What is the stupidest thing you have ever seen somebody do while hunting?

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


Hunters not being sure of their target, or what's around it.


Then comes the 'other' idiots, leaving their trash behind.

[GrantHarland]

Light up a cigarette in the stand right before daybreak.

[Bioguy01]

Most of the stuff I have witnessed revolves around poor muzzle control with a loaded firearm.

[DEER30]

last spring gobbler season I was hunting public land here in GA. As I was calling, another hunter began calling to me. I even watched as he "sneaked" up to about 80 yards from me answering each call I made. I had to stand up to let him know I was a hunter.

[DakotaMan]

It is a tie:
1. A friend shot his first coyote as it was swimming across a nearly frozen Missouri river. It had big chunks of ice floating down the fast current. He wanted to retrieve the coyote from about 100 yards off shore. He slithered on his belly from iceburg to iceburg all the way as he drifted downstream in the fast current. Just as he arrived at the coyote, a swirl in the current pulled the coyote under the ice. He reached under the ice to get a hold on the coyote's ear and slowly pulled it up on his chunk of ice.

Then he slithered back with the coyote. I could not talk him out of it and watched in horror as he narrowly escaped drowning or sliding beneath the ice. That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

2. An acquaintance came coyote hunting very poorly dressed for -15 degree weather. I tried to talk him out of embarking on our 4 mile walk but he insisted he knew what he was doing and refused to go back for warmer gloves, coat and headgear. At about mile two, he got hypothermia and laid down on the ice to rest as he was crossing a stretch of river. He quickly fell asleep and awoke as a big male coyote sniffed his nose. He said he was nearly frozen but could feel the adrenalin course his body as he saw about 20 coyotes around him. He mustered the energy to raise his rifle which was still in his hand. He shot the coyote from the bottom of the chest and out the back so I know he wasn't fibbing. After the shot, he said, he got new energy and ran all the way to our rendevouz place dragging the coyote. I mounted the coyote for him and it was the biggest coyote I have ever seen or mounted. I had a real challenge getting that powder burn out of the fine silverwhite hair on the coyote's chest. That was close the stupidest thing I have ever seen.

[DakotaMan]

EJP, your comment about the hunter grasping the barrel of a gun reminded me of a similar but sadder situation. I got home from school one evening and saw about a three foot puddle of blood in our driveway. Later I heard the story as my dad returned from the hospital, covered in blood.

My dad's best friend had done the same thing. He certainly knew better, being an avid and safe hunter and having just returned from a tour of military duty. He pulled his new over/under 12 gauge from the jeep by the barrel to show it off to my dad. The discharge caught him about 1/4 inch above his heart and blew two ribs off his spine with about a 3 inch exit wound. The exiting debris ripped a chuck out of the left arm on my grandfather's new leather jacket and embedded so much bone in the front of the jacket that he had to throw it away. It was a very sad week around our house that I will never forget. I also think it contributed to the high level of concern my whole family has for firearm safety since that time.