My son learned a lesson the hard way today

[bryman021]

My son is 15 going on 16 and has taken interest in my crossbow. So I of course am more than willing to spend the time with him teaching him how to shoot it. We have spent the last 3 weeks practicing together once or twice each week. And on the first night before he ever took a shot, one of the first things I told him was to Always keep your fingers away from the rail once the bow is cocked and loaded. Well tonight we were shooting out in the backyard and on his second shot I noticed something sounded funny after he pulled the trigger. Well I soon realized what happened by the way he was dancing around and shaking his hand. At first I was afraid to look for fear of what I might see. After he calmed down enough for me to check his hand I saw it wasn't as bad as I expected. It was his thumb and it was bloody, bruised and swollen but intact. Whew!!

We made the trip to the ER anyway just to be safe because he was in alot of pain. Spent about 2 hours there jumped thru all the hoops and found out nothing was broken. They put a splint on his thumb and told us to keep it on there for 3 days.

I am pretty sure he must have had his thumb bent at the knuckle because the tip of his knuckle is where he took the hit. I don't how or why he got his grip positioned like that but I sure am glad he is ok, and once we got home he admitted that it really hurt his pride more than it hurt his thumb.

Luckily he's pretty bull headed and is already talking about being able to shoot again after he heals up. We both are sure to be extra cautious about where are fingers are!

[Ont_Excal]

He will heal and shoot another day and that is good news that his would is relatively minor.

I'm over 60 years old and have plenty of scars on my hands to prove my experience and the times I had a DOH! moment. I can laugh about the Homer moments now but they were painful enough at the time.

With the crossbow I have only tickled the tip of one finger and that was enough.

Someday your son will have a story to tell his son when they are out shooting in the back yard and so it will begin again.

[vixenmaster]

I sure hate to read about these string mutations on body parts. I am glad nothing serious happened & he will keep those fingers n such below the rail from now on

[j.krug]

Glad to hear he's okay. Hard lessons like this are often the ones we learn from or remember the most.

[wabi]

Glad to hear he's okay. Hard lessons like this are often the ones we learn from or remember the most.

You can talk forever and never come close to leaving the impression one whack with the string does.

Glad he didn't do any serious damage! (I'm one of those who weren't lucky. I had 6 stitches & two broken bones for the lesson learned - but it only took ONE lesson. )

[Dash]

At least he's OK, and its a lesson he won't forget. Good to see he's still showing an interest in it.

[Mark Rainbolt]

I am so Happy that he is OK !!! he will never forget that lesson.
God Bless,
Mark

[emptyfreezer]

Good to hear he wants to climb back on the horse. I just posted a cheap and easy foregrip option if you want to avoid that nastiness in the future. Hope he heals up quick!

[Hester0305]

Glad he's ok also. I've seen some nasty pictures of some beat up thumbs that got in the way.

[rayman]

Glad it wasn't bad. If he's like my son it takes an extreme situation like that to learn anything, and then its a 50-50 shot on the learning part. I suppose I'm pretty bullheaded too.

[Broadside]

Wow your son is a lucky guy!! I'm sure he learned a good lesson without any permanent damage.

[one shot scott]

I feel for him. I've learned my lesson twice now.

[Bullzeye]

After seeing some nasty pic's of whats left of peoples thumbs on this site, I surely would say he is a lucky boy. Glad he is going to be ok.

[taz3]

Sorry to read about this, but glad to know he's OK though.

[bryman021]

You know, I was really expecting to see a badly mangled thumb after seeing what has happened to ppl on this site. He did get very lucky, and when I pick up the bow to shoot now I find myself checking finger position on every shot!

Thanks to everyone for the comments, I was afraid with that happening to him he would be hesitant to continue shooting. I'm willing to bet once he heals up the first time he picks the bow up again he will be a little nervous and it might take a while to get all his confidence back(and accuracy). He seems to really like shooting and is already asking me if he can hunt with me this fall during archery season. Guess that means he'll need his own excal. I'm kinda thinking that I should get a Vortex and then he can use the Ibex. Good excuse to give the wife to buy another crossbow!!