Besides the mental anguish of not getting a shot or worse yet wounding an animal and not being able to recover it, what was your most painful hunting experience (can be funny or serious)? Maybe we all can learn from each other what not to do as seasons are approaching.
Mine would have to be a turkey hunt with a buddy of mine. We were walking a pipeline in PA and when I hit the slate call, one gobbled very close to us off in the timber to our right. We quickly went to the left side of the pipeline were I set up on the edge and my buddy went 15-20 yards behind me. I thought that it was going to be over quickly but I was wrong. It took that bird about 20 mins to make his way to us very cautiously. Finally I took a great shot and he dropped. I immediately went to stand up to retrieve him and due to my leg being asleep (it was tucked under my but fro 20 mins and due to the excitement I never noticed it) I fell flat on my face very hard. I just remember laying there looking at him flopping and was dazed. My buddy said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. I had a killer headache and the whole left side of my face badly bruised for days. My wife is a registered nurse and still thinks I had a minor concussion. To this day, I am very cautions about sitting with my legs under me.
Mine would be several years ago when my Son was about 6 or 7 years old.
I called a big ol Tom in full strut clear across a field with my at the time scrawny little son sitting in front of me. At about 25 yards I whispered shoot when it's head was up ,20 yards same thing,15 yards,12 and finally the gun goes off, turkey then flys off and my son started celebrating like the year before when he did kill one. When i told him son you missed,he flew off. He looks up at me and asks Daddy,but will he come back. Lol..My answer was probably not today son and he went from happy to full out crying in a heartbeat.
I explained to him that sometimes things don't work out as planned and maybe he just saved him for the next time we were out hunting and we might be able to enjoy seeing him together strutting across the field again with the sun glistening off his feathers.
He was good with that and learned how his first ever and not last miss felt..
The time I tripped walking down a very steep and slippery hill. Ended up face planting into the side of Trapper Al's boat. Didn't lose my 870 into the lake though!
This one hurt. Bird did everything wrong came in to 10 yards max, busts me, I swing and eat a tree 2 steps in front of me. Thought I was high enough.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4872/44565795860_4ab929c6b8.jpg)
5 or 6 seasons ago was a mess with rain and while i was on my ATV apparently my gun got a lot of water inside and rusted some parts in the trigger assembly. Not knowing this I continued to hunt for 3 more days in the rain.
So when the weather finally broke i was able to get on a bird, an old loner bird, one of those you only kill 2 in a lifetime kind of turkey. Worked him for a couple hours and when he finally got around to coming in I put the bead on his head and squeezed, nothing. Check my safety and it's off, push slide forward, squeeze, nothing. Bird turns and faces me in full strut, and I pulled the trigger a lot harder than normal and in doing so I pulled over his head and shot a perfect hole through his fan. It all happened in slow motion and I still remember seeing the sunlight coming through his freshly perforated fan.
On a particular SE Oklahoma 3 day trip I fell in the creek, hit my head on the bunk above mine...hard, tripped and fell into a very large mess of green briars, and set down on a nest of fire ants... killed a turkey after all that.
Wore a new pair of rubber boots on an all day hunt in some very hilly woods. My blisters had blisters. Lesson learned the hard way. They felt very comfortable walking around the flat ground park by my house.
One comical painful experience was when Hevishot first came out with the gold hull goose loads. Obviously, I had mixed a Hevishot turkey shell in with my goose loads. I pulled up on a flock that peeled straight overhead, and needless to say, shooting straight up with a turkey shell is not a good idea. My arm went numb all the way to my elbow.
I was in a car accident in 2001 I tried to hunt in 2002 and had 3 come into me all brushing their feathers against the blind I was in or on the backpack I had behind the blind. I had one of them stop perfectly for me maybe 10-15 yards away, because of the accident I was in so much pain I was not even able to get the front of the gun up to shoot the bird. I tried so hard to get the front of the gun up and he stood so long for me but I could not do it, that sunk me into a very deep depression for a long time I tried to deer hunt about 7 years after that and sat in the stand for about 4 hours and got out and that made me have to stay at home laying in bed for four days due to pain.
