Best Lost Then Found Item Hunting

[Muddyboots]

I was hunting Missionary Ridge next to Lemon Reservoir right after the big burn there years ago when I marked my lunch spot on top of the ridge where I was glassing. Burned over area where all the pines were dead and charred, ground was still blackened badly, few greens popping up but great spot to glass this little spring down a cut below me. I got back to camp and was talking to my 2 hunting buds when I looked for my GPS. Gone!

I had older backup but I use compass for most part. I upload waypoints to my software to show hunting locations after hunt. Next day I took buddy over in area to tag team it since I saw elk working 2 different spots. While we were whispering at daybreak on top of ridge, I was telling my buddy I lost my ALL BLACK GPS somewhere over here. I just happened to look down and yep, there it was laying right on top of the jet black burnt soil screen side down so it was black GPS on black soil!!! Gazillion to one to find it when not even looking for it!!

 

[Sportshooter5]

Did you get as lucky with your Elk ?

 

[338 dude]

I was hunting Missionary Ridge next to Lemon Reservoir right after the big burn there years ago when I marked my lunch spot on top of the ridge where I was glassing. Burned over area where all the pines were dead and charred, ground was still blackened badly, few greens popping up but great spot to glass this little spring down a cut below me. I got back to camp and was talking to my 2 hunting buds when I looked for my GPS. Gone!

I had older backup but I use compass for most part. I upload waypoints to my software to show hunting locations after hunt. Next day I took buddy over in area to tag team it since I saw elk working 2 different spots. While we were whispering at daybreak on top of ridge, I was telling my buddy I lost my ALL BLACK GPS somewhere over here. I just happened to look down and yep, there it was laying right on top of the jet black burnt soil screen side down so it was black GPS on black soil!!! Gazillion to one to find it when not even looking for it!!

If you come across a pair of 10 x 42 Wind River binoculars please PM me!!

 

[cohunt]

Lost a sig kilo rangefinder in a lope hunting field a few years ago--- was helping my daughter spot/stalk a lope and thought it went in my pocket but dropped to the ground.

Realized it was missing when we got home later that day.

Went back and retraced our steps as best we could the next day and found it. Took about 45 min to find it cause I remembered where/when I had used it last-- got lucky

 

[XLR Industries]

Oh, I can go on for days with this thread... the best one though was a few years back we were elk hunting in one of the most brutal spots in CO... about 8 miles into some nasty brush in a steep canyon. It was getting dark so my girlfriend and I were just throwing everything in the packs to get out of there as quickly as possible. I handed her my Leica 3200s to throw in there. Well, when we got to the truck about 4 hours later..... no binos. The issue wasn't knowing where they were since we were on a pretty good cliff ban.. it was the fact that I had to go back in that hole that had zero elk just to retrieve my binos. She looked like a ghost when I explained the price tag for them! Fun times but those are the stories you will not forget!

 

[just_jon]

When I was younger, I used to hang a bunch of stands for archery season to cover various wind directions. It was not unusual to misplace one for a season or two. I hunted an area last fall that I have not hunted since the early 90s of and found my old API climber under a log that I sat on for lunch, Because it was so heavy and on public land, I used to place It in a plastic garbage bag and stash under a log easy for next weekend.

I now use Apple airtags on valuable hunting gear like Binos, spotting scopes, gps, satcom, rangefinder, kestrel, etc, Lost a dogtra transmitter last fall and was able to use the app to take me right to it.

 

[XLR Industries]

I now use Apple airtags on valuable hunting gear like Binos, spotting scopes, gps, satcom, rangefinder, kestrel, etc, Lost a dogtra transmitter last fall and was able to use the app to take me right to it.

Maybe it is just me but I have never thought of this! I might even put one inside my chassis in case I ever have my house get broken into! Could put it right inside of the buffer tube and nobody would ever know!

 

[Darryle]

Not a hunting related story but a lost then found story.

I was raised by my grandparents after my mother passed away. They were farmers and ranchers. We raised peanuts, coastal hay and wheat. I decided one year that I was going to raise watermelons and cantelopes because with the farming and 500+ mother cows, I didn't have enough to do.

