Spooked and Humbled

[Nameless Range]

Buckshot or slugs in that shotgun, @Nameless Range?

Slugs. Probably older than me, from the bowels of my dad’s gun room.

 

[Southern Elk]

Slugs. Probably older than me, from the bowels of my dad’s gun room.


View attachment 299268

Nice! The good ole days.

 

[Ben Lamb]

This is the time when being Thicc comes in handy. Glad you are ok, buddy!

 

[Elkoholic]

Reading or hearing about any close call water incident brings me anxiety from my own past "fine line" experience.
Glad you are ok and still with us!

 

[Schaaf]

Fell through the ice on a river when I was young(er) and much dumber. I'd be lying if I said it hasn't woken me up at night from nightmares. Glad you're alright.

I'll be the first to say that I'm not sure you'd have made it if not for that fumanchu mustache.

 

[Bambistew]

Amazing how quickly things can go south. Glad you're ok and were able to get back out.

Guessing by the fact you downed a Coors you skipped your Dr. appt? I would have as well.

 

[Nameless Range]

Amazing how quickly things can go south. Glad you're ok and were able to get back out.

Guessing by the fact you downed a Coors you skipped your Dr. appt? I would have as well.

Heck no! Annual physical gets me a $30 a month discount on insurance. Appt was in Butte so I’m sure the doc is used to patients with beer on their breath.

 

[rmyoung1]

So does this mean you’ll never again start a HT entry with: “Dressed in cotton with one in the chamber…”????

Edit: Just saw that @Mica Man beat me to the punch.

 

[Southern Elk]

I’m not totally convinced it was your chin and not the mustache that caught on the ice.

 

[SaskHunter]

Crazy how fast you can go from having a good time to potentially dying.

We all get complacent, I know I do. I fell off a tree while putting up a ladder stand. Almost stabbed myself in the chest as I hit an other tree on my way down with sharp broken off limbs, the broken branch I hit ended up breaking off instead of stabbing me. Got home humbled, bruised and scratched all over, not bad all things considered.

***Nipple alert!***

Just over a week after...

 

[woods89]

So does this mean you’ll never again start a HT entry with: “Dressed in cotton with one in the chamber…”????

Edit: Just saw that @Mica Man beat me to the punch.

Against the Grain:Spooked and Humbled has a nice ring to it.

 

[Big Fin]

Dang, that would put the spook in a guy. Glad you got out of it OK. A reminder of how even the most experienced can get a surprise.

 

[ashersdad]

Very scary indeed! Glad you made it out ok.

 

[Southern Elk]

Reported!

***Nipple alert!***

Just over a week after...

 

[recon6036]

I’m part of the local ice rescue team. We’ve been on many, many, rescues and unfortunately too many body recoveries.
Scary for sure!
I’m glad your ok!!

 

[mdhunter61]

Dang...chilling story, no pun intended, and a good reminder to all of us. Glad you came out Ok and thanks for sharing the story.

 

[PaulRevere]

I know 2 gals who were best friends and lost their husbands on the same day (snow machine's on the ice). They were experienced dudes doing ice fishing stuff. Shit is humbling.

 

[BenP]

Glad you're okay and able to remind us to stay vigilant on what can happen. Fell in the river once while duck hunting in 20 degree weather. Luckily friends were right there to pull me up. Also when I was around 14-15 I fell off a log into a creek that was 12" water and infinite mud, took a minute to get out and then walk back home about 1/3 mile.

 

[hank4elk]

A good stache will save you at times!
I'd rather surf Maverick's than walk across a frozen lake.
Took a bad one surfing.
Opened my face up and the stache has saved me since. You can hardly see the scar on my upper lip...LOL
Well, I can hardly see the scar.

I stand back and admire my work. "Not bad for a hair lip!"

I was snowshoeing across Mary Lake near Mammoth and was in the middle when I heard the cracks starting...

 

[Nameless Range]

With a lot more respect, I went back in there yesterday.

I didn’t hike to the place where I fell in, because I didn’t want to get stuck in that mess again, but I took a picture of what it looks like in there for basically the entire 400-yard by 1 mile footprint of the swamp.



The hole I fell in was larger than this one, but the landscape is the same. Lots of frozen frozen holes and braided streams and beaver ponds with (hopefully) enough dry ground to get around them, but in actuality, often not.

One other thing that is interesting is my legs and hips are covered with bruises. I think I spazzed out more than I realized when I fell in.

Thinking back on it I was somewhat lulled into complacency by the fact that in the mile or so that I had hiked, I had not run into any water that was too deep for me, until I did. Additionally, grass poking up through the snow made me think I was stepping on solid ground, but I wasn’t. Also, I always tell my wife where I am going hunting, but I changed my mind that afternoon, and did not tell her. Lastly, Because I had an appointment to get to, I made a decision to push forward into a situation that I was uncomfortable with when I could’ve just backtracked comfortably and maybe been a little late. Just could’ve been a perfect storm.

I think I have mentioned it on here before, but in the world of first response, we talk about the Swiss cheese model of accidents. Most accidents are the result of numerous probabilities piling up.


I will have a lot more respect for ice and water, even if I think it’s something I can handle, in the future.