Don't let this happen to you

bearbait

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Well after a lot of hard work preparing for winter my wife and I (Tuesday) finally got a chance to take it easy. It was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to get the pellet gun and crossbow out and take some shots so I asked my wife if she would like to shoot a few so we got set up. Now both of us were members at the archery club for years and we both shot more than our share of guns over the years but the crossbow is relatively new to both of us. My mistake was not noticing that she was a little distracted that day however at 30 and 40 yards with the bow she was plunking them in the bull. I decided to move up to a 20 yard shot and put up a tripod along with a chair to sit in but this time she put her hand on top of the rail without thinking ( being distracted ) and took a serious hit to the hand. So if this can help just one other person from making a mistake my posting this will be worth it. Bottom line is if your distracted whether shooting or using heavy equipment leave it alone, accidents happen but some can be avoided.
 

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85Hokie

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Ouuuuuchhhhh.....that hurts JUST looking at it !

Give it time - and do what the dr/nurse/rehab tell you.....and it will be fine.... or almost fine.

I cut both tendons in my writing hand middle finger about 20 years ago on a broken dish....micro surgery and lots of rehab - dr told me that I would never be able to close that middle finger all the way......it took a while, BUT I DID!

Good post on reminding us to think safe and be safe all the time!
 

dirtydeed

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:eek: that right there gave me a shiver down my spine. Was it from the string or the limbs?
 

Lil Foot

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Well, just got my OMG Cringe in for the month. Hopefully recovery will be relatively quick & painless.
Knew a guy who got interested in the crossbow from watching The Walking Dead.
While teaching his son to shoot it, his son curled a finger over the launch rail and ended up with a similar (but not as bad) injury caused by the bolt's fletching. Sliced him just like a knife.
 

bearbait

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We think she lucked out so to speak, doc doesn't think there is any tendon damage, she's still has fairly good movement in the finger. We believe it was the fletching on the bolt arrow that cut her but she took a pretty good hit from the string as well. We'll know better after she see's the plastic surgeon on Monday.
 

bearbait

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Well, just got my OMG Cringe in for the month. Hopefully recovery will be relatively quick & painless.
Knew a guy who got interested in the crossbow from watching The Walking Dead.
While teaching his son to shoot it, his son curled a finger over the launch rail and ended up with a similar (but not as bad) injury caused by the bolt's fletching. Sliced him just like a knife.
yep, that's exactly what happened to her.
 

bearbait

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Well, just got my OMG Cringe in for the month. Hopefully recovery will be relatively quick & painless.
Knew a guy who got interested in the crossbow from watching The Walking Dead.
While teaching his son to shoot it, his son curled a finger over the launch rail and ended up with a similar (but not as bad) injury caused by the bolt's fletching. Sliced him just like a knife.
I know how your friend feels, it's one thing to get hurt yourself but to see someone you love get hurt well, it's beyond words.
 

ZTMAN

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Can happen without thinking. When I was shopping for a cross bow, the fellow giving the demos made it painfully clear before you shot to keep your hand below the rail. Said he has at least one thumb a year laying on the floor. Don't know if he was kidding, but it made an impression on me.
 

RCW

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Holy smokes!!!
I wish her a speedy and easy recovery. ....that’s gonna hurt for a while!
We’ve all seen nasty looking scrapes from a semi-auto handgun action.
This makes one of those look benign.
Now, I could tell you about my brother and getting his big noggin too close to the scope woodchuck hunting......I laughed like hell!!

Wish her the best!


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bearbait

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Holy smokes!!!
I wish her a speedy and easy recovery. ....that’s gonna hurt for a while!
We’ve all seen nasty looking scrapes from a semi-auto handgun action.
This makes one of those look benign.
Now, I could tell you about my brother and getting his big noggin too close to the scope woodchuck hunting......I laughed like hell!!

Wish her the best!


