missed first hunt 2006

[tommy]

For the first time since I started hunting I missed the 2006 dove openner. My wife was bitten by a poisonous spider called the brown recluse. she had to have surgery to remove the area around the bite and became very ill. She is better now and recovering well after 4 days in the hospital.
I really dont mind the missing of the first hunt of the year to take care of her because I Love her and she is so supportive of my hunting and even defends me to others and well you know............

All my 30 years hunting and thank God no bites of any kind and she gets bit at home by one of the most poisonous spiders in the west and not even native to our area.

Have any of you had to miss an openner because of a wierd situation or out of the ordinary event?

[CHAVEZ CHAVEZ]

tommy sorry to hear about that, that happened to my sister n law 2 yr's ago same spyder !
as for the other my wife became pregnant we were very happy to bring another child to our faimly.
got later on n the pregnancy she became very ill ( complicated ) this was dureing spring trky.
missed the whole season but like u said she is my wife and love her and supports all my hobbies
outdoor etc.been with her for 18 yr's . the baby was born fine , he is 16 months old, named him after my dad and youger brother.

[wranglerdude]

Tommy; Hope your wife is doing OK. What state are you in? I've killed several of these brown recluse spiders this year in the house. How was she bitten? Have heard that most bites occur in bed when you roll over on one. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Wranglerdude

[Brent]

That's scary man, I have seen some pretty nasty pictures of bites from those spiders online and in catalogs. Does not look pleasant at all. Good luck with a speedy recovery. Haven't missed an opening date due to anything major yet*

*knock on wood

[Flatcoat1]

Tommy, Had a friend get an bite from a brown recluse. He actually was in a position under a house and could not move. Saw the spider bite him. I saw my friend about three months after the incident and could not believe the wound. Just nasty but he replied, "You should have seen it when it was bad." Two events come to mind about lost hunting time. Last year I missed all of deer season and barely got in some late season squirrel due to back surgery. Drove me crazy. Best story I ever heard was from my brother. He and a duck hunting buddy were going out opening day. The buddy's wife was nine months pregnant. She assurred him she was fine and to go ahead and go. So they did. No sooner than they got set up and the sun was growing pink in the sky that the local police officier (small town) was at the boat ramp on his p.a. calling his name. He barely made it to the hoospital in time. My brother went back out and said it was one of the best hunting days he had ahd in a long time. Flatcoat

[crablegs]

I need to find pics of those things. I found a weird larger spider in my house the other day. We have tons of Daddy Long legs, which i still hate, but this one was larger and hairy. I live in the country so am I awaiting the inevitable?

[Flatcoat1]

From what I understand, the Recluses (the brown gets the most publicity but there are others) all are potent but are true to their name. They like out-of-the-way places. Closet corners, under the house, attics, etc. If you live in an area where they are found then you may get bit but I would not bet the farm on it. Be careful with all spiders and then your odds of getting bit are lower. (I used to live in a tent during the summer months at work and I can remember that we kept granddaddy longlegs in the tent to keep other bugs down. A little weird.) Flatcoat

[Hawg]

Hey Tommy, hope your wife a speedy recovery. And to crablegs these spiders are bad here in Oklahoma along with the black widow, of coarse the black widow is easy to tell being shiny black with the hour glass, the brown recluse or as we call them the fiddle back is kind of hard to tell but if you look real close there will be shape of a fiddle on his back. This is what we do to keep all spiders, scorpions and bugs out of our house, go to the feed store and ask for Delta Dust and buy you a blower ( you can get one with a hand crank for about 15.00 bucks ) dust under your house if you have a crawl space and in your attic and then lay a border around your house. The reason sprays don't work good on spiders is because they don't clean themselves like bugs do, so when you dust it gets every where on the spider. This stuff works!!

[dovehuntergreenbay#1]

Got bit by a spider myself a couple months ago at least that is what the doctor said I never knew I had been bit doc said it wasn't a brown recluse but my leg swelled so bad the doc had to lance it and stick gauze in my leg to have it drain was nasty and hurt pretty good when my wife had to pull it out two days later with no pain shot like the doc had.
As for missing opening day of dove season can't recall missing one but came close when my six year old was born on Sept. 2nd kept telling my wife that she could not have her on Sept. 1st it was touch and go there for a while she was in the hospital a time or two that week with high bloodpressure, she woke me on Sept. 2 about 15 minutes before the alarm was to go off for me to go hunting again that morning and said it was time. Whew got lucky!
As far as this year hunting has been really good already have 92 in the bag.

[tommy]

I live 26 miles east of Los Angeles, Ca. and I thank all of you for your kind words.
We think she got bit in bed ,but with that spider the doctor said the bite is painless and is not noticable till after a few days of getting bit.
Thanks for the info Hawg, Ill check out that stuff. I did have the house and yard spryed really good by a pro.
I am now looking forward to duck season, here in Ca they up the limit on mallards to 7 from 5 because they increased in numbers by 26% and the geese numbers are up so both seasons run at the same time for the same days. So good news for Ca waterfowlers.
Other good news is this year will be my oldest grandsons first actual hunting year, grandma and I are geting him a youth 870 by rem. we went to check it out today.
So all in all this is still a great year for us.
Good duck to all of you this season and cant wait to here the stories.

P.S. Dove hunter my favorite team is Green Bay too!Kind of wierd i guess being from the L.A. area, Ha ?

[ultimateoutdoorsman]

I recently was bitten by a spider but hankfully not that bad I had a spot on my arm that turned hard as a rock the spot was about three inches long in each direction from the bite and swelled up like a baloon. I just let it run its course and i was fine> I am sorry about your wifes unfortunate misshap and am glad she is well. only missed hunting time because of to many yahoo's up in the woods to be safe.

[tommy]

Thanks for the good words, she is fine and just this morning called me to get out of my blind and head home to start her holiday honey do list! Oh well I Love her and she promised I could stay out all day saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving too all you great hunters !

from Tommy and Boomer

[Perkinz88]

Tommy,
I too have missed opening day this year... My wife was in the hospital too! But we were having our first born son~ The first opening day in 10 years- little Zach was born October 26th, my birthday is Oct. 29th so my wife said he was my birthday present! I cant wait to get him in the field!

Best wishes to you and your wife! Hope all's well from her on out~ Happy hunting!