Rented a farm for hunting last week. My tree stand was nothing but a small bow hunting stand about 20 feet up. I leaned my rifle on the small platform to clear a branch from my line of sight when, my boot clipped the butt of my rifle and it fell 20 feet to the ground. My rifle is a Sako 85 laminated varmint stainless fluted 308 win with a VX III LR 4.5 14 X 50mm, sunshade and optilock mounts. I'm not sure in the US. But here in Canada, the whole deal cost me over 3000.00 cdn. My friggin heart stoped on the spot. I swear I made it down the tree without touching the lader. Besides a little chip on the bottom of the stock. Everything seemed fine. But now I had to bring her to the range to see if any internals have been damaged. To my pleasure! The 0 did not move and all was fine. I'm not sure if I was lucky as heck or the Sako is one tough cookie. Either way, I dogged a huge bullet. Anyone else have similar experiences?
Thought I'd share my nightmare.....
- Thread starter Canuck
- Start date
Never been in a tree stand but fell crossing a rock slide one day. Fell so hard the edge of a rock went clear through both layers of my Carharts and dented the scope and scratched the rifle. A really hard hit. Checked the sight the next day and was still right on. They will take a lot more beating than we give them credit for.
- Oct 30, 2004
- 24,074
- 2,593
Yup but I always cushion the rifle. 
- Thread starter
- #4
6mm Remington
Ammo Smith
- Feb 27, 2006
- 5,210
- 452
Very correct POP, when my wife first started hunting we were getting ready to go on our first hunt and I was telling her, you go down , the rifle goes up. You go down the rifle goes up, or you craddle and protect it somehow with your body. She looked at me like this! :shock: But I was completely serious. I practice what I preach as well. On the story about my son and I taking our rifles for a walk, we came down a pretty horrible spot on the ridge and we were both getting tired. It didn't help that the particular slope we were on was probably 60 degrees or steeper with loose shale rock and some patches of snow. We had to drop about 1000 feet on it and then sidehill for about a mile before we hit an old mining road. I must have fallen 4-6 times but not once did any part of my rifle hit the dirt and rocks. Can't say the same for other parts of my body!POP":3sjfc52d said:Yup but I always cushion the rifle.
I was elk hunting in NE Oregon about 15 years ago, and I needed to get across some blown-down timber that had pretty universally snapped/folded about two feet off the ground. I go about 1/4 of the way across when it started to rain. I got about 3/4 of the way across when I bit it, and somehow the only thing I manage to ding up was my ankle... as soon as I took my boot off that night, it immediately swelled probably 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch all around. Let me tell you what a fun season THAT turned out to be! I did manage to retain zero on the Burris on my Whelen.
- Oct 30, 2004
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- 2,593
It is true guys. I do not know how many scars I bear that would have wound up on the rifles. Better me than them! :mrgreen:
Well I have taken a few spills as well. Worst one was when I was 14 crossing a shale rock slide in the rain. Slipped and slid down the hill 40 yards or so. Between trying to stop and save my rifle I broke the retical free in my burris. After the season I noticed It made a bit more of a x than a cross. sent if back and they fixed it.
Now I always try to carry my rifle with the outside hand. That way when I fall I can catch myself with the close hand and keep my rifle up and safe. My wife is well aware of these "rules" as well.
Now I always try to carry my rifle with the outside hand. That way when I fall I can catch myself with the close hand and keep my rifle up and safe. My wife is well aware of these "rules" as well.
- Nov 4, 2004
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That happened to me 2 years ago. I had just shot a buck and was going to get out of mt tree stand and I bumped my 700 LSS 338 RUM and it fell 15 feet. I was lucky, the 3 foot balsum broke the fall and not a scratch on her. I.checked my zero and she was dead on!
JD338
JD338
- Oct 30, 2004
- 24,074
- 2,593
JD338":ndblhq0d said:
Artemis was with you! :grin:
Greg Nolan
Handloader
- Nov 25, 2004
- 2,143
- 18
Like most people I try and save the rifle at my own expense and usually do except for a slip and fall on my butt episode with my slung rifle. The scope hit the rock about as hard as my butt did. The scope was just fine except for a scratch and ding. But the real story of horror is this one:
I was 18 in my jeep in Colorado on my first out of state hunt with my family and friends. That's pretty exciting for a Los Angeles kid. In the week we were there I lost the oil in the front differential and it locked up so I unlocked the front hubs and pulled the front driveshaft and used 2WD the rest of the trip. Comming back into camp the snow had melted and the road was slick. I couldn't make it up the hill. Being 18 I just backed up and took a power run at the hill. It worked despite the big bump I hit just as I got to the bottom of the hill. Out of the corner of my eye I caught something fly by overhead but I was bouncing and lost track of what it was. You guessed it! My dad's 270 Buffalo Newton rifle. Broke the stock, scope and put a few major scratches in everything that could be scratched. That rifle today in the condition it WAS in beforet the mishap would be worth many thousands and probably many hundreds even in 1966. I payed to get the rifle repaired and he hunted with it the next year and we teamed up on our first elk on his last hunting trip. Tough old rifle!