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Thanks RCW, she's coming alone quite well but we'll know better on Monday. While the doctor was taking care of her she got called away for a while then came back and looked at the wife and told her she just got bumped from first place as the worst accident of the day. A guy had just come in, he was using an air nailer and put a 4" nail in his knee cap. :eek::eek:
 

D2Cat

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Bearbait, please show some pictures of your forest, lake, birds, tractor, etc.

These word pictures are .... uncomfortable! Hope she heals fast.
 

bearbait

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Bearbait, please show some pictures of your forest, lake, birds, tractor, etc.

These word pictures are .... uncomfortable! Hope she heals fast.
Sorry Cat, just trying to keep someone else from making the same mistake even though I was pretty sure some people might find it disturbing including myself.
 

skeets

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OHHHHH that was MaMa :eek:. How many stitches did she wind up with, now I know why your cooking :D
 

bearbait

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OHHHHH that was MaMa :eek:. How many stitches did she wind up with, now I know why your cooking :D
Loll, yea for over 30 years while we were both working I did all the cooking because I got off a few hours earlier. A hot meal was always on the table waiting for her when she got home but when we retired 7 years ago she took over even though I didn't mind. Don't even mind doing the house cleaning however laundry is a different story, I hate it with a passion. When we were first married somehow I managed to get some dark cloths in with the whites, go figure.;) Her finger is doing very well, 9 stitches in total however I won't let her do a thing at least until the stitches are out and we get the ok from the doc. Thank you all for your concern, much appreciated.
 

sagor

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Bearbait, I feel for her. About 2 years ago, I sliced my finger in about the same spot ( a bit closer to the knuckle), 5 stitches. To this day, I have some numbness along the side of the finger from that cut (it was deep...)
Come to think of it, same finger, same hand... Hm.. maybe your wife and I have something in common lol...
Best wishes for her recovery....

I anyone asks, I cut my finger with a BBQ spatula that was razor sharp trying to separate frozen burgers. Just slipped, that was it, cut to the bone... Go figure, never would have expected that....
 

bearbait

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L3560, 64" snowblower, 72" back blade
Dec 9, 2011
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New Glasgow Canada
Bearbait, I feel for her. About 2 years ago, I sliced my finger in about the same spot ( a bit closer to the knuckle), 5 stitches. To this day, I have some numbness along the side of the finger from that cut (it was deep...)
Come to think of it, same finger, same hand... Hm.. maybe your wife and I have something in common lol...
Best wishes for her recovery....

I anyone asks, I cut my finger with a BBQ spatula that was razor sharp trying to separate frozen burgers. Just slipped, that was it, cut to the bone... Go figure, never would have expected that....
And the worst of it is the beer will only numb the pain for so long. Well I was just thinking, BBQ, burgers, there has to be cold beer to go with that right. Hopefully she won't have the numbness.
 

jryser

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Send her well wishes from me and I totally agree that you seeing her hurt has its own real pain. Thank you for the reminder of how dangerous our sport is despite our safety factors. Godspeed for a full recovery.


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Daren Todd

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Ouch!!!! Like others, that gave me shivers!!! Hope your wife has a quick recovery with little to no permanent issues :D

I had the tendon wiped out in my left thumb at the knuckle about 12 years ago. I was on a jobsite picking up a skid mounted piece of equipment. Guy came over with a bucket loader to load it. As I was hooking up the chain, the guy got a phone call. Guy reached into his shirt pocket to grab his phone and dropped it. He spun to the right to catch the phone and bumped the control for the loader bucket.

Just as I was hooking the chain, the bucket jumped up catching my thumb between the hook and the chain :eek: Doc figured if the guy had stayed on the control any longer I would have lost it. I got really lucky, 10 stitches, nothing broken, and my thumb locked in a splint for 16 weeks. I have about 50 percent movement in the knuckle. Ortho figured I would have the same results with surgery, so I elected to forgo the surgey. Funny thing about that injury was I only felt a pinch. It happened so fast it crushed the nerves before it registered in my head.

I still have very little feeling in it and there isn't an in between when it comes to pain. It's either no pain when smacked with a hammer, or feels likes it's been smashed with a sledge hammer repeatedly while doused in diesel and lit on fire :eek::rolleyes: