Anybody else get hurt during the hunt?
Elk
Today is post-op day 6 from having my pectoralis tendon reattached. I got jerked off a horse and hurt my shoulder... Here is my MRI report "There is complete tearing of the pectoralis major tendon with retraction of the tendinous remnants and extensive edema and hemorrhage" OUCH...
I'm now recovering from surgery and wondering how many other bowsiters got hurt during the elk hunt??
Didn't get hurt during my hunt but I think it's my rotator cuff that's been giving me problems for a while now, just set an appt yesterday to get it looked at. Hopefully nothing serious! Sorry to hear about your misfortune, wishing you a speedy recovery!
OUCH.i thought six years with no elk hurt. hope your recovery goes well.
Not hurt during an elk hunt, but I did cut off the end of my middle finger on my left hand with a folding pruning saw. I was trimming shooting lanes and ripped through a small limb and had to give it a little extra. The saw came though but the momentum caused the saw blade to chop into my finger like I'd hit it with an axe. I said "Gosh Batman, that smarts". Went to ER, 7hrs later I got out with 4 stitches.
Get well soon!
Retrieving a tahr out of this drainage I shot a 2nd tahr and made a repeat trip for him the next day. Tore something in my knee. Had to limp out and up to camp. Thank God I had a trekking pole. My knee lost all strength and was like a wet noodle the rest of the trip, but I still managed to arrow a nice Chamois, 2 Wallabies and 2 Spanish Goats. Took several months to get my knee working again.
3 Days into an elk hunt the outfitter was running out of horses due to lameness, throwing shoes and too many hunters. Stuck me on a pack mule with no bit, just reins. He said the mule was trained to go when the animal in front of him moved and trained to stop when the animal in front stopped. He must have forgotten to tell the mule this though. Three hours up a mountain trail the mule had enough and decided he was heading back to camp. He blew up and at a full out run body slammed my big a$$ to the ground. I was laying there in severe pain but afraid to move. I just keep thinking about my quiver full of broadheads. I had had my bow slung at my left side and knew I had landed on it. When I did finally open my eyes I saw that no good mangey SOB mule with his nose to the ground staring me in the eye. I managed to pick myself up with the help of my son and my guide. My side was immediately black and blue and swelling. My guide commandeered the Jr. guides horse and put me on his. Jr. swung up on the mule was promptly bucked off and ended up walking all the way back to camp. I later tried to seriously buy that mule so I could kill him, but my outfitter wouldn't go for it. The outfitter did offer a free hunt if I would come back the next year but I didn't take him up on it.
Three Fingers
You get a complete pass thru on that mule ?
sfiremedic did same thing,plus tore off biceps and rotator cuff falling out of a tree in 08, I feel for you long road many hours of rehab and back to shooting now good luck!
Missed a 30yd shot on a 6x6 bull this september. I was at full draw and had the bull broadside, squeezed off the release and got hit in the head with something, saw the arrow break and bull run off and felt a warm sensation (blood) running down the side of my face from my ear. I knew something was wrong, thought I blew up the bow or had a piece of carbon stuck in my head. Turns out when I shot the bowstring must have caught on the chest buckle that connect both the shoulder straps on my backpack. The chest strap wasn't buckled and it hit me right in my ear and cut it pretty good. That cost me my chance at a first bull elk. Good thing it wasn't my eye.
Yeah, but the story I heard about my injury was pretty good. Seems I had shot a 4 point bull. I followed him and found him laying, unable to get up. The arrow was still in him, broadhead sticking out the off side. I didn't want to see him suffer, so I pulled out my knife and was getting ready to cut his throat. At that moment, bull reached back, grabbed the arrow in his mouth and lunged toward me. I turned to leave quickly. With his last breath he lunged, burying the broadhead in the back of my right calf!
