NE WA - Whitetail - Gory Blood and GORE!

[Steve Jo]

So...you like the shoes even though you sustained that injury from them?? Or was it due to wearing them?

Your mileage will vary with the shoes.  I would say that if you give your feet a couple months to adjust, you'll have significantly fewer injuries than what you would have with even the best conventional footwear.
It sounds counter intuitive, but your feet are just WAY stronger are at the same time, MUCH more senstive and 'aware' of their environment.  You would simply never roll your ankle in 5 fingers as an example.  Rolled ankles are a function of convention shoes and boots on uneven terrain.

Now I DID dislocate my tow, but that was from trail running at dusk on a pretty rutted trail.  My toe caught a root at full stride.  I didnt fall or anything, but it hurt.  I walked it off for a bit, then started again and went less than 50 yards and did it again dislocating the toe.  I walked from there.

I cavered well over a hundred miles in 10 days and in some of the most rugged country you could find and aside from being dumb and running on a poorly lit trail the footwear performed flawlessly.

[Steve Jo]

Injuries suck, glad you are OK. Great story and beautiful buck. There is a lesson here and I appreciate you posting it. Last year there were a few of these stories and I think a few members actually benefited from them. This year there is a different attitude on this board so I expected most of the grief you got. We all do things out of haste or complacency and a reminder can go a long way to helping someone else avoid that pain.

accidents can happen at any time, in any activity.  In hind sight, they are always preventable. 

[saylean]

  I bet you wont forget that season any time soon! Congrats on a fine buck and sticking it out...

Also, even a bigger congrats on not screwing up that knee in a real bad way. Its a FINE BUCk.

[alecvg]

Wow!  I had a saw jump on my last year while cutting a log, ripped through my jeans, and shaved hair off my leg.  I was very lucky.  Awesome story!

[DOUBLELUNG]

Way to share a great story and lesson.  I have a set of parallel 3/4" white scars on my right inner thigh, right over my femoral artery, from being young and dumb. Up a tree, with a chainsaw, blue jeans and tennis shoes.

[coonhound]

Great story and buck....

I worked on a thinning crew when I was just out of high school, one of the kids on our crew had his saw kick back and he cut the entire zipper off his pants but didn't touch the goods...

[DeerThug]

I really like the last pic in the mist.   Like you are paying homage to a great life and buck.  Kinda the way it should end.  Nice story.

[Steve Jo]

I really like the last pic in the mist.   Like you are paying homage to a great life and buck.  Kinda the way it should end.  Nice story.

My wife set up that shot and took the picture.  It's my favorite too.  We accidentally deleted the recovery shots.  I didnt know at the time if I would be able to 'undelete' them.  So we took another set with the buck hanging in camp.  Just turned out really well.

thanks for the compliments!

[garyltbh]

IN high school during my forestry class a kid cut one of his balls real bad and they had to take it off i guess he flies solo now.Oh that was with a chainsaw to ouch ouch and ouch again

[sakoshooter]

I enjoyed reading this story. Nice buck. Congrats

[twinners]

Did anyone else notice the small deer in the second pic peeing on the tree?

[twinners]

Seriously though it is a great story and a great animal. Glad it worked out for you.

[Steve Jo]

Insert Quote
Did anyone else notice the small deer in the second pic peeing on the tree?


that's a 3d target

[Hornseeker]

Well, I hope you stick around here Steve and share some more of your wilderness adventures. Always a good read. You should cut and paste last years ID elk story over here in the elk forum...

On footwear... do you feel the same when you have a heavy pack on? Lightweight or these glove shoes for packing out an 85# load of meat and horns? The last two years I've hunted with lightweight tenny shoes on, but have my heavy duty, Lowa Tibet GTX's for when i'm packing a load...

one reason I see to where boots is to avoid ankle, upper foot "abrasions" when going through dead fall or rocky chit...

Tell me more...

[Steve Jo]

Hey Hornseeker, I'll have to dig that up.

The 5 fingers are 'suitable' for packing heavy loads.  The only issues I noticesd was when I got back on a trail system, the little rocks you step on hurt worse with the added weight.  I carry trail runners for packing meat.

I got this bear in August wearing my 5 fingers.  shot him at 4 feet!


All I had on to get back to camp was my 5 fingers.  I was 2000 feet below camp and about 3 miles out.  The trail was an old horse / mule trail and was full of little golf ball sized stones.  it was 'unfun' but I've yet to have a blast carrying 80+ pound loads


With trail runners on, the 11 miles back to the truck with 105 pounds of camp and bear was not an issue... at least for my feet


The 5 fingers are the real deal. they take awhile to get used to, once you commit to them you'll wonder why you messed around with boots.
as for abrasions, wet, cold, etc.  you get used to it.