Fess up? Mistakes you've made in the wilderness...

**danmc** · 07-14-2008, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

I think walking the 8 miles. You can cover that in 3 hours +/- if flat land. That's less time than the wife would get worried and I wouldn't break my own window. It would have to be VERY serious to do that.

It was not flat at all, but yeah, I figure about 3 hours. I have long legs and am in pretty good shape. Think energizer bunny when I get walking and want to get there!

I figured the locksmith fee was a "stupid tax"

**Rick** · 07-14-2008, 06:09 PM

My wife did that once when we were out in the wilderness. I removed the tail light with my pocket knife and luckily the keys were sitting about 18 inches inside the bulb hole. I used a stick to work them over to the hole only to find the key ring they were on was too large to fit through the hole. I had to work the door key off the ring while it was still inside the trunk in order to get the key out. Needless to say, I did the obligatory complaining and belly aching the whole time I was working on it. Took about 20 minutes to get the taillight out and get the key off the ring.

**danmc** · 07-14-2008, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

My wife did that once when we were out in the wilderness. I removed the tail light with my pocket knife and luckily the keys were sitting about 18 inches inside the bulb hole. I used a stick to work them over to the hole only to find the key ring they were on was too large to fit through the hole. I had to work the door key off the ring while it was still inside the trunk in order to get the key out. Needless to say, I did the obligatory complaining and belly aching the whole time I was working on it. Took about 20 minutes to get the taillight out and get the key off the ring.

Nice! I didn't even think about trying that.

ok, I wonder how many of us will be checking out our tail lights tonight?

I had a friend back in high school who kept a coat hanger stuck up under the hood.

**trax** · 07-14-2008, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by danmc

I had a friend back in high school who kept a coat hanger stuck up under the hood.

Which was handy back when hood catches weren't inside the car. I locked my keys in my truck a couple weeks ago and had to call a tow truck guy. It took him over half an hour to pick the locks, which made me kind of happy to know my truck is pretty hard to burglarize without smashing a window. I agree on one thing...it's a stupidity tax, lol.

**Rick** · 07-14-2008, 06:24 PM

I'd lose either way today. I can't get to the screws on my taillights any more and the hood releases from the inside.

**crashdive123** · 07-14-2008, 06:37 PM

On my 1st car there was always a coat hanger handy.....it was the antenna for the radio.

**RangerXanatos** · 07-14-2008, 06:37 PM

Since we're talking about locking keys inside of the vehicle, I keep a spare inside my wallet. I can't drive without having both.

**Dennis K.** · 07-15-2008, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by danmc

If the cell phone hadn't worked I would have had to make the decision of "walk 8 miles back to a heavily developed area" vs "break the window" vs "wait for my wife who had a detailed map with an X marking where my car was" to get worried and call someone. I'm still not sure which I would have picked as in this particular case all would have worked and all would have been rather unpleasant. It probably would have been #2 or #3.
learned.

In my house, waiting for the wife to get worried would qualify as a mortal "Mistake you've made in the wilderness."

Dennis "Who knows who's the boss" K.

**Fargus** · 07-15-2008, 09:08 PM

I was new to Florida, straight from Pennsylvania. I got invited to a local small scale jamboree where the main course was pit roasted wild hog. Best durn meat I'd ever tasted outside of elk. I knew I had to try bagging a hog and cooking it myself. I knew nothing about wild hogs. Just pigs with more spunk, right? A friend heard me say that I'd like to go hunting for a hog and introduced me to a guy who "guaranteed results" with a hog hunting method all his own. Sigh, I was soooo stupid for buying into that. Although, to be fair, he wasn't exactly exaggerating.

We set up a date and out we went. I should also mention that I also knew nothing about Florida plants at that time as well. I was slashed to ribbons by saw palmetto, etc. by the time we got to the 'spot'. Plenty of evidence of hogs in the area (tracks, spoor, torn up ground from rooting). I put my misadventures with the local saw toothed flora behind me and asked my guide about strategy. He was rather vague about it, he told me he was going to "go get us some pigs", just avoid shooting a sow, get ready to climb a tree if needed. Climb a tree? What? I wanted a bit more in the way of details on the matter, but he was off and away. Next thing I know I hear the sound of enraged squealing and snorting ... along with the sound of foliage being trampled. My guide comes crashing out of the bush yelling "Run!" "Climb that tree!". Out of the bush behind him comes a whole pack of hogs, in hot pursuit. They are extremely upset. They are not happy to see me. They charge. I took one look and climbed that tree in nothing flat. Turned out to be a melaleuca tree, the only plant (as I found out) that I'm allergic to.

We were treed for over an hour, until the hogs got bored and drifted off. I did kill a boar from the tree and it was one of the nastiest cleaning jobs I've ever done. I wound up with blisters all over for a week from an allergic reaction to the tree bark/sap along with the various cuts from getting there and back out again. I learned many things on that outing. Know your prey. Know your location. Have the particulars of the hunt strategy clearly lined out in advance. Never assume your past hunting experience is going to serve you well in unfamiliar terrain against unfamiliar prey.