Axe and fishing rod disappeared?

So after triple checking my message logs for any chance i dropped them somewhere, i have confirmed no message indicated that i ever dropped them. I am also prepping for winter and have not left my settlement and the nearby river, i scoured the nearby woods where i went to get birch bark and still nothing. the last 2 things i did that i never did before was harvesting my smoked fish and meat, and tying my birch bark ropes back together. I dont know if those 2 action could some how send some of my most precious items into oblivion when i need them most, but regardless im down 1 woodcutter axe and 1 fishing rod with a Iron hook with no real way to re-acquire them without traveling around looking for trade, a luxury i dont have when winter is coming.

Im a new player on my 5th attempt, this is by far my best one and im not interested in losing over a bug after sinking hours building a cabin and finally potentially getting past my first winter.

If theres any advice on what may have happened or some sort of way to debug my items back in id be elated. I never planned on cheating as i like the challenge so far but im not a fan of being cheated either :( I am a tad bit demoralized.

Edit: after the initial shock of losing those items, I managed to just focus on continuing my winter prep and spending any free time doing a bit of exploring and making trade goods. managed to locate a new axe at a village and traded a bucnh of foraged foods for it. I even scored my first Elk kill setting me up for a fairly safe winter given my massive supply of fish and now a bunch of elk meat.

that elk also made me confident enough to self even more foraged foods to acquire a pot, though i did have to trade away my good arrows for it, but ill find and trade for more later. we are so back!