Shooting Accident. Be Safe!

Written By - Lou Grabow - 09/10/2007

Link to Original Article here

September 1^st is always an exciting day for me and my hunting buddies. It is the official kick off to our hunting season. For the last 10 years we have all gotten together for a big dove shoot in the morning and then we have a massive wild game feast in the evening. All the families get together and we have a great time. I start looking forward to the opening day festivities on September 2^nd of each year. It’s a GREAT time and I cherish the friendships and camaraderie that hunting with my buddies offers.

The alarm went off at 4:45 AM. It wasn’t necessary since I was already tossing and turning anticipating the opening day of dove season. I’m 36 years old and still get excited like the day before Christmas when your 5. I quickly showered, threw on my camo and headed out the door to meet a few buddies at the commuter parking lot before heading to our annual dove hunt.

We arrived at the farm and met the rest of our hunting party. There were 22 of us hunting a farm in IL that has brought us many unbelievable hunts over the years. 

We paired off, drew for our blind numbers and headed to our blinds. My partner and I got into our blind at about 6:40. It was a beautiful morning. Cool, crisp air penetrated my nostrils and I was in heaven. We set up a couple of robo doves and sat down anticipating the morning flight.

My partner shot a couple of birds in the first few minutes and then it was my turn. I dropped a bird which landed with a thud across the cut corn and in the first few rows of standing sunflowers. It was about 6:50. The hunt was starting off well and the morning flight of hundreds of birds barreling in at one time had not even begun.

I walked out of the blind, across the cut corn and into a section of cut sunflowers to the left of where my bird had dropped. I was a little excited and walked right past my bird and continued looking down the sunflower rows. Knowing I had passed the location of where I had marked the bird, I turned and began walking back towards the cut corn.

What happened next was not in the plans for the morning. All at once I heard shots and the sound of shot smacking against my skull, pain and burning in my head and neck. I grabbed my head and yelled “who $%&$ shot me over a @#$%$^ dove?”, “who #$@$%& shot me?”

I pulled my hands down and realized that I had not been peppered, a term used when you get hit by shot from off in the distance.

My right hand was filled with blood and I noticed my shirt was quickly turning red with blood on the right side of my body. My right arm was bleeding from several areas. The right side of my body was burning and bleeding. THIS WAS NOT GOOD!

I instantly took off running towards the barn which is used as a headquarters for the hunt yelling, \"who shot me.\" 

In what seemed like .5 seconds I made the 150 yard dash to the barn and yelled to the first person I saw. Ã¢Â€ÂœAm I bleeding from my neck?” “Am I hit in a major artery?” “Am I going to die?” The individual looked at me, his eyes as big as basketballs and said “it does not look like you are bleeding badly from you neck”, or something like that.

I was pissed off and very scared. Within seconds, several of the hunters in my vicinity came to my side and began administering basic first aid and calling 911. We took off my shirt and I saw all the holes in my chest, and abdomen. I was more scared since one of the pellets had penetrated right over my heart and several others pierced the right side of my belly.

My brother was at my side and I initially told him not to call my wife because I didn’t want to scare her. Unfortunately, soon after, I began to feel very faint and nauseated. All I could think was “what is going on inside my body” and “I don’t want to leave my wife and kids”. 

I told my brother to get my wife on the phone. He put the phone to my ear and I felt a lump in my throat. “Babe, I want you to know that I love you guys because I don’t know what is going to happen to me”. I couldn’t say anything else. That was the worst phone call I have ever made.

I was on my hands and knees on the floor of a garage bleeding like a stuck pig and close to going into shock. A few of the guys got me into a chair and helped get my shoes and pants off. They began pouring cool water over my head which quickly caused the faint feeling and nausea to subside. I was beginning to feel better.

I heard the sirens from the emergency vehicles and saw a fire truck coming down the road. It pulled up in front of the garage and the first thought that went through my head was, “damn that’s an old fire truck, it looks like it should be in a parade and not on the scene of an emergency.” I guess having a sense of humor was a good sign.

Shortly thereafter an ambulance arrived on the scene.  The EMT’s quickly triaged me, hooked up and IV and oxygen and headed for the hospital ER. 

My brother Steve rode with me in the ambulance and kept the mood light. He wanted to know why I had only shot one dove and why I didn’t pick it up after I was shot. He can be a real shit head but I love him dearly.

Once we got to the ER the team quickly looked over my wounds and I felt relieved that I was in a large hospital with all the gear necessary to increase my odds of survival.

I was quickly carted to X-Ray and then back to the ER. The doctors were worried about 3 shot pellets in my abdomen, 2 in my neck and 2 at the base of my skull. All the others had penetrated the skin and travelled just under the skin before they stopped.

So off to the next test. I had to do a P-Scan (I think) where they ruled out all but 1 shot pellet which was located in my neck.

Now I had to head over and get a CT scan on my neck and then back to the ER. As a side note, it’s amazing how fast you get in and out of these procedures when you have a serious injury. In the past, I’ve been to ER’s for broken bones, cuts, etc. and it moves pretty darn slow. This was not the case on September 1^st .

Shortly after getting back from the CT scan I was visiting with some friends and family thinking I might get out of here and salvage the day by getting an afternoon hunt in. What, am I crazy? Hell no. If you fall off a horse you get back on. Right?

The ER doctor enters the room and looks at me. He proceeds to explain that the pellet in my neck missed my jugular vein by about 1 mm and it is now resting next to my carotid artery and that I’m very lucky I’m not dead or in very very poor condition. For those of you that don’t know what the jugular and carotid do, they provide the blood flow to and from your brain.

I prayed a lot in the ambulance and at that moment I prayed again. 

I was admitted into the hospital shortly thereafter for observation and the chance of an opening day dove hunt went down the toilet. No big deal. I was alive and it could have been worse.

I had to go through another test on Sunday to ensure there was no minor damage to my vein or artery and then was released on Sunday evening. I thank God for watching over me.

Epilogue:

I’m out of the hospital, a little sore, very bruised (PHOTOS BELOW) and very happy to be writing this story. 

The most bothersome part of this story is that no one in the area I was hunting thinks they shot me. I’m 100% sure I didn’t shoot me. I have personally shot thousands of rounds through my guns and I always know what is beyond my target. 

The guys in my area are my friends, I’m not mad at any of them because I know this was not intentional. I’m just concerned that they wouldn’t have an idea of everything going on around them.

I didn’t write this to just tell a story. I wrote this in the hopes that a lot of people read this and think twice about hunting safety every time they are in the field.

PLEASE EMAIL THE LINK TO THIS ARTICLE TO EVERY HUNTER YOU KNOW AND ASK THEM TO DO THE SAME.