I was 18 in my jeep in Colorado on my first out of state hunt with my family and friends. That's pretty exciting for a Los Angeles kid. In the week we were there I lost the oil in the front differential and it locked up so I unlocked the front hubs and pulled the front driveshaft and used 2WD the rest of the trip. Comming back into camp the snow had melted and the road was slick. I couldn't make it up the hill. Being 18 I just backed up and took a power run at the hill. It worked despite the big bump I hit just as I got to the bottom of the hill. Out of the corner of my eye I caught something fly by overhead but I was bouncing and lost track of what it was. You guessed it! My dad's 270 Buffalo Newton rifle. Broke the stock, scope and put a few major scratches in everything that could be scratched. That rifle today in the condition it WAS in beforet the mishap would be worth many thousands and probably many hundreds even in 1966. I payed to get the rifle repaired and he hunted with it the next year and we teamed up on our first elk on his last hunting trip. Tough old rifle!
- Thread starter
- #15
6mm Remington
Ammo Smith
- Feb 27, 2006
- 5,210
- 452
Greg, I would have been crying if that would have been me. The thought of dad's rifle flying out of the truck, now I'm not sure if I would have been more afraid of what it did to the rifle or what dad would do to me! :mrgreen: :shock:
375hh1973
Beginner
- Mar 31, 2007
- 193
- 64
In 2003 I purchased a Beretta 686 White Onyx 28 ga O/U for grouse, woodcock, rabbits, etc. The 2nd time I had it out we were rabbit hunting an orchard in December. I fell off a junk pile I was jumping on and try as I might, the barrels whacked the frozen ground. No harm to the metal but the vibrations caused the pistol grip to crack. I sent the gun into Beretta and hoped that they would be lenient. After about 4 weeks, I got a call from Beretta apologizing for the long wait and that my gun would be back ASAP. I opened the case up and WOW. They had replaced the butt stock with a much nicer piece of Walnut and the forend as well so it matched. Invoiced price was $0, along with a letter explaining what they did and again apologizing for taking so long. Beretta gets 99% of my shotgun business now.
Buddy of mine rolled his truck out hunting coyotes by himself one night... rolled it right into a small creek about 5 miles from the freeway in the middle of nowhere. He was mostly unhurt... except for a bit of a concussion... but if you knew this guy, a concussion wasn't much for him to worry about. He hiked himself, soaking wet in sub-freezing temps, out to the freeway and flagged down a semi who was gratious enough to give him a ride back into Spokane. I made it out there about a day and a half later... we drove out to the spot to retrieve his stuff. Lying in the water on the passenger side of the truck was his Winchester M70 Coyote Light (.270 WSM) wearing a Leuopold Mk4 3.5-10 M3... there was a ding in the occular end of the scope... and a corresponding dent in the inside of the cab where the rifle had bounced off durring the roll-over.
We wrangled up all his stuff and headed out... well, low and behold there's a coyote about a mile down the road so purely out of instict I stop and jump out. I grabbed the .270 thinking "what the heck"... stuffed a sausage in the pipe... took aim... WHAMMY... dog down. That scope didn't move a single frickin' click... after getting bashed around in a car wreck and lying in a half-froze creek for pert'near two days. I was impressed to say the least.
We wrangled up all his stuff and headed out... well, low and behold there's a coyote about a mile down the road so purely out of instict I stop and jump out. I grabbed the .270 thinking "what the heck"... stuffed a sausage in the pipe... took aim... WHAMMY... dog down. That scope didn't move a single frickin' click... after getting bashed around in a car wreck and lying in a half-froze creek for pert'near two days. I was impressed to say the least.
Yep,
was walking in the woods with my son, and his rifle was on his sling and across his back. The sling broke, the rifle bounced and ruined the scope. He could still see, and the zero was ok, but the scope went from a 3x9 to a 6x. Lesson learned, we don't fully trust slings anymore either.
Hardpan
was walking in the woods with my son, and his rifle was on his sling and across his back. The sling broke, the rifle bounced and ruined the scope. He could still see, and the zero was ok, but the scope went from a 3x9 to a 6x. Lesson learned, we don't fully trust slings anymore either.
Hardpan
