Worst witnessed Bushcraft injury.

[TeeDee]

Without wishing ( or attempting too ) gross people out or out flex each other ( In a 'Knights of Ni' style ) what has been the worst bushcraft type activity ( pretty broad I appreciate ) injury that you've witnessed?

Interested to hear what caused it , could it have been avoided , what was the outcome, and was it successfully dealt with there and then ? or was it a headless chicken situation.
Was specific kit to hand to deal with it? , or was something improvised and pressed into service ?



Only asking as to find some realities of what we have seen/experienced/or personally learnt from.

( Don't think photos will be appreciated so lets try to be mindful younger readers and older people can all find the subject matter squeamish )

 

[Pattree]

As an industrial first aider I’ve dealt with a lot of incidents, but Bushcrafting / Climbing / Walking / Camping - nothing serious.
Twisted ankle (but walked off the hill)
Scrapes and cuts that a sticking plaster manages.
Probably the worst wasn’t exactly an injury - a very bad case of the squits. We had clean water, electrolytes and a spare driver to get him to the local practice.
The worst bit was reassuring him that he didn’t need to be embarrassed; that it was nothing different from a broken wrist. Can happen to anybody.

There was only one day of camp left but we looked out for each other in case it was infectious. Nothing else developed.

Could It have been avoided?
Most accidents can be avoided in retrospect. Not sure about this one.

 

[MartinK9]

.

 

[HorseGuy]

I once twisted my ankle in a deep tractor track while walking without paying enough attention and ended up with a bit of a limp for a day or two. Last week while brushing a dried thorn bush leaf from my trousers I got a nasty splinter which required help from my girlfriend to remove (I squealed like a baby the whole time). Also the unusually strong nettles where we are are not to be messed with either. Grrr they're really 'orrible!

As you can probably tell I'm extraordinarily naive and fortunate in that I've never witnessed or had to deal with any serious injuries ever in my life. Hopefully this exceptionally fortunate situation never changes. I've done a first aid course, read books and watched first aid videos so have a fair idea what needs to be done in various situations but thankfully I've never actually been 'tested'. I do sometimes worry how well I would handle a serious real-life medical situation if the pressure was on and adrenaline is pumping. With a bit of luck I'll never find out.

 

[Damascus]

I bought a new mora whittling knife and first time id used in earnest sliced my thumb, much blood, haha!

 

[Pattree]

A risky thing to say just before Summer Moot but perhaps, counterintuitively, Bushcraft is safer than many other activities or its participants are more aware.

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

On a Bushcraft course with Frontier Bushcraft in 100 acre wood. Well run and well instructed and followed a well trod path of skills and progression through though skills.

Everyone issued a Mora and time came for a well drawn and personal instruction into the various stages of simple carving. One rule mentioned very clearly was no carving after sunset due to low light.

One individual decided that evening to ignore that instruction and also that no one else was carving proceeded to very badly slash her hand. Luckily, over and above the staff first aid, there was a couple who were both medics who deployed their experience and calmness to bandage the individual up.

This gave more time to the instructors who rapidly had a plan and transport arranged to take her to the ED. They came back with plenty of stitches and was pickes up by a relative.

If I was asked to comment I would say that the young individual was socially awkward, lacked any outdoor experience, had never owned a knife and didn't take instruction well....perhaps we would have been the same but I would suggest we've all cut ourselves when younger and learned a valuable lesson that translated into our adult lives.

 

[Falstaff]

1) Really bad rashes and inflammation from Giant Hogweed. We didn't know what Giant Hogweed was, or about it until much later. Took a long while to recover.
2) Late night drunken long walk back to tent along riverside unaccompanied. Lost way, walked off bank into river, as falling, face hit end of scaffold pipes supporting boat access way. Major dental injury, broken teeth and uppers impacted back into upper jawbone. Managed to get out of river unaided and continue to tent.
Alchohol & shock reduced pain considerably, minimal bleeding. Relatively remote location on a Saturday night, no idea of location of any hospital/A&E. (Or phone coverage) Put into sleeping bag and sought emergency services next morning, but redirected to only open emergency dental unit miles away in Slough - who were useless and did nothing. " Use painkillers, wait until swelling goes down, then come back"
Went to own private dentist (ex-teaching hospital and Harley St.) who confirmed advice! Required extensive teeth removal, jawbone repair and root canal work, private anaesthetist, then dentures. Multiple visits, took months, major cost impact.
Moral of event: Do not get drunk when alone, or try to walk unaccompanied at night without a torch, or near any form of hazard (water, height, etc etc.). Pre-plan your return options before you go, with an eye to what can go wrong. If present, do not leave someone behind.

