A tribute to that bumbling, balance losing step!

YORNOC · October 24, 2013, 11:33:00 AM

You all know the one.
You,ve walked the trail dozens if not hundreds of times. Your stealthily making your way to your spot. You're close now....and it's quiet.... horribly quiet. So you are in "SUPER STEALTH" mode.
You are placing your feet down with the utmost care feeling everything underfoot so as not to make any noise.
You see a small dead branch (that you've probably stepped on hundreds of times) and you know you have to avoid it. You're in a slight tangle of thin limbs, you have to step slightly to the side.
You pick your foot up, outstretch it to the side...and all hell breaks loose.
You start to teeter, end up leaning back the wrong way, try to compensate, grab limbs, branches, your bow gets lodged, pulls you the other way....and....
CRASH. Your whole world goes flying and there you are on the ground. And just made enough noise to wake the dead.
You should have stepped on the stick.
I mean, "I" should have stepped on the stick.
Happens to me at least once a year!

maxwell · October 24, 2013, 11:43:00 AM

Yep,I am an expert at falling and slipping. I've had some doozies.

ARCHER2 · October 24, 2013, 11:46:00 AM

Lol........now that's funny right there! And, all to true! Glad to know I'm not the only one these things happen to.
Charlie

TraditionalGuy · October 24, 2013, 12:10:00 PM

Last weekend I had a fall while trying to walk on the side of a steep hill. In my limited defense, it was well past sundown and I had never walked that hill before. Anyway, I slipped forward and caught myself with my bow hand. Afraid of marring my beautiful bow, I immediately pushed myself back....a little too hard. I ended up on my back, sliding down the side of the hill, and managed to turn myself just in time to hit the muddy edge of a lake and sunk in knee deep. If there were even animals in that area, which I was starting to doubt, they are long gone now.

Tajue17 · October 24, 2013, 12:22:00 PM

me is a bit different but the same feeling I think,,, I sometimes forget to put my phone on silent and it of course rings the jungle.

GreyGoose · October 24, 2013, 12:27:00 PM

Went out turkey hunting with a buddy several years ago, trying to get into our spot by the light of the moon and in the darkness after official sunrise. The only thing louder than the branch one of us stepped on and snapped was the sound of both of us laughing about who the real turkeys were.

jjwaldman · October 24, 2013, 12:29:00 PM

I thought you were spying on me the other night...

Hawkeye · October 24, 2013, 01:05:00 PM

I live with Multiple Sclerosis. You just described every step of every trip to the woods for me (not a fall every time, but crash/snap/stumble/flop is my "patented secret hunting technique"). If I could just get someone to video, the $100,000 AFV prize would be a shoo-in!

It's still all worth it to be in the beauty of nature with my bow!

KSdan · October 24, 2013, 01:12:00 PM

That is good. . . yup- been there done that.

ChuckC · October 24, 2013, 01:13:00 PM

Two nights ago I went out. Was quiet at the truck, closed the doors lightly, locked the back. Then, to lock the front, I pressed the key fob (only once so no beep) and missed. hit the emergency alarm.
crap !

Seriously, try walking and holding your bow in front of you like a cane. For every step you take, make the "cane" take a step. Sounds like a four legged critter to me ! or, use a walking stick instead.

ChuckC

October 24, 2013, 01:18:00 PM

Been there, done that!

Bisch

Mudd · October 24, 2013, 01:42:00 PM

Yeppers!! I have broken both ankles(one of them twice) doing that exact same thing.

It is very difficult to make it a couple of miles out when all you can do is crawl.

This was before the days of cell phones but I truly thought I could whistle loud enough to get a friends attention who I knew was home a little over a mile away...NOT!!...lol

God bless,Mudd

centaur · October 24, 2013, 01:50:00 PM

Hunting the Sweetwater Rocks in central Wyoming some years back, I stepped off a rock and rolled my ankle..I'm at least three miles from camp, in tricky, rocky terrain, but luckily I was carrying my longbow, which became a very good crutch. It took forever, but I hobbled my way back to camp and took a trip to the hospital. Was in a cast for 6 weeks. At least I didn't have to pack a deer out, too.

VictoryHunter · October 24, 2013, 01:50:00 PM

Yep been there! The trick is to take small steps.

Easykeeper · October 24, 2013, 01:57:00 PM

Was that you?

SELFBOW19953 · October 24, 2013, 04:23:00 PM

Since you've made all that noise, and you're on the ground, try to make it sound like 2 bucks fighting. You might attract someone's attention.

laxbowman · October 24, 2013, 04:41:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by SELFBOW19953:
Since you've made all that noise, and you're on the ground, try to make it sound like 2 bucks fighting. You might attract someone's attention.

Great point!

I was hunting off the ground a few years back and found a place off a fiel i waned to nestle into. was trying to be as quiet as possible but that was failing miserably so i thought, might as well just snap all these sticks and sound like a buck. sure enough i had the deer i had been hunting come to the opposite edge of the field and b-line right for me. I blew the shot but thats another story. didnt want that 140" ten point anyway, the meat was prob gamey.....

Ladams · October 24, 2013, 04:59:00 PM

I wasnt gona tell anyone, but last weekend I took a tumble like that first I went foward then backward then ended up on my back like a turtle. had to toss my bow to avoid rocks, Im still sore today.
Just glad my son didnt see that,

RIng · October 24, 2013, 05:22:00 PM

In year's past ( it seams as if it was a different life time ) I was strong and took many long woods hikes ,10-15 mi. I had tree stands 2 - 3 mi. from the nearest road . I am back to hunting after a long spell away . Radiation and hormones have lift me with no coor strength and very poor balances . I try to hunt most days , some times just sitting on a bucket 150 yd. behind my house ,sometimes taking a slow 1-2 mi. walk . I we'll hunt just as I fished , it is what I am ment to do at this time in my life. The moor I go ,the further I walk ,and the closer I am to mother earth the stronger I am and the less I we'll fall.

ISP 5353 · October 24, 2013, 05:35:00 PM

Yep! But I always seem to add water to the equation!