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Done before it began...

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duxsrus

New Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2020
Messages
22
First off...welcome from Ohio here. I read about saddles for the first time last year and was appalled at the prices of the necessary equipment and kinda brushed it off. I rock climb and and have been rec tree climbing for several years and when exploring the options of more comfortable time spent up in the tree, researched bosuns chairs and then stumbled across saddles again. Being the MacGyver type and still appalled at the prices, I researched DIY stuff and sewed up a fancy sit drag of sorts to use in conjunction with one of my climbing harnesses. I'm a SRT climber and made a tether and lineman with stuff I had on hand and spent many hours prior to bow season enjoying the comfort. I made a DIY platform however just wasn't satisfied with the weight and functionality and sprung for a Predator XL since I had really no money into this new venture yet. Due to being late to the game as season was already in progress I hadn't received any shipping confirmation from Tetherd and started my season with my trusty Summit Viper. My second hunt, I was covered in deer at legal and had a deer at 15 yards. I carefully grabbed my xbow from the holder and got busted so I froze. The deer didn't figure me out and when it went back to browsing, I slowly raised the bow, put the crosshairs on it and let it rip. In looking back on that moment, I think I must have blacked out for a few seconds. In the haze I was now in, I quickly realized my thumb was throbbing badly and when I saw a bloodied glove, I knew I was in trouble. Panic was instantaneous but somehow I knew I had keep calm and get out of that tree ASAP before I passed out or bled out. Fortunately, I managed to get down using my hand pretty much as normal as the shock was keeping the real pain that was to come at bay. An ER visit, hand surgeon office visit and surgery all came within 24 hours and has done as much as can be done for the physical damage and today marks 2 weeks post surgery. I'm still struggling with a PTSD of sorts that made it really difficult cleaning and washing all the mess from my bow, stand and clothing but I've erased all of that negativity away and try to keep looking forward now. I received my Predator XL and actually just finished doing a DIY camo job on it. I'm still holding out hope I get to saddle hunt a few times before the season runs out. But I wanted to thank the community here for all the valuable tips, tricks and ideas I gained from the hours of reading I have done now and am sure it will help me tremendously when I finally get to go.
 
I work in a small northwest Wisconsin ER, and have seen that a few times. Crossbow thumb. Good luck, and I hope that you heal completely. Thank you for sharing, as we all can use a reminder to be as safe as possible.

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Yeah the deer perished, a few days later when I was able to revisit I found it mostly gone by yotes and buzzards. Heavy blood trail from point of impact for about 40 yards and then nothing. A minute or two of searching and I found it about 80 yards away. I remember as I shot, deer scattering everywhere and then I'm sure I bumped the deer as I threw my pack out of the tree and was scrambling to get my bow lowered and all the noise I had to be making trying to get down as fast as I could. When I was in the hand surgeon office waiting, he walks in and first words out of his mouth are "Ahhh you're a member of the crossbow thumb club now". I've spent way too much time asking myself how did I eff this up??? I've shot this bow hundreds of times and am well aware of this danger. But as I watched this young buck walk towards me I wasn't going to take it. Then at 15 yards, I decided yeah I am and I reached for my bow and just got it out of my Third Hand Archery holder which holds it horizontally on it's side and as soon as I grabbed it the deer saw me. I had grabbed it behind the foregrip and not by the foregrip as I normally would have because I was trying to do this with as little movement as possible and to reach the foregrip I would have had to bend over away from the tree slightly making even more movement. So I stood there frozen until he quit trying to pin me and when he did I finished raising my bow up and never moved my left hand out to the foregrip. It wasn't the usual shot where I see a deer, grab my bow correctly, watch it for a few minutes until it presents the best shot and boom. It was just an unusual set of circumstances. I've since learned most bows come with some kind of finger guard now. A tragic lesson learned. The injury story huh lol! Well my thumb is pretty much mangled up about like you could imaging a heavy cable with 175#'s of force trying to rip it off my hand would do. Deep laceration about half the thickness of my thumb, it blew the bone to pieces (Dr said it would normally need pinned but it's nothing but fragments so will have to just "congeal" back together in time), and my thumbnail is destroyed. I'm very lucky in that when I went back for my follow up and the bandages were removed, it was alive. I'm glad the ER physician at the hospital made the decision to send me to a hand surgeon and not just amputate it in the ER which is what I had already had resigned myself to as what the outcome was going to be. I didn't care then, I was so loaded on morphine at that point. I have some gory pics of it I could post yeah, but hopefully I can post my first saddle kill pics from this season instead. I'll get over it, it just sucks. Let me tell you, I never in a million years would have thought I would do this. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Be careful with them crossbows!! I look forward to being a contributing member on here.
 
Sorry your first post had to be a tragic moment for you but thanks for reminding everyone to keep safety first because as saddle hunters safety is or should be our main concern! But welcome from coastal NC!! Glad to have you and hope your thumb heals up so you can post that saddle kill good luck brother and stay safe!!!
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. I shoot several crossbows but mostly hunt with a Hickory Creek mini. It has a left side forward hand hold and no place else you could hold it except by passing your whole hand in front of the string. This may be a safety feature that was intentional. I don't know.
 
Even though I don't hunt with a crossbow I want to thank you for posting about this tragic incident. It is a stark reminder for all of us that things can go south really quickly no matter how careful we all think we are. Who knows, you may have just saved someone else from having the same thing happening to them. Hopefully you will heal quickly and be back out there in no time. In times like this we just have to try to look at the bright side. It could have ended up being much worse. Good luck and god bless.
 
I don't use one but have shot many and never heard of such a thing but I looked it up...Dang that's bad stuff! Glad your ok and thanks for the information
 
Welcome from Central Illinois! The same thing happened to a friend several years ago when he was firing his de-cocking bolt after a numbingly cold hunt. Thank you for sharing in the interest of reminding everyone to be safe out there. I hope you heal fast and well and are able to salvage some of your season.
 
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