Most Severe Hunting Injury

[Swede]

Have you ever been injured while out hunting? If so, what was the worst accident, and more importantly what did you learn from the incident?

I fell backwards from a tree I was descending. I landed on my head and shoulders and was out for over 1/2 hour. As best I could calculate it was about 45 minutes. When I was able to collect my wits, I did not know where I was, or what I was doing. It slowly came to me as I looked around, and even then I wondered where my son was as I thought he was somewhere near. That was wrong. Fortunately I could see my truck. That is the only stand I have ever sat in where I could actually see my truck. I got to the truck, but was sick to my stomach. I had most of my wits by then and drove to where I was supposed to pick up a friend. I had him take me home where I stayed for the night.
The lesson learned was, never climb a tree without a drop line so both hands are free as you go up and down a tree. Now I attach a safety line too. Also, don't be cheap or stubborn. Go to a doctor in a situation like that. I learned a concussion like that can be very dangerous.

The second worse accident came when I was finishing gutting an elk. I was cutting off the lungs and windpipe when a yellow jacket stung me on the hand. It was the hand holding the wind pipe and I jerked back instantly into the razor sharp edge of my knife. I just about lost a finger that time.
That was a freak accident, but I should have been better prepared to deal with a bad cut. Note to self: Carry some bandaging material in your pack.

[Elkhntr08]

Knock on wood, never hurt while hunting, but sure have done some dandies working around the house. No matter where or what you’re doing, safety first. First aid training helps too.

[Tigger]

Stepped in a hole while pheasant hunting and really messed up my lower back. I hunted all hunched over for a few hours before I gave it up.

I find it amazing we don't get hurt more often considering all the things that could happen! Knock on wood!

[Lsb]

Gutting a client's deer, knife slipped and went into the inside of my thigh just above the knee. Luckily the bone kept it from going real deep. Lesson, keep your knives sharp.

[scubohuntr]

I fell out of a tree in 2001 and broke both arms and three ribs. I had just set up my hang-on stand and was about to go down to get my safety harness. I don't hunt from tree stands anymore. Not saying I won't ever do it, but if I do it will probably be ladder stands. I have a full body safety harness in case I ever hunt from a tree again, but I'm still not sure how a guy would get the harness in place before you climb the tree.

My little brother put a .25-35 slug through his thigh the first time he went deer hunting. It's really sobering how much that really marginal caliber messed up his leg. He was incredibly lucky and didn't take any permanent damage from it, although he has some really righteous scars. I believe he learned to take what they taught him in hunter safety much more seriously.

[saddlesore]

A few years ago,I had a crazy mule run off with me in to some really thick aspens. I didn't think I would survive thru the trees so I baled off. Hitting the ground at about 35 miles an hour does not do any thing good for a 70+ year old body.When I woke up,my buddy was standing over me trying to help. He got me back to camp and on to the cot. Next morning he drove me to the small local hospital ER. The 2nd day is when broke ribs really start to hurt. Three broken ribs,mild concussion some bruised kidneys,peeing blood and local leakage inside my body, T5 compression fracture in my spine a lot of crape sand bruises.
I learned when you are my age, you ride some darn good broke mules.That mule is on a pack string now working her butt off and I have an 18 year old saddle mule and a 20 year old packmule

[Old school]

4 years ago elk hunting in Colorado with my son. We were slowly walking a game trail when I stopped. My son was looking off to the side and didn’t see me stop. He proceeded to walk into me. He had an arrow nocked and his broadhead ran into the side of my pack slicing through it easily. 6” over and it would’ve stuck right into my kidney. Lesson learned - Under NO circumstances do we walk with an arrow nocked. Not having an arrow knocked cost us an elk in Idaho 2 years later, but none of us cared. Safety first. Can’t imagine a 2 mile walk out with a sliced kidney.

-Mitch

[Swede]

Saddlesore, I probably would have showed the mule my elk tag, and asked it if it wanted the tag punched for a certain worthless mule. It sounds like you have a better solution.

[saddlesore]

Saddlesore, I probably would have showed the mule my elk tag, and asked it if it wanted the tag punched for a certain worthless mule. It sounds like you have a better solution.

Believe me ,the thought came to me but the ML was in the scabbard on the runaway mule

[Lefty]

I’ve had lots of incidents. Some life threatening but not too much as injury. I’m usually solo and try to be careful
Fell asleep and rolled a truck running a trap line
Had a shear pin break above a hydro dam , that was exilerating.
Sliced my finger good in a plastic pull starter duct taped it heal enough I didn’t need stitches


Maybe the worst: ended up in a freezing river, -15 when I got to the launch froze my feet two weeks later Skin from the bottom peeled off. Had to crawl on my handstand knees for 10 days. Always thought that was where my leg problems started , but docs say no

Tore the back of my heel stepping on a root painful for a few weeks slow walk back to the truck

This evening I had a scare I have neorapathy in my legs I had been hiking up all afternoon. I was a Few miles back, thought I better be back to the truck and report to my wife. My legs wouldn’t move. really creeped me out. Ended up taking a logging road back to the truck instead of hunting my way back .
I may have just turned into a road hunter for tomorrow

[jmez]

Tipped an ATV over and broke my femur. Learned I'll never rude one of those again.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[saddlesore]

I have had some severe cuts that required stitching. Copious amounts of Jack Daniels applied to the wound externally and internally help me get it sewed up. After the1st time I bought some suture kits .Needles and thread for horse cuts da take a little more Jack Daniels if used on humans. BTDT.

