Never Hunt Alone

NEVER HUNT ALONE

One thing I can say about my brother is that he was one that would lead by example. As we got older, he branched out his hunting skills to include deer hunting. This was a sport I never could grasp but like the game of golf everyone had their passion. Our hunting together was getting few and far between. We still enjoyed sitting around with a cold beer talking about past hunts and old stories that start with the words “remember when we....” Lex did enjoy deer hunting and joined a club that was close to home that was on the Mississippi River. It allowed him to be in his stand in about an hour from the farm, so he went as often as time allowed.

One day a rainstorm brought the combines out of the field early in the afternoon. As the crew got the grain unloaded in the trucks and allowing for the next dry day, we were ready to get back into the fields. Lex took off. I didn't pay much attention because I had to make sure the trucks were unloaded and ready to go. When everything was finished, I headed to the house. Later that evening I got a call from Lex's wife, Patty, asking if I had seen him. I made the usual calls to his other hunting crew, but no one had seen him.

The next morning, I got a call. Lex was in the hospital with a bad wound in his leg. With questions running through my head, I headed to the hospital. Lex and I both had taken the Hunter Safety Course and knew what being a responsible hunter entailed. Never load your gun till you are at the site where you are going to hunt, along with other safety precautions that made you a safe hunter. One of the main rules was to never hunt alone or at least let someone know where you are going.

When the rain came Lex decided to head to the nearest deer stand. It did cross his mind to say something to me, but I was busy at the time, and he decided he would just call me on the radio (before cell phones) but forgot. Lex used pole climbers to get in his tree stand. Pole climbers are what power company repairmen used to repair lines. The were heavy metal spikes that were attached to your boots. Lex would climb the tree and reach around the trunk at the top and hook his waist strap. This time when he heard the “click” the waist strap did not connect and down he came. He was lucky of a sort. Since it had rained, when he hit the ground, it allowed some cushion. The not so lucky part was the fact that he drove one of the metal spikes into his calve. He was still conscious which allowed him to use his belt to stop the bleeding. Since his ATV was close, he climbed on and rode it to his truck. There were some hunters at their cabin that was close to where Lex's truck was located. He asked them if they had something he could use to stop the bleeding. When they saw the wound, they packed it and took him directly to the nearest hospital. After emergency surgery to repair his leg and some down time Lex recovered fully. He did learn from his mistake, which in turn taught us all a lesson. I think the main lesson he learned was from the “ear bending” hard talk he got from his wife which was “telling someone where you are going to hunt”. His love of the sport almost cost him his life.