I really liked that story and have stuck with it for all these years. It beats the heck out of the way I remember it. I had shot and killed a 4 point bull. After gutting him out (My pre-gutless field care days), I slung my bow on my back and started dragging him downhill, backing through the aspens to get to the pines a short distance away. All of a sudden, my right leg wouldn't go any further back apparently hitting something immoveable. I looked over my right shoulder, pulling my leg forward. Laying on the ground, broadhead pointing uphill, was one of my arrows. Blood was dripping off my boot. I pulled up my pants and there was a slit in the back of my right calf. Apparently a small branch had hooked an arrow out of my covered quiver, dropped it to the ground, pointy end up, and I backed into it with the broadhead going into my leg, stopping me when it hit the bone. Luckily, it didn't hit any major vessels, but it sure did screw up my plans.
The problems didn't end there. I bandaged my leg and then quartered and hung the bull. After walking out, getting my leg fixed in the ER, I called my friend who had horses. The next day we rode horses in and slung the quarters over the two riding saddles and led the horses down the ridge. As I was going downhill, I saw the load and saddle shift forward. The cinch strap rode up pinning the front legs to the neck of the horse and the whole thing unraveled with the horse doing a front flip landing on his back. He laid there, placidly while I undid the load, then he rolled over and stood up. I was in the process of separating everything so I could reload the horse when I heard a commotion above me. My buddy's horse was running toward me, the saddle and load under the horse. As he came by, I grabbed the reins and stopped him next to my horse. Running behind was my buddy, out of breath. Apparently the same thing with the saddle slipping had happened to him. The difference is when he tried to get the load and saddle off, the horse didn't just lay there but kicked him in the chest, got to his feet and ran off. When we added up all the damage, the load was intact, one saddle broken, horses without injury, but my buddy with ribs separated from his sternum, and me still limping along with my sliced/sutured leg. I hung up the quarters again, put the broken saddle near the quarters, saddled one horse with the good saddle, had my buddy ride out with me leading the other horse. My buddy ended up in the ER for x-rays where he found that he had separated/broken ribs.
I did finally get that bull off the mountain the next day when another friend and I took a wheeled cart up. The final tally of injuries, one sliced leg for me, separated/broken ribs for my friend and two ER visits. Yep, that bull got mounted and is hanging on the wall! Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you that it was 1 1/2 miles from the nearest road!
I tore my right calf muscle running an outhouse race (yes, you read right) weekend before last, my bow season is gonna be constrained
No physical injury, but I only had 3 days to hunt. If I don't get out more than that next year I will be needing a therapist.
My feelings got hurt a couple times but that's about it. I'll get over it eventually.
Funny stuff.. I had to look at my post again to make sure i didn't say that i got jerked off by a horse.... that would've meant something totally different.. lol
Anyway, I was riding a horse and leading a second horse to retrieve a nice bull. Got to a water crossing (all previous water crossings went without a hitch) and the horse I was on decided to jump across. I got jerked off the horse. About pulled me in half because i got caught up in the stirrup. It happened in an instant. Landed in the creek flat on my back.. Horses just stood there, maybe they thought i needed a bath.
6 months until I can pull my bow...
I am still trying to digest the part of getting jerked off by a horse.
"I am still trying to digest the part of getting jerked off by a horse" LMAO, that wording is to funny, sorry
Every day I hunt elk they hurt my feelings... until the day I kill one. Then I am healed. :-)
Nothing too serious for me. Jumped up on a log and my foot just slid right off. Equipment went everywhere and I landed on my right shin and on my left ankle. Black and blue shin and sprained ankle and damaged ego!! I don't heal as fast as I use too, turning 47 in December. Oh well it could've been worse.
Fractured a one in m foot at Feeman lake with JHA. Missed the last day. Ruptured a disc lifting last week. Hope to recover enough by Nov 20 for a WT hunt in south Texas. Luckily I have not been jerked off by a horse.
Eleven years ago I was along on a buddy's ML elk hunt in NV. Flipped my ATV on a BLM two track road. It somehow wrapped my left leg up. I didn't realize it was broken until I tried to walk and ended up in a heap on the ground. Took six hours to get me to the Twin Falls ER where they promptly yelled at us for driving out instead of calling for a helicopter.