[WapitiTalk1]

Nothing really bad during actual hunting season (knock on wood), but, I did sprain my ankle BAD the night before opening morning of MT archery elk one year... that was a bad situation; I wasn't able to even get out till very late in the season

[Deanmac]

About 15 years ago I was had a lockon about 30 feet up a tree. A 16 feet wood ladder then screw in steps to the stand. I was climbing up and grabbed hpld of the stand to step over into the seat. The brace came loose and I fell backwards, luckily my leg caught of one of the screw in steps about 20 feet up and I was hanging upside down with my leg bleeding. I took a few seconds to gain my thoughts and did a situp and grabbed the step above me and pulled myself up. I got my good leg on a step and release the pressure on my hurt leg and climbed down the ladder. When I hit the ground I was first afraid to look at my leg, but it was not cut bad and just badly bruised. I must have sit on the ground about 30 minutes because my back was hurting and I did not feel like I could walk. I slowly got up and walked back to my truck one step, rest, another step. Of course my pants were ripped, but nothing major was wrong. I did not tell my wife for a long time what happened.
A 50 year old should not be getting in stands like that, especially without a safety harness, I never wore one. My son was born that year and I stopped doing stupid thing like I described above. I hunt now out of double ladders or shooting houses. If I use a climber or lockon I do use a safety harness. IMHO if my leg had not got caught on that screw in step I would not be typing this today! If I had fell 30 feet It would have been all over for me.

[Indian Summer]

1992 was a year to remember. I almost departed this world. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving which is the day before the Pa rifle deer season. I had just finished hanging a Loggy Bayou climber and installing foot pegs so I could get into my stand safely and quietly the next morning. On my way back to the truck I spotted an old wooden stand I had never seen before which was a surprise because I had scoured the area for years. It had 2x4s nailed to the tree for steps. I grabbed them and wiggled them and they were solid so up I went. As I got to the top, about 16 feet up, it was as if nothing but the wind was holding the top step on. There wasn’t even a sqeak as it let go and I fell straight backwards. I could see tree tops and blue sky as I fell. I was face up and landed flat on my back. I had a small day pack on with a Canon Rebel camera in it. An older model, new back then that used film so it was fairly large. That camera broke two of my ribs about an inch to the left of my spine. I didn’t lose consciousness but dear Lord above I had the wind knocked out of me like nobody here can begin to imagine! I sucked for air but my throat was choked shut. And brother I mean I sucked! Barely a squeal came out. It was like someone had a death grip on my esophagus. I thought I was going to pass out but slowly... really slowly I sucked in a lung full of air. After exhaling the second breath didn’t come much easier.

After a few breaths I rolled over onto my stomach and to my hands and knees then stood up. I wasn’t disoriented at all but pretty shocked at what had just happened and wondering what damage I had undergone. I could taste blood which told me there was more going on than just severe pain. I started walking. Before long I need a serious break so I laid down. I could hardly get back up even using a tree to pull myself up. I knew for sure that if I laid down again I wouldn’t be able to get up so after that my breaks consisted of leaning up against small trees and hooking my arm around them for support. I had a little over a mile to go.

I made it to my car and drove to a friends house only a mile down the road. I was exhausted. When I got there I just laid on the horn until he came out. He knew I was a tree stand guy and he was not. He was completely afraid of them. He was only half way to my car and the first words out of his mouth were “Did you fall out of your stand?” I squeaked out the word yes and he helped me to his car and drove me to a little farm country hospital. I managed to tell them what happened after they immobilized my spine. I can’t remember what they did at first but pretty quickly they determined that I had collapsed my left lung. The remedy for that is like something out of a horror movie.

They brought in two very large male doctors. They had a stainless steel tube about the size of an arrow that was cut off at one end at a steep angle. With no anesthesia at all they made an incision about 5 inches below my left armpit. Then those two guys got all 4 of their hands on the tube and with a twisting motion they forced it through the cartilage between two of my ribs and into my lung! There was a lot of crunching sounds going on and a pop at the end when the tube penetrated my lung. Jesus Mary and Joseph I couldn’t freakin believe what they just did. I was in shock at that point freezing and shivering uncontrollably. I could hear a couple nurses whispering “can you believe this guy lived after walking that far like this?”

