You laugh, but it more true than you think.
When you are in the wilderness it is really easy to put something down on the ground and never see it again. Even though it’s probably just a yard away. Wilderness plays tricks on your mind and easily disorients you.
Here is a story about a rifle someone set down for a second but could never find again for 132 years.
The article mentions a Winchester sitting at a tree for a hundred years, but that the why is unknown btw
Anyone who has been hunting or overnight hiking will tell you the why. It’s really a very common thing. To the point where people dummy cord almost everything to themselves just to stop loosing things.