Ever find a shotgun while hunting?

ridgewalker said:

Years ago a bud and I were rabbit hunting in the mountains near Gold Hill, CO. We spotted a Subaru in the snow with the tailgate open. Thinking it had been stolen, we walked up to it. I moved around to see the driver's side. A body with most of the head missing leaning against the door and a lever gun between the legs! We immediately headed into Gold Hill and called the sheriff!
Awful sight! Had nightmares for years.
Sadly his mother called me a couple of times (I guess my name and number were on record?) crying and saying "my son didn't commit suicide!" Rather upsetting for me too.

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That's a terrible way to end a hunt. Sorry for the gents that found it, had to be an awful experience. How could you ever get that sight out of your head?

marksman1941 said:

When my brother was 16 he was hunting in the woods and smelled something awful. He started looking around and found a dude dead by suicide in a lawn chair next to a half drank 30 rack. His story about it haunted me for ages and I never even saw it. I'm sorry you had to see that; folks shouldn't see that sort of thing.

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I know a fella that had a hard time getting back into the woods because when he was 16 or 17 or so he was out hunting and came upon the remains of a man who had hung himself out in the middle of nowhere. Traumatizing indeed.

Calvin45 said:

I know a fella that had a hard time getting back into the woods because when he was 16 or 17 or so he was out hunting and came upon the remains of a man who had hung himself out in the middle of nowhere. Traumatizing indeed.

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I can't imagine. I would be hard pressed to go out after finding that. Some things leave indelible marks on a person.

I will keep it to "do people loose guns" question.

Yes it happens. I remember around 1978 a customer at the sporting goods store was out pheasant hunting, all day. At the end of his hunt he was exhausted, got the gun case out of the car, put his 1100 rem into it and set it on top of the car. Loaded the rest of his gear in the car and forgot the
shotgun on top. I remember helping to look for it that next afternoon with the asst mgr of the store and our friends. We never found the shotgun. We figure it fell off on the access road to the hunting grounds and someone else found and kept it.

While not an overly common thing, I think it happens more frequently than we think. We probably just don't hear too much about it because who wants to be that guy that says "anyone find my shotgun somewhere out in the woods?"

Wasn't a gun . But a friends in-law had a little camo folding chair that he used for squirrel hunting .
Of course he shot a squirrel went to retrieve said squirrel and then couldn't find his chair on the way
back to it .

I knew of a family years ago that had bought a ranch in Montana. The son was goofing off in a small cave and unearthed an antique Colt 45. It was cleaned up and new stocks put on it and was in good enough shape to be fired.

My late grandfather was exploring a cave in Utah and found an Indian quiver with three arrows in it.

I wish I knew the true story behind both of those instances.

HNDLDR said:

I knew of a family years ago that had bought a ranch in Montana. The son was goofing off in a small cave and unearthed an antique Colt 45. It was cleaned up and new stocks put on it and was in good enough shape to be fired.

My late grandfather was exploring a cave in Utah and found an Indian quiver with three arrows in it.

I wish I knew the true story behind both of those instances.

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Holy smokes finding an old school quiver of arrows would be a once in a lifetime discovery!!! That is awesome…but I do wonder what happened AND I really would love to know just how old they might have been.

My grandparents farm was in central Minnesota, right in the heart of prime Whitetail and Ruffed Grouse country. Many years ago my grandpa was heading in to town on the gravel road and spotted a gun case on the edge of the road. He stopped and opened it up. Inside was a beautiful 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge. He contacted the local game warden who told him to hang on to it and he would ask around. I think he also posted an ad in the local paper to which he never got a response. After some time, the game warden told him it was his to do as he wishes. My cousin still has that fine shotgun. I'm sure it was a case of packing up the vehicle and leaving the cased gun on the roof before driving off.

My Dad left MY .270Win he was using leaning up against a tree right off a dirt road where we stopped for lunch.

I was about 10 miles away when I realized it was not in the back seat. I never drove so fast on the way back, As we had 3 trucks pass us going the opposite way.

Luckily, it was still there when we got back.

A friend of mine who's no longer with us told me about a guy he new was hunting in local mountains here and took a break under a tree. He leaned his rifle up against tree. When he left he put his pack on and took off back down the mountain. He got to truck and notice he didn't have his rifle. He went back up and couldn't find it. Never did. I'm not sure but I could ask his cousin who lives by me , but I think someone found it a couple years later . I think he said a bolt action. Been awhile.

A couple years ago I was loading up truck outside in the dark fpr a deer hunt. I took off to pick up buddy about 3 miles away. I got to his house. He loaded up. When he put his rifle in truck I said s@$t !!! He said what ? I told him I left my rifle, pistol and binos (swaro's) on the ground by fence. It was light out enough to see well by then. I hauled butt back home and all was laying there. I wasn't real worried. I know any of the neighbors would of picked up for me and not many theives and dirt bags here but it freaked me out at the moment. Senior moment, brain fart or something. In a hurry...

I was hunting antelope in Wyoming and just stopped to glass a herd I was interested in, was putting my binos in my pack and looked down to see a nearly pristine buck 110 sheath knife. My guess is someone gutted a deer or antelope there. I have found knives struck into the side of trees on a military base I use to hunt. But never a gun.

Rosebud said:

I was hunting antelope in Wyoming and just stopped to glass a herd I was interested in, was putting my binos in my pack and looked down to see a nearly pristine buck 110 sheath knife. My guess is someone gutted a deer or antelope there. I have found knives struck into the side of trees on a military base I use to hunt. But never a gun.

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As a kid I found a knife on the side of the road in similar fashion. We pulled over to take a leak (as apparently the previous knife owner had) and I saw a piece of plastic near my foot. I kicked it gently out of the way and my grandpa said "well aren't you gonna pick it up?" After I finished I grabbed the plastic and it turned out to be a kydex knife sheath with a lovely little buck knife in it. I still have that around somewhere. Might have to dig it out for this years season, just for nostalgia.

A few years back I had a customer bring me a custom built Sako with a stock that was broken at the wrist. He said he found it in a case on the freeway. The stock was not repairable and he didn't want to spend the money for a new one. I got to studying that rifle and the custom work on it and thought it had all the features and style of a rifle a varmint hunting buddy of mine would have on a rifle. The work, which was hi-end, looked like the work of a custom gunsmith I was very familiar with and built most of my friends rifles. I gave my friend a call and ask if he'd lost or sold any of his rifles. He kind of laughed and said that he had inadvertently left two cased rifles on top of his car a couple of months back when he left the range. He ask me to pull the Neidner butplate off the stock and sure enough his name was there, carved into the stock. I called the guy that brought me the rifle and he was gracious enough to allow me to return it to the rightful owner.