Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Ever hurt yourself hunting?

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...