Thread: WHEN THINGs GO WRONG AND YOU END UP PUTTING YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE

Flew into the bush with my old mate to one of those Heliseka private hut blocks for a week's holiday down the Mohaka to chase Sika around in circles and catch a trout or 2. We landed unpacked our gear into the hut cooked up a feed had a beer then went for a quick hunt to see what was around. My first mistake didn,t put all my clothing layers on as I usually do when going hunting because it was warm and sunny, and was only going for a quick look up the hill or take my water bottle with me to stay hydrated. anyways ended up chasing a sika into the shit scrub which is a waste of time and energy in that shit so decided not to backtrack back to the track I came up on I will turn left and crash through the shit scrub and get back onto the track down the hill closer to the hut to save time it was starting to get late in the day and I was starting to get thirsty. the terrain was getting steep and undeleted underfoot making it hard to get through the shit scrub my footing gave way on the edge of a steep embankment so I ended up sliding down it and my right leg went into a hole up to my knee traping my leg I did a full body over my leg there was a loud cracking noise that came out of my leg when the Femur bone broke just above my knee fuck that hurt and I let the world know by screaming my lungs out in pain.my leg came out of the hole as I rolled down the embankment a bit.
I reached around to get my bum bag and get my PLB out but it was,t there it had been ripped off my waste in the fall and was nowhere to be seen I still had my rifle with 5 bullets in it thank god so just on dark i fired 3 shots off and hoped like hell my mate herd them he only herd 1 shot he told me so new I was out there somewhere. all I could do was try ad make myself comfortable and wait for the sun to come up it was a cold and painful night
he came up the hill to look for me early the next morning but never found me said he was worried as hell when i didn',t come back that night he went back to the hut pulled all the mattresses out and made a H out of them because heliseka flew over they were dropping hunters off to a hut upriver from us. The helicopter flew back over the hut returning to base and saw the H on the ground and my mate frantically waving so landed and my mate told them i was missing he then had a fly round looking for me. when the sun came i could see a stag territory scratched pad about 30 m down to my right it was the only semi level spot in the whole place like a little shelf it took me 2 hours to painfully drag myself there after tieing my boot laces together and tieing my rifle sling around my legs above the broken femur it was no mean feat getting to the stag rutt there was broken trees and stumps all over the place.I was lucky i had a cigarete lighter in my pocket it turned out tobe my life saver there was a dead tree that hung over the pad I managed to pull some small branches off the tree and light a small fire not easy to do in the wet bush .not long after getting the fire going i herd a helicopter and lucky for me he sore the smoke I very painfully dragged myself out to a small open area and he sore me gave me the thumbs up and few away the search and rescue helicopter turned up 1.5 hours latter i was winched out and flown to Rotorua hospital.Iam going to sign off now Iam tired and my leg is getting sore and I am not a very good story teller but i hope you get something out of this story i will write a part 2 and a summery then i feel up to it in the near future

Fuck mate. Glad you're still ticking after that ordeal. Appreciate you telling the story as there's plenty of lessons learned in this one.

Can never be too careful out there. Overconfidence can be the death of us.

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Thanks for sharing. You survived the ordeal and I hope you heal quickly. Did the bum bag and PLB get recovered?

You poor bugger,hope you recover guickly.I can feel the pain from here.Thanks for your story,just chill out for a few days n rest.

I wish you a speedy recovery, and thanks for reminding us all, that it can go badly wrong in a heartbeat.
I too have had a bad fall and banged myself up,(not as bad as you) a few items in a bum bag were a godsend at that time.

Good to hear you got out. not a good way to spend a night.

Sounds bloody horrible mate but could have been an even worse outcome. Live and learn I guess, lessons in there for all of us. Hope the recovery goes well.

All the best mate, and a timely reminder to us all.

Many thanks for sharing your ordeal with us. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

A mate and I had strong leather pouches made for our PLBs as the supplied pouches seemed too weak to hang on belts.

Glad you got out in one piece, a reminder to us all that's its dangerous out there

Jeeze mate! that's one scary scenario played out in full!!

From our April Fools get together I remember you are about half my size, so bloody well done getting through a cold night in wet bush with a broken femur with bugger all gear

Some good learning points there, like having gear strong enough that stays with you in a fall etc.

Get better soon, and listen to the physios when it comes to rehabilitation exercises. They will make an enormous amount of difference as to how strong you can get those muscles that will have been on holiday since the accident

As bad as it was, it could easily have been fatal. Very glad that it wasn't. Have a speedy recovery!

Well done surviving that there mate.But yea having a beer before the hunt not great.even one can dull senses and relax frame of thought leading costly decisions.Thanks for your honesty,I'm sure plenty of us including me have had a beer before a hunt,this is a real world reminder that yea nah is always the best answer.

Good luck on the recovery front. You had your PLB at an accessible place but getting the belt ripped off was bloody unlucky shit.

Thanks for sharing, I look forward to the next instalment. A broken femur can so easily be fatal, you are very lucky I hope the recovery goes well.