 

[slowworm]

Not fully bushcrafty but I managed to give myself a bad burn when making charcoal. I was burnt by some flaming plastic so quite a deep burn. I didn't have much clean water to hand so now I make sure I have water and a gel burn dressing.

I've also had a deep bite from a German Shepard whilst walking a friends dog. Nothing I could have done about it and probably not a.vast amount I could have done other than go to A&E to have the bite cleaned.

 

[John Fenna]

I managed to stab myself in the left palm whilst re-profiling a blade (too tired to do the job really) patched myself up and healed in 3 days .... very sharp knife so a clean wound!
Saw a student badly slice a finger ignoring instruction on how to draw a Mora from it's sheath - hospital job to get stitched up.
Saw a student badly slice their left hand while learning pressure flaking a flint blade - hospital job again.
Sliced my left arm with GFB SFA pulling it out of a log it had jammed in whilst trying to split the log down for fire wood ... again, probably too tired for the task.... hospital job after suffering the attention of my (qualified) buddies ...
Every scar a memory

 

[HorseGuy]

I've learnt two useful lessons from this thread so far.

1. Don't attempt to do a risky job when tired.
2. Don't attempt to do a risky job in poor light.

 

[TeeDee]

I have learned two useful lessons from this thread so far.

1. Don't attempt to do a risky job when tired.
2. Don't attempt to do a risky job in poor light.

Yes. Second that - when you can sense you're body is tired but you're mind is saying push on - listen to the body.

 

[MrEd]

Stepping on an unsheathed crook knife in bare feet and damn near almost amputating a couple of toes

 

[TeeDee]

Stepping on an unsheathed crook knife in bare feet and damn near almost amputating a couple of toes

You're OWN unsheathed crook knife or someone else's?

 

[Toddy]

My friend had my little sickle in his hand, the one that was a copy of a Bronze Age one, but the handle was kind of y shape that the meat of the hand sat in to pull.
Going up a slight slope to cut bracken, the hook of the y caught in his thigh pocket and his hand slid forward into the sharp hook of the sickle.
One of the most capable men I have ever met, and this happened in a split second. He was fortunate that he didn't cut tendons, just really fleshy slices into his fingers.

A&E, and we'd to empty our pockets and belt carry twice into the glove box before we went into the hospital.
Lots of steristrips, superglue sort of stuff and wrapping.

He still made fire by friction the next day, one handed !

 

[Broch]

I've learnt two useful lessons from this thread so far.

1. Don't attempt to do a risky job when tired.
2. Don't attempt to do a risky job in poor light.

And ... don't drink alcohol

 

[slaine_23]

Jaysus, my little “what an idiot” incident today in allowing the saw blade of SAK to fold onto the top of my fingers because I didn’t see I’d approached the branch to be cut with the back of the blade and therefore folded the damn thing onto my fingers looks rather modest. Nothing like the jaw bone horror described thankfully.
Still dumb though. Tiny wee bit of care (and wearing the glasses) would have lead to a lot less bleeding and swearing.

 

[slaine_23]

I've learnt two useful lessons from this thread so far.

1. Don't attempt to do a risky job when tired.
2. Don't attempt to do a risky job in poor light.

And wear your glasses if you need to.

 

[nigelp]

 

[TeeDee]

View attachment 104153

Funny!!

But I did say no flex in the OP.to be fair.

Its been interesting so far because frankly I was expecting worst. But its possible my mind have been preconditioned after seeing the happy-happy slide show "favourites" of the WMT team.