Perspective

[Runner]

This season I was bitten by an insect getting into my bedroll. My own fault for not shaking it out first. The next day everyone left because a storm was coming. I stayed. I woke to the door iced closed with about 6 inches of ice and a huge bump at the bite site. I managed to get the door open and hunted that day some. Everyone else was without power back at home trying to keep things together, and the roads were nasty. The cabin is four miles in a woods road, and that is after you get that far! I did not tell anyone I was having problems because I knew they would try to get to me. For three days I got to watch the lump getting bigger while getting sicker before they got back in to get me. The third day I was too sick to care about hunting. Urgent care wanted me in the hospital on IV antibiotics immediately, but the storm had the emergency room backed up by over 8 hours to even be seen. Well, it is a couple of weeks later now, and with the modern meds I only have a big hole in my belly that is healing to show for it.
A free trapper that made my mistake and then got snowed in for three days before he could go for help would most likely be dead by now. Killed by an insect bite that got infected because he did not shake out his bedding.
They don't know if it was a spider bite or not, and they really did not care. The infection was baseball sized and the primary problem by the time I got to the docs.
A new scar and another history lesson to remember for me today, but most likely fatal back then!

 

[tg]

It is amazing at how many little things we take for granted and live with and around that would have meant death in the past.

 

[RC]

Runner, glad yer okay and mendin well,an learnt a valuable lesson! jes seems to me them insects would have their own bedroll......an wouldn't have ta climb in yers.. ah nature...(sorry couldn't resist..but real glad yer gonna be okay..and nice to know that stubborn thing bout goin huntin ain't jes confined ta a few of us... :thumbsup:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Figger it could have been a 'brown recluse' spider? If your bedroll had been left at woods camp very likely, I have found 'em in towels and such at hunt camp.

 

[Legionair]

Good to see you up and about... :thumbsup:

Gotta watch them buggys, one bite is sometimes all it takes.

Maybe your primitive gear should include a can of RAID.... :hmm:

Legion

 

[Cherokee]

'brown recluse' spider?

Exactly what I was thinking :hmm: . Glad your still kicking.

 

[Runner]

The bite is a mystery. I slapped it and brushed it out of my sleeping bag. I know it was a bug, but not what. The Staph infection was so bad by the time I saw the docs that they did not care. In the center the skin died and turned black. It was like thin leather, and it was that tough also. The surgeon had to remove it and I ended up with about a 2 inch square half inch deep hole. I was sick for days, but the infection could have caused that also. In the end, it did not matter what broke the skin and let the bacteria in. My own impression is that it was a spider bite that got infected, and several folks that saw it agree. The docs did not even care. They put me on double the strength dosage that is called for to handle the infection, waited till it abated, and cut the rest out. I never did have breathing difficulties like most describe.

The camp is pretty flexible woods camp. There is a construction trailer, and then there is a 18 by 30 double carport. The carport is enclosed with a highway sign tarp, and there is a wood stove in that part. Dirt floor, like living in a wall tent, only with a 12 foot ceiling. This was the first year for us to really use this new camp for the season, so there is a lot more work to do to get things perfect. There is also room for tents and there is a concrete pipe 5 foot across sunk into the ground for outdoor fires or primitive type camp cooking. You can use the TV, microwave, electric heat, and sleep in a bunk if you want. You can do the wood heat wall tent type thing. You can do primative if you wish. I started in a tent out away from everyone, but the weather quickly discouraged that. There was about three inches in the back of the tent at one point! I was sleeping in the car port/wall tent part.

 

[Cherokee]

Take a look at some of these pics.
Brown Recluse bites

Warning graphic!

 

[Runner]

Looks the same, but between the two in severity. No fun!

 

[Roy]

Man I had a Staph infection when I was around 18. The Doc took one look at the nice purple streaks going up my arm and I was in the hospital for about a week. Not fun is right, glad your doing better now.