It can happen to anyone . . . even you!
I have been shooting all of my life and do everything possible to ensure safety with firearms. Sometimes I feel, and others have indicated, I am/was too picky concerning safety in wingshooting, target shooting and any other aspect with regards to firearms. A couple of examples of the steps I take to minimize risk in the sport of wingshooting: I don’t hunt in pheasant drives and I try not to spend much time hunting with more than 3 hunters. I know I am not the only one in the Association who feels this way. We have all seen the risk of a pheasant drive and have heard stories. Additionally, most of us, I am sure, have all been in risky situations or near miss situations, when wingshooting with more than 3 hunters.
I consistently communicate breeches of safety while hunting. I don’t mind correcting myself or my close friends with respect to firearm safety. If someone points a shotgun in an unsafe direction, I have no problem pointing out those instances. I just re-read these last 3 sentences and it sounds like I am unsafe and routinely hunt with Mr. Unsafe! As I stated in the beginning, I am picky when it comes to guns and safety! Prior to hunting with friends and strangers alike, I usually talk about situations we may encounter and how we should handle them, for instance: if the birds fly low to the dogs, don’t shoot and call it out; or if we lose sight of you in the mesquite trees, we will not shoot in that direction and will quickly work to get visual again. There are many situations we face when hunting and I try to anticipate problem areas.
Now to the real point . . .
How in the world did I shoot my lab in the back of the head? It was a very cold day in December 2005. I had the standard layers of clothes on and gloves. An interesting note on the clothes – the gloves and clothes I had on are old and ragged! I mean I have hunted dressed in these exact clothes and gloves for 5 or so years! The gun I was/am using, I have been shooting for 3 years – thousands of rounds between wingshooting and target shooting. I was used to the attire and gun. I continue . . . Triton, my 7 year old yellow lab, and I started hunting a milo stubble field on MAHA property. We had walked about a quarter mile when Triton started to get birdy. Triton tracks the pheasant about another 50 yards and then starts to circle back around me. At this time I stopped and held the gun cradled in my arms, one hand around the pistol grip with my finger parallel to the gun, off of the trigger and the other arm holding the gun. It was lying so the gun barrel was pointing down slightly towards the ground away from the dog. Triton then crossed back in front of me, within 3 feet and aggressively charged into the stubble. As he crossed my body I moved my arm to hold the gun with both hands but did not change the angle of the gun with respect to the ground (this turned out to be a mistake). I did turn the gun away from Triton slightly. As Triton charged the hiding rooster I turned my body to mount the gun. The bird flushed and I continued to mount my gun. Triton continued to charge (he does not jump after birds). As the gun came up I clicked the safety off and continued to bring the gun to my shoulder . . . BOOM! The gun fired when it caught on my jacket prior to getting the gun firmly onto my shoulder. The gun barrel was still pointing down slightly because the rooster was only 3 feet off of the ground. By the time Triton lunged for the bird he had cross slightly into the gun target line. It was over, I was in denial, and Triton yelped one time and rolled. He was probably 15 feet away from a 12 ga, 2 3/4 inch load of 1330 fps, copper-plated #5’s, with improved cylinder choke. I immediately set (not dropped the gun down), ran to him and held him. As I touched him he growled one time until he knew it was me. There was a ton of blood behind his right ear and his mouth was pouring blood out. I looked at both eyes and the right eye was obviously swollen but not punctured. I cried (I am 44 years old and this day I cried many times like a baby). My dogs are just like my twin, 9 year old boys – all family, all of the time. They sleep with us and live our lives with us.
