Thread: Near-Miss

Inspired by 57jL post about his near death experience, I too had a close call in March this year with a hunting accident (call it a navigational slip-up if you like) that I thought I should share. I've been hunting North Island bush for about 20 years now, and this one really hit home as a "close call". I consider myself very safety conscious as its in my job description for the company I work for as a National H&S manager, but also I just think we can be more safety conscious and assess and mitigate potential hazards that we encounter while hunting (fark there's the H&S in me coming out already). My great grandfather had a hunting accident (fell off horse pig hunting and hit head) and died as a result. I for one don't want to repeat history within the family.

Moving on, the Kaimais to those familiar with it can be absolute shit to navigate through at the best of times with walls of supplejack and thick bush. I'm no stranger to having to push through shity stuff to get to areas that are worth exploring. This day was no different. Coming down what appeared to be a old logging track to a river was no issue. I assessed the river and opposite ridge and plotted my best route to navigate up the the opposing ridge.

Having crossed the river safely, I started walking the leading ridge in the hope that it would open up near the top which normally is the case. The bush was difficult to push through, and in one particular spot very thick to chest height. Rifle with an empty chamber, held in my right hand, I gingerly pushed ahead and upwards through the bush, placing 1 foot at a time. Some fern ahead gave me the confidence to go a bit quicker. This is when things got interesting. On placing my right foot down, I encountered emptiness (a small hole I thought) and the weight of my body moving in a forward motion was enough for me to commit to placing my other foot. Again nothing under me. Things slowed down, I was falling. "Why am I falling, what is happening, is this a cave?" Total confusion and disorientation. Only a few seconds had passed and I had already pivoted by body around and was falling backwards and down into darkness with the sunlight disappearing above. I hit the ground hard and flat on my back, my neck snapping back and hitting the earth below me. My body was in a state of shock, and the wind was knocked out of me. It took a few moments for me to get my breath back, and try compose myself. Self-assessment time as I lay on my back. Can I wiggle my toes, fingers, move my limbs. Yes. Is there blood/bone sticking out, no! I was then able to get up and look around thinking what a shit place for Land SAR to try find someone in.

Time to reflect. Looking up, left/right I had fallen about 5m or more into a small what appeared to be man made crevice (about 40m in length) from the old logging days. Looking above, vegetation towered over it making it the most perfect disguised fall hazard you could imagine. I have never seen anything quite like it in my time hunting the Kaimais or anywhere else for that matter. My rifle butt was embebed deep in the soft dirt next to me which I had held onto all the way to hitting the ground. If you look closely, a small pile of rocks covered in green moss about 1-2m away could have knocked me unconscious. I call this "luck".

Having assessed myself, I was sore but able to walk myself out (half hunting) back to the car. The neck muscles and back for the following month were treated by my physio and no long term injury sustained as a result.

I was equipped and had access to my inreach in my pocket (zipped up always). Back pack always secured to me and unable to be dislodged (waist/chest strap) with all the things you need to survive a night in bush (survival sleeping bag, food/water, pain relief, Israeli bandage, celox etc). If I hadn't come home, my wife would have been able to pass on my hunting details to Land SAR as I always leave my hunting location and direction of travel intentions on the fridge.

Lessons to be learned, make sure you have dirt under your feet when pushing through thick stuff. Sounds simple doesn't it. Safe hunting!

In two words fuck that... Glad you made it ok

Thanks for sharing and glad you made it out as well as you did. Those Kaimai's can be shit at times , I had my share of adventures / misadventures in them.

Pretty lucky escape. Glad you made it out without too many injuries.

Originally Posted by Rusky

Inspired by 57jL post about his near death experience, I too had a close call in March this year with a hunting accident (call it a navigational slip-up if you like) that I thought I should share. I've been hunting North Island bush for about 20 years now, and this one really hit home as a "close call". I consider myself very safety conscious as its in my job description for the company I work for as a National H&S manager, but also I just think we can be more safety conscious and assess and mitigate potential hazards that we encounter while hunting (fark there's the H&S in me coming out already). My great grandfather had a hunting accident (fell off horse pig hunting and hit head) and died as a result. I for one don't want to repeat history within the family.

Moving on, the Kaimais to those familiar with it can be absolute shit to navigate through at the best of times with walls of supplejack and thick bush. I'm no stranger to having to push through shity stuff to get to areas that are worth exploring. This day was no different. Coming down what appeared to be a old logging track to a river was no issue. I assessed the river and opposite ridge and plotted my best route to navigate up the the opposing ridge.

Having crossed the river safely, I started walking the leading ridge in the hope that it would open up near the top which normally is the case. The bush was difficult to push through, and in one particular spot very thick to chest height. Rifle with an empty chamber, held in my right hand, I gingerly pushed ahead and upwards through the bush, placing 1 foot at a time. Some fern ahead gave me the confidence to go a bit quicker. This is when things got interesting. On placing my right foot down, I encountered emptiness (a small hole I thought) and the weight of my body moving in a forward motion was enough for me to commit to placing my other foot. Again nothing under me. Things slowed down, I was falling. "Why am I falling, what is happening, is this a cave?" Total confusion and disorientation. Only a few seconds had passed and I had already pivoted by body around and was falling backwards and down into darkness with the sunlight disappearing above. I hit the ground hard and flat on my back, my neck snapping back and hitting the earth below me. My body was in a state of shock, and the wind was knocked out of me. It took a few moments for me to get my breath back, and try compose myself. Self-assessment time as I lay on my back. Can I wiggle my toes, fingers, move my limbs. Yes. Is there blood/bone sticking out, no! I was then able to get up and look around thinking what a shit place for Land SAR to try find someone in.

