Another hunt that went bad

[Billnpatti]

I read with interest the posting by toccopola about a hunt that went bad. He was a very lucky man to have had his cell phone with him and to have reception out in the woods so he could call for help. I met a man who had a much worse outcome due to a fall from a deer stand and he did not have a cell pone to call for help. He was hunting from an 18 to 20 foot tall tripod stand on a deer lease in deep East Texas. The soil is sandy and pretty soft where he had his stand. He had placed the legs of the stand on concrete blocks to keep them from sinking into the soil. On this particular hunt, he had chosen to hunt mid-week by himself. As he was climbing down from his stand, one of the legs of the stand slid off the concrete block, dug deeply into the soil and collapsed dropping him the 18 to 20 feet to the ground. The fall fractured his pelvis and he was unable to walk. He had no cell phone nor any other way to call for help. He lay on the ground in severe pain most of the night. Knowing that getting help was totally up to him. He was suffering not only from the fractured pelvis, but also the exposure to the cold night air. He decided to try to crawl to the cabin. No mean feat since the cabin was nearly a half mile away. Through sheer guts and determination, he managed to crawl and drag himself the half mile to the cabin in spite of the sever pain. He managed to pull down his sleeping bag from his bunk and cover himself with it. He spent the day in the cabin. It was Thursday and he knew that no one would be coming to the cabin until Friday evening. Somehow, he doesn't know how, he managed to pull himself into his truck and drive it out to the highway. He couldn't stand the pain so he pulled to the side of the road and put on his hazard lights. Fortunately, before long a DPS officer on patrol happened along and stopped to see what the trouble was. The DPS officer called an ambulance and my friend was taken to the nearest hospital where he was treated for his fractured pelvis. He no longer hunts but he enjoys coming to the hunting camp and spending time with friends.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is to not hunt alone if you can avoid it. But, if you do, let someone know where you are going and when you will be back and carry a cell phone with you even if you are hunting with friends, you may need to call them for help. :thumbsup: