Have you ever hurt yourself through carelessness while hunting?

I was on my first elk hunt, solo, and shot a cow. My very first cut into her, I had one hand where it shouldn't have been. Cut myself to the bone. I thought, "Well, this is why I have an emergency kit", as I bled all over my boots and on my elk. I opened the kit up to find I had neglected both bandaides and bandages! I did, however, have TP and duct tape. I had to change it out several times before the day's chores were done. Stupid should always be painful.

I cut the top of my left hand ring finger while severing a windpipe on a buck. I'm still not sure how it happened, but I've been a damn sight more careful since.

Yep, Tuesday morning I was dragging my dink whitetail (100 lbs) up a steep creek bank and pulled some muscle in my left thigh. I can barely walk right now and the pain won't quit.

This stuff seems to happen more now than it use too...

More than once however I am older than most so I am farther ahead. The most noteable were a deep cut to my left hand while cutting the legs off of a young bull on a cold day in Idaho. However I did have my first aid kit, with all the necessary stuff. More recently I packed out a mature bull (not counting the ribs or head) downhill to the truck in three trips. The end result was my "second" hernia repair on both sides. Right as rain now however. I also fell over backwards onto a big buckskin log going uphill in Oregon, layed in the fetal position by the stove for a couple of days (after I got the elk out). I am headed out to SE Idaho after thanksgiving!!!

My buddy blew his knee out while elk hunting a few years back. That was a painful three miles back to the truck.

Yep did it in 1988 on a pronghorn hunt....took off the tip of a finger while sharpening a knife.

eh76

How do you put the quote in the neat little box? I have been trying to do that but can't seem to get it right?

nothing but bumps and bruises but after seeing my left knee hyper extend just stepping up into the pickup bout 7 years ago my wife refuses to let me hunt alone......she just knows ill wind up down in some draw unable to walk and will die of exposure....

Zipped up my short feller one time

Borrowed a friends knife to cut the head off a moose. That damn thing was so charp it slipped right thru the mane and bounced off the back of my right hand. I've got a nice scar to look at every day to remind me I'm a dumbass.

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Walked up on a deer that I thought was dead down a narrow trail with his head away from me. Had shot gun ready just in case, realized he was not dead when I stepped on the twig, seen his head spin around just long enough to roll on his back and wallaby kick me in the BoJangles hard enough to launch me 3-5 ft away....

The deer was down, I was down. It was a race to see who would get to the shotgun first.... After what seemed like five minuites I managed to roll around far enough to gather my shotgun and position myself to a fetal crouch to finish him off....

I peed pink for about a day and a half.....

You win.

John

Turned over a canoe on a trapline a long way from the truck. Temp was about -15, had to smash the ice with my arms to swim to shore and lost one of my boots and mittens. I was able to get a fire started just minutes befor my clothes turned into a block of ice. No physical damage but it made a major change in my life for the better.

erich

I get a pain when I see someone in my hunting ground.

I had the rung of tree stand ladder break on me once as I was climbing into a stand to bowhunt deer once. It was a nice day to lay on your back and look up at the sky for what seemed like an hour. Young, alone, not a very good idea. The rung that broke was the one in my hands while climbing, I'm still quite happy that I had my bow on a rope and not in my hands and that I didn't land on a stump or worse.

Another event that comes to mind is being very wet and cold and hurrying home on an ATV as a result. There would have been no problem had a tree not gotten in my way. I remember waking up in bed at the cabin and being sore all over, apparently some neighbors had helped me onto my machine and sent me home...can't say as I don't remember. That incident was again in my youth, alone, and not a very good idea.

I can think of several more, most involved MN winter and water, but they where ice fishing/ATV/snowmachine events.

Knife play in the field is when I silly careful.

Blow out a knee on time in Arizona but still limped my way to a Merriams...

Hopped on a coldbacked horse one very cold morning and he threw me off on to the frozen ground. Ended up with some craked ribs, should have walked him around a bit then have some one hold him by the head when I got on. Things always happen when you are in a hurry, in this case a hurry to go nowere. We were not leaving for another 15 minutes.

Used to use those old widow maker 'Loc on Limb' tree stands years ago. Was about 20 feet up a poplar and trying to draw my bow to shoot a nice fat doe. That d@mned stand twisted and dumped me just like a hammock would. The tree I was in was right beside a pretty good sized creek. I hit the creek bank on my back, knocked the wind out of me, and slid down into the creek. Nothing busted but my pride, although I almost drowned before I could sit up and get my head out from under water.

My hunting partner suffered a mild stroke from laughing at me.

Fell off the side of a mountain once while chukar hunting. Later, at the hospital, I watched a doctor poke my feet and legs with a pin and I couldn't feel it. Scary times.