Time to reflect. Looking up, left/right I had fallen about 5m or more into a small what appeared to be man made crevice (about 40m in length) from the old logging days. Looking above, vegetation towered over it making it the most perfect disguised fall hazard you could imagine. I have never seen anything quite like it in my time hunting the Kaimais or anywhere else for that matter. My rifle butt was embebed deep in the soft dirt next to me which I had held onto all the way to hitting the ground. If you look closely, a small pile of rocks covered in green moss about 1-2m away could have knocked me unconscious. I call this "luck".

Having assessed myself, I was sore but able to walk myself out (half hunting) back to the car. The neck muscles and back for the following month were treated by my physio and no long term injury sustained as a result.

I was equipped and had access to my inreach in my pocket (zipped up always). Back pack always secured to me and unable to be dislodged (waist/chest strap) with all the things you need to survive a night in bush (survival sleeping bag, food/water, pain relief, Israeli bandage, celox etc). If I hadn't come home, my wife would have been able to pass on my hunting details to Land SAR as I always leave my hunting location and direction of travel intentions on the fridge.

Lessons to be learned, make sure you have dirt under your feet when pushing through thick stuff. Sounds simple doesn't it. Safe hunting!

Attachment 224698

Attachment 224699

Attachment 224700

one thing I never go into bush without and have done for years one brand new cigarette lighter and glad wrapped - several pieces of push bike inner tube - in belt pack with a light survival blanket

Close call alright. Glad it turned out well for you

Not hunting but saw something very similar back about 1990 when I was doing a small stint at pruning. Been dropped off at the top of the hill and we all all made sure we were at the bottom at the end of the day for a little walk out of the cleared flat to the station wagon.
We had been warned by the DOC (ex NZFS) manager to look out for old Chinese workings.
Well big Dave found one about 10 minutes from the car. Just in front of me walking through some fern he disappeared in front of me through the fern.
Dropped into a man-made drain not quite a meter across. Went quite a bit in either direction.
Full of water to about 3 feet from the top.
And just deep enough that over 6ft Dave didn't touch the bottom as he fell in.
It was freezing cold (maybe June from memory) and we had a shit of a time getting him out.
If he had done that on his own it would've been very interesting.
It was just fortunate he did it at the end of the day and not earlier or he would've been soaking wet and cold all day

Oh and just to be a narc, being in OHS you should know these things are alled near hits now lol

just a add to smiffys wee tale -anyone hunting.exploring around ross hokitika /blackball etcetc be aware there are old goldmining shafts a lot very bloody deep and if you happen to go into freefall location would be a lottery at best !In my time traing as a nurse in hokitika we had a wee lass go AWOL cross country (area was riddled with the bloody things)to be picked up warmed up and fedby a NZPO line gang working up the blue spur road .how she survived(she was nueain in such cold weather ,and thinly dressed )I'll never know.Had a couple of mate inthe NZFS doing siml;ar wqork to smiffy description and one of them found a hole so thought it fun to stand over it on some rotting logs .a rock dropped down it tooka long 5-10secs to return a thunderous splash -yes fresh underpants were called for . shortly after this are a was declared off limits as too bloody dangerous!Myself Iwas was with a bloke and we ventured into the bush just off the hoki-ross road -seeing a small heap of dirt we got a little curious -Oh shit -that hole probably 50-70ft deep .a punga dropped down it exploded on impact!yep we marked it with a handkercheif then made like russiuan sprinters OFSKI Didnt kiwi jockey michael walker suffer serious head injuryfrom a fall down a tomo whilst out pig hunting a while ago., lOP survived ,thats important but cert ainly a statutory lesson for us all.

I recal walking through tangled supplejack with fella many years ago..I must have been 12-13 at the time...Phil got well ahead of me and then came back to find out why I was taking so long....he was 8 feet below me,when he got to me.....by scrambling along in the dark I had worked my way along on vines not knowing I was above ground...I got down and yip much easier going on solid ground....looking back that couldve got nasty rather quickly.

While dragging a large pig through heavy fern by a rope around snout, I turned around to check if I was going in the right direction when my white dog fell down a 2 metre square hole where my next backward drag step would have been. The hole was a square sided, dug hole about 4 metres deep. Then all hell broke loose as the dog scragged a possum in the hole and my other 2 dogs almost went in the hole as well. Lucky I had enough carrying cord to lasso the dog and drag her up.
My wife and I went back a few days later, nearly fell in another identical hole and dug the sides in so man or beast could get out. There were animal bones in the bottom of both holes but with no torch and poor light angle we had no idea what bones.
I never heard of anyone going missing in that area, but then I never asked.

I remember reading years back that NZ Forest Service never lost a culler.

True or false. I don't know.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Oh and just to be a narc, being in OHS you should know these things are alled near hits now lol

Technically not even considered a near hit as no objects or moving parts were involved, but more of an "accident" if you refer to NZ's HSWA 2015 definitions.

Just one more reason to carry a mustering stick and 'test' the ground ahead with it

I worked/tramped/hunted for 40 years in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges (60,000 acres of dense jungle) and many times came across (just in time!) square vertical shafts of about 7-800 mm diameter, and bloody deep. These were the wells of early settlers or mining exploration attempts. They were mostly surrounded by thick ferns or grasses so you had to be aware at all times. In very thick vegetation I used a walking pole as a probe- it saved my life a couple of times.

Came across something similar in Pureoras a few years back in an area where the native had been logged 50 or 60 years back. A long trench about 2-3 m deep, and deeper in places, and 3m or so wide. Thankfully it was not too over grown where we encountered it. It ran over a km or so. Tripping over it in the dark could be a nasty surprise