4 years ago my doctor found a medication combination that lets me do several of the things I could not do before and hunting so long as I do not push to hard is one of them. I truly thank God for giving me back at least part of what I lost. Going to try to ride a bike (Mountain Bike) this Spring and see how that goes. I really do miss riding my bike.
It was either this broke nose in Georgia, or the time I blew my knee out in Nebraska (acl and both meniscus), or the time I undid everything in Ohio that a surgery had repaired in my left elbow the week before in Georgia.
After this thread I may retire from turkey hunting and just talk about turkey hunting. I'm better at talking about it anyway.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4755/39393221905_454cba2e22.jpg)
Guesswho,
How in the world you break your nose?
Quote from: guesswho on January 22, 2019, 05:25:17 PM
It was either this broke nose in Georgia, or the time I blew my knee out in Nebraska (acl and both meniscus), or the time I undid everything in Ohio that a surgery had repaired in my left elbow the week before in Georgia.
After this thread I may retire from turkey hunting and just talk about turkey hunting. I'm better at talking about it anyway.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4755/39393221905_454cba2e22.jpg)
Been there done that I think mine looked a lot worse.
Quote from: dirtnap on January 22, 2019, 05:53:39 PM
Guesswho,
How in the world you break your nose?
Come to find out, an awkward position (bird behind you), 3 1/2" shells, a scope, and a Mossberg 835 isn't a good combo.
My most painful was not actually during a hunt, but preparing for deer season. Machete work on a bush and stabbed a fresh cut branch into the webbing between my two middle fingers. That thing went in about 1/2". I got a little sick to my stomach on that one.
But I'm still better off than Ronnie! Dang son, you need to be careful.:TooFunny:
The fall of 2017 I managed to put the blade of my case knife into my forearm while skinning a deer. The blood flew when I pulled it out. Thought I could superglue it back shut and thought I had succeeded until the next day. It blew apart when I was working concessions at one of my daughters volleyball games. Needless to say the lady didn't want her nachos and I went to the local med express. For some strange reason I know both the main doctors there and they had a good laugh while they sewed me up. That was the latest woopsie.
This an easy one for me and I hope no one can top it. My most painful turkey hunt was a fall archery hunt. I was shot through the left thigh with a mechanical broadhead (no I didn't shoot myself). It is an absolutely horrible feeling to pull down your pants, see an 1 1/2 inch hole in your leg and blood gushing out like a stream. This is the day your whole life flashes before your eyes and you wish you'd kissed the MRS. goodbye, you wonder what your kids will turn out like and you hope that your heart is right with God. After all those thoughts, you tie a Tourniquet around your leg and muster all you have to get the mile to your truck and the 17 miles to a hospital. Then you get a lot of attention and the most expensive helicopter ride you can imagine. After that you get to go home kiss the Mrs and hug the kids and PRAISE GOD ALMIGHTY! The next 8 months are filled with pain, healing and physical therapy and then you have to grow a new set of balls and go turkey hunting again...just so you can believe you'll survive it.
DID I SAY SAFETY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF HUNTING
Mine was painful in another way... I had a youth hunt for a first time son & father coming out with me. Scouted the area, put my time in on this and set up a blind and chairs in the "spot" we needed to be and ready for the weekend. Here's where things go wrong... I had another "hunter" don't even like to call him this, purposely park his truck in the field I am hunting and within 20 yards of my set/blind' the field road in was within steps of my blind so no way he walked past it not knowing what he was doing, he had an easement across the property to the farm he had access to. Instead of accessing the property he decided it was better to park right in our set and screw up our hunt... (I did "talk" to this guy after they decided to leave their hunt early) I guess I would say I cleared things up about his parking and what an easement means, and respect and ethics. He said he didn't know we would be hunting... He knows the farm I'm on and the owner and a simple phone call would have cleared it up. So our "morning" hunt was pretty much done, told the guys we are going to do some run & gun and go from there. Well it didn't take long to find a bird, make a set and kill a bird! The dad and kid were way wound up after the hunt, was so great to see and the reason I put so much time into my turkey hunts. In the end it turned out and told them you never know what to expect :)
Pics of the Bad and then the Good stuff
MK M GOBL
Not turkey hunting but I did fillet my left hand on a muzzy 3 blade. While turkey hunt I ruined a new pair of lacrosse boots on a old barbed wire fence that was laying in some brush. That was financially painful...