I have allways been pretty careful while out and about on the hunt and never suffered much of an injury.On the otherhand motorcycles,horses, and jobs have got way more than their fair share of trauma on my body. Way life is I guess. Magnum Man

Dislocated a kneecap while running a trap line.....had to put it back in before I could walk out.....that sucked!

Had the strap on a treestand break while I was in it.....fell about 12' landed on my right foot and tore up my ankle......that one still bothers me....luckily I didn't land on the treestand!!

I cut my left index finger while gutting out an elk several years ago. We were snowed in and getting to a doc to sew it up was out so I sewed it up myself with help from Jack Daniels. I had to use a needle I kept in the horse first aid kit that wasn't vey sharp.I now have suture kits in my first aid kit.
Twice I have broken ribs.

Broke my back three years ago when the bottom of an elevated box stand fell out with me in it.
Twelve feet straight down, landed in a sitting position with the remains of the floor on top of me.
Took a while to get out from under, crawl on my belly about 200 yards to my four weeler, drag myself up on it and ride home laying on the seat.

Had a lot of minor mis-haps, nothing too serious yet and hopefully ever.

When I was younger I was going up into an archery stand with heavy pac boots on icy steps. Feel straight back about 10 feet onto my back, thankfully a little snow to cushion the fall and nothing underneath it.

Last Friday, repositioning an archery stand I caught my bow hanger small peg about an inch from my right eye. Swelled up immediately and had a nice goose bump for a day and now still have a decent shiner.

Nothing I really want to recall. Too many to mention and usually while trying to help someone else and I should have known better.
Knives and livestock would probably rank right up there, but I've been happy to have a horse to get me out on occasion.

Tripped stepping over a log while hunting one afternoon and broke my ankle. It helped that day not to be hunting alone.

As a very young boy my Dad bought two old Savage single barrel 16ga shotguns for my brother and I to hunt with. He used an old Lee loader and would load us about 5 shells at a time. He taught us to never cock the shotgun until we saw game and were ready to fire. One day I was hunting and saw a rabbit. I cocked the gun but the rabbit ran a short ways into some thin brush. Instaed of uncocking the shotgun I kept my eyes on the rabbit and continued the stalk.I was keeping my eyes on the rabbit when I stumbled on a root and fell w/the gun being dislodged from my hands and a bit to my rear.When the shotgun hit the ground it went off and the one ounze of #6 shot burst right over my head. The concussion and the muzzle blast laid my hair back as the shot passed within a couple of inches of my head. I was very young...probably 12 or 13 and I remember being so scared I was trembling uncontrolably.It took me quite a while to gather my senses and then I went straight home.I never told my Dad...he died last year at 84. powdr

Maybe dennisinaz will be along to tell us about his sitka blacktail hunt on Kodiak. Roughest one I've heard in a while...

A friend of mine was hunting mulies in Utah with his son. His son shot a little 6pt that headed straight into some thick brush after not being hit well. He told his son to sit tight while he went in the brush to look for the deer.

While searching, the deer surprised him. He was up on all fours and quickly charged him, knocking him down. He was hit hard and dropped his rifle. The buck basically gored his upper thigh with his rack and took him down. It proceeded to tear the [bleep] out of him while he was on the ground for some agonizing amount of time until he could gain control of his rifle and kill it.

He was bleeding badly and his son made a tournaquet to get him to professional help.

He almost died.

Nope...

Except the time I broke my leg in Canyon creek while elk hunting, drug myself out of the water and suffered shock and hypothermia...

Kent

Nothing too serious, bumps and bruises, cuts here and there.
The worst would probably just making my way down a embankment with a stream at the bottom, 4-5inches deep at the time. I slipped on the way down, rolled a bit knocked my head on something and woke up in the creek, face up. Not sure how long I was out but I'm guessing it was long enough that if I'd been face down I probably wouldn't be around to post this.

Let's see other than knicking my fingers while field dressing animals, scratching my hands while messing with who knows what, having branches kick back and wallop me in the chest so hard that it knocked the breath out of me, spraining an ankle, blowing out a knee, kocking a welt onto my head from a low hanging branch, putting my hand down onto a cactus, getting blisters on my feet, burning myself while working the campfire, falling down on ice and wacking my head so hard that I saw stars, well other than that I HAVE NEVER HURT MYSELF WHILE HUNTING.

KC

I fell off my folding stool duck hunting once laughing too hard when a guy came out a few minutes after daylight wearing a full blaze orange suit and started to throw out decoys. He didn't even use a blind just sat on a stool in the water with the decoys in a full blaze orange coverall.

I actually pulled a muscle in my stomach when I fell off.

Almost. Was alone running to get ahead of a herd of elk moving along timberline just outside Leadville at ~11,000 or so without paying much attention to my breathing, heart rate and the rest. Stopped to glass, head started spinning, tunnel vision, black and wake up on ground in the snow. Thankfully there was snow. Also ended up with a pretty nice 6x6 out of that herd.

Dislocated right knee cap.