In the early part of the season of 1983, I leased 125 acres of good sand soil that had been idle for at least a decade. We sowed and sold coastal sprigs, I took my draw as a one payment, about $3600. I had an old 4020 diesel that didn't have a cab, well in the process of onewaying the melon patch my wallet rode up and out of my back pocket along with the draw and whatever else I had in cash. Searching the outer portion of the 125 acres was not going to be easy or rewarding. I about died, my grandfather graciously loaned me the money for seed, fertilizer and fuel and I wrote off the $3600+.

After what one would call almost perfect conditions, I raised and sold over $100k of watermelons and cantelopes.

So that fall, I committed to a long term lease of the property and after everything was gone, I left the property to lay until spring.

The following March I was back to running the one way, now with my wallet in my front left pocket. I intently watched each pass, over my shoulder and each area to the right of the front right tire. 4hrs into the day I spotted what looked like a piece of wood. I stopped and sure enough it was my wallet. The top edges of the cash was a little deteriorated but it looked no worse for the time spent in the ground.

 

[mrbb]

when I was about 10 yrs old, I was given a 4 inch fixed blade knife someone made for my father, nothing fancy or costly,
it had a leather sheath for it, but it didn;t fit right in it and the snap that held it in place was broken
I used to explore the local forest on foot some times miles from home, and carried it one day and lost it, some where between home and a good 4 miles away!
I looked for ti for weeks, trying my best to re trace my steps, but I never followed trails or paths, just wandered thru the woods
never found it, then, about 5 yrs later I found it while hunting grouse in the same area I had been
it was a little rusty, but I cleaned it up and again started carry it again when hunting,a s it was a nice little knife,
actually I never ever seen another one like it since either and I have looked!!

BUT again, I lost t when I had it in a back pack and the back pack tore on something and it fell out the bottom along with several other items,
I managed to back track and find most things, but not the knife
over the past 35 yrs or so since I lost it, I have gone back a ton of times looking for it too
guess it just wasn't meant to be a knife for me!

I also once left a pair of binoculars on a stump on an out of state hunt
I shot a deer, and was getting dark and was in a hurry to pack up and get to it, and forgot to grab them
didn;t realize I left them behind till I got home(9 hour drive one way home)
I made the trip back a few weeks later when I had time and did get them back, nothing wrong with them, either, minus a long drive to get them, but I turned that into a new scouting trip as a chance to explore new area's, and found a few hot spots for future hunts that paid off,, so a round about WIN I guess

 

[Muddyboots]

Not me but one of the guys. Hunting Catskill Mtns. He walks up to my truck little after dark and one of the guys asks him "were you going to jump deer with knife?"x Buddy laughs "no". Why? Cause where is your rifle? OMG! He left it against a stone wall fence when packed up to leave his spot. Well the mountain is criss crossed with tons of them. So he goes back and we watch his light up on the mountain bouncing back and forth like a video game. Although it was getting late, we sat by truck laughing so hard every time the light off in the distance would change directions. One of the guys would make the video game noises and we would be rolling on ground just crying with laughter! Finally we see the light speed up in a direction, stop and then starts back down the mountain. This is well over a mile away so it took him about 40 min to get back to truck! Soaking wet from sweat! Heck we had to ride with windows down in my old Ramcharger to breathe!! The laughter in that truck for the hour ride home will never be forgotten!

 

[RidgeTop]

My Sister found a Marlin 38-40 leaning up against a tree. The case disintegrated when handled. Inside the rifle was in perfect condition. Ten years later the rifle was stolen from her home.

 

[manitou]

My brother and I had made turkey hunting seats... many years ago.
He was engaged to his high school sweetheart and gained permission to hunt her grandfather's farm. He hunted it for several years and he and her eventually parted ways.
About 20 years later my wife and I moved within six miles of this "grandfather's farm". I secured permission to hunt it. That year, I found my brother's turkey seat from over twenty years prior!

 

[Muddyboots]

Did you get as lucky with your Elk ?

Yeah small 5x5 but I was hunting a really good one from that spot up on ridge that was easily over 300. Saw him twice but couldn't get shot off in each fast encounter. He never knew I was there but just not quite long enough. It was a really good hunt seeing most elk on a hunt ever.

 

[Recon$$]

Lost my first hunting knife my grandfather gave me when I was 13 in a foot of snow. I didn't notice till I was back at camp. I found it in a nice penciled hole in the snow two hours later during the search. I was sure I'd never find it. Still carrying it 23 years later.