How many have spent the night on a mountain?

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Sask_Hunter

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How many of you guys have spent the night out hunting? What was the reasons for sleeping under a tree or on the side of a mountain? I'm sure there are some interesting stories out there

I had to over night twice both times for moose. First time was the second hunt I had ever really guided on my own. We had been hunting for this bull for a few day in a high vally that was full of 10' willow and spruce. We found the bull later in the evening and spent and hour trying to get a shot on the bull. Finally we got a shot and had to track the bull about 200 yards to where we found him dead and it was getting late. Me being a "green" guide I never thought to walk back up the hill grab the ponies, come back down and get to work. Long story short we spent a few dark hours walkin around the hill side looking for the horses.

Lesson learned get your horses when there is still light out!

Fast forward a few years and I was guiding moose in the NWT. After about 4 days of hard bow hunting looking for a big bull I finally found one 1200 yards away on another ridge. Some how I managed to get a cow call to find it way to him and he started to come. We move positions and got set up with the bow hunter out in front of me 30 yards. I kept calling off and on, a while passed before I heard the faint sound of a bull grunting. It kept getting louder and louder till I could see a paddle moving through the think willows of the burn. The tops of the paddle turned in to two tops, that eventually turned in to a nasty old 60+ bull moose 25 yards across a small oppening from the hunter. I was trying to get the bull to turn and give the hunter a broad side chip shot at a P&Y bull but the next thing I saw was an arrow fly towards the bull that was standing facing us. Any way the arrow was low and clipped the in side of the back leg.

We were already a few hours hike from camp later In The day when this happened, so we reviewed the video and gave the bull some time to lay down. Like it always happens in a bad situation that can only get worse the bull went the opposite way from camp. We fallowed the bull till it was time to build a shelter and find fire wood. After a sleepless October night cover in spruce bows we took up the track but a grizzly had also found the blood trail. After many miles of slugging it through the grossest nastiest burn with knee deep snow we called it off after the bull stop bleeding and long after the grizzly stopped looking for an easy meal.

Lesson learned on this one, don't take marginal shots.

Those are my two over night stories, both were an experence and some thing ill never for get. I always make sure I have an extra layed to put on and some extra food just in case.
 
Ain't this normal, I think I can count 4 but there were likely more. One blacktail hunt on Admiralty Island, two sheep hunts and a goat hunt plus several impromptu camps and a couple of work straight through til daylight the following day. It is what it is and you do what you gotta do, that's always been my creedo.
 
Twice on Stone sheep hunts, once on a goat hunt, one all night pack with a caribou, one all night pack with a Dall's sheep while guiding. Many more times packing out until midnight or so.

I would rather pack until the wee hours than try to sleep on a mountain with no gear. But sometimes it's too dangerous.
 
I conclude that a Bivi sac is your friend on such encounters. Early days we brought up the ol blue tarp and hung it in the alpine scrub for mulies...didn't want to walk up and down over several days. Another time spent it in the bivi 10k in. I enjoyed listening to the caribou click by in the dark and viewing some outstanding moose paddles from afar. Next day Mr griz clicked its teeth about 25 yards down slope on my way up to look for some stone sheep. Thought I had dodged that bullet as I passed on those moose paddles the day earlier. All part of the experience in the wilderness they say. And another time got caught in the "It sure is nice today and then wake up to 2" of wet snow events" type experiences. The bivi can be a life saver in those situations. 2lb of ensurance in your pack is worth it every time. And, it may even look like a hot dog to a toothy thing LOL.

Best reasoning is to use all that energy you took getting there to the best use. And I would gladly do it again:)
 
it happened to me while guiding with a boat in northern quebec.
it was too late to come back to camp (after some caribous it s getting darker and darker ...) and we stayed a little far from the shore with a big campfire on the mountain or hill whatever the name.

the clients I was with enjoyed the loins bbqued and the lovely night we had. return to civilization was uneventful.

Douglas sums up : you have to do what you have to do.
 
