Off line

Rex Howell from the Deer Camp Blog has written a terrifying account of his father been shot at by another hunter that mistaken him for a turkey.

This story brings back a frightening memory, that I have put away somewhere deep in my brain, of the time many years ago when I was shot at by an archer. That archer has mistaken me for a deer. I heard the swish of something zooming by my head. At the same instance I felt a burning sensation on my neck. As my hand reached to the place where the pain came from it felt wet. Pulling my hand away to look at it I saw my hand was bloody. “My God I have been shot at” was my first thought, followed by; “How badly am I hit?” As I looked around I saw the arrow sticking in a tree, still vibrating from the impact, not five feet behind me.

To make a long story very short, it turned out that the injury was a minor cut. Not even worth it to be stitched up, at least not in my opinion. I was very lucky that day, had the arrow came just an inch closer it would have gone right trough my neck, cutting my windpipe, the arteries and probably the spinal cord too. The lesson I have learned from that is. A. I always wear a blaze orange safety vest during archery and turkey hunting season from and to my stand. In addition, during turkey hunting season I tie red flagging tape to the tree I am sitting under or even my blaze orange vest when I hunt on public land. Contrary to popular believe I never had a turkey spook because of these hunter warning signals. B. I always use my binoculars to check for hunters sitting in treestands or on the ground, especially if I hunt on public land. I spend as much time looking for other hunters as I do looking for game. Sure it is a bit of a hassle. But I like to stay alive and I love to hunt public land.

Hunting, according to the American accident statistics is one of the safest recreational activities, safer than basketball, safer even than tennis. But we all need to be reminded that safety in the outdoors should be our all priority the moment we enter the woods. The safety rules are simple enough. Over at the Moose Droppings Blog Moose has posted the “Turkey Hunting Code of Safety and Ethics".

On another note:
We’re finally moving to our new home over the Easter long weekend. As from Saturday, April 7 I will be off-line for hopefully not longer than a week until we get our high speed cable connected back again at the new place.

I will come back with good news and stories to report here. In the meantime I wish all my fateful and new readers of Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer a happy Easter long weekend. If you are out in the woods chasing gobblers or go fishing please be careful, use logic and commonsense, that is what safety is all about. Remember that we all have loving family back home awaiting our safe return.