Quote from: Kylongspur88 on January 22, 2019, 08:55:13 PM
Not turkey hunting but I did fillet my left hand on a muzzy 3 blade. While turkey hunt I ruined a new pair of lacrosse boots on a old barbed wire fence that was laying in some brush. That was financially painful...
I know a guy that was walking out from a bow hunt and had his bow in front of him walking through some thick stuff. I branch pushed an arrow from the quiver and it stuck the broadhead deep in his thigh.
He unscrewed the arrow from the broadhead and made it back to his truck and his phone with the broadhead 2" deep in his thigh. It was a few hundred yards to his truck OUCH!
Quote from: MK M GOBL on January 22, 2019, 07:57:07 PM
Mine was painful in another way... I had a youth hunt for a first time son & father coming out with me. Scouted the area, put my time in on this and set up a blind and chairs in the "spot" we needed to be and ready for the weekend. Here's where things go wrong... I had another "hunter" don't even like to call him this, purposely park his truck in the field I am hunting and within 20 yards of my set/blind' the field road in was within steps of my blind so no way he walked past it not knowing what he was doing, he had an easement across the property to the farm he had access to. Instead of accessing the property he decided it was better to park right in our set and screw up our hunt... (I did "talk" to this guy after they decided to leave their hunt early) I guess I would say I cleared things up about his parking and what an easement means, and respect and ethics. He said he didn't know we would be hunting... He knows the farm I'm on and the owner and a simple phone call would have cleared it up. So our "morning" hunt was pretty much done, told the guys we are going to do some run & gun and go from there. Well it didn't take long to find a bird, make a set and kill a bird! The dad and kid were way wound up after the hunt, was so great to see and the reason I put so much time into my turkey hunts. In the end it turned out and told them you never know what to expect :)
Pics of the Bad and then the Good stuff
MK M GOBL
Jeepers, I have horrible vision and even I would have seen that. What a jerk!
Quote from: Gobble! on January 22, 2019, 09:40:36 AM
This one hurt. Bird did everything wrong came in to 10 yards max, busts me, I swing and eat a tree 2 steps in front of me. Thought I was high enough.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4872/44565795860_4ab929c6b8.jpg)
Good God man, I bet that scared the crap out of you . Definitely would have me
I figured there would be some painful experiences shared in this thread but dang some of these are real nasty. Glad you all are ok and hopefully we can all learn from each-others painful mistakes. I will say that I am surprised that there wasn't anyone who fell from a tree stand or after reading about the fire ants, that has been bitten by a venomous snake (after moving to North Carolina from the southern tier of NY, I have seen more venomous snakes here than ever).
I'm always perfect , never had a problem or missed a turkey ... i left the house one morning driving 24 miles one way and forgot my gun ... so i really didn't miss that morning ... all part of getting older i guess .. :TooFunny:
I was bit by a cotton mouth in my thigh. 3 doses of anti venom , a butt load of iv anti biotics and 6 days in the hospital. Through 40 years hunting i have had alot of painful stuff happen but this is by far the one that always comes to mind. Lost dang near 3 weeks of turkey hunting from this.
Have not done the gun at home thing yet but if I look at one of the most costly and stupid things I have ever done (besides buying gear and licences), it would have been the time my newly wife and I were driving the back roads in PA and we were rubber necking off to the birds in the field to my left while slowly creeping forwards and hit a mile marker post/sign and not only did cosmetic damage to the front, but also ripped a whole in my oil pan. That didnt make me happy... :character0029:
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on January 23, 2019, 08:53:33 PM
I was bit by a cotton mouth in my thigh. 3 doses of anti venom , a butt load of iv anti biotics and 6 days in the hospital. Through 40 years hunting i have had alot of painful stuff happen but this is by far the one that always comes to mind. Lost dang near 3 weeks of turkey hunting from this.
