They had to cut my left boot off, so I came home with one boot and a shed antler..... not a real good trophy there.
Waiting to go into surgery after they popped my ankle back in place
The 2012 season was suppossed to end with a nice relaxing hunt in the middle of nowhere North Dakota with some good friends that work too much finally getting some time to hunt together. Instead I drove 14 hours to hunt one day and spend the next few in a hospital out there. Deano and I got on some bucks right away the first morning and with a few close calls on one decent 4x4 and two nice 5x5's we had high hopes for the second day even though I found a horn from a good buck that had already shed his rack for the year; that is until we saw a Porcupine up a tree on our drive out and I decided it would be a good idea to climb up the tree and shake it out. When the limb shook the porcupine towards my face I decided it was a good idea to launch myself straight back out of the tree, I didn't think I was very high up, but I landed wrong on my left ankle and when I hit the ground I felt a tight pain in my ankle and looked down to see my boot hanging towards the left and back and I was facing straight ahead! Lucky for me Deano had some experience as a paramedic and did a great job getting me to the truck and out of the wilderness to meet the ambulance safely. Once in the ambulance it was an 80 mile drive to the nearest hospital, the time that passed from when I broke and dislocated my ankle til they got me to the surgery room, were made more bearable due to my experiences with wrestling, that sport teaches you how to deal with discomfort and pain and control your mind and thoughts to make it more maneageable; Once I hit the ground I panicked thinking of how much my stupidity would affect my business and my friends hunt, also knowing how many hours I was from the nearest hospital and that I was in for a long torturous night, I also thought about how much I took for granted being able to live such an active and hustle all the time lifestyle, and that was about to change for a while, but hopefully not permanently. I just tried to focus on breaking the trip down into small victory's, like getting from the dirt path road to the gravel road, then from the gravel road to the highway and into the ambulance, then to the interstate and finally to the hospital. I was very thankful to everyone that saved my ass/ankle that night; situations like this show the true character of your friends you surround yourself with, I owe a couple guys more than I will be able to repay anytime soon. I had to spend three days in the hospital after they did surgery to put a screw through my ankle to repair the tendons I tore out and a metal rod to heal up the break on my fibula. The bad luck just continued as my buddy's truck broke down on the way to the hospital to pick me up, another guy in camps bow and release malfunctioned on him and another friend of ours missed a nice buck at 18 yards. After all of this I thought it was time to call an end to the 2012 season. This doesn't mean I am giving up on this Mule deer hunt on this ranch in North Dakota, this is my second season going home empty handed and these branch horned ba$tard$ are getting to be a real pain in my ankle, I think it just got personal. Hopefully I draw next year, because I will go out there focused on steering clear of heights and porcupines and finally filling my tag.
Special thanks to St Joe's hospital staff in Dickinson, North Dakota. Also, Deano and Alex for sticking with me and pulling me out of the middle of nowhwere to safety. Hunting is suppossed to be an adventure and in that sense I got my moneys worth.
Nick