At this point I thought he would die immediately. I picked him up over my shoulders, around my neck (85 pounds), found my gun, placed it through my gamebag (when I set my gun down after the shot, I kicked out the two remaining shells and left the chamber open – something I do not remember doing), and started the quarter-mile walk to the Suburban. As I walked, I prayed, I cried and I saw Triton fight to keep his head up. The smell was terrible and I didn’t know why until I asked the vet later and she said he had expressed his anal glands with the shock. We got to the Suburban and I put him in the back with my other two dogs. He just lay there but would not put his head down. I quickly but safely started driving to town. I made two phone calls and received two phone calls in the 30 or so minute drive to the vet. The first phone call was to see if the first, small town I was driving through had a vet and to let a dear friend know what had happened. I needed big time prayers. The second phone call was to my wife and this is where I really cried. I received two calls out of the blue, both from very good friends and hunters. This second call from my hunting buddy provided me with some very good information. He had all of the nearby vet’s addresses and phone numbers. He called ahead and coordinated the emergency room, and met me at the vet’s office. When I got to the vet they were ready to take him immediately.
I really didn’t spend much time in the room with Triton initially because I felt so guilty. My hunting buddy spent a lot of time with him and kept my up-to-date with what was going on. This day was extremely long and painful. I still thought it was a dream and wished it was! I knew what happened but could not believe it nor wanted too. I replayed the event over and over in my mind and tried to change the outcome. If I had only held the gun UP, like I do 99.9% of the time when the dog gets birdy or I walk in on point with my GSP. In this specific situation, I was just too relaxed as Triton flushed the rooster. If the gun had shot 5 inches left it would have killed him, and 5 inches right would have been much less destructive.
Triton spent 3 nights and 2 days with the vet. I visited everyday except once (they wouldn’t let me see him on Sunday, another long story). Those 2 days I hunted with my two other dogs in 8 inches of fresh snow. It was bittersweet and you all know why. We long for snow on the ground when we hunt for pheasants and I didn’t have my buddy with me. My mother asked me if it would change how I hunted, I said I don’t plan on shooting my dog again and I will be even more diligent about wingshooting safety especially when it comes to hunting with my twin boys.
On Monday, I picked up Triton and then went to pack up camp and head home. The destruction: Triton lost sight in his right eye and had ruptured right eardrum. There are 70+ pellets still in him, although a few have come out. You can feel a few around his head. The vet said it looked really bad but it was like he was hit over the head with a baseball bat and he should be OK soon. How soon? More on that later. As I approached the camp, I thought I would let him out to relieve himself and see how he reacted to an unloaded gun. I grabbed the gun, let him out of the Suburban and told him to hunt em’ up. Within 30 yards he flushed 3 roosters and turned around to me and said “Well?” That situation really made me feel good.
In the month to follow Triton saw an eye specialist 4 times. To date, the eye is cosmetically OK, but he cannot, nor will see again out of it. The retina was puncture in 2 places and he has a cataract from the trauma. The third eyelid is always up just a bit and the lower part of the eyelid is slightly droopy, for lack of better words. Most folks would look at him and never know anything. I do though. The eye vet said he could hunt with me in January and he would be absolutely fine. I just have to put artificial tears in the eye and everyday for the rest of his life he gets one drop of a steroid in the eye.
The January trip was awesome. He hunted like nothing had ever happened! You can tell he cannot see like he could before because I had to handle him to more birds. The problem was compounded because he could not hear very well, there is no way he can hear a bird flush even if it I right beside him. A quick aside – last summer he completely lost his hearing, stone cold deaf and then gradually regained most of it back. Our vet has no idea why. While he was deaf I taught him to hunt with a vibrating collar and I can handle him with this collar. Back to the January hunt – instead of the vibrating collar I used my GSP’s beeper collar which I can command to beep remotely. Since the speaker is just behind his head, he can hear it. The vibrating collar doesn’t vibrate enough when he is bounding through the CRP and stuff, so he misses it frequently. Our January hunt was a solid 8 days of non-stop action.
It is spring now and his hair has almost grown back where the vet shaved him. I have had to tell the story to a few close friends and I had told Jon Wenzel I would get him the story because I figured the Association folks would be interested, interested for many reasons. As you have read this account many of you have probably have made many a comment, good and bad about me and my dog. I hope this will truly help your hunting adventures in a very positive way. I still feel like an idiot and can’t believe it happened to me, but what it has really brought to light is accidents can happen to anyone, including me and all of you. What is important is what you do after the accident with your life and those around you. |
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