I knew there had to be someone out there bitten. Never worried about it up north as all I had to worry about was rattle snakes (not a lot and if there is a large populated area, you better believe that DEC knows about it and so do the locals) and believe it or not, the are for the most part docile creatures as long as you just back away and heed their warning.
I was out in South Dakota hunting these grand birds several years back. I was moving looking for a tom that wanted to play for a couple hours when I finally got one respond back to my calling. I cut the distance towards him as he was cutting the distance to me and the last time he gobbled he was just over the ridge top and close! I plopped my butt down right there and then and sat right down on a blasted pear cactus I didn't see! I of course jumped right up and spooked the turkey but I really didn't care at the time. Now I'm like 2 miles from camp with a dozen or so cactus spines stuck in my butt. Some I got out, others I couldn't get. After I finally got back to camp, my buddies had to pull a few out. I'm not sure what hurt more, the cactus spines in my butt or the ribbing I took from my 3 buddies!
Quote from: paintbrush on January 23, 2019, 10:18:32 PM
I was out in South Dakota hunting these grand birds several years back. I was moving looking for a tom that wanted to play for a couple hours when I finally got one respond back to my calling. I cut the distance towards him as he was cutting the distance to me and the last time he gobbled he was just over the ridge top and close! I plopped my butt down right there and then and sat right down on a blasted pear cactus I didn't see! I of course jumped right up and spooked the turkey but I really didn't care at the time. Now I'm like 2 miles from camp with a dozen or so cactus spines stuck in my butt. Some I got out, others I couldn't get. After I finally got back to camp, my buddies had to pull a few out. I'm not sure what hurt more, the cactus spines in my butt or the ribbing I took from my 3 buddies!
:TooFunny:
Not turkey hunting or any kind of hunting.
There I was on my hands and knees, blood dripping from somewhere, the pool of blood was spreading out on the hard ground getting larger with every drop. My vision would come and go, from just a small pinprick of light to full light. The last thing I remembered was saying PULL. Never, ever stand anywhere but behind someone who has never used a hand clay target thrower.
Deer hunting has caused me more injury than any other outdoor activity I take part in. Here are two of the better ones:
1) A few years back was hanging a tree stand that uses a chain to wrap around the tree.
Once the stand is hung, I always put a 3" lag bolt on the back of the tree just under the chain as one extra safety measure so it never slips. So, I'm using a ratchet wrench to crank the bolt into this red oak while hanging 18' up in the tree. As the bolt sunk into the tree the ratchet hit the chain and as I was giving it one last mighty crank, it popped off the head of the bolt and right into my mouth busting my lip wide open, knocking out one of my upper teeth and cracking a bottom tooth in half. Five stitches to close the lip and it took over a year to get the implant done because of all the crushed jaw bone that had to regrow.
2) Shot a nice buck one evening with the bow and was dressing him out when the knife slipped and I cut my left hand at the base of my index finger. No tendon damage, but a good cut nonetheless. Finished dressing the deer, went home and cleaned the wound as best I could and proceeded to get ready to head out again the next morning (this was during peak rut).
Woke up the next morning and my left hand looked like a catchers mitt. Ended up spending the day in the ER getting IV antibiotics for a blood infection. Nasty bug. Had to take hard core antibiotics for the next 21 days!! But I was back in the tree hunting two days later!
I now wear a fillet glove on my left hand while gutting deer.
Quote from: 1iagobblergetter on January 22, 2019, 01:07:53 AM
Mine would be several years ago when my Son was about 6 or 7 years old.
I called a big ol Tom in full strut clear across a field with my at the time scrawny little son sitting in front of me. At about 25 yards I whispered shoot when it's head was up ,20 yards same thing,15 yards,12 and finally the gun goes off, turkey then flys off and my son started celebrating like the year before when he did kill one. When i told him son you missed,he flew off. He looks up at me and asks Daddy,but will he come back. Lol..My answer was probably not today son and he went from happy to full out crying in a heartbeat.
