Thread: Play it safe ....WATCH YOUR FOOTING ....

Just a painful reminder to be careful out there . Painful as I was reminded a couple of weeks ago after having a small fall .
Our first weekend of lockdown freedom and the daughter and myself jump in the car and head off bright (or should I say dark) and early and head to the hills .
After an 8 1/2 km walk in just under three hours to one of the local huts we park up for 20 mins for a rest and a drink , then wander off into the great unknown in hte hills around the hut .
Around an hour later , out the back of nowhere and three river crossings later we approach the bank above another river crossing . The bank is around 3 mtrs tall above the rocks on the river bed . We crouch on the edge and have a nosey up and down the opposite side on the lookout for a freezer filler . See nothing of interest so have a quick wander to find a spot to make our way down into the river , as the bank is vertical .
Find a likely looking spot , the only spot not actually vertical and I take my first step off the top ..... and my foot goes out from underneath me as the earth I stand on gives way .
Now 3 mtrs doesn't sound very far but you still reach the bottom with a splat at my age rather than a bounce , especially when the bottom is strewn with rocks .
Thankfully I was holding my rifle out in front of me rather than slung over my back so that came out unscathed , apart from knocking me on the head on the way down .
So my girl slowly and carefully makes her way down to me and helps pick me up and I test all my bits and pieces for damage .
I have twisted my knee and jarred my back painfully when I landed on my arse on the rocks , along with the expected bruises .
So I settle on a rock and have a smoke and let my body sort itself out . We start climbing our way out of the riverbed and on reaching the top where I fell I come to the painful conclusion that that's me fucked for the day . Another smoke and a couple of painkillers and I pull the plug on the days adventure and we make our way slowly back to the hut .
By the time we reach the hut I am really starting to feel the pain in my lower back and my knee is refusing to cooperate with my desire to walk normally . Another sit down for a smoke and we then start to make our way back to the car , another 8 1/2 km away .
7 hrs of painful hobbling later we finally reach the vehicle , for what was a slow 3 hr walk in .

Ended up spending Sunday parked in my nice soft chair with my knee strapped up along with the next few days off work doing the same .
Even now 2 weeks later my back is still not right and my knee is only just feeling normal and mostly pain free .

I consider myself lucky - it could so easily have been a lot worse and a good reminder as to why we should all carry a PLB just in case . If I was alone and it had of been more serious , I very much doubt anyone would have found me in a hurry where I was .

And a big thankyou to my daughter who kept a level head and even carried some of my gear for me on the way out . Gotta love that girl ....

So be careful out there guys and check your footing , especially when making your way down a steep slope - just because it looks stable doesn't mean it is ...

Play it safe eh...

My beautiful girl making her way back up the bank after helping my bruised sorry arse back up . What looks like good solid ground wasn't so solid where I stepped...

Yes - doesn't take much to give the body a fright
I slipped and slid (bounced a bit but not free fall to the bottom) down a rock face that had been ripped out by D10 (a track cutting)
Same - only about 3.5m
Servicing one of my Trail Cams that was at the top over looking said track

I was bruised and soar for a bout 3 weeks
Can only imagine the damage that happens in car crashes
Sure makes you think how fragile we can be

Good to hear you're ok mate. OTOH if you do have to go, probably best to go doing what you love!

A local farmer had an accident 30 years back, he was checking stock in the rain. Slipped in the mud, knocked his head on a small rock and drowned in a 5cm deep puddle. Left behind a wife and three small kids. Bloody tragic but these stories are good reminders.

My avatar picture is me collecting palm seeds, back when young and even more stupid than now. No safety gear at all. Once the dependant kids started arriving I suddenly worked out how bad it would be if something went wrong. If I saw my kids doing that these days I'd be horrified (sometimes I was 15+m up the trees collecting seed).

Good your ok sure helps when someone is with you, it's amazing how things can turn to custard in the blink of an eye.

Always good to receive timely reminders. 20 years old and 60 years old are lightyears apart, and with a long fine spell of no accidents/incidents our minds often drift back to the 20-years-old-me mindset. Amd then boom! Wakeup time.
Thanks for sharing

Glad your ok FTX. Yeah it can go pear shaped real fast and with no warning.
As mentioned bloody good idea to have a plb on you and not in your bag, which might not arrive with you at the bottom of a tumble and getting to it may be impossible.
I have got away with little "reminders" that I am not as young as I once was and take longer to heal from ding dongs

Did you have a beacon man?
Does your daughter know how to use it?

In the event that you are unconscious from a fall or suffer concussion, or broke your back that would be an essential lesson

Originally Posted by scottrods

Did you have a beacon man?
Does your daughter know how to use it?

In the event that you are unconscious from a fall or suffer concussion, or broke your back that would be an essential lesson

yes and yes . And we run through how to use it with all of us every time we leave to go out , at the wife's insistence .
And definitely a good idea to refresh all our memories so it becomes automatic to use in the event of an emergency and panic situation .
And both our kids have been out bush with us since the age of 5 so are well experienced in the environment - 10 plus yrs each of hunting with dad - and are smart cookies .
I am happy and confident that should it go pear shaped I can rely on them %100 to do what needs to be done , whatever that may be .

Glad yr ok man. You got a good young lass there too.

The most common cause of injuries in old men is them thinking they are young men

Glad you had an accomplice, and with her help you made it out under your own steam. "Could have been much worse" is little comfort though, when you are suffering badly, and home base seems impossibly far!

Glad it wasn't worse.
Young fellows can hurt themselves bad if they think they are bullet proof.
This sport is all about having fun. Getting hurt takes the fun away, so better to play it safe than pushing boundaries.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The most common cause of injuries in old men is them thinking they are young men

Better than sitting on the couch though and wishing to be young again.. I hunt 99% of the time on my own not counting dog's. Have carried a locator beacon for last 5 years. 5 odd years carrying a pig in the dark and slipped and fell, copped a stick up one nostril, lucky it was half rotten and did little damage but with a fair bit of blood gave me more than a small fright. Had a bit of a serious think after that night, one, purchased beacon, two, stick to where I tell the misses I'm going even though she's not to raise the alarm until 9.00am the following day after my planned return.

Originally Posted by tetawa

Better than sitting on the couch though and wishing to be young again.. I hunt 99% of the time on my own not counting dog's. Have carried a locator beacon for last 5 years. 5 odd years carrying a pig in the dark and slipped and fell, copped a stick up one nostril, lucky it was half rotten and did little damage but with a fair bit of blood gave me more than a small fright. Had a bit of a serious think after that night, one, purchased beacon, two, stick to where I tell the misses I'm going even though she's not to raise the alarm until 9.00am the following day after my planned return.

I have done much the same with my nose carrying a fallow out of the same area where this happened on new years day . Slipped , couldn't keep my balance with the extra weight of the deer and ripped the top of my nose open on a sharp branch on the way down . 10 mm left or right and I could well have lost an eye . Blood everywhere and it wasn't from the deer . Left the deer where I fell and went back to the hut for first aid as I had left my kit there then followed my own blood trail back to retrieve the deer !
My whole family were at the hut and the mrs got quite panicky thinking it was alot more serious due to the blood all over me .

Another thing I learned from this latest incident - carry more painkillers !
I used them all up halfway to the car so now have doubled the amount in my kit .