I never had any troubles other than a few knife nicks until three years ago on a deer/elk hunt in the Selway. Record warm temps that year. I suffered heat exhaustion one afternoon after hunting most of the day and then helping pack out a fellow hunters bull -- I had run out of water earlier that day. I made it within about 3/4 mile from camp before collapsing from weakness, nausea, headache and the worst muscle cramps I have ever experienced. There was a period of time on that mountain side that I thought I was going to die. They say a man has got to know his limitations. Well, I found mine that day.

My dad knew a guy who got stung bad by yellowjackets while
archery hunting, passed out and his hunting partner had to
practically carry him out of the woods. I have known a couple
of guys to fall out of tree stands, but no major injuries.

Bruised my ego really bad once...

My dad also knew a guy who shot a doe and when he knelt
down to field dress her she kicked him pretty hard in the
legs before expiring. Said it was quite painful.

Very similar story for me. It was 15 degrees outside and I still had 2 miles to get back to the boat. I had been dragging a deer. When I woke up, I flagged the deer and left it for another day. Figuring I had a choice between the deer or me. The next day both of my hand were swollen and bruised. I must have crushed them on the way down.

Heard on the radio yesterday somewhere a guy tried to finish off a deer by cutting its throat with a knife and it kicked him. Liver was split and he died later that day.

I don't have feeling in the tip of my trigger finger. I got too excited after getting a deer one year. First cut into the hide the knife slipped and I nearly cut off the finger above the last knuckle. The bone stopped the knife. Still had to finish the deer then head to the ER to get my finger stitched back together.

Back when I was about 17 years old, I jumped a mountain lion. It took off and jumped off about a 10 ft ledge. I followed him at a dead run with my Marlin 336 30-30 and jumped off the ledge too, onto the sliding rocks below. My landing wasn't as graceful and I tore the ligaments in my left ankle, also got a small scratch on the stock of the Marlin. I had a heck of a time climbing back up to the pickup. It was even worse trying to drive that old standard 3 speed truck home with only one foot. Forty years later, I still have a little trouble with that ankle and the Marlin still has the scratch on the stock.

In Nov 1996 I broke my right Achilles tendon required two surgeries. The next day (didn't know about broken Achilles tendon, but in severe pain) I shot a deer and slipped in the gut pile and sprained left ankle and pulled a groin muscle.

In Dec of 2004 while taking a deer out on my ATV I rolled it over on my right leg and broke it and burned the inside of it. Leg required surgery and pinned.

In Jan 2009 I fell out of an elevated box blind and dislocated my left shoulder and bruised left leg.

While getting gear ready for my African hunt in Feb of this year I stabbed myself in side of left hand requiring trip to emergency room and 9 stitches.

Otherwise haven't had many issues.

Cut my hand pretty deep on a broadhead.

Piece of wire went into my leg when I slipped down a slope.

Got some scars on my arm from a rabbit that was not dead when I picked it up. Man, they have sharp nails.

Also knew a guy who shot a grey squirrel and picked it up by
the tail, it was still alive and bit him on the hand.

I've only been hurt once while hunting but it was a bad one.

Hunting solo (like always) I killed a raghorn bull on the ID/MT border in the Selway Wilderness. I got him quartered and loaded up on the mules. I was roughly 8 miles from the trailhead when my packtrain exploded. Elk parts went flying everywhere, and my horse crow hopped directly into a tree. I broke 2 ribs and royally screwed up my L knee. I had to repack everything onto the mules and continue riding out. It hurt real bad to ride but worse to walk. The worst part was I had to get off every 1/2 mile or so and pick the ice balls out of the feet of my animals because they would start to pussyfoot along once the ice built up. I finally made it to the trail head at 3 or 4 in the morning. Then I had to unload, unsaddle, load up everything and drive home before going to the hospital. It was by far the most painful experience I have ever been through.

My mommy bought me a SPOT just a few days later.

Some years back a friend brought some �horses� to camp. Turned out to be one horse and two mules. We saddled up opening morning and rode down a steep hill to water the horses before taking off. My mule took off as I was swinging back into the saddle, pack and rifle on my back. Once bounce in the saddle and over the far side I went. Landed ribs first on a log maybe 14-18� in diameter, just missing a short branch about 1-1/2� thick and broken off about 6� long. Landing 6� further right would have meant a nasty puncture wound at best, probably a hole in my lungs. Got two broken ribs out of the deal. Tried to keep hunting after hiking back to camp and cleaning mud from the rifle bore and action, but it was no go � I could barely breathe, let alone exert myself. More or less rested up for a day and headed home.

While hunting doves down by Lamar I managed to get I the personal space of a rattler. Spent the evening in the Lamar hospital, fortunate that only one fang connected. Foot swelled up like a football and was very painful. Funny thing, I saw another a week or so later. Those are the only two I�ve seen since I came to Colorado in 1981.

