I've fallen and I can't get up.

So I went up to the camp for the first time since New Year's today. Snow was anywhere from 50-60 cm in the bush and quite soft. Put on my snowshoes and decided to break a trail down to the river (about a mile) and than set up at one of the food plots and try to call in some coyotes.

Well all was going smoothly until I lost my balance about 3/4 of a mile in and wiped out. Pack went flying, rifle buried in the snow and me on my back admiring the sky with my legs askew. I am sure I was quite the sight. :scream:

My trail breaking boats (snowshoes) are great but are something of a pain to take off/on when you are all geared up. So I tried (unsuccessfully) to get back on my feet without taking them off - not gonna happen with the parka and snow pants on as there was nothing to push off of. My hands were just disappearing into the snow with no ground to be found. Being the stubborn person I am I swam over to the nearest tree (about 10 feet) and used it to pull my self up.

At this point I was laughing at myself pretty hard and decided to just dump my gear and snowshoe around for a few hours as there was literally no coyote tracks anywhere. Saw 18 deer (group of 6 and a group of 12). They looked to be in very good shape. There was also more deer sign than I have ever seen at this time year. Also saw a group of 20-30 turkeys (not sure how many as they took off running and flying) and tons of snowshoe hare sign. One of the hare runs was wide enough and packed hard enough that I am pretty sure I could have walked on it without snowshoes.

All and all a fun way to spend a cold afternoon.

Lol it's a funny image. Sounds like you have some good evergreens in your area. And not too many predators. Great stuff.

Cheers

It's nice when one can laugh at himself. Sounds like you're a well adjusted individual...Oh, by the way, been there and done just that. That along with a few choice curse words at myself of course.

Funny, and we've all been there. I made the mistake of doing similar 2 winters ago on Cross Country skis. I swear I fell for 30 minutes trying to stay up and out of the trees(going down a "kiddie" hill) on a trail before I finally did fall.

Glad it worked out and sounds like a great area.

Been in the same boat before. Its hard when the snow is deep and your snowshoes are way down in it.


With that many deer around there would have to be coyotes/wolves not too far away. Good luck next time.

We've all done this! You might want to consider using poles when you snowshoe. They can really help you when this happens. It also gives you upper body a bit of a workout as well.

Nice to hear about the Deer. Generally speaking what area is your camp in?

82a along the Saugeen River.

LOL, I also do that a few times a week. But no ones watching!!

Many years ago when I was out dog sledding I was headed down a new trail that I was not familiar with . I knew at some point the trail would come to a main road that I would have to cross to continue on the other side. I was by myself and that dogs were blazing down the trail and it was one of those very bright sunny winter days where you cant see that trail and all the dips and doodles. Just as I was coming closer to the road that i had to cross the sled went into a low spot on the trail and I went forward over the handle bar and flipped over into the sled basket. The dogs continued full bore crossing the road with me in the basket of the sled in shock of what just happened ! A guy had stopped on the road and had witnessed what had happened and couldn't stop laughing at me. All I could do was laugh myself because of how silly it must of looked to him. It could of been a very bad scene if he hadn't stopped and hit my dog team and me.