Sorry Guys, I Have to Go Home.......

[WapitiTalk1]

For most of us, our planned time off in the elk woods is borderline sacred and not even a squad of marauding zombies could make us leave. That said, I bet most of you have a story about one guy/gal that had to leave camp for something that well, didn't sound like an important enough reason to bag the hunt. I'm not talking about family member illness, heinous weather, true emergencies back home, etc., but those excuses that left you scratching your head

Please, share a story of one of your (possibly former) hunting buddies that left the elk camp for an exceptionally odd reason

[easeup]

you guys better post up fast before Indian Summer steals the show on this one!

[Fridaythe13th]

The only one I have is, Colorado 2nd season elk hunt. It was Thursday night after we hunted all day. We get back to camp (condo) and 2 members of our party of 6 said they were leaven in the morning to go home. Of course he had his truck. So we had the option of going home or the 4 of staying one more day and piling in a extended cab truck and riding home for 18 hour. that was not my idea of a fun trip home so we elected to go home a day early, Not more than a hour down the road the famous leader said we're stopping and staying over night half way home because he know of a good steak restaurant. Missed a day of hunting for a steak, could have shot our own steak.

[WapitiTalk1]

you guys better post up fast before Indian Summer steals the show on this one!

No trout about that

[pointysticks]

we were into desert deer thick!!

one guy, announced. "my daughter is crying for me. i have to go. " he left after two days of brutal hunting. seriously. no nice guy is going to bag on a dude for being a great dad. but i think he was lying.

another guy, "i just ripped off my big toe nail"...okay,...bye! he did this twice.

me, i am not the best hunter, but i keep at it..right or wrong. figure i will get the stars to align one day. on something.

[Elkduds]

I was hunting w 2 brothers who had been separated by the older brother's military service. First night, they were up late drinking beer and whiskey around the fire, I went to bed so I could be up before dawn. Next night I went to bed early and left them by the fire. The next morning the younger bro was gone. Bro said for no reason, he just decided to walk home, @ 3 am. Home was over 15 miles away. Later I learned they had a fist fight when they got drunk that night. Finally got into the deer w my muzzleloader after I got away from those 2. Cain and Abel scenario.

[Swede]

I am going to let Indian Summer have this one. I still have a sore place for talking about this on a previous thread. That aside, I believe there are three explanations for the most who choose to leave early.
1. They get homesick and miss family
2. They get frustrated. They came with great hope and thought they would be into elk on a regular basis. Hunting is not easy, and getting an elk can be a tough time consuming proposition.
3. Conditions are tough. Add that to #1 and/or #2 above for some people and you will be by yourself.

I believe with all of the enthusiasm generated and successes we have had, on this and other forums, it is easy to see how false expectations can develop. Anyone that has had consistent success getting OTC public land elk, knows it is a lot more involved than a leisurely foray into the forest. I too can get caught up in the enthusiasm, but I have enough experience to keep things in perspective. Maybe not having realistic expectations is the real reason people quit early.

[easeup]

I am going to let Indian Summer have this one. I still have a sore place for talking about this on a previous thread. That aside, I believe there are three explanations for the most who choose to leave early.
1. They get homesick and miss family
2. They get frustrated. They came with great hope and thought they would be into elk on a regular basis. Hunting is not easy, and getting an elk can be a tough time consuming proposition.
3. Conditions are tough. Add that to #1 and/or #2 above for some people and you will be by yourself.

I believe with all of the enthusiasm generated and successes we have had, on this and other forums, it is easy to see how false expectations can develop. Anyone that has had consistent success getting OTC public land elk, knows it is a lot more involved than a leisurely foray into the forest. I too can get caught up in the enthusiasm, but I have enough experience to keep things in perspective. Maybe not having realistic expectations is the real reason people quit early.

Father Knows Best -

well said mr. swede.

[Wyo67]

Never had a partner do it. But, have helped another hunter track, find, finish off and pack out a wounded elk. Only to have him leave without even offering up a tenderloin or a 6-pack! A Jack Wagon IMO...

[timberland]

Other end of spectrum: Was on a quick 4-5 day antelope hunt a couple years ago. Younger guy in the group, "newbie" to bowhunting in general, moped around camp, easily frustrated with cooking, WY wind, snoring, etc. but hung in there and killed the last of four goats on the forth day, so we packed up and drove 15 hours home. Come to find out he was going thru a divorce and she had used his trip to pack her bags. Always was bummed he never let on or maybe things would have gone differently, for him and the trip.

