Worst things that happened while hunting ?

Lots of "bad" and weird things happen hunting if you stay with it long enough. We had a nine year old, healthy lab hunting blue (dusky) grouse 3 years ago in the mountains of Colorado. Over 2 miles from the pickup she had what the vets later thought was a stroke. Went down like she had been pole-axed. After a couple of hours she finally was able to walk enough to get her back to the pickup. Of all my labs, this was my favorite. She never recovered, though 6 months later, with our young lab in Kansas, she was able to locate a cripple that the young dog couldn't find. Made me happy, but cried at the same time.

Personally, my bain is badger holes. I have a bad right ankle. It has been fused twice, broken, rebuilt and generally screwed up. It is fused, so no flex. Two years ago in Kansas I stepped into a badger hole heel first. It key-locked into the hole so tight my toes were touching my shin. If my wife hadn't been there to work it loose, I'd be a carcass in that field right now. As far as I can tell it "unfused" the ankle, broke all the bones, including my big toe. Turned every color of purple, red and blue. Swelled up like a sausage. My luck with ankle/foot doctors has been so bad I just laced it up into a tight boot and let it heal. Unfortunately it healed crooked so I now walk like a one legged duck.
 
Pole-axed and key-locked...there are a couple expressions seldom seen written out. I did the same, heel first, into a badger hole. It was the coldest day I think I have ever pheasant hunted in. I couldn't get my boot/foot out, luckily I wasn't alone that day and my buddy pulled my toes back enough to get me un-key-locked. I now have a plan if that happens again. The 6 foot or so piece of cord/rope I have in my game pouch, I will loop it through the boot laces closest to my toes or or loop over the end of the boot if possible, to pull to un-wedge things. A season or 2 later I was alone in an IHAP parcel I had never been in. I stepped into a deep hole, went down hard, it didn't hurt bad, but I later had a lot of color on my toes and ankle, plus the swelling got impressive. Tore something in there. My last dog got a few stitches, but that is a hazard of hunting. That is about as bad as I have been hunting, pretty much nothing in over 40 years in the field. Glad I don't have your luck Jim....or any porkies around here.
 
Powderhorn Jim said:
Lots of "bad" and weird things happen hunting if you stay with it long enough. We had a nine year old, healthy lab hunting blue (dusky) grouse 3 years ago in the mountains of Colorado. Over 2 miles from the pickup she had what the vets later thought was a stroke. Went down like she had been pole-axed. After a couple of hours she finally was able to walk enough to get her back to the pickup. Of all my labs, this was my favorite. She never recovered, though 6 months later, with our young lab in Kansas, she was able to locate a cripple that the young dog couldn't find. Made me happy, but cried at the same time.

Personally, my bain is badger holes. I have a bad right ankle. It has been fused twice, broken, rebuilt and generally screwed up. It is fused, so no flex. Two years ago in Kansas I stepped into a badger hole heel first. It key-locked into the hole so tight my toes were touching my shin. If my wife hadn't been there to work it loose, I'd be a carcass in that field right now. As far as I can tell it "unfused" the ankle, broke all the bones, including my big toe. Turned every color of purple, red and blue. Swelled up like a sausage. My luck with ankle/foot doctors has been so bad I just laced it up into a tight boot and let it heal. Unfortunately it healed crooked so I now walk like a one legged duck.
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That's harsh!
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
About 30 years ago (no dog), a friend & I were out on opening day, when I decided I'd better go kick through that little clump of real thick grass. Put my right foot down in it & thought, "Huh. That feels weird." Looked down. I'd stepped on a skunk!! I jumped the wrong way. He got me point blank on my right leg & boot. I'm over there, keeled over, gagging, while my buddy Jay was laughing his fool ass off. There's more to the story, but it gets long. That's the gist of it. Most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me.
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Ha yikes! Thats brutal. Not really bad at all but I almost stepped on a possum playing dead walking through a slough when I was younger. I happened to look down mid step and it was right under me. My god they are ugly. Yeah I was freaked out a bit walking in tall grass for awhile, still think about it often.
 
They are ugly! and now's theirs's and skunks breeding time, so watch out if you're out with your dog. Opossum's only favorable attribute is that they eat a lot of tics, so I hate tics worse than them.
 