Cute story!! ;D
A few years ago, my old scope gave up the ghost, so I replaced it with a Truglo (TruJUNK) dot scope. I went on a trip to NC. Roosted a gobbler the afternoon before, and set up on him the next AM. He was hot!! Gobbled over 300 times before I finally called him in. He came out of his strut zone, and was walking down the trail towards me. Little did I know, the Trujunk lost it's zero. I ended up shooting my first tree. >:( >:( >:(
Later that morning, I called in another strutter. He walked in to 20 yards, I put the dot on his neck and squeezed the trigger. He just stood there looking around, then walked behind a big oak. I jacked another shell and aimed for the far side of the tree. He stepped out sideways, I aimed and shot. This time I hit him and he rolled with a body shot, then got up and ran. He tripped over a log and fell, and I shot him again, hitting him in the body again. Needless to say, that Trujunk dot scope went back to Cabelas, and now I use Trijicon RMR's.
(https://i.imgur.com/pz3CtSf.jpg)
Quote from: Brwndg on January 24, 2019, 11:45:11 AM
Deer hunting has caused me more injury than any other outdoor activity I take part in. Here are two of the better ones:
1) A few years back was hanging a tree stand that uses a chain to wrap around the tree.
Once the stand is hung, I always put a 3" lag bolt on the back of the tree just under the chain as one extra safety measure so it never slips. So, I'm using a ratchet wrench to crank the bolt into this red oak while hanging 18' up in the tree. As the bolt sunk into the tree the ratchet hit the chain and as I was giving it one last mighty crank, it popped off the head of the bolt and right into my mouth busting my lip wide open, knocking out one of my upper teeth and cracking a bottom tooth in half. Five stitches to close the lip and it took over a year to get the implant done because of all the crushed jaw bone that had to regrow.
This story makes me think of a non hunting experience. When I used to do asbestos abatement, there was a guy with us who was using a hammer stapler and was trying to staple plastic to a fern strip. He was reaching around a pipe and hammering towards his face when he missed the furn strip and hit his mouth and stapled his upper lip to his gum. As the supervisor on the job, I had to call the owner and let her know that I had to take one of her employees to the hospital and told her what the incident was and she was in disbelief. I will say it was very painful to even watch him get that done let alone be the person getting it done.
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Mine was more funny than painful, although it did hurt.
Was wood duck hunting with my brother a couple hundred yards down from my nephews. We killed a few and were working the dog. I turned around, slung my shotgun and we were getting ready to walk out when I caught cypress knees on both feet and went face first into a taller knee. Struck me right in the face, just below the nose. Felt like I had knocked out a tooth, but after recovering for a bit and no blood, we started walking back to the truck to meet them. About a mile walk. It was cold that morning and my nose was running a bit on the walk out.
Got back to the truck and the look on my nephew's faces was like "Oh s***" as they stared at me. I said "What" and they asked WTH happened. I kind of had forgotten about it, but it had not been my nose running, I was bleeding from a cut under my mustache and the blood had run down into my beard. It was a small cut, but after looking in the mirror, the blood was impressive.
My brother would vote for the yellow jacket flying UP HIS NOSE and stinging him in the nose! He was covered in blood when we met up an hour later.
Walking and calling in some BIG woods in WV with a buddy. Struck a bird RIGHT in front of us but down in a roll...........maybe 50 yards. We both instantly dropped shoulder to shoulder against a huge white oak and got guns on knees. This bird was WIRED !!! But he wasn't coming up outta the roll. We started romancing him................he was eating it up. But not coming up outta that roll............. That was just about when my buddy's Taco Bell and Busch Lights from the night before kicked in with determination. I can't move.............I can't get up and walk away.........I can't freakin' BREATHE !!!! This bird is still just RIGHT THERE going berserk !! I finally told my buddy if he didn't stop it, I was gonna shoot HIM........... :D
And the heck of it is..............we never DID get that bird up outta that roll. He left down over the ridge. :/
A couple of years ago on opening day of an out of state hunt, called a gobbler off the limb and promptly missed him at 30 steps in an opening. While searching to make certain of a clean miss, I heard a group of gobblers get fired up across the hollow from me. Slip over there and set up (not in an ideal spot). Within a few minutes I called 3 big gobblers up and once again missed one at point blank range. The long walk back to the truck empty handed after the morning hunt ended was painful.