They tilted up the power bed and positioned an xray machine in front of me and took an image. Bad news Mr Ferraro... we missed the part of the lung we need to penetrate we need to remove the tube and try again. What!!! Oh yeah there were F bombs going off. I told them they had one more try and if it didn’t work screw that lung I’d rather live with one than go through that again. They slid the tube out, angled it more downward and started twisting and pushing again.

Excuse my my eyes water when I tell this story. I haven’t told it in years. I waited a week to type it here.

So they crunched and popped it in, tilted me up again and took another xray. Then they told me it went in where it needed to be. Then they put a yellow rubber tube on the other end of it. The tubing ran to a small air compressor which they turned on. Holy crap my entire chest blew up like a balloon. Air started coming out of my mouth and nose. After awhile they turned the compressor off. They had a short discussion after which they told me my lung was reinflated but my injuries were way beyond their capabilities and I had to be transported immediately to a hospital in downtown Pittsburgh. They asked if I wanted an ambulance or a Life Flight. I asked if my insurance covered the chopper ride. They said yes and they would highly recommend I go that route. They blocked the parking lot outside and prepared to land the helicopter. My wife had just arrived and didn’t know why they stopped traffic until she saw the chopper land and watched as they rushed me in and it took right back off out of sight. Needless to say she freaked out.

It wasn’t looking like I was going to be able to hunt in the morning!

There wasn’t really much more they could do at the Intesive Care Unit at that point. The yellow tubing went into a container that collected a fluid with some blood in it... for a week. I woke up the next morning cold and starving. Through the glass I could see nurses having a birthday party and there was one of those 4 foot long sandwiches on the table. I told my wife to ask if I could have a piece. The nurse said absolutely not but I told her if not I was going to unhook all the crap and head out to a pizza shop or something so she snuck me a piece in which I devoured in no time. My brother and some friends came to visit. When they left they all went and bought safety harnesses.

A week and a half later they released me. My stand was still hanging. It was killing me. So I had my brother go buy another 25 foot pegs. Enough to space them really close together. I made them drive me down and carry my gun as I took short steps walking slowly to my tree. They screwed the steps in and up I went. But when I got in my stand I was scared to death!! I was hugging the tree afraid to fall. No way I could shoot so I had to come down. I told them to pull my stand and put it in my car I was going to just sit for awhile. They thought I was crazy. I probably was. I could taste blood again. Not good. On the way out I sat in a pretty good spot to rest and much to my surprise I saw a buck sneaking by. I pulled up my 7 mag and had him in the cross hairs. But I felt so bad I was afraid the recoil would be too much for me. So I clicked the safety back off and let him walk. Then I went home and sat on the couch.... for three and a half months!

I couldn’t sit up on my own. My wife would prop me up before she went to work in the morning. I’d stay upright as long as I could because once I laid down I’d have to stay that way until she got home. Eventually I got a trapeze device that has legs going under the couch with a mast and a steel triangle that hung from a chain. I could grab it with my left hand to pull myself up to a sitting position.

It took over a year of therapy to get back to somewhat normal. At first I couldn’t lift my right arm at all. Then eventually a little movement returned but I couldn’t lift anything. Not even a ball point pen. It was a big deal when I could lift a cup of coffee to my lips. I had back and shoulder pain for 10 years and insane muscle spasms. I can remember looking at the couch cushions because I was positive there was broken glass on them poking me in the back.

To this day I don’t use climbers. I’d NEVER go up someone else’s stand. I use hang ons with climbing sticks. And hell yes a safety harness. But mostly I use ladder stands. I love them. Call me crazy but I don’t use a harness with them. I hate those things.

I have another story. That one in Montana. Wanna hear it? Lol

[saddlesore]

The whole reason I don't like to use any tree stands.Scared to death of heights now days

Since you went to a Pittsburgh hospital, where do you live? I grew up in SW Pa. I still have kin there.

[Indian Summer]

The whole reason I don't like to use any tree stands.Scared to death of heights now days

Since you went to a Pittsburgh hospital, where do you live? I grew up in SW Pa. I still have kin there.

I live in Beaver County. That accident was in Washington County. I went to the Canonsburg hospital before being flown to Allegheny General.

[Tigger]

I think Joe is the winner! Holy moly. I read that whole thing twice. You should be very thankful you are alive. I am very thankful you are alive or I couldn't have read that story (and others)!

[Old school]

Joe - I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve done that very thing (minus the fall). As I look back I see all the stupid things I did in my younger years in treestands that could’ve ended very badly. I thank The Lord I didn’t have any accidents like yours - or worse.

-Mitch

[Swede]

Joe, it is so weird that we remember everything so well surrounding an accident like that. I remember my fall like it is still happening, and I know I was unconscious for too long. I know I am more careful today because of my fall. You are the second person I know that fell from a broken step in a home made ladder. The other hunter is a doctor.
Sure, I am interested in hearing about your Montana accident, especially if we can learn anything form the incident.