Tibia plateau fracture, retracted ACL, and several cracked ribs. Seven day stay in the hospital, a metal plate, eleven screws, cadaver bone, a 14" scar and six months off work. Will have a new knee in the near future because of it.
Worst part was I had a Mountain Goat tag in my home state of MT. Never got to set foot in the unit, lost my bonus points, and could not apply for seven years.
I lost the last 2 1/2 days of the early elk hunt here in Sep. Walking a steep bushy sidehill, I tripped on something and heard what I hoped was a branch snap, but it was my right ankle bone. Hit my back. Laid there probably a full minute. Felt the pain in my ankle and prayed to the Lord to get me off that mountain! I was a half mile or so up the hill and it was steep and brushy, but I was able to get up and hobble down the hill, only falling down one more time. quarter mile up the road to the truck when an old guy and his wife drove up and asked for directions. LOL I took off my pack to get the forest service map out and when I went to kneel down, I twisted my ankle a little and just about came unglued. Drove 120 miles to doc. for xrays & splint. It still hurts after 5 weeks. Hope to get back out in the late season in Nov.
Not an elk hunt, but a feral hog hunt.
Got stupid with a knife and got very, very lucky.
Missed the femoral by 3/4", the bladder by 1/8" and an artery going to my technicals by 1".
Seems like horses are a common theme to injury.
Sorry to hear about that incident. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Only injuries in my camp were to our pride. Lol
Kicked by a horse square in the chest at 1am leading him out with the horns on him. Stopped to see where the rest of the train went and he dropped me like a sack of potatoes. When I opened my eyes he was walking towards me, figured he was looking to finish me off.Yelled at him and away he went down the trail.No permanent damage done.......I think.
Just a note on using horses or mules. At the very least train your animal to use a crupper so your saddle doesn't slide forward and use a breast strap or breast collar to prevent it from sliding back. For pack animals use a britchen (no crupper needed) to keep pack saddle from sliding forward. These are basic packing gear that make for a pretty much safe experience in the backcountry.
Sitting in a ground blind at a water hole, I decided to draw my bow because I had been sitting still for a couple of hours and thought I would loosen up. It was tough drawing the bow but I decided to pull until I could get the bow back to my anchor point. My muscles were really stiff. Ended up with two out of the four rotator cuffs torn. Started therapy today.
Popped disks in lower back tring to pull on my 800gr lacrosse boots one November morning to kick off a weeks vacation during prime rut! Those boots still sit in my garage as a reminder. Have not worn them since. Too damn tight around ankles very poor design
Had a horse flip over on me and break my leg a couple hours before I was supposed to pick up my football equipment my senior year of high school...not hunting related but seems to fit the theme of horses being jerks. That was back in 1986.
March 15th, 2014 I went shed hunting with fellow Bowsiter, T-roy. Got almost to the bottom of the first hill and stepped on a patch of ice hidden by the leaves. Broke 2 bones and tore some ligaments in my lower leg right at the ankle. Now have a plate and 8 screws...and the new "walking stick" T-roy found for me so I could hike back out to the truck.
My pride was crippled but that was about it.
This thread reinforces my decision to not hunt elk off of horses. I think I'll go with llamas instead.
sfiremedic, You should count your lucky stars that the horse only jerked you off!! Hope you heal quick, lets see the pic of the nice bull.
Unfortunately I had an injury back in April as I got ready to go turkey hunting; As I was taking my ATV out of the back of the truck I somehow leaned on the thumb throttle, the ATV shot down the ramp and rolled over backwards on me. I was very lucky that I had a hard plastic box bolted to the back of the ATV, the box saved me from being snapped like a twig. For my trick I received a 35% compression fracture on the T12 vertebra and pulled all of the lower back muscles. I was in a back brace for 3 months, fast forward to now (6 months) and I am still rehabilitating the lower back muscles. Even though my world stopped for a while and I don't know what the long term effects will be I am still very grateful my injury wasn't worse.
ATV's are fast replacing horses as the top injury maker! Working as an RN in the ER, I can tell you that although we still see some horse injuries, generally the ATV/snowmobile crowd keeps us busy!
