Crap happens

[yfarm]

Friend was in BAMC in San Antonio this summer, spent 3 weeks in an ICU for a flail chest. Rope jammed around the horn and a longhorn bull pulled the horse down which rolled over on him.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Thanks folks. Got out of the hospital two days ago, got all the doctors off my butt and spent 7 hours today on horseback. Hurts like hell to tie my shoes but riding felt good. Saw two elk this morning and am looking forward to three weeks in the saddle. Keep hunting !

 

[Robster]

Glad your OK. I ride alone most of the time and as was mentioned earlier, I keep my inreach on my belt, not in the saddlebags.

I got bucked off and broke my collarbone and some ribs. They told me to grab a pillow, squeeze it tight then cough or sneeze. boy did that help a lot

 

[Pony Soldier]

I have found I can function. Even coughing and sneezing isn't as terrifying as it was post injury.

I've been on a horse every day but two since 2 days after they let me out of the hospital. Dry ground low and solid ice high, hunting has sucked. We started carrying a picture of an elk so we could remember what they look like. We have heard a total of five shots in nearly 4 weeks. Every day we cut elk tracks in the snow patches but then they are gone and you can't guess where. I have even found where they are migrating toward the summer ground.

I don't know which is more terrifying. A pickup with trailer on glaze ice or a pony on an icey hillside of rocks. Some days I feel so puckered I might have to take drugs to loosen up enough to fart.

I take elk hunting as seriously as possible but this year has been a challenge. Tomorrow will start with a 4 mile ride in, tie the ponies up and each of us will climb up 500-600 ft to the top of separate ridges, hunt out the holes back to the horses and out. It ain't for the causul hunter.

 

[Stoney920]

Man, glad you’re good brother. I had a mare mule come uncorked and throw me earlier this year, three cracked ribs and some compressed vertebrae. I was down for two weeks, my hats off to you!

 

[Pony Soldier]

We rode into 15 head yesterday and my partner killed a big cow. With the gear we keep on the ponies, we quartered her up and led our cargo to the truck three miles away. After dinner we skinned our quarters, washed them down, dried them and got them covered in sheets and got them hung in the barn. They may not freeze but will remain cold.

We are back on the horses trying to guess where the elk have moved to. Drainage by drainage searches. This was easier in my 50s but that has been a while.

 

[7mm-08]

We rode into 15 head yesterday and my partner killed a big cow. With the gear we keep on the ponies, we quartered her up and led our cargo to the truck three miles away. After dinner we skinned our quarters, washed them down, dried them and got them covered in sheets and got them hung in the barn. They may not freeze but will remain cold.

We are back on the horses trying to guess where the elk have moved to. Drainage by drainage searches. This was easier in my 50s but that has been a while.

You must be the toughest man in the world. After I broke 5 ribs in a mountain bike crash, it took me nine months to start feeling human again. My ribs broke in my back where they attached to the spine and they caused spinal trauma when I went over the handlebars into (like you) a boulder field. Wishing you a speedy recovery, but it sounds like you just tough it out regardless of the pain.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Dam man glad you are ok and your son was with you! Hoping for a speedy recovery!

 

[Pony Soldier]

My daughter and I rode 4 miles in today scouting another drainage. Only one track in spotty snow. We will move over tomorrow and hunt two drainages down to check the migration path to see what has moved in.

Last night was my first night in bed on only advil. I think the ribs have healed and now I'm down to the scar tissue in the muscles at the impact zone and the some still painful movements. I slipped in a patch of snow on a steep hillside and fell flat as hell. Pain was minimal and my mare just waited fir me to get up.

I just wanted to thank you folks for your comments and to assure you that "oh shits " are survivable even after 70.