Most Painful Hunting Experience???

[RutnNStrutn]

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!! 

[RutnNStrutn]

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.

[tomstopper]

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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[g8rvet]

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. 

[Yoder409]

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...........   


And the heck of it is..............we never DID get that bird up outta that roll.  He left down over the ridge.   :/

[El Pavo Grande]

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. 

[TRG3]

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!

[Sir-diealot]

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?

[LRD]

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.

[tomstopper]

Dang there have been a lot more serious experiences on here than I expected

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[Fdept56]

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?

[LRD]

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. 

[PSEoutlaw07]

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

[RutnNStrutn]

I 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!!!
Why don't women have a sense of humor? 

[Fdept56]

That's awesome LRD! I'm sure you won't ever forget about him!