I want to share an experience that happened to my brother in law and I back in April while turkey hunting in Ks. We were hunting about a mile apart and had both killed turkeys that morning. He was walking out to get his truck and come pick me up when he looked down and realized he had lost an arrow from his bow quiver. He layed his bow, turkey, and gear down and went back down the deer trail to see if he could find it. The brush on the side of the trail was a foot or so tall. He went about 20 yrds back up the trail when he felt severe pain in his lt lower leg. He had swung his leg into a razor sharp wensel woodsman that penetrated between the tibia and fibula maybe 4-5" below the knee joint. More to come...
It penetrated all the way through the leg so that the tip of the broadhead could be felt under the skin of the calf. Only thing that makes sense is that the nock end of the arrow was on the ground and the bh end got hung on the brush on the side of the trail a foot or so off the ground. Thank God he had his phone and was able to get me. I ran the mile or so to him and quickly assessed him. I have military exerience as well as working in and around er's for the past 20 yrs. He was bleeding steadily, but I could tell he hadn't hit a large artery. I snugged his belt above the knee to help with bleeding and ran for the truck. I was able to get him in the truck before he passed out on me. Thank God the little town has a nice hospital about 6 miles away. This takes awhile to tell, so please bear with me...
Back to it. Got him to the er and a great old surgeon took great care of him. Broadhead did some damage, but took out no major vessels or major nerves. 2-3" higher and he would have bled to death before I reached him. He is still having lots of nerve pain, but is starting to walk on it slowly after 2 months of rehab and therepy. The last 2 months I have thought alot about what I or he could have done differently. To be honest, nothing to stop it from happening. Complete freak accident. We are both experienced hunters and go out of our way to be safe. Sometimes **** just happens. The one thing I have done is put together a "blow out" kit like I had in the military. Google it. It stays in my truck and will be in my pack everytime i'm hunting. The purpose of the post is just to remind all of us to be prepared and as careful as possible. Take a cell phone with you, let people know where you are. Brush up on first aid skills. I know we can't be prepared for everything, but this incident could have very easily turned out a different way. It scared me and him and made both of us think about how to be more prepared. God bless.
Thank you for sharing. Glad it all turned out ok.
Good luck to your Brother In Law and a very congrats to you for keeping a man alive. :notworthy:
Good to hear he'll recover, thanks for telling the story.
Last year while elk hunting in some reprod, came across a arrow sticking point up with a bent 3 blade modular broadhead which was obviously a missed shot (no blood). It was still quite capable of causing damage - another reason to try to recover your arrows.
Thanks again and best to your brother inlaws recovery
Glad he is ok, your point is loud and clear and I will defiantly be more aware.
thanks for the reminder.
I have heard of several people that did very similar things, including a close friend of mine. This tells me it is not as "freak" as you might think. If an arrow falls out or gets snagged and pulled out of the quiver, there is a real good chance that it will be pointed up.
As you said, food for thought. Be careful chasing after lost arrows, they won't all be laying flat on the trail in full view.
Chuckc
Good job Fritz. Your diligence to training and clear thinking prevented disaster. Thanks for reminding us to be trained and be prepared, you never know when you will need it.
Wow! I hope your BIL has a complete recovery.
Bisch
Glad it turned out the way it did. Could have been so much worse. When we get them scary sharp we dont think they could end up in us. Hope he has full recovery.
Wow. Could have been really bad if you where not already expierenced.
I have often thought about this at our deer lease.
What would we do. Always have knives, guns, chainsaws, broadheads, lots of ways for an accident to occur.
Scary!! Thanks for posting this as a reminder to be prepared!
I am so thankful for the outcome.
Thank you for sharing.
These kinds of accidents may be unavoidable but our mind-set needs to be.....Always be prepared, even for the worst.
God bless,Mudd
WOW, what a crazy thing to happen! Glad he made it, good for you for remaining calm and getting him to safety.
A kid could have been walking, running that trail the next week and not gotten off as easy as your bil. good thing he went back to find it. Im glad it wasn't worse and kudos to you for saving his life or at least his leg.
Thanks for the reminder. Great job helping him out. Glad he is OK. Ken
Glad he's ok. Thanks for the reminder. The older I get the less I like to hunt alone. Thankfully I have reached a place where my boys (now 33 & 28) take me.
Years ago a grizzled old bowhunter was telling me he was stalking deer in the Australian bush. He was going in for the final stalk and kill, so he took his boots off. He was concentrating so much on the deer, he knocked the arrow off the rest and it fell down. He felt just a little prick in his foot, but when he looked down he saw blood everywhere.
It was a long story, but he said by the time he got back to his ute, and drove to a farmstead, he passed out from loss of blood. If he had been any further out, he would not have been telling me that story. I always remember his parting words - NEVER hunt with your boots off.
The message hasn't got through (well, here in Australia anyway), because I am always watching hunting videos on youtube and you would not believe how many guys I see stalking in with their boots off - they are mad!
Sutto
I've recently begun carrying a one handed tourniquet in a cargo pocket, just about always, because you never know.
A freak storm came out of nowhere and just about got me this turkey season. You never know and can never be too prepared. And listen to that little voice in the back of your head, I usually get in trouble after ignoring it!
wWow! Glad he is ok. Makes you think!
Tedd
Wow...close one...!!! Freak accident..!
Wow...close one...!!! Freak accident..!
Man that is crazy! Thanks for telling the story. I will log this one in the memory bank for sure!
The same thing almost happened to me once, it's easy to see
how it can go. Good advice from someone already, if you drop an arrow go and find it, it's a deadly thing to leave in the bush.
Good reminder to keep a med kit with us at all times. Thanks for this story.
Holy cow!!! Thanks for sharing. Glad it didn't turn out worse. Time to dig out my old IFAC. I almost got a d ring style web belt yesterday thinking that it would make a great tourniquet. :banghead: