Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Life can change in a second, don't take it for granted

Three weeks ago I had my friend over to my house to help cut up a bunch of slab wood that I have. I don't heat with wood so I give it to him. I have a tractor mounted PTO powered buzz saw which as buzz saws go is a safer style that we have used for years always being as careful as possible because its still a very dangerous piece of equipment. Unfortunately no matter how careful you are accidents can happen. I've been playing the scene in my head a 1000 times and i still am not sure how it happened I think my buddy bumped the table exposing the blade. Anyways long story short I cut off 3 of my five fingers on my right hand. we are trying to save the pinky I will need a tendon replaced in it. Hopefully i will have at least 60 percent usage of it. As soon as it happened I took of running yelled at my friend to call 911, ran to the house to tell my girlfriend to call 911and to have my 14 year old son try to find my fingers. I told my buddy we need to find a tourniquet he grabbed a cinch strap and strapped it tight which probably saved my life. I had a ambulance to my house within 5 minutes fortunately there was a helicopter returning to base so they turned around to come get me I was in the air within 20 minutes of calling 911. The first thing I wanted to do was call my friend and tell him it was a accident it's not his fault, but he was a wreck and still is. I keep telling him not to blame himself which is easier said than done.

So now I am trying to adjust to being left handed, I definitely f'ed up my deer season, and fishing is going to take some getting used to. I love deepsea fishing and this is going to be really difficult. Through the whole ordeal I have been trying to stay as positive as possible which hasn't been the easiest thing to do but its better than the other option. I know many of us own or work with tools that can do the same damage so please be careful

Good grief, Man. Very sorry to hear this.

Life is fragile, no doubt.

Those things are dangerous. My dad was cutting wood with one and an uncle of his, always in a hurry shoved the log dad was holding into the blade cutting off his left hand totally. He ran our farm the remainder of his life like that. One hell of a tough man and good soul.

So sorry to hear this. I had a little incident with a table saw 12 years ago. The fingers on my left had are a mess but I still have them. Stay positive. It looks like some quick thinking has paid off but you have to stay positive.

kwg

3 weeks ago I managed to pinch my index finger in a wood splitter. I think the wood shifted and snagged my glove, pulling it in.

Luckily, my buddy, who was on the lever, had a premonition or something, because he let off the pressure in about 1/10 of a second. Ended up my finger, from the top joint up, slightly flattened and popped like a grape in 2 spots. Probably could have used a couple stitches but it stopped bleeding fast and we just kept working. No loss of sensation and it's completely healed now with just a lump of scar tissue.

I was lucky - damned lucky. If he hadn't let off, it probably would have popped the joint off. My trigger finger, too.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Jeebus.

Sorry to hear that - thanks for posting it as a reminder of what can go wrong when you least expect.

Hope you can heal up and overcome / adapt.

Sorry to hear about your accident. You sound like you'll make good on it regardless. Thanks for the reminder.

Had an acquaintance send me a photo last summer of his mangled hand. Seems he'd been riding in the back of a side by side with his hands on the roll bar. Machine rolled over. Lost some fingers. He's adjusted.

You will figure it out fine I am sure.

Sounds like you , your kid and your friend did a great job not panicking and were able to get you into medical care quickly. Thats a big positive. That should improve your chances of recovery.

best of luck in your recovery.Good reminder to be extra careful.

I was standing by my buddy when he cut off 2 fingers in shop class. I remember picking up his fingers, He's regained around 80 per cent use of right hand- still bow hunts and fishes like a mad man and that was 40 years ago.

Really sorry to hear that. Here's wishing you the speediest and fullest recovery possible.

Back when I was working as a Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Specialist I shook hands with 3 fishermen in a row who were missing parts of their right hand. You too will overcome.

Sorry for what you’re going through. You’re alive and that’s the main thing. You can work around everything else.

Irving I hope you make a speedy recovery.

Hope this turns out for you better than expected,,

That sucks, good luck.

The older I get the less I want to be around dangerous things. I can't walk up to the edge of a cliff at all anymore. No more jumping off bridges, diving in rocky creeks, jumping dirtbikes, chasing blacktail deer into the cliffs.

That's horrible. I'm sorry you had that accident.

Those old firewood saws are crazy dangerous. We cut firewood with one mounted on an old Ford 8N when I was a kid and my Father didn't let me near it. Having spent much of his life around spinning props, he was more careful than some around spinning saw blades.

A terrible thing to happen. I pray you mend swiftly. Hang tough!

Even when I was in the Emergency room I told my girlfriend that there are lot of people in there worse off than me. I told the doctor in the Emergency room don't let me die of Corona. When I went for a follow up there was a little girl missing everything from the elbow down so that helped put it in perspective