Yep, my back.

Fortunately that happened to me as well. No physical injuries just yet.....

Three years ago I fell about 20 ft straight down off of an avalanche slide while I was goat hunting. I hit face first with my 70 lb pack and hurt my lower back. I have since recovered.

This fall I broke one of the bones in my foot while I was goat and sheep hunting when 200lb rock fell on it; and had to drag my sorry butt 22 miles over glacial morraine to get out. I thought that I had initially just bruised it but it got worse and I just had to buck up and endure.

I still prefer to hunt solo in the worst possible country.

Sincerely,
Thomas

Back in 1988 I had drawn a Moose tag in a unit north of West Yellowstone, Montana. My ex-wife and I packed a camp about 5 miles into the Wilderness with our horses.

It was evening when we got to our camp site. Just before the trip I had honed the edge on a short handled double bit axe. I was using that axe to cut the limbs off a lodgepole pine that I was going to use for a ridgepole for my wall tent.

The axe glanced off the pole and went into my right foot. The axe blade put a 3" slice through the instep of my brand new White Logger boot, then into my foot and stopped when it hit a bone.

It was almost dark and we were 2-3 hours by horse from my truck and then another hour or so to town.

My sock was already ruined from the cut, so I further cut it into bandages, covered the wound with one and held it in place with an elastic wrap (like an Ace bandage) that I carried in case I would have to bandage a cut on a horse's leg. Then I finished setting up our camp.

With a 3" cut in the instep of my White boots, they weren't any good to walk in, but I had brought in a pair of tennis shoes for camp shoes. I continued hunting the next 2 days in the tennis shoes.

After that accident, I think that I was lucky that I didn't shoot a moose that trip.

Several weeks later (and after Schnees had patched my boot) I went in by myself with my horses and goldern retreiver and packed a camp into another drainage in that unit, and shot Bullwinkle.

That reminds me of a story where no one got hurt. Grandpa was too cheap to spend a bullet finishing off deer. One time one started a rodeo, and my dad's brother had to shoot the deer with Grandpa on it. Grandpa still said the deer didn't need to be shot again, because he almost had it. Right.

Two hands in the chest cavity of a whitetail. Pulling on the windpipe with one hand and sliced it with the other. When the knife cut through the windpipe, the other hand pulled back quick and hte knuckle on my hand was sliced open to the bone by the broken rib bone. Waited three days to go to the doc and get stitches. read the riot act by both my wife and the doc.

Climbing into tree stand when branch I stepped on broke. fell 18 feet. knocked the wind out of me, bruised ribs, lots of aches and pains. Next morning I couldn't sit up to get out of bed. had to roll over and slide off the bed onto my knees to get up I hurt so bad.

Lots of other bumps, bruises and cuts.

Last month I climbed a very steep, high elevation, rocky ridge where I later got a nice buck. Not being in the condition I should be in, on the way up I stepped on my tongue several times. Hurts like crazy, not to mention getting gravel all over it that has to be spit out.

That'll cut right through a 2 6-pack buzz. Don't ask how I know. There's a reason I switched to button-fly jeans.

A friend's Dad fell into a old 40' well, while rabbit hunting in 1974. He got pretty banged up,lucky to have lived,took over 5 hours to get him out,lot's of broken bones and missed a rock on the way down that would have split his head open.Took a while for everyone to get over it....

I have cut myself twice on the same finger, about 5-6 years apart. It was on my right trigger finger, but luckly I am left handed..lol Once with a knife and the second time with a folding saw. both times I just got carless with a blade while clearing an area for a natural ground blind hunt. Both required stitches! I hope I have learned my lesson. In all seriousness though, I am usually good with blades, and operate in a safe manner. In both instances I was "rushing", the lesson learned for me was this: in the woods "Slow Down", be delibrate, your life may depend on your next move...

I forgot, I went to Africa with a broken trigger finger.My Doc taped into a hook for pulling,worked well.It began to heal while I was over there and the last couple of days shot without it.My "huntin Bud" really thought he would get some free shooting in....

Better let me do your next several hunts...

I blew out my right knee packing out 100 lbs of caribou, tripping and falling over rocks and roots for a mile in the dark- after amile of 45 degree downslope into the timber. Knee surgery.

Slipped on a Super-Cub step while loading a moose hind and sprug a couple ribs- dunno- they might have been cracked, then a 5 mile hike out after the plane was gone. Wasn't much fun breathing for a while, and sneezing or coughing was no fun at all for several weeks. Never went in for them - nothing much they can do for ribs anyway.

You will note these were only after the hunting was over. That ain't so bad for 50 years of hunting. Near misses don't count.

It's a wonder we haven't all killed ourselves off long before now.

Many years ago, despite what I knew was not the right way to do things, I was 'carving' a stove jack from the walls of a metal gasoline can. One more whack and I had intended to find a pair of gloves for handling the sharp-edged sheet metal. Of course, that 'one more whack' was the one which opened my thumb wide open, right to the beautifully striated muscle beneath. Foregoing home remedy sutures, I taped it up for the time being to get the bleeding stopped. Since it was winter and snow was the only water readily available, I washed it out carefully the following day in the gallons of blood that were pooled in the chest cavity of a bull moose we had come for. Everything healed up fine.

A few years later, while hurriedly gutting a caribou on a cold, windy hill top, I slightly nicked a knuckle on a finger. I was barely aware of the break in my skin until I felt blood pooling in my mitten several miles later. That finger was carefully washed in warm soapy water. A couple days later it swelled up with infection which required oral antibiotics. Go figure. (It's little wonder that superstitions arise sometimes.)

Ive got hurt tons worse chassing puzzy than chassing deer and elk.....

Now thats dangerous game!!!!

Once I got too close to a muddy canyon rim in the Pryors here in Montana and went down about 150 feet ass over teakettle. Somehow I missed all the rocks but wrenched a few things pretty well. Had one hell of a time climbing out of there, too.
My only consolation is that there was no one around to see it happen; it's one thing to know you've been a dumbass but quite another to prove it to others.

A few years ago, cut my little finger to the bone field while dressing a buck in South Dakota. Fortunately, one of the guys in my hunting party (to my embarrassment) helped me finish the job. I was totally unprepared and did not have a bandaid or anything else in my pack to patch the wound. I now carry a first aid kit with tape, wound-wrap and much more. I learned my lesson.

I've cut myself several times over the years and had a couple of bad falls when rocks or the ground gave way on hillsides that resulted in a couple of broken fingers.

This year I headed down into a pretty isolated part of the National forest for an annual deer camp that an old friend and I have done for years. This year though,due to scheduling at work we had to wait until later in the season which unfortunately coincided with his wedding anniversary so I went by myself.

It wouldn't have been a big deal at all except for the second morning when I started to climb up a tree in the older tree stand I have. This one has the nylon straps on the bottom platform that you stick your feet in to climb. I had initially hung the stand high enough that I could just barely get onto the bottom platform from the ground.

I heaved my ancient butt up on the stand and tightened the straps over my toes good so they wouldn't slip and reached over my shoulder to grab the strap on my safety harness and the left foot strap snapped and I went backwards off the stand with my right foot still cinched down tight.

I hit the ground with the back of my head and shoulders and apparently was out for awhile because when I came around my right leg which was twisted and hyper extended was "asleep" and I didn't have any leverage with it at all and I couldn't get it out of the foot strap and I couldn't pull myself up enough to reach the strap to loosen it.

After about an hour or so I finally wiggled my foot out of the strap and after resting for awhile I hobbled back to camp before the feeling started coming back to the leg much. I spent the rest of my trip sitting in camp putting ice out of the cooler on the ankle and calf muscle that got bruised all to hell on the edge of the platform. I had lots of time to think about the whole thing while I sat there pissed off because I couldn't hunt due to my own stupidity and a cheap tree stand.

When I got home I went down and bought a Summit viper with the stirrups for climbing. I'll never use a climber with those foot straps again. If I hadn't been able to get my foot loose I would have had several miserable days before I was late getting home and my wife sent my buddy looking for me.

Three times for me. All very different.
Fell from a tree deer hunting when I was 18 and fearless. Sprained my ankle, hunted the rest of the day then on crutches for a week.

Hit my head on a sharp broken limb getting into a tree stand on a bear hunt in Ont. Split my scalp to the bone, gash was as wide and long as my index finger. Stopped the bleeding by applying pressure with a spare shirt. Hunted the rest of the evening. Never got stiches and my head hurt all week.

Last was on a elk hunt. Had a flat rock break off the trail and dump me on a freefall 8 feet down the slope. Fall was stopped by a large Douglas fir tree. Had a hemotoma on my shin the size of a grape fruit. That was the minor injury. Had surgery 9 months later to repair the crushed disc in my spine.

I try to be careful, really I do.

Yes, I spent too much money and didn't need any ammo, or a rifle.

While quartering a pig, I sent the point of my sharp Buck 110 straight down into my thigh. Lucky I had sense enough to sit down when the dizziness hit: the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes staring up at the sky and feeling woozy.
It was a big pig, too. I'd been thinking about caping and mounting it. After the stab, I decided to just get the meat and skedaddle.

I didnt exactly hurt myself...a four wheel ATV helped...alot.....

Dislocated my left knee cap while rabbit hunting with my dad and brother when I was 14 years old. Luckily we were only a couple of hundred yards from the truck. It was about 3 hours from the time I did it till they got to the hospital. The doctor that set it was an old Army doctor that went all the way across Europe during WW 2. When he set my knee, I screamed like a mashed cat and dad had to peel mom off the doctor. That was funny. In nearly 50 years of hunting, that is the only time I got hurt.....knocking on wood.

