So I am curious how anyone has navigated the hunting season with injury. This past Friday I ruptured my achilles tendon, still don't know if it's a partial or complete rupture but it has, at least for the time being, thrown a wrench into my plans. I was hoping to do an early season hunt in ND prior to the opener here in MN but with this injury I'll be hobling around on crutches for a while unless something miraculous happens with my leg. Anyway, curious to see how anyone has adapted their strategies to accommodate an injury. Currently I can hunt on my in-law's 80 acres and was really wanting to get in on some public where I know of some good bucks; problem is a lot of up hill through thick cover to get to where they are at - still may be possible but then I need to think about tracking and getting the deer out if I'm fortunate enough to harvest a deer.
I'd definitely say it counts, especially given the wide array of complications COVID can bring such as breathing issues. Fix, did you adjust your strategy at all or just slow things down to make it happen?
For what it's worth, try a pair of trekking poles. Basically back woods canes that would likely help you out. I'm certainly not in that dire of a situation, but from a previous football injury in high school, I'm now left with only about 15% of the cartilage remaining in my right knee and some of it is has torn away and is floating around in what's left of the fluid sac between femur and tib/fib. Every once in a while a piece of that torn meniscus gets locked between bones and creates sharp pains until it works itself loose ( just had it happen again on the golf course this past Saturday). During those times its either step very gingerly, or bend/flex leg until the pain dissipates. Either way I'm fairly immobile during that period of time. Fast forward to this fall as I'm getting prepared for a Wyoming deer/pronghorn hunt and I bought a pair of poles for that exact reason, plus the added benefit of hopefully aiding with the weighted pack-out post harvest of a big muley buck! Hopefully this helps. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Well if your a stand Hunter ...start practicing more from a ground seated position. I don't know about your type of injury. I haven't had many hunts the last few,decades without one injury or another. Mostly knee and ankle issues. One year a bad accident so surgery and casts. Get a buddy helper, line up guys for recoveries. I had a cast and had husband drive me to a ground blind for Turkey then come pick me up. That was spring. In the fall I was still in a walking cast so could not climb a ladder. That's when I bought my first climber and learned to climb pretty much one legged. Unfortunately my helper ,hubby,crushed his foot and was also in a cast he did come out In truck as support when I had to recover a doe. Lots of rope and a winch. So line up help find easier sets to hunt from. When pain gets bad....GO HOME TAKE MEDS.
I hunted at first like normal but allowed my body to dictate effort for the first hunt. After that I adjusted completely. With weakness you have to allot for more time. I had to decide if a quick hunt was worth it or more detrimental due to accent trails on walk in and out. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I'll definitely use My trekking poles, I didn't even think of that, I really don't want to be bringing the crutches in and out but who knows. I have a couple friends/father-in-law who can help drag a buck out if they aren't busy so hopefully, if the time comes, they'll be able to assist. Ive started shooting from a little seat I use for turkey hunting and have a diy ghillie top i made and will probably put that thing to use! I appreciate the insights! @Tink-a-Link hopefully your knee holds up and doesn't lock up while you're out and about! @Fix I'll probably do something similar with analyzing the opportunities and weighing whether or not the sit will be detrimental or favorable. If I end up in a boot all fall I'll probably sit in easier access spots not far from the road(s). Good Lord willing something good will happen.
Thought I twisted my ankle in August of ‘13. Went to Colorado September 1st. Chased elk for two weeks. Keep my boot laced tight during the day and ice at night. Went to my doctor in October because it was still bothering me, turns out I had broke a bone in the ankle and it was healing slightly out of place. Crap happens.
I worked remotely when I had Covid and used it as an excuse to dip out early in the afternoons to go hunting. I also dragged my son's deer out by myself when I was oozing Covid and didn't die. Champ status! As for your issue - I would say you're just going to have to play it by ear and see how things feel when the season rolls around. Make sure you have a few buddies lined up that can help in case you need them, and definitely invest in a deer cart if you don't already have one. I waited way too long to get one, and it's been a lifesaver. I got a Hawk Crawler and it may be one of the best hunting gear investments I've ever made.
I have no idea what it’s like to have a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, but I do know what it’s like to hunt with a foot injury. In early December 2017 I broke a bone in my foot. It was a complete spiral fracture of the fifth metatarsal in my left foot. This injury happened while I was putting my underwear on, but that’s an entirely different story. I’m sure some folks here remember that. Anyway, I’m stubborn and wasn’t about to quit hunting. I quickly found that getting to and from the stand was the single biggest issue, so virginiashadows suggestion of an ebike or maybe some other mode of transportation to your stand would be a big help. Also, with my injury there was NO WAY I could have climbed sticks and I probably couldn’t have climbed a ladder, but I found that I could get in a Summit climber and use it fairly easily. It’s possible (with a little attention to detail) to climb with a good, lightweight climber and not abuse an injured foot or ankle. Worst case scenario, I guess, would be a ground blind.
