Who' s had a close call

[xbowjay]

its an old thread but I have a little story.

Few years back during the deer rifle season was sitting in the tree stand. Sitting there all day was just getting dark, when a i here some crashing coming up the walking path to my stand. I could see the movment and could make out a slight brown colouration. Now it only took about a min to figure out this was a upright walking animal coming (but the bush is thick). wait for just the right moment and yell as loud as I can **BANG**. The 2 MNR hit the ground prety fast. mabey it was a faulsity on my part cause they were pretty pissed after that. Its fine they are doing there job I actually appreciate that. BUT it is private property owned by us. They were wearing brown uniforms with no hint of orange. I gave them as much crap as they trid to give me. the only response from them was "you have to know what your shooting at" and yes they are 100% right (thats why one of them didnt get shot) But my response to them was " I wouldnt want to explain that to your family".

[rayman]

Just now noticed how old the thread is, oh well.

1. My room mate in college was killed instantly when he was shot in face with turkey shot at close range by his 12-year old cousin. They were hunting and had gotten separated. Scot's Dad said he couldn't bare to get his truck so they left it where it was parked for weeks. Terrible story.

2. A guy was unloading his rifle in the middle of camp and it went off by accident. I had walked in front of him seconds before.

3. My little boy sat in the stand with me a couple of years ago. I let the rifle down on a rope. My little boy always beets me down the ladder and I have to tell him not to mess with the rifle. When I climbed down the safety was off somehow. May not seem like that big of a deal, but I still shutter when I think about it.

4. Was hunting with some friends years ago. Someone had a little brother that was hunting somewhere on the property and I didn't know where. As it got dark, I heard what sounded like a buck pawing and rubbing or maybe two were fighting. When there was barely enough light to see, a large figure came out in the fence row where I was sitting and was walking away going toward the house. I had my safety off, but just couldn't quite make out the figure good enough so i didn't shoot. Turned out it was not the little brother as he was hunting a different spot, but I don't regret not shooting in the least.

Having worked in the woods for 27 years, I've never had a close call while working that I know of, other than guys wanting to fight sometimes because I messed up their hunt.

[DuckHunt]

While goose hunting on the river in a friends old canoe we rolled it over in 8ft of water with temps around 20F. We were both paying more attention to the geese than the balance of the boat and a solid load of 3.5" magnum 12-guage tipped the scales. I had a couple of instant concerns. First, do I float. I had just shot so I had my shotgun in my hands. I also had on a loaded shell vest and was wearing knee boots. Fortunately I did float so shedding gear wasn't needed. My second concern was for my hunting buddy who was in his early 60s. Once I confirmed he was as OK as you can be in frigid water, we got to swimming. We hung onto the canoe and was able to pull it to a steep bank and got out. We only stood there a couple minutes because our clothes were staring to freeze solid. Fortunately we were both wearing PFDs and had tied down everything in the boat. We only lost one paddle. It was only lost because it was too cold to go after it. We mounted up and paddled across the river and walked a couple hundred yards to a home to call my wife to come pick us up.

That's the coldest swim I've ever taken. The water was so cold it felt hot. I've intentionally gotten wet to retrieve downed game before, but only in cases where I knew my discomfort would only be temporary. Fortunately we were prepared for the unexpected. I hate to think of how different things could have been if we weren't.

DuckHunt

[robertyb]

Glad you are both OK and saved all your gear.

I have been there and done that.

11 degrees F. one December morning and I took a buddy floating down a local river. He quickly shot a limit and said he would paddle while I shot. I asked if he had ever paddled a canoe and he said several times so we swapped places. As we went around the next bend he flipped us. Neither of us was wearing our PDFs. Guns, shells, etc went to the bottom. We both got out with the canoe and I stripped down and went back in and got all our gear off the bottom. It was only a few feet deep. Even got his ducks back. We were still within a 100 yards of the road so we walked back to the truck and went and got our gear.
Later he told me he had flipped every time he had paddled a canoe. I have not floated a stream with him since.

[agingcrossbower]

Glad you are both OK and saved all your gear.

I have been there and done that.

11 degrees F. one December morning and I took a buddy floating down a local river. He quickly shot a limit and said he would paddle while I shot. I asked if he had ever paddled a canoe and he said several times so we swapped places. As we went around the next bend he flipped us. Neither of us was wearing our PDFs. Guns, shells, etc went to the bottom. We both got out with the canoe and I stripped down and went back in and got all our gear off the bottom. It was only a few feet deep. Even got his ducks back. We were still within a 100 yards of the road so we walked back to the truck and went and got our gear.
Later he told me he had flipped every time he had paddled a canoe. I have not floated a stream with him since.

That story remind me of another. My newly wed wife and I and a friend decided we were going to canoe a small river close to our home. We could'nt get the canoe we wanted and used the nieghbors. Well it was not meant for three grown people and halfway down the river we got stuck on a log and flipped it. Underwater we went . I stood up and the wife was struggling like she was going to drown and I said, STAND UP. She stood up and started laughing and it was damn cold. Our friend who always gets mad when things do not go right was getting red faced and I asked if he had seem any fish? The the wife and I could'nt hardly stand for laughing so hard while our friend went nuts. Well we gathered up our paddles and stuff and started paddling soaken wet and cold and of course I could'nt resist splashing our friend with a tilt of the paddle. Kept him hot and bothered the rest of he way. GREAT story to be told at the campfire. We never went canoeing again.

[Oppie]

Friend of mine took a shot at a deer with a high power rifle as his dad came over the hill behind it in the farm truck, hit his dad who died almost instantly. I don't know how you ever get over something like that.

Be safe out there

[JT of PA]

Four years back my father-in-law's friend out in Pittsburgh area fell out of his tree stand and almost died in the woods alone. The gentleman's cell phone saved his life.