As far as actual pain, I was ascending a tree in my climbing stand while deer hunting a few years back. When I put my weight on the top piece, the cable snapped and before I could process what happened I was falling backwards towards the ground. I was very fortunate to be only about 8 feet off the ground, so instead of landing on my head, first contact was my upper back and shoulders. I would hate to know what the potential outcome would have been had I fell from higher. Even at that height it hurt, but luckily after a week or so of soreness I was ok.
I avoided a painful experience when I realized that the continuous buzzing sound coming from under my foam seat was a hive of ground dwelling bumble bees!
Quote from: El Pavo Grande on January 26, 2019, 12:22:39 AM
A couple of years ago on opening day of an out of state hunt, called a gobbler off the limb and promptly missed him at 30 steps in an opening. While searching to make certain of a clean miss, I heard a group of gobblers get fired up across the hollow from me. Slip over there and set up (not in an ideal spot). Within a few minutes I called 3 big gobblers up and once again missed one at point blank range. The long walk back to the truck empty handed after the morning hunt ended was painful.
As far as actual pain, I was ascending a tree in my climbing stand while deer hunting a few years back. When I put my weight on the top piece, the cable snapped and before I could process what happened I was falling backwards towards the ground. I was very fortunate to be only about 8 feet off the ground, so instead of landing on my head, first contact was my upper back and shoulders. I would hate to know what the potential outcome would have been had I fell from higher. Even at that height it hurt, but luckily after a week or so of soreness I was ok.
Hope you got a safety harness after that?
April of 2015, I got on a bird and set up about 80 yards away as it was thick where he was at. He would gobble, and I could hear him spit and drum but wouldn't budge. I finally made a very aggressive 20 to 30 yard move on him and sat down indian style. I got him to come take a look at 40 yards. It was thick, and I couldn't tell if he was flopping over the hill from a death flop or a bad shot. I jumped up to run a few yards closer to access the situation. This is when it went bad. I sprang up and led with my left foot. I felt my foot turn, and it sat me back down. I sprang up and thought to myself that I could have really hurt my ankle. It had a feeling like it was asleep and then the feeling started coming back so I kept going which was a mistake. I made it about three steps, and my left ankle rolled up and touched my leg. I had broke my leg on my leading step but didn't know it. Three steps later I tore all of the tendons and ligaments in my foot and ankle. I had emergency surgery that night where I had a plate and 6 screws put in. I had to have many hours of physical therapy and two more surgeries to get it back close to right. I also blew out a disc in my back due to the way I was walking on it for so long during recovery. That led to back surgery in 2017. I am still not 100%, but it doesn't hinder me much anymore. The bad part is I really didn't do anything wrong. I just landed weird on that initial step and broke my leg. The only thing is I wish I had known as I wouldn't have taken those last three steps. That is what caused me such grief where I tore the tendons and ligaments. Be careful out there.
