho eventually I kinda remember not holstering like I normally do. Still, the stomach butterflies didn't go away until I got home and holstered the pistol.