PaPa260

Tripped over a root dragging a deer out. Landed on my shoulder. Initially the doc thought I had a labral tear. MRI revealed nothing. Ended up being a severe rotator cuff strain. Been just over a month and it is almost back to normal.

Pmc

Had a last minute chance to hunt with family back in PA, SIL offered her normal tree stand for a morning hunt, I should have looked it over closer since no one had used it that year (and she is a lot smaller that Me). I got to the sixth step when it and I came off the tree, landed on a rock that bruised my side and back.

Chased a buck out of a cornfield in Iowa while I was in college there, he had some distance on me and for some reason I thought I could cover enough ground to get a shot before he dissappeared into the woodline. There was a 15 foot creek between me and a clear shot and I tried to jump it,,,,, didn't make it and walked with a limp for 4 weeks until I had a buddy who knew how to work on knees popped it back in. Don't know exactly what he did, but have not had a single problem with the knee since. Come to think of it I should send him a Christmas card.

God bless
MM

"...a 15 foot creek" !!!!!!

Did you do a bellyflop halfway across?
I know I would have.

was at a full sprint when I hit it, came up about 3 feet short and bounced funny and landed on the bank, was not pretty I'm sure but didn't have an audience thank God.

I took a roll in a prickly pear patch last weekend. Hell yeah it hurt.

True story:
My grandpa (born in 1901, he is no longer with us) had a group of hunting buddies who would go out to chase elk. My grandpa was the only one to ever kill elk, as the other guys probably just wanted to get away from their wives and drink all week.
They found this old cabin off in the woods that they used as their camp. Four walls and it didn't leak too much.

Well, grandpa ends up shooting a nice 5x5 a couple miles from camp, near dark. He gutted the bull and cut off the head to bring to camp. Everyone got excited and they broke out the white lightning to celebrate.

Halfway down the jug someone came up with the bright idea to go get that bull, who cares if it's dark outside and the snow is up to your "little feller." So off they went.

It's a miracle that no one got hurt (yet) during the pack out. God loves a drunk, they say.

They make it back to camp and start on the second jug. Backstrap and taters sounds pretty good right about now, so one guy fires up the cookstove and puts some taters on to boil while another guy starts to cutting on the backstrap.

It's at this point that the entire hunting (drinking) party encounters BOTH the first and second law of thermodynamics, to wit: energy transfer as both work and heat, as well as the irreversibility of a physical process (combustion).

How is this, you might ask? The answer is as simple and clear as the similarity, in an altered (drunk off your ass) state, between water and white gas. With one, you boil potatoes. With the other, you blow the back wall off the cabin.

KABOOOOOMMMM...smoke and flame and burnt taters were everywhere! It's a wonder that no one was killed, although a couple got nasty burns and no one could hear well for a while.

The moral of the story? Once you start drinkin', keep drinkin'. Adding cooking will just burn down your cabin.

Oh, and I fell down a cliff elk hunting and broke my left humerus. It hurt.

P

Had a climbing stand come loose about twenty feet up a tree and fell with it till it "caught" again about five feet off of the ground. Torn coveralls, nice set of bruised ribs (both sides), lost some skin off of both forearms. When I got my wind back I thanked anyone that would listen it was not any worse.

Got lucky, and smarter!

Yeah, a couple times.

A couple years ago my son shot a doe with my Whelen. The shot was a little longer than he judged and the bullet broke both front legs of the deer. The ensuing "tracking" job was comical as heck. Wish I had a camera as the "boys" chased this deer through the woods at night with a flashlight and a knife tied to the end of a stick trying to stab it to death. Each time they approached the deer and stabbed it, the deer would jump up and hop away while the boys would fall over each other trying to get out of the way of the deer. It was hilarious! Then "dad" decided it was bedtime and time to end the ordeal, so "dad" approached the deer from its blind side and "fell" on it with my...I mean, "his" forearm holding the deer down by the neck while the boys cut its throat. The impact of "dad's" not insiginificant body weight on dad's forearm completely severed dad's supraspinatus tendon of the shoulder. Dad said OUCH! That hurt a lot and required open surgery and an extended recovery period.

Another time I was rabbit hunting with my wife, FIL, and BIL. I was on one side of the fencerow, and my BIL on the other, when a rabbit and the beagles took off down the fencerow. They went a hundred yards, made a small circle, and came back down the fencerow toward us. I saw my BIL following the rabbit with his 20 gauge with the muzzle making its way toward me. I was thinking "he won't shoot me cause I'm dressed in full blaze orange and surely he..." BOOM! One of the pellets hit my face about an eighth-inch from my left eye toward the nose. I said OUCH! and proceeded to bleed like a stuck hog from the hole and from my nose. Everybody but me panicked immediately, as evidenced from the reaction of the shooter and from the horrified looks on their faces. After I checked to see that my eye was still working, I directed my FIL to get the truck and meet me at the nearest road for a trip to the hospital. The pellet must have hit the skull and bounced back out because they didn't find it on the X-ray. No major, permanent damage that day, thank God, but I did have a heckuva shiner for a couple weeks.

