How to Deal with Common Hunting Injuries?

Seasoned and professional hunters understand that exposure to injuries while hunting on the ranch is pretty normal! That brings the importance of knowing how to handle the injuries. If you are all set for South Texas hunting in the upcoming months, take a look at this blog to delve deeper into injury recovery strategies. Stay tuned for more information.

Injuries that Take Place Due to Falls

Hunters often use tree stands to track and kill their harvest. As a matter of fact, it’s true that a lot of injuries and accidents take place due to major falls. Some of them typically include:

Spinal Injuries

When an individual falls from a height, they often get hurt in their spine. Some of the symptoms of spine injury are:

• Tenderness and pain
• Paralysis and weakness
• Different types of sensations, such as tingling, numbness, or cold and hot sensations in the feet and hands

Now, let’s check out the treatment methods:

• Consider controlling the patient’s head movement using your hands
• Move the patient carefully and slowly
• Opt for medical support if the injury is way too serious and needs to be addressed immediately

Muscle Dislocations and Fractures

While looking for deer and hogs in South Texas hunting ranches, you might deal with musculoskeletal injuries such as dislocations and fractures. Here are some symptoms and signs to take a quick look at:

• Bruising and swelling
• Tenderness and pain in your joints and bones
• Severe wounds without or with visible bones
• Joint and limb deformity
• The patient is unable to use their joint and limb

When this type of unforeseen situation takes place, you need to adhere to the following steps:

• You will have to design a supportive, padded, and rigid splint for the limb. The splint is not supposed to prevent proper blood flow.
• Consider immobilizing the joint.
• Try to manage the pain with pain medication, compression wraps, elevation, and ice.

Recovery Strategies to Stop Heavy Bleeding

Hunting is an adrenaline-rushing sport that involves the use of rifle scopes, knives, and arrow bladers. Getting injured by these things can lead to potential punctures and lacerations. That’s why you must know the tricks to stop bleeding- or else the whole situation will only take a worse turn. Below, we have outlined some pointers for you to take a look at:

• Apply Direct Pressure on the Wound: In order to control bleeding, the first thing you can do is apply direct pressure on the victim’s wound. Don’t remove the dressing, even if it’s entirely soaked by blood. You can cover the drenched dressing with a fresh new one.
• Cover the Wound with Dressings: Once the bleeding is controlled, use a secured dressing equipped with ACE wrap and roller gauze to apply on the wound!
• Wound Packing: If the patient suffers from the armpit or groin injuries, pack the wound with a clean cloth, plain gauze, or hemostatic gauze before applying pressure.

Environmental Problems

Since hunting is an outdoor sport, the hunters are subjected to frequent environmental hazards that are hard to avoid.  Some of the serious threats might include hypothermia and heat exhaustion. Let’s scheme through the symptoms and treatment options without any further delay.

Hypothermia: Symptoms and Signs

• Cold Stress: The individual gets exposed to shivering and a cold sensation.
• Mild Hypothermia: Fine motor shivering and blurry speech. They find it difficult to carry out complicated tasks.
• Moderate Hypothermia: Extremely bad mental condition with violent shivering.
• Severe Hypothermia: Muscular rigidity, unresponsiveness, slow respiratory rates, and slow pulse.

Hypothermia: Treatment Options

• Insulate the patient’s hands, neck, head and feet
• If they are wearing damp or wet outfits, replace them with dry clothes
• Waterproof and wind layers come in handy in such cases
• Feed them sweet, warm, and non-caffeinated meals or snacks
• Seek medical help in case of serious situations

Heat Exhaustion: Symptoms and Signs

• Vomiting and feeling of nausea
• Fatigue
• Loss of appetite
• Feeling dizzy or fainting due to heat exhaustion
• Elevated respiratory or heart rate

Heat Exhaustion: Treatment Options

• Keep the patient hydrated
• Try to fix their muscle cramps by following some basic exercises
• Take them to some shady area where there is no heat
• Try to cool them down by fanning them, removing clothes, or spraying water

Once you have decided ‘where to hunt in Texas’, make sure to take the following precautions into consideration. Ensure a safe and exciting hunting experience.

Plan Your Hunting Trip- Our Ranch Is All Set to Host You

Hunting experiences come with their own challenges. However, if you stay aware of the potential risks that can take place, mitigating them becomes as smooth as a cakewalk. Once you get a hang of it, ensuring smooth sailing while hunting won’t look like an impossible task. So, what else are you waiting for? If you are still wondering ‘where to hunt hogs in Texas,’ we at Independence Ranch will be more than happy to host you.