23 years ago today

[GunnyMack]

Was the worst birthday present ever!
I had the day off, decided to bow hunt. So about mid day I went to my buddies farm, hung a portable stand then moved to the other side of the farm to sit in another stand until dark.
I was shooting a longbow at the time. When I got to the stand I could reach the top step with the top limb so that's where I hung my bow as I climbed up.
This was a built in stand in a group of Poplar trees.i checked each step as I climbed up...except for the top one!
When I grabbed that step it pulled out of the tree, I swear I hung in mid air for minutes like a certain cartoon coyote.
When I hit the ground I hit flat footed but fell backward catching myself with my hands.
Houston we have a problem! My left wrist started to swell up.
Remember that longbow? You guessed it it bounced off my chest & head, thankfully I was not shooting a compound!
So I get my deer drag out and rig a sling for my arm and walk out to my truck.
What to do?
I head to the veterinary office in town, I knew everyone there and I could use the phone. Running joke in the family is I go to the vet for my medical treatments.
So I called Mom at work, go pick her up and head for the closest place with X-ray equipment. I was fresh outta college, no local doctor had X-ray machine.
'It's a 90 degree fracture- you need a specialist '
Off we go to an orthopedic office.
Now just imagine, soccer moms and kids, suits sitting peacefully in their own little worlds and then I walk in, head to toe camo including face paint! You could have heard a mouse phart!

Finally get called in, doc shows up a few minutes later. He never made eye contact with me.
Looks at my chart, X-ray and says you need surgery! Oh I see you don't have insurance! Wait here I need to consult with my partner.

In he comes,good news- you don't need surgery!
He then explains how he was going to cast m arm.
He still has NOT made eye contact.
Finally he asks me what color cast I want, well what do you have?
Blue,pink,green,white and camo.
Hey Doc- LOOK AT ME!
Guess you want camo?!
I'm out of camo.
Ok white( I should have rethought this choice)
So I drop mom off at work, head for the house.
My lab is there at the door when I got home, all 96 lbs of bird hunting Dynamo. As I open the door Lady sees this large white thing in my hands- RAWHIDE! As she reaches out and grabs my arm I fall to the floor in pain( now it hurts!)and she drags me into the house before she will let go!
So that was my 26th birthday

[Nath]

You couldn't make it up.
You be careful, you won't bounce like that now!

N.

[GunnyMack]

You can say that again Nath!

[2ndovc]

Coulda bee worse! A friend of the family fell out of his stand and spent six weeks in the hospital and multiple back surgeries.


You got a good story out of it!

jb

[M. M. Wright]

Great story Gunny, I usually only tell the ones on my buddies.

[GunnyMack]

I laugh about it. It is certainly one for the ages.
There is more to the story.

[Bill in Oregon]

Wait, Gunny, you're not even 50 yet? We got us a youngster among us, boys!

[GunnyMack]

CONTINUED:
So I'm in this cast, fingers to mid bicep for 4 weeks,then elbow to fingers the next 4 weeks. Being it's my left hand it really hasn't been too difficult on me. I could hold my bow- barely- but I got back in the woods for the tail end of the season.
My gun stand was in very large tulip trees, I didnt have the strength in my arm to climb into it. Well I brought an aluminum ladder in and set it up. Just the ticket!
So our gun week starts and I'm in the stand, dont see a buck all week. The following week is the doe season.
It snowed some.
Road salt on boots.
Can you guess what comes next?
Button buck walks under my stand right to the ladder, smells the salt from my boots.
Thankfully I was smart enough to tie the ladder to the stand!
That little bucks eyes were as big as garbage can lids, he was yanking on that ladder with all he could to get free.
Meanwhile I'm laughing my butt off, my buddies hear the commotion and come to see what is going on. They start laughing.
Poor deer left taste buds on the ladder rung!
This is God's honest truth !

[GunnyMack]

Wait, Gunny, you're not even 50 yet? We got us a youngster among us, boys!

Yeah 49 today... does it help that I feel like I'm 90?!

[GunnyMack]

Oh and 13 years ago I brought my Dixie home. I always wanted a puppy for my birthday!

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Of course poor ol Dix has been thru the wringer, broken teeth,emergency spay, eye cancer but her tail still wags with enthusiasm!

[gamekeeper]

Happy Birthday Gunny and try to stay out of tree stands, at least until you've finished celebrating.....

[AJMD429]

"....I head to the veterinary office in town, I knew everyone there and I could use the phone. Running joke in the family is I go to the vet for my medical treatments....."

LOL - I'd rather see a good veterinarian for a human medical issue, than try to have a medical doctor treat an animal - I've seen the latter go really wrong several times.

[Pitchy]

Fun stories, glad ya made it through it without to much damage.

[piller]

Happy Birthday. Glad you can see the humor in the situation. Getting dragged into the house by a big dog who thought you had a rawhide chew toy has to be funnier from this side of time.

[fordwannabe]

Happy Birthday Gunny. And it could have been worse. I was in college had my physical for football walked out of the office and fell down two sets of stairs broke BOTH wrists. Cast up to elbows on Both arms. Uhmmm I was a big boy and liked to eat, still do, and sometime after you eat.... ya gotta dooo, as it were. Let’s just say a Mother’s love really has no boundaries. Six weeks in those blasted things.
So one arm busted up don’t seem so bad. Oh yeah I had a four speed truck at the time.

[GunnyMack]

Trust me I was VERY happy it was my left arm and I had an automatic at the time!

[jeepnik]

My life has been so uneventful. I feel blessed.

[fordwannabe]

Hey not everybody can say they broke both wrists at the Doctors office

[GunnyMack]

That's very true, I wonder if the doctors insurance premiums went up after that!?

[fordwannabe]

Nope back then everybody, including me figured it was my fault.

[GunnyMack]

Those were the days!