Of course I am blood brothers with many a dead deer, which I'm sure many of us are.

Then there was the time I tripped on a stick and fell and my slung Marlin 1895G went off and nearly missed my head. I don't think I would have felt that one if it did hit me.

Building permanent deer stands in my youth. A friend and I had just assembled the Taj Mahal of all deer stands and were in the process of cutting some 3-4" aspen to use for rungs on the ladder into the stand. Turned out that we had run out of pole barn nails and were down to 4" screws. I notched the ends of the aspen rungs so that the screws would work and proceeded to put them up. As I got each step up I would straddle the last one and sit on it as I screwed the next one in. When I got to the last one I had to reach way down to grab the last rung from my buddy. The rung I was sitting on gave way and I fell to the next one which continued in a chain reaction until I hit the ground. Talk about blue balls! Of course the guy on the ground was in tears laughing. Learned that green aspen is pretty poor building material and that 4" sheetrock type screws aren't very strong.

Oh, that would make a super video for AFV! LMAO!

TFF!

Didn't you inspire a Wiley Coyote - Roadrunner episode?

I am sure that I have seen that chain reaction as Wiley came down a ladder!

John

My dad has always said, "If you're gonna be dumb you gotta be tough."

As my dad always said:

"Try to get as good an education as you can because, stupid hurts"

I think both our fathers were speaking from more than the theoretical aspect of this subject ie:

I once followed a blood trail from the table saw to the house. At the end of the trail was my father wrapping his freshly cut thumb. When I asked him what happened he looked at me and said he was in a hurry and had "one more cut" and did not use the push through tool sitting on the saw table. You know the one he told me "always use".

Then there was the time we had just gotten a new trolling motor for our jon boat. He wanted to see how strong it was so he tried to stop it with his hand......

God I hate Genetics....

Back in the late 70's early 80's
Reached for my recuve when a deer apraoched my stand
and just brushed a finger on a new broad head.
Never even felt the cut.
But the spurting blood got attention soon.

Never carried an uncovered arrer ever since!

The worst I've done is deciding one hot day in Sept. that it would be a lot more pleasant going bow hunting in shorts. I failed to take the sagebrush into account. Before the day was over, my legs were scratched to pieces in the stuff, with sweat running into the scratches. I will NEVER again hunt in shorts.

Slipped down he side of a mountain; snow, shale and leaves. Dislocated right shoulder, used a tree to snap it back in. Long walk out, and ended the season.

A guy hunting with my old man straddled an electric fence.

Ha, now I can't believe I ever did stuff like that (uncovered broad heads)

cracked ribs, cuts, bumps.

Hurt myself hunting? I always thought it was required.

I nearly bust a gut last year. Was laughing at my buddy after I pointed to the nuts on the "doe" he had just shot and said "I didn't know does had these".

We used to pheasant hunt across KS (about 400mi) on a weekend. Drive camper all night, hunt two days, drive home. One year I fell backwards from a fence on the last day. I broke my tailbone and had to ride 400mi home. That's a pain in the a$$.

First trip to AK, was not supposed to be solo but wound up that way when my partner no showed. Killed a caribou and while rushing to cut him up before daylight was gone I put the the smallest of small slices with the tip of the knife on my left forearm on top of the veins that go to your wrist. It barely drew blood but it made me think of what I had in my firstaid kit should it have been worse. I was not prepared at that time but now carry a quick clot sponge and dressings. A valuable lesson not an injury.
Only minor injury suffered was on a goat hunt. I had my gear, half the camp, and a full bull body Mt goat cape on my back coming off the hill. I killed it late in the day and we spiked out on top for the night. Got a little rain that night just enough to make is greasy coming off the hill. I had the friggin instep crampons in my pack and should have put them on. Sure enough left foot slid out on me, bow in left hand down I went bent it backwards pretty good and dislocated it. Poping it back in wasn't bad at all but I tore up a bunch of something in there cause it swelled up in a hurry and big. Gotta say though never have any issues from the sprain to this day. Thats the 1 and only time I had an injury.

Was shooting barn pigeons one time in the winter.had a pile of them on the ice of the pond by the barn.farmer's lab smelled them but wouldn't pick them up.Iwas sure the ice would hold me if would hold that fat lab.have you ever fell in a honeypond before?kind of took my breath away.

Just a few cuts... Couple on my fingers that made things doing really hard... Its amazing how hard stuff is to do when the right thumb (being right handed) takes a good gash to it...