Dang there have been a lot more serious experiences on here than I expected
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Quote from: LRD on January 27, 2019, 09:47:01 AM
April of 2015, I got on a bird and set up about 80 yards away as it was thick where he was at. He would gobble, and I could hear him spit and drum but wouldn't budge. I finally made a very aggressive 20 to 30 yard move on him and sat down indian style. I got him to come take a look at 40 yards. It was thick, and I couldn't tell if he was flopping over the hill from a death flop or a bad shot. I jumped up to run a few yards closer to access the situation. This is when it went bad. I sprang up and led with my left foot. I felt my foot turn, and it sat me back down. I sprang up and thought to myself that I could have really hurt my ankle. It had a feeling like it was asleep and then the feeling started coming back so I kept going which was a mistake. I made it about three steps, and my left ankle rolled up and touched my leg. I had broke my leg on my leading step but didn't know it. Three steps later I tore all of the tendons and ligaments in my foot and ankle. I had emergency surgery that night where I had a plate and 6 screws put in. I had to have many hours of physical therapy and two more surgeries to get it back close to right. I also blew out a disc in my back due to the way I was walking on it for so long during recovery. That led to back surgery in 2017. I am still not 100%, but it doesn't hinder me much anymore. The bad part is I really didn't do anything wrong. I just landed weird on that initial step and broke my leg. The only thing is I wish I had known as I wouldn't have taken those last three steps. That is what caused me such grief where I tore the tendons and ligaments. Be careful out there.
So did you kill him?
Quote from: Fdept56 on January 27, 2019, 01:04:39 PM
Quote from: LRD on January 27, 2019, 09:47:01 AM
April of 2015, I got on a bird and set up about 80 yards away as it was thick where he was at. He would gobble, and I could hear him spit and drum but wouldn't budge. I finally made a very aggressive 20 to 30 yard move on him and sat down indian style. I got him to come take a look at 40 yards. It was thick, and I couldn't tell if he was flopping over the hill from a death flop or a bad shot. I jumped up to run a few yards closer to access the situation. This is when it went bad. I sprang up and led with my left foot. I felt my foot turn, and it sat me back down. I sprang up and thought to myself that I could have really hurt my ankle. It had a feeling like it was asleep and then the feeling started coming back so I kept going which was a mistake. I made it about three steps, and my left ankle rolled up and touched my leg. I had broke my leg on my leading step but didn't know it. Three steps later I tore all of the tendons and ligaments in my foot and ankle. I had emergency surgery that night where I had a plate and 6 screws put in. I had to have many hours of physical therapy and two more surgeries to get it back close to right. I also blew out a disc in my back due to the way I was walking on it for so long during recovery. That led to back surgery in 2017. I am still not 100%, but it doesn't hinder me much anymore. The bad part is I really didn't do anything wrong. I just landed weird on that initial step and broke my leg. The only thing is I wish I had known as I wouldn't have taken those last three steps. That is what caused me such grief where I tore the tendons and ligaments. Be careful out there.
So did you kill him?
So the rest of the story...........I called my wife when my foot touched my leg, and the swelling instantly caused my leg to swell and fill my snake boot. It was a blessing I had the snake boot on with support because it contained the swelling. I had about 300 yards to get out and told my wife that I needed to find the turkey first because I wasn't leaving without it. She wasn't amused, but I had to go that way to get out any ways. I unloaded my gun and was able to use it as a crutch to bear some of the weight. I made it about 10 steps and rolled my ankle again. I then knew that wasn't a good idea. I had a cousin coming to help me get out. I started crawling on my hands and knees and found the gobbler in the bottom. It was just a death flop over the steep hill. My cousin came and carried the turkey and gun while I crawled out.
He got me to my truck as I could drive with my right foot and not too far from my Mom and Dad's house. Another cousin called, and I told him what happened. I was asking if his Dad might want the turkey as I was hurt. He said your leg is broke and not your hands, and you can have it breasted out in a few minutes. So, I got to my parent's house and got an earful from my Mom as I had to weigh the turkey, measure beards/spurs, and proceeded to breast it out as I waited for my Dad to change clothes to take me to the doctor. All of the doctors and nurses kept asking what happened and making jokes about the turkey. We ate him a couple of days later. He had a worse day, but I'm still feeling some of the effects. :)
My first year Turkey huntin I had bird gobblin on roost, he was facing away from me on the limb so he sounded farther away and I wanted to be closer to him so I ended up getting to close and busted him off the roost...hunt over
Rookie mistake
Quote from: LRD on January 27, 2019, 04:06:50 PMI told my wife that I needed to find the turkey first because I wasn't leaving without it. She wasn't amused, but I had to go that way to get out any ways.
I got to my parent's house and got an earful from my Mom as I had to weigh the turkey, measure beards/spurs, and proceeded to breast it out as I waited for my Dad to change clothes to take me to the doctor.
Awesome story!!! :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Why don't women have a sense of humor? ??? ;) ;D
That's awesome LRD! I'm sure you won't ever forget about him!
QuoteWhy don't women have a sense of humor?
Tell me about it....they are a different creature
Heck the year I was shot and two weeks after I come home from the hospital, my buddy came by to visit. He asked if I wanted to take a ride and maybe we'd see some turkeys out somewhere. I told him I was taking a gun. We drove by one of my honey holes and the land owner was coming out his lane. We stopped and chatted with him and asked if we could drive around the pasture and look for turkeys. He then told us he just saw a flock of gobblers. So we drove to that area and my buddy pulled up by a bulldover pile and helped get set behind a log and drove the truck out of site then set up to call the birds by me. Well here come a gobbler and I blasted him. I couldn't even get up to go get him, but I had a good buddy to do that. I promptly called my wife to tell her (heck I was tickled to death) and her disgusted reply was, "I married a damn idiot" and hung up......yup no sense of humor in them critters.
Quote from: eggshell on January 28, 2019, 05:27:36 PM
QuoteWhy don't women have a sense of humor?
Tell me about it....they are a different creature
Heck the year I was shot and two weeks after I come home from the hospital, my buddy came by to visit. He asked if I wanted to take a ride and maybe we'd see some turkeys out somewhere. I told him I was taking a gun. We drove by one of my honey holes and the land owner was coming out his lane. We stopped and chatted with him and asked if we could drive around the pasture and look for turkeys. He then told us he just saw a flock of gobblers. So we drove to that area and my buddy pulled up by a bulldover pile and helped get set behind a log and drove the truck out of site then set up to call the birds by me. Well here come a gobbler and I blasted him. I couldn't even get up to go get him, but I had a good buddy to do that. I promptly called my wife to tell her (heck I was tickled to death) and her disgusted reply was, "I married a damn idiot" and hung up......yup no sense of humor in them critters.
Sounds like something my wife would say. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get shot?
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My worst hunting injury came when I was duck hunting in January of 1984 with one of my best friends. It was forecast to be very cold that day and it was in a big way (-9 F still stands as all time coldest day in North Carolina history). We were on our way to hunt a reservoir about a mile from where we parked, so the walk along with toting guns & decoys sort of warmed us up. In order to get to the area we planned to hunt, we had to walk through an area that had been clear cut. There was still a lot of tree tops and branches in the frost covered, head-high weeds we were working our way through to get to the lake. About 30 feet from the water's edge, there was a limb about the size of the base of a billiard cue stick blocking our path. I pushed the limb out of the way, so my buddy could pass. Just after he got the decoy bag beyond the limb, it broke just below my hand, then snapped back and cracked me in the face. The limb struck right where the roots of my upper teeth met my skull. I saw stars, could taste blood, and my face felt like it had immediately swollen up double the size . I don't know if the blood dried or froze first, but it was all down the front of my camo coat. We shot some ducks, but most had left for open water. By the time we got back to town, my eyes were bloodshot and I had to have the break wired back in place for a couple of months.
Jim
Quotehow did you get shot?
I posted it earlier in this thread. I was shot by a bowhunter while fall turkey hunting. I took a mechanical broadhead through my left thigh....I nearly died.
Quote from: eggshell on January 29, 2019, 07:11:49 AM
Quotehow did you get shot?
I posted it earlier in this thread. I was shot by a bowhunter while fall turkey hunting. I took a mechanical broadhead through my left thigh....I nearly died.
Yes after I posted it last night, I remembered that you had...lol
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When I was first starting to bowhunt, and no one I knew had even heard of a fall harness, I had an API treestand strap come loose and stand and I both went to the ground. Lucky enough I was on the side of the hill and mostly just slid down like a landing ramp.