[Lefty]

I cant remember on any big game trips with others where someone packed it up.
Ive hunted waterfowl with a lot of people in the past, some of the newbies cant dress for the weather. Way too many hunts ended because someone didn't know how to dress
The most brutal hunt Ive ever been on. A couple years ago a friends son asked if I would take his friend out to get him a goose before he left on a Mormon Mission. Monday morning it was double digits below zero with wind. The most brutal hunt Ive ever been on. I warned them about the cold. I came with two dogs, a heated layout pad and a military surplus feather sleeping bag. The young guys never complained. And the young fellow was so excited to be on a goose hunt he somehow managed to stay warm.

[idahoghost]

Okay, I'll bite. What's Indian Summer's story?

[WapitiTalk1]

Okay, I'll bite. What's Indian Summer's story?

Ghost, IS has a ton of "interesting" stories from his outfitter adventures I know he's buried with work and school, but I'll see if I can prod him into posting a few. RJ

[elk.addict]

Back in about '03, I went hunting with a friend from work. We both took a week off for elk season and setup camp. Opening morning we came up on a herd of elk and he killed a bull early that morning. We weren't too far from the road so we were able to get the whole elk out that day. That evening, to my surprise, he loaded up all his gear and headed home. I guess he figured that he killed his bull and there was no reason to stay.
That was the 1 and only time he was invited to my elk camp.

[wawhitey]

Back in about '03, I went hunting with a friend from work. We both took a week off for elk season and setup camp. Opening morning we came up on a herd of elk and he killed a bull early that morning. We weren't too far from the road so we were able to get the whole elk out that day. That evening, to my surprise, he loaded up all his gear and headed home. I guess he figured that he killed his bull and there was no reason to stay.
That was the 1 and only time he was invited to my elk camp.

You know in that scenario I would leave to get the elk hung somewhere cold but I would come back. You don't think leaving for one day like that would be bad form do you?

[Swede]

I think everyone understands that the meat needs to be taken care of. The key to me, is to do just what is legitimate, and avoid what is an excuse. When we talk about excuses, I thinks the gates are wide open and there are no limits.

[Trophyhill]

I'd bet that most guys who make up a fictitious story to go home probably either did not enjoy the hunt, did not enjoy being around someone in camp or both.

[Wyo67]

Back in about '03, I went hunting with a friend from work. We both took a week off for elk season and setup camp. Opening morning we came up on a herd of elk and he killed a bull early that morning. We weren't too far from the road so we were able to get the whole elk out that day. That evening, to my surprise, he loaded up all his gear and headed home. I guess he figured that he killed his bull and there was no reason to stay.
That was the 1 and only time he was invited to my elk camp.

You know in that scenario I would leave to get the elk hung somewhere cold but I would come back. You don't think leaving for one day like that would be bad form do you?

Nothing wrong with leaving for one day. We hunt about 4 hours from home and our local meat processor. If one of us gets one down, we haul it out and the shooter takes it back for processing. Catch a nice hot shower and come back.

[stringunner]

I don't want to misdirect the thread but....I don't have any stories of folks leaving camp early, but what frustrates the heck of me is when someone comes into camp, hunts hard for the first two days of a 7-10 hunt, gets discouraged by the lack of animal activity, and decides to turn the remainder of the week into a vacation, lounging around camp, swimming in the creek, etc. not really hunting at all. While the whole reason I remained for the last 7-10 days (being as I had filled both elk and deer tags by this time in the season, and my dad had already left due to lack of vacation) was to help call, pack out and assist in their hunt. This has happened to me twice in the past two years in a row, this year, I won't be sticking around if this is what happens, as by the fourth week, my family is missing me & me them, pretty bad.

Now if Swede is still needing assistance, with packing out or whatever, that might change the equation this year.

[bcb10]

Didn't happen to me, but to a couple of my current hunting partners. They brought two newbies with them halfway across the country(in two seperate vehicles) to give them a camp of four. They showed the new guys a good spot to hunt and one of them shot a nice bull out of that spot opening morning. All four of them spent the rest of the day hauling the elk out back to camp. Being wore out from the previous day the two newbies slept in on the second day while the other two went hunting. Late that morning they come back to camp to find out that the newbies had packed up all their stuff including the elk and left without even saying a word to the other two guys.

[Duck-Slayer]

yep, some guys...... I have a couple of stories but don't want too put it out on the internet, "they" might find out....
Matt

[elk.addict]

You know in that scenario I would leave to get the elk hung somewhere cold but I would come back. You don't think leaving for one day like that would be bad form do you?

No of course I wouldn't have had a problem with him taking a day to run his elk home/butcher. It's just not coming back I had a problem with. Not how I'd treat a hunting partner anyways.

[dapper]

It was 1980 and a Buddy and I booked a drop camp hunt 18 miles into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Our hunt was to be seven days and three fellows from Southern Iowa shared camp with us. The outfitter packed us all in together, though they were booked for a 10 day hunt. One of these fellows was afraid of bears. When we arrived at camp, a bear had raided the stash of plates, cups, pepper/salt and other supplies the outfitter had brought in days earlier. This along with the fact that a big grizzly was hanging around the drainage where we camped/hunted, only made this fellow more fearful. We seen fresh tracks quite often as we crossed the creek or any muddy spots, though none of us actually seen the bear. The other two buddies of his played on his fears, doing things like making a muddied grizzly print on the canvas wall tent that they slept in. I don't think he ventured far from camp. When it was time for the outfitter to come haul my buddy and I out, this fellow had had enough. He went out with us and paid us to drive out of our way to take him home. Elk hunting wasn't for him. The following year all of us did the same hunt, but there were only two fellows from southern Iowa!

Dan

[Swede]

C'mon Duck Slayer, don't be a chicken. Tell your buddies it was for a good cause. Our entertainment. Besides that, consider all the great opportunities this story could provide you. You could be meeting new buddies, finding a new place to camp and hunt. Maybe you could even find a new job. Who knows what else? All of that for our entertainment.

[Indian Summer]

you guys better post up fast before Indian Summer steals the show on this one!

Easeup that's hilarious man! I literally choked on my morning coffee because I read Phantom's post and a million thoughts raced through my head. Then I scrolled down a mere inch to your post and lost it.

I hate people who constantly repeat themselves so I won't do that.

Who remembers the one on here about the partner who said his rabbit got sick? My partner this year lurks on here from time to time. I didn't know that until he said to me one day.... I got a rabbit... I hope he doesn't get sick this fall. Cracked me right up. I think I'll just sit back and read this one.................................

I have dreams of duct taping crappy partners to a lodgepole pine and leaving them for the birds and coyotes! Call me crazy but I hope they get to the Pearly gates and the man upstairs says... "Bailed on your elk hunting partner eh.... no soup for you the elevator is that way!!!"

[Screaming_btf]

Out camping for what was to be a 4 day outing I had a rather interesting thing happen. I was going to be hunting with this person for the first time and he was an avid hunter. I had warned him in the summer about the physical demands of the area we were in and I was assured he was up for the challenge. On the way into camp when we stopped he told me he had run out of gas so we had to drive 1.5 hours out in my car to get him some GAS in a few cans. The next morning we got up and he had brought a 4-wheeler to assist in getting up a road I usually walked up myself for a mile or so before getting to a turn out point and breaking from the trail. He let me off and he parked his machine someplace a bit up ahead. We had a hard day and finally were getting where the elk were and one starting moving around and he promptly yelled at me and let me know he was watching a BULL, and then a second later added in that it was now running away and we should start going after it. I was somewhat amazed at what just happened and walked over to where he was talking (very loudly) and informed him we had 0 chance at that bull especially if we rushed off after it. The rest of the afternoon and day were slow and in the evening he wanted to split up and meet after dark at the top of a ridge we had to hike over to get back to the trail out. We'll after dark he finally came walking up, I had to bugle a few times to make sure he was even in the right area. When we finally made it back down to pickup the 4 wheeler... he had forgotten where it was parked and in the dark we were not able to find it. He was spent and was having a hard time walking. I carried his gear back down all the way to camp. In the morning we found his 4 wheeler, he let me know he had to make it back home to finish up putting some drywall in his basement on the wife's orders and wished me well...

[Garrett Drach]

Not elk hunting, but same theme. I was around 10 years old when we went fishing in Ontario. Had a big group of guys and several kids. Friday was the last day of fishing, and that evening everyone was packed up, boats were trailered, covered and ready to hit the road home Saturday morning. The camp had its limit of one species of fish (walleye I think) and unfilled limits of several other species. So we got up early Saturday morning to hit the road and notice one of the guys had already left (supposedly he got anxious about work and took off around midnight, and never told anyone), and did not take his limit of walleye. So everyone is grabbing a cup of coffee and a quick breakfast when, guess who showed up...Ontario Conservation Officers. Several of Dad's went outside to chat, not realizing our group was one limit over on walleye. When the CO's finally told the Dad's they want to count fish and see everyone's license, the Dad's then realized we were one limit over and started sweating bullets. The CO's proceeded to count our license's and fish and somehow everything matched up and the CO's leave. We're all scratching our heads wondering why our math was wrong, still thinking we should be over our limit. It wasn't until we crossed over the boarder back into the U.S. that one of the Dad's told us that while most of the Dad's went out front to chat with the CO's he quickly realized the situation. He ducked into the freezer, grabbed an armful of frozen walleye fillets and rushed out the back door, unseen by the CO's and Dad's in the front. And proceeded to bury the fillets. No one knew what he did. And of course the guy who left early was never invited back to camp.

[Duck-Slayer]

C'mon Duck Slayer, don't be a chicken. Tell your buddies it was for a good cause. Our entertainment. Besides that, consider all the great opportunities this story could provide you. You could be meeting new buddies, finding a new place to camp and hunt. Maybe you could even find a new job. Who knows what else? All of that for our entertainment.

That is true.... I met ton's of buddies off forum's just like this.... I do need a new hunting partner this fall....

it's was just a bunch of drama between a hardcore hunter "me" and a city weekender "him"..... it wasn't all bad, we just did not mesh in our style's of hunting and priorities in life.... one of those guy's you just shake your head and say I'll see you after dark, good luck and go hunting.....
Matt

[Duck-Slayer]

you guys better post up fast before Indian Summer steals the show on this one!

I have dreams of duct taping crappy partners to a lodgepole pine and leaving them for the birds and coyotes! Call me crazy but I hope they get to the Pearly gates and the man upstairs says... "Bailed on your elk hunting partner eh.... no soup for you the elevator is that way!!!"

Hilarious.......

except I would stake them too the ground by a red ant pile.......
Matt

[Olydog09]

C'mon Duck Slayer, don't be a chicken. Tell your buddies it was for a good cause. Our entertainment. Besides that, consider all the great opportunities this story could provide you. You could be meeting new buddies, finding a new place to camp and hunt. Maybe you could even find a new job. Who knows what else? All of that for our entertainment.

That is true.... I met ton's of buddies off forum's just like this.... I do need a new hunting partner this fall....

it's was just a bunch of drama between a hardcore hunter "me" and a city weekender "him"..... it wasn't all bad, we just did not mesh in our style's of hunting and priorities in life.... one of those guy's you just shake your head and say I'll see you after dark, good luck and go hunting.....
Matt

i was hunting the Yakima area in Wa one year and met up with a guy while out there. We hooked up to hunt and man I was bummed. He did not want to stray far from the truck, and always wanted to be within like 20 feet of me. After a couple days I was WISHING he would leave early. No such luck. He did however run my bow over with his truck. That was nice of him.

[easeup]

i was hunting the Yakima area in Wa one year and met up with a guy while out there. We hooked up to hunt and man I was bummed. He did not want to stray far from the truck, and always wanted to be within like 20 feet of me. After a couple days I was WISHING he would leave early. No such luck. He did however run my bow over with his truck. That was nice of him.

ROLOL!!!

[easeup]

Okay, I'll bite. What's Indian Summer's story?

I had a few extra minutes this morning to go find the original rabbit post.......this one goes down in the Elknut archives MVP.

-----------------http://www.elknutforums.com/Hunting/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3181

[planebow]

A few years back I had one of my co-workers that wanted to go elk hunting with my partner and I. We took our bikes and set up camp about 5 miles from the road, the co-worker had his own tent while we had one together. The first morning we decided to each go in a different direction and see if we could locate some elk. When we got back to camp the co-worker had packed up his gear and was gone. When I went back to work I ask him why he left. He said he did not see any elk so he was not going to stick around. Never hunted with him again.

[jswbga]

after reading all this, here's my best conclusion:

if you're taking a new guy on a trip, dont let him drive. or at a minimum.... dont let him have the only set of wheels.

we had a guy on last years bowhunt who definitely bit off more than he could chew. however, our accommodations were pretty plush (cabin on a remote highway) so he just lounged around camp all day about half the days. Good guy, but it seems elk hunting just wasnt his thing. we're still friends, because he didnt flake. I guess his rabbit just had the flu.... didnt die...

Indian Summer, those stories were brutal. I feel for you, sir.