Bloodhound's Back (Pun Intended)

Bloodhound’s Back (Pun Intended)

Well, I obviously haven’t been a recent or even semi-consistent contributor to the blog, but it’s time to change that. Fall is approaching and with it all the really good things like cooler weather, fishing and hunting, and, of course, football....all of which make it my favorite time of year. And so it’s a fine time to get going with the blog again. But before I get started being current with my posts, and seeing as how Savannah has alluded to it on her end, I figured I’d give a little account of the Fall From Grace that occurred almost a year ago that broke my back and a few other things and which put me pretty much out of commission until just a couple of months ago.

Larry Munson, the great Georgia Bulldog radio announcer, always made a point of starting each broadcast of a Dawg game with “Get the picture....the Dawgs are taking the field wearing red ...it’s a sunny 66 degrees here in Athens....” So, with apologies to Larry, get the picture:

It was just before the archery season for deer, which in South Georgia starts well before the summer heat breaks, and I set out to hang my tree stand - something I’ve done countless times before. It usually doesn’t take long, but the stand and the tree were cantankerous that day and what ought to have been a quick 30 minute project lasted more like 2 hours on a day you could’ve baked biscuits in the shade with no oven required. 

By the time I was happy with the setup of the stand and dropped my safety harness to the ground ready to climb down, I started feeling the effects of heat stroke or some such and ended up dizzy as could be. I made, in hindsight, the poor choice of sitting down in the stand, sans harness, until the dizziness passed rather than climb on down.....and I went out cold. I woke to a sudden, loud “thud” that turned out to be me hitting the ground. The result was three smushed vertebrae, some cracked ribs, and a broken pelvis.

There are several things I learned from this.

1. If a man falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear him, does he make any noise? Answer: He makes a lot of noise and is grateful no one else is there to hear it. 

2. Falling at whatever velocity and angle at which I was traveling when the ground hit me  resulted in the air completely leaving approximately 458 million of the 500 million alveoli in my lungs. One can still make a surprising amount of noise using the remaining 42 million.

3. You can climb back up into a tree stand with a broken back if you lie on the ground and see your cell phone up there and know you can use it to call for help.

4. There was no cell service back on the ground after having climbed up and down again and gotten my cell phone.

5. You can walk a long way hurt, if that’s what gets you to the truck, cold water, and help.

6. And lastly, when there are no beds in the emergency room available and you sincerely suggest that you cannot simply cannot sit in a chair or stand any longer and fully intend to happily lay down on the floor in that little triage room where they do the intake, a bed can appear.

At any rate, by now a difficult year has passed and though it still hurts, things are getting more and more back to normal.  You’d figure that with all the extra time on my hands, maybe the blog could’ve been kept up, but it’s amazing how being injured can occupy your mind (Getting to the dining room was akin to planning D-Day). Just me, I guess.

Anyway, I am grateful for the loving support (that is to say, putting up with my pitiful self) of my wife and family and that I am able to be prepping once again for an upcoming season rather than be on the inside looking out. I cannot help but be grateful to still have the use of my body, and this coming season stands to be a good one for that reason alone, regardless of how successful a hunter I turn out to be.

I hope to keep the blog posts current as well. Savannah has suggested a series of some sort...any ideas? I’ll be happy to put a story together mixed in with the randomness.

Take care and happy hunting!

Bloodhound