Doe
BRANDON WARD: 11/4/12
95 LB
6 Point 51 5/8" Buck
Many of you know Brandon at Creekwood. He worked
for us this summer and probably will again in the future.
He is an accomplished archer in the field and also in
the range on paper. The following is a BITTER-SWEET
E-Mail I received from his dad Steve on 10/22/12.
Hi Ben
Here is a picture of Brandon with the doe he killed October 21st
with his bow. What makes it special is that he killed it from his
wheelchair. On October 6th Brandon suffered a terrible hunting
accident. As he stepped onto the platform of his tree stand, the
treestand crashed to the ground from 20 feet up with Brandon in
it. Brandon has a broken left patella (Knee) and broken right foot.
Being opposite legs crutches don't work out that well and he is
forced to use a wheelchair most of the time. Typical of Brandon,
he complained that he was not able to kill the monster buck that
he saw and had to settle for a doe. He doesn't realize how lucky
he was in this experience.
Steve Ward
Just to make you feel better Brandon, your fall could
have been worse. Your fall was 4 feet higher than my
building at Creekwood. You have probably been told,
you are lucky to be alive. Being young, tough, and in
good shape, is on your side and you will be back to
100% in no time. I'm really, really, really glad that there
was no steel fence under your treestand like the one
below.
See Brandon, as it worked out, you were
really, really, really LUCKY, it could have
been worser, badder, more painful, and
permanent for your future families life.
Brandon texted me today (11/4/12) to tell me
he had just taken a buck down in the Southern
Tier. When he & his dad Steve came to the
shop, Brandon got out of the truck and was
walking. I said, you can walk and he said well
sort of. His dad said, he kind of walks like you
do Mr. Adams. He has a brace on his left leg that
doesn't allow him to bend that leg, because his
knee cap is broken, and since his accident
(10/6/12) all the stuff in his right foot he broke is
slowly coming back, he can kind-of walk.
Yesterday on Saturday he actually hunted out of a
treestand for the first time since he fell, but didn't
see anything. I said to him, how are you doing it?
He said I guess I like hunting more than I do being
hurt. He said when I was going up the tree I was
shaking. I had to kind of pull myself with my arms
to get on the next step going up. Getting out of
the stand when I was done, I dropped my bow,
but I knew my marks on my sight were alright
and we checked out the bow all over so we knew
it wasn't messed up at all.
For this hunt Brandon was sitting in a camo chair up
against a tree with some camo cloth around him on
both sides. He was on the downwind side of a deer
trail and the buck was only 5 feet from him at 9:30am
when he shot it with his Slick Trix 100 grain
broadhead. He was hunting in Ellicottville, NY, with
his dad. He said they had snow down there and it was
a beautiful day to hunt.
Brandon's hunt today was a hunt just like I thought
I might personally do out back. The only difference
was, he did it and I didn't. To all you old farts like me,
go get a camo chair from Dick's, some camo cloth
from Jo-Ann Fabrics and get out there and kill
something. To all you people who have gone to
Harbor Freight and bought 6 Ratchet-Straps for
$19.99, don't risk your life on a $3.33 item. Be safe
in your treestand. To all the people who hunt out
of a tree without a safety strap, this is what your
bone structure looks like.
A safety rope, belt, harness, vest, what ever you
want to call it, is a tool that helps you kill a deer
first of all, because you can lean out and take a
shot that you can't take without it. Secondarily it
will save you butt if you fall, but I tell people the
main reason you need one is to kill a deer.
I suggested to Brandon, because of what happened
to him, he ought to write a story about it, and I would
help him to get it in print.
Below are some pictures from the results of a
trip to New Zealand in the summer of 2012.