Well im lying in bed thinking about the last few days and how quickly a good situation can go bad.........
Rewind the clock to thursday evening, My hunting mate Dylan and I make our way to waikermoana parking the car and heading up the Aniwaniwa valley for three days fly camping , wed planned to stay one night where Wards Hut used to be then head over to the waipoa, on the way in we stuffed up a easy chance on a stag that came into our roars but cut our scent with some swirling wind, we bumped into a local guy who was on his way out, he gave us some good oil and confirmed a chopper dropped some guys into the waipoa so we scrapped that idea.
Friday was a day of missed opportunities and some bad luck with then wind etc, we woke to rain on saturday and a stag roaring above camp off we set under the early morning darkness. ...... mid morning ( about 10ish) we get a chance at a shot a young stag pops up on ridge after one of our roars Dylan sets up for the shot and lets rip, im watching the animal and thought shit hed missed it taking a quick step forward to try and see the animal and the ground dissappears under my foot and Wham I fall left leg full force into a tomo that was home to a stick that rams up into my groin....... pain shot up my belly...I pulled myself out of the small tomo standing up I unzipped me trou and put my hand between my legs to find it covered in blood.... shit.... I walked down to Dylan who had found the stag dead about 10 meters from where hed been standing, asking me if I was ok I dropped me pants and found the stick had split my jewel bag and opened up a hole about the size of a milk bottle top on the side of my Ball bag exposing my lefti ... I cleaned it up a bit and stuck a big plaster on it..... what next ...well I think we might be going home today mate I say !!
We boned out the deer then started the 2 hour walk back to camp, had a feed, changed the plaster packed up ... put the packs on and walked the 3 hours out to the car.. got back to Tauranga about 8.30pm I went home had a quick clean up then drove to A&E I must say I was a bit
rough when I got to the hospital, the staff there where great and soon had me sorted, plenty of needles tests, stitches and an overnight stay
as I was fighting an infection... final verdict, lacerated ball bag, scratched and brused testie, brused groin (and ego) Im a bit sore today the
brusing is and interesting sight , im thinking it'll be a while before im lifting weights and running again at the gym !
A bit of a wake up call on how quickly things can go pear shaped, it makes you shudder to think of the "what ifs" , a smaller stick could have been worse, a little more to the left & the main veins there....etc etc. .... I think I got away lucky on this occasion, i sure was glad to see the car thats for sure !! I think most of us think were bullet proof but when your hours walk from help every momemt counts if the shit really hits the
fan...
Im thinking its time to invest in a PLB.........I might not be so lucky next time...