2022 will be my first season hunting without my trigger finger. Ive bee training hard changing release styles to accommodate the finger loss. Im not as good as I was and thats a little discouraging however practice practice practice. Ive seen people shoot with there teeth! Ive got noting to complain about just a new style of shooting.
Haha that champ status is what I need. I'll have to look into one of those game carts, they look nice, a lot better than packing out or using a sled given the circumstances!
I might be able to get up some sticks, haven't tried yet and don't want to until closer to the season and after I find out if I'm going to need surgery or not. I will likely implement ground attack but I definitely have to appreciate everyone's passion for getting out and not letting their "set backs" completely hinder them from hunting. Now as for breaking your foot while trying to get dressed, that's quite interesting; hoping you got away from whoever you were trying to escape
I've hunted with an injury ( I wish mine also occurred in the bedroom) and I'm a sports certified Physical Therapist butI still can't really help you out too much. A lot of it depends on how the rest of your body is. I was non weightbearing for 3 months so I had to crutch everywhere I went but I did pull myself into stands because I was young, dumb and full of.......muscles. I also did a lot of ground hunting that year which I had never done before and I still do that to this day. As stated above, you will figure it out and like most hunters, you will learn to adapt. If you do need surgery then hopefully it happens soon and you might be surprised how well you are doing come late October and early November. Otherwise, be smart and listen to your doctors. Don't turn your injury into something that affects your quality of life for years to come because re-tears are always a possibility. P.S. I also missed last years Elk hunt due to a similar knee injury. Think Keanu Reeves ( Johnny Utah) in Point Break. I was able to do the flat lander whitetail hunt with more adapting.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to get away from anything. https://forums.bowhunting.com/threads/official-live-from-the-stand-thread-2017.89919/page-558
Saw your post and immediately had to share my injury and insult to injury and then more injury because I pushed it. I do hope you heal quickly leg injuries are the worst to us who enjoy the trek. I hunt public land with a bow entirely solo. With less than 2 weeks left of spring turkey I severely sprained my hip (I thought I had a hernia) I could barely walk or put weight on that leg to put my pants on. Drs warned me not to push it and to cancel my weekend plans. I decided to just take it as easy as possible leading up to that last weekend. Stretches and yoga, pain killers, ice, everything I could to heal up. Last weekend came but the pain did not go away, not without the meds. I went out on my 2 mile trek to my spot, no poles, off balance with my bow and pack. After a busted morning, I decided to scout some of my other areas and look for the roosts. I put another mile or so in, hiking the thick brush and fallen trees. I inevitably fell stepping off a rotting tree. And of course I didn't throw my bow and try to catch myself. Nope, I dropped right onto that hip. Half mile off trail and in dense woods and still 2 miles from my car, I limped out the entire way. It wasn't enough to call off the weekend. I dumped some more pain killers at my car and set up camp for the night. After a horribly painful night sleep I was up well before my alarms. I did my prayers, "keep me safe, take the pain away, put the Bird on the end of my arrow, etc AMEN". By the time I made it to the trail head the painkillers had done nothing and now my eye was stinging and i was seeing halos. Checked my contacts all seemed fine and after putting it back in the pain was worse. First my hip, now the eye! I ruined my night vision to see what was wrong. Some how I scratched my right cornea. I felt like God was saying, your not listening to the pain in your leg, time to go blind. I finally had to call it. With 2 days left in the season I had to drive the 2 hours back home in pain, blind in one eye and exhausted. By the time I made it home, I could not make it up the stairs, I couldn't step into my shower, I could not move. I was stuck in my bed for 2 days before pain meds could even make an impact. I ended up fraying my inguinal tendon and had a grueling month of recovery and PT. I am still not 100% I can't run or walk as far without pain or cramping. Hiking has been a bit more of a challenge as well. I would caution pushing the limit and misjudging pain levels. I'm sure if I had pushed it that second day I would have done sever permanent damage. That's my two cents. Good luck and I hope you heal quickly.
BTW to the surfer prospect. Talk to your surgeon about this. I had reconstructive hands-free when a dog bit part of my pinky off. I told my surgeon...Dr. Mitten, yes my hand surgeons name, got all excited and told me he was a bow Hunter to. Well that fixed me right up. He bandaged my left hand in a way to allow me to hold my bow and better protect my hand. I Shot a,nice 8 that year and he was more over the moon than I..lol. So it never hurts to ask and explain your circumstance.
That's intense! I hope you are able to get close to that 100% range, these tendon injuries suck. Are you still doing PT? The kicker to this while situation is that my wife was always telling me "you're going to get hurt." I kept thinking, it's coed soccer and we're there for fun, no one is going nuts...welp the lady that took me out must have forgot we were playing for fun lol. I'm definitely going to listen to my body; at this point I'm concerned I'm going to wear out my right leg trying to keep up with household responsibilities and chasing my little ones around. Praying i get to hunt but I'll likely have to make accommodations and be smart about what I do.