30 yrs ago on the Squirrel while packing out a moose I packed out a bone in moose (4qutr,2 ribs,all other meat,cape,and rack in 4 trips. A couple of days later my sciatic nerve went beserk and still hits me about once a yr.
It hasn't got me in the field though, but after the season usually at home.

Years ago, I went bow hunting with a buddy on one of his properties. He showed me the tree to go up with my climber(at 5 am) I was about 25 feet up until I was stopped by a big branch on the back side of the tree. When the sun broke, I noticed that there was a huge bee hive hanging from the branch.

All was good until I decided to get down aroung lunch time. Apparently, Bees don't like a guy in a climber cluncking down a tree and I got the living crap stung out of me! Probably 75-100 of em! yep, it sucked.

Caribou and mountain goat?
Envy envy envy!

There is an old addage that teamsters use concerning driving a team or a single horse. That is if you have never been in a run away, you have not driven much.

That pretty much sums up about hunting.If you haven't been hurt one way or another,you have not hunted much.

Add four legged equine critters to the equation and the percentage goes up a lot faster.

I have never been hurt hunting but I made my living in hunting country.

Jayco

I guess one has to define hurt. From a cut finger to a broken bone.

Owe!!!That's a pretty big spread old timer...

Jayco

Blew the ACL, MCL, and meniscus in my left knee all in one shot on the third day of a goat hunt in BC back in '04. Did manage to finish the hunt though.

Lets see this will be my 52 season, hmmm. Knife slashes, requiring stitches, falls in snow, in rocks, on rocks, upside down on buckskin logs. Crashes with ATV, worst to date is double hernia, while packing out 6 point bull by myself.

Sometimes when I zip my fly.

Yup it is a leave me alone kind of deal. But somehow camp crap well when you start to rake trees with your bare head and talk to the moon well I guess the camp should now. but I Got It Unzipped!!

Those ATVs can get you for sure, although I think the old style 3 wheelers got more people than the more recent 4 wheel variety.

Luckily nothing serious for me but I was hunting with a buddy (he's 6'5" about 280) a few years ago who impaled his nut sack on a barb of a barbed wire fence. He stepped on the bottom wire to climb over and it snapped when he was straddled over the top wire. It ripped his sack open and I had to drive him to the ER for stitches. I've never climbed a barbed wire fence since.....always crawl under!

I was elk hunting in NE Oregon a bunch of years ago and came upon about 10 acres of pine trees that had all been snapped off about three feet off the ground and were all laying the same direction (wind blew them over). After about 200 yards of trying to 'wade' over them, I just said "screw it" and started walking on to of the logs. Which is, of course, when it decided to rain. Not such a good idea, it turns out, for big old 300lb. bubbas to try. Slipped off a log and tore up my ankle something fierce. Didn't take off my boot 'til we got back to my buddy's place, then it swelled up like a balloon. The rest of the season was a special kind of fun, let me tell you.

My Whelen did survive without losing zero, though.

mainly just cutting myself a couple times while gutting deer.no stitches though.

Went off a 15 foot bank in the dark while riding motorcycle up a single track trail in the dark. Broke ankle....now have rod, six screws, and two pins holding it together.

Turned my right knee good last Friday morning while hunting some flooded timber in Arkansas - damn thing is still smarting.

I just read the entire thread. If I was a conservative, I'd hold edged weapon trainings for hunters. If I was a liberal, I'd ban knives! Ever consider quartering your game rather than gutting?!
I tore my meniscus 5 years ago backpack hunting, finally had surgery last month. Chopped my wrist with a hatchet building a lean to shelter.

My pard killed a 6 point bull who went to the bottom of a real $hit hole canyon to die. We field dressed him and rode back to camp. Next day we tied the horses on the ridge and led the pack horse and mule down the canyon and quartered the bull and packed him out. After we got back to our horses we mounted and started back. We ran into a backpacker and his son and dog. They were real nice people but the irish setter had never seen a horse and ran up and sniffed my horses hocks. He blew up and went to bucking. I pulled him up and he started again, I really got hold of him and he tried to slide to a stop but slipped in the slick rock and fell over backwards landing on top of me. He broke my left collar bone and skinned my bald head up pretty well. It sure was a long ride 8 miles back to camp and 35 miles over the mountain to the doc.
I have had a lot of horse and cattle wrecks over the years but this was the only one hunting and pretty minor at that.

Fred

I cut my thumb while cutting the wind pipe of my first black bear many years ago. Pretty tight quarters on a bear.

Oct 2010 I was hunting a big 140 class 8 pt. Went to one of my stands that had a broken branch that I should have replaced with a screw in step. Still doable but a streatch between steps. I had my foot positioned wrong on the step and blew the peroneal tendons in my ankle.


6 weeks non weight bearing, blood cloots, lots of pain meds, and physical thearapy.
I am now 100% back to normal.

My buddy's 14 year old son shot that buck right behind my house, 23" wide and scored 141 P&Y.

Be careful out there!!!

JD338