I forgot the time my son and I were coming back from his first sheep hunt (where he arrowed #4 P&Y ram) our boat got swamped on a big lake, we managed to get everything to shore on a nice beach, recover the boat and spent quite a pleasant night on the beach, drying out our gear and roasting tenderloins and backstraps. The wind died off and we continued to our destination about 4:30 the next AM.
 
I slept inside a garbage bag one night at about 9,000' and woke up in the morning with badly frozen toes and about 18" of heavy wet snow on me. It rained for several hours before turning to snow and the lightning was striking several thousand feet below us for several hours too. Let's just say that every other unplanned night on the mountain since that one, and there's been plenty, has seemed like a night at the Holiday Inn.

I did kill the ram that had us up there two days later though....lol
 
Spent weeks at a time travelling and living in wilderness out of a back pack and/or canoe (which is like luxury camping) but the thought of dragging dead things miles just to get them home always put me off hunting very much in wilderness that required staying out for days. I have hauled enough meat through enough bush to know why I prefer to avoid it. I think living in the bush is a lot more fun when there is not so much sweat involved.

I have killed and eaten quite a few fish in remote places. Some were on the sides of mountains. Does that count?
 
Never unplanned. I've intentionally spent a few nights at 7000+ feet in a bivy sack. My worst experiences in the mountains has been two damn close calls with lightning and once being so completley exauhgsted ice climbing that I didn't have the energy to put in a screw, pounded in my axe and hung off it from a girth hitched biner while I rested my arms for 30 seconds the get the strength to put in that screw. Longest 30 seconds of my life.
 
A few actually. Some more pleasant than others.:) Couple of memorable ones, a night on Ram Mountain sleeping with just a light coat on the gravel, windy as hell. Another on the Ya Ha Tinda. Pitch black and I could hear the elk bugling and scrapping around me. Daybreak, nothing to be seen.


Grizz
 
Spent quite a few impromptu nights out, one my brother and I built a snow shelter used spruce bows for a bed, it was actually a comfortable night except for the dripping.

I have a MEC 1 man tent, weighs about 2lbs, you can fit two in, in a pinch, and we have but you better know them well. It's the same weight class as a bivy and to me, far more pleasant. Especially if there's bugs. Now I won't get started on the places I've slept for work...
 
cam1936 said:
Never unplanned. I've intentionally spent a few nights at 7000+ feet in a bivy sack. My worst experiences in the mountains has been two damn close calls with lightning and once being so completley exauhgsted ice climbing that I didn't have the energy to put in a screw, pounded in my axe and hung off it from a girth hitched biner while I rested my arms for 30 seconds the get the strength to put in that screw. Longest 30 seconds of my life.
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That's ballsy, I've done a small bit of mountaineering not even true ice climbing, and it was spooky stuff. If you were at any altitude it doesn't help either, I've climbed to just shy of 20,000' and at that point I was just useless physically. I know that feeling and that would be a horrible situation to be in it.
 
Where did you get to 20,000 Ardent? I've been to near 16,000 and felt like a 400 pound 90 year old man.
 
sheephunter said:
Where did you get to 20,000 Ardent? I've been to near 16,000 and felt like a 400 pound 90 year old man.
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Bolivia in the Cordillera Real, and indeed it's a hell of a feeling. I had the worst night of my life sick at high camp, which was about 18,500 if memory serves, continued up from there but didn't summit as it became technical and I was in a dangerous state (20,045' summit). I had bad water from a creek and had the runs while trying to spend a horribly windy night in a mummy bag. Nothing like trying to peel out of a mummy bag, get the zipper to work on the tent and get outside, get your drawers down skidding around in howling wind in the dark, and "double ending". Putting on my pack and gear the next day was among the greater sufferings I've enjoyed. This all said, best stars I've ever seen were at high camp that night, amazing enough to note them despite it all, colours in the stars and such that I'd never seen. Was like sitting under a bowl of stars, scantly faded at the horizons, but I digress. So it was worth it. :)
 
I spent a night out in the bush two years ago, I fell into a deep creek and got wet, my waterproof gps got wet and quit on me. My radio still worked but I was out of range.
I ran out of daylight finding my way back so I built a fire, dried out and found my out the next morning. Overall it wasn't that bad, it got down to 0 overnight but at least it was dry.
 
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