Goosemaster said:
I've never been in a wreck in my life.
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Neither have I. I've also never crashed with a motorcycle but I still wear a helmet and I've also never drowned but I still wear a PFD. The one time you need those items they might save your life. You could go your whole life without needing them and the majority of people (and pets) do.

I don't need my dog bouncing around the vehicle when I'm driving, nor do I need mud and dirt on my upholstry. Some of us actually drive nicer trucks than rusted 1978 Chevy's with 200k miles on them, you know, the "gucci" crowd. If you crashed and the dog went flying through the windshield, you'd never forgive yourself.
 
I fell in a lava rock outcrop and shattered the end of my middle finger by falling on my gun and I fell through the ice on a river this winter two miles from the truck. I lost most of my shells and had hypothermia by the time I got to the truck. Getting older and doing dumb!! I thought age and wisdom were supposed to run hand in hand.
 

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Drew said:
I fell in a lava rock outcrop and shattered the end of my middle finger by falling on my gun and I fell through the ice on a river this winter two miles from the truck. I lost most of my shells and had hypothermia by the time I got to the truck. Getting older and doing dumb!! I thought age and wisdom were supposed to run hand in hand.
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Guess again. My wife told me an hour ago that I'm still a dumbass!!🍻
 
About 10 years ago I was hunting solo in a large CRP field about 100 miles from home and was almost two mile from my truck when I stepped into a badger hole heel first. I fell, twisted my knee and heard a pop! I had a hard time getting my size 13 boot out of that size 9 hole with the heel down and the toe jammed into the side of the hole. When I finally got my foot out, I was in a cold clammy sweat because my knee hurt so bad and I still had two miles to walk. It was about 30* and I only had a shirt over a base layer and my strap vest to keep me warm and I knew it would get down into the low teens that night or possibly only single digits. I didn't have a cellphone signal, no one knew where I was and other than 911, I had no one to call even if I had a signal since my wife was home, 330 miles away. I started walking and boy I can tell you struggling through thick CRP with an injured knee is no fun! I thought going up a steep hill was bad but going down was even worse! It took me almost three hours to walk to my truck and I was shot when I got there and it was getting dark and much colder.
During the long ride home I thought a lot about how close I came to spending a night or longer in that field and how, had my leg been broken I might have died there since I was so far from my truck. I realized that I am older and not as resilient as I had been 20-30 years earlier but I still wanted to be able to hunt by myself.
I purchased a PLB, first a SPOT and now I have a Garmin InReach. Fortunately, I have never had to use the 🆘 feature and it won't keep me from having another fall, but at least I can summon help. It is attached to my vest and goes with me all of the time! Sure it costs for the device and the subscription but it's pretty cheap insurance if one ever needs it.
 
airmedic1 said:
I have a Garmin InReach. Fortunately, I have never had to use the 🆘 feature and it won't keep me from having another fall, but at least I can summon help. It is attached to my vest and goes with me all of the time! Sure it costs for the device and the subscription but it's pretty cheap insurance if one ever needs it.
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As a older person I never leave home without it. It can also be used to summon help for someone else if the situation arises. My daughter is suggesting I get the Search and Rescue Insurance from Garmin for $39/year. Might not bad idea.
 
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TomU said:
As a older person I never leave home without it. It can also be used to summon help for someone else if the situation arises. My daughter is suggesting I get the Search and Rescue Insurance from Garmin for $39/year. Might not bad idea.
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I have not looked into the insurance but I'm going to.
 
TomU said:
As a older person I never leave home without it. It can also be used to summon help for someone else if the situation arises. My daughter is suggesting I get the Search and Rescue Insurance from Garmin for $39/year. Might not bad idea.
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That's probably not a bad idea. I've limped and yes crawled out of the woods with most commonly sprained ankles and twisted knees but one very painful torn ACL.( that was the crawl/limp out. As we get older, we really should swallow the pride and at least have rescue device.
 
I've had the regular inreach device for awhile now and can definitely say it's worth the cost (subscription) if you are anywhere that doesn't have constant service. But I found I would leave it at home when I would go on "easy" hunts and that defeats the whole purpose of having. I'm very glad that the new Garmin GPS 200i/300i have it combined. Now if I take the dogs out, I automatically have inreach as well. I also haven't had to send SOS but it's very nice to be able to tell your family if you are delayed and I even send my starting coords where the truck is at. On the even rare chance I get hurt without being able to send a message, it at least gives someone a starting search spot.
 
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