I usually kill some brain cells in the nearest tavern and get a shower and a good night sleep in a hotel before the long drive home....luckily that is the closest I have come to an injury.
I have often thought it has been a miracle that no one ever gets hurt badly on one of my hunts. I did cut myself on a broadhead once in the dark...had to super glue my hand shut out in the field I was bleeding so bad.
I ran into a game warden that day and I didn't think he was going to buy my story about not shooting an animal I had so much blood on my clothes.
First day of visibility crossing a rock drainage...pic is 4 days later after I came down off the mountain...
You shot a sasquatch with swollen knees?
Dwarf Melanistic Yeti, actually :)
In 2009 I just got to the top of a mountain and planned on hunting a spring that evening. As I was cutting a dead aspen for a hiking stick I ran my Gerber folding saw across my right leg just above my knee. Fourteen stitches later from the Hospital in Cortez and I was headed home. The next year on the second day of my hunt a rock rolled out from under my boot and as I fell my right leg slammed into an aspen breaking my fibula.
Couple years ago I was in a draw unit in Colorado and had to cut my hunt short and go home to get a root canal done on a tooth. Toughed it out as long as I could but when it got down to all I could handle in the way of food or drink was luke warm water I decided enough is enough.
you need to change your name to Hairy Bob - wow, what does your back look like !! :)
I've shot bear with less hair than that
dang Bob, now I have an eye-injury!
what has been seen cannot be unseen...
This wasn't a hunting accident, but it has affected my hunting.
18 months ago, my father-in-law and I were on a charter fishing for king salmon off of Monterey. I passed out, fell on the deck of the boat and dislocated my elbow on my brace arm. I missed all of last bow season, have had to shorten my draw length by 6 inches and am just able to shoot my bow again. I can only get in about 5-10 practice shots before my arm wears out. It has not been a fun or pleasant recovery experience.
Ewwww... at first I thought it was your testicles!
I'm in the same mode as pa10point - Now zero-for-5 with a bow on elk. No serious injures to date thank god. Just a another bout of tag soup depression. Might get my but kicked if I get another smart ass from work makes another condescending comment about my choice of weapons. The recurve has nothing to do with my un-filled tags. My poor physical shape was a factor especially on this last hunt.
Good luck with the recovery everyone. The rest please stay safe and learn from these reports.
LaGriz
At the range this summer I tripped my release early and punched myself in the mouth, that hurt a bit. Haven't been hurt on a hunt yet...knock on wood...
Packing the meat to camp put some hurt on me, no worries, I overcame!
7 miles of walking through "The Boggs" in Newfoundland put a serious blister on my heel.If I hadn't already killed my moose I would have had a hard time walking to get one.
Lesson learned "TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET"
Hope you get better quick Jeff! Tough country in there! My horse fell with me right above your camp this year. It happens so fast. Not much you can do. Heal up soon!
Charlie
Thanks Charlie, Even hurt the hunt was a blast....
Slipped gutting out the biggest buck I every shot. Maybe had a little adrenaline going. Shoved my knife into the palm of my left hand. The neurosurgeon said I was "lucky" that the bones in my hand kept the knife from going all the way through. Didn't hit any tendons, but have permanent nerve damage. Could have gotten worse - I almost hit a big 8 point while driving myself to the hospital. Blood pressure was a bit high when I got there.
Tore my bicep tendon in half yanking on a gate. Bicep ended up at my shoulder. Could still draw my bow but couldn't rotate it from horizontal to vertical. Dislocated an artificial knee gutting out a deer. Fortunately my brother was there and I yelled for him to grab my leg and pull as hard as he could. Popped back in and I finished gutting my deer.
Panhandle Bob...I know Buffalo that would be jealous...
Yeah Bou...I mean horses don't have thumbs...
Almost lost 3 lives on the river during our moose hunt. In the center of the pic you'll notice just an outboard above the water. The rest of the 17 1/5 jet boat is under the surface. All of us made it and the boat was recovered.
Bob,
Bowsite is like getting old...it's not for wimps!! HAHA.
