The temperatures are sure showing that the fall season is soon to be upon us. It is without a doubt my very favorite season of the year. For thousands of other hunters and outdoor enthusiasts I am sure they feel the same.
I hunt almost every day of the season for some quarry. Most of those days are just the last 90 minutes before the sun sets each day.
When I leave the house or office, I always try to tell my significant other the general area that I will be tromping around in. This is so if I don’t make it back home for some reason, they at least know what county to start the search in.
Cell phones are a fact of life these days for almost everyone, but I can say that a ringing cell phone that gets answered for whatever reason by a member of my hunting party is one of my biggest pet peeves. The sounds of nature broken up by a constantly ringing phone can make what would be a quality outing into a frustration session.
I put my phone on vibrate when I am hunting. I carry it and only answer it if it is one of my kids, my girlfriend or my mom. All others just need to leave a message.
A phone while hunting is for me to reach other people and not for people to reach me. If you think phone conversations is an important aspect of your outdoor hunting experiences, then you will most likely not spend much time in my hunting group.
I would never leave the phone in the truck though.
If you have some sort of emergency with a human or dog accident, you need the ability to call for help. They have their place.
I had one such incident. I was hunting with a group that shot a rooster that was hit but that was far from dead. It sailed about a quarter of a mile into a different area of habitat and I marked where it fell. We did not go back for it at that minute. We finished the push to the end of the spot and when we were finished, we returned to where the bird landed. It had both of its legs broken so I knew it could not run away from the landing zone.
I showed one member of the party where it landed from the road and then headed out with my three dogs to find it. As I got closer to the spot, they would hand signal me from the road to guide me to the exact location.
As I was walking through a willow thicket, I found myself flat on the ground. I knew something bad had happened – I just didn’t know yet what it was.
As I tried to get back to my feet, I found that I could not do so. It became completely clear in a matter of 10 seconds or so that as I had fallen, a tree branch lying on the ground had entered my upper arm on the underside, passed completely through my arm, and was sticking about 10 inches past the new hole in my shirt on the topside of my arm.
A stick the size of a broomstick had impaled me. As I held the branch tightly, I got to my knees and was able to break off the branch so it was about 4 feet long. There was almost no blood. I was able to walk back to the truck and make my way to the emergency room with the help of one other member of the hunting party.
I survived the incident but it polarized in my mind that had I been all alone, I would have needed my phone to call emergency services.
This is why I always carry my phone when enjoying an outdoor adventure, but it is a safety factor and is used for nothing else. Seeing a 3/4- inch branch sticking through your arm is an eye opener. This solidifies the reason to always tell someone where you are going and about when you will be home.
A few days later I visited the spot where I had fallen and saw that there was a collapsed barbed wire fence and the top wire was about 4 inches higher than ground level. I had tripped on that wire.
It could have been a lot worse. What if it had lodged in my eye? How about in the base of my neck or through my chest?
The moral of this story is to always take your phone with you but not to let that safety device interrupt the tranquility of a late afternoon walk in the grass with your trusty dog.
Outdoor adventures soothe your soul and at least for a short time disconnect you from the electronic world we live in.
Hunting seasons are soon to be upon us. Be careful, be safe, tell others your plans and then go enjoy a walk in the tall grass. Do me a favor though. Please watch out for collapsed barbed wire fences.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.