Serious bites: Only for people who have to learn the hard way, inevitible, necessary?

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PayetteRucker

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Aug 4, 2009
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How many woodsmen out there have been bit (bad enough to need stitches), and do you consider it to be a right of passage as an outdoors enthusiast (learn from your mistakes to never let it happen again), or is it just for the clumsy and careless? I know we talk about it all the time on here, but I think there's a bit of sentimentality to it, either way...
 
I can't recall any really nasty outright bites, but I remember a gash down to something white from a catfish when I was a youngin' out fishing and not knowing how to handle them. That was a fun day....
 
Iboschi said:
I'm not clear on what you're asking. Care to elaborate?
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Do you feel that cutting yourself bad enough to need stitches is a necessary right of passage as an outdoorsman or is it something that only happens to the... less than careful enthusiasts?
 
Once, using a sword to do the job of a knife or pair of scissors :o
That is the only time as an adult that I've been "bit" by one of my blades bad enough to need stitches.
 
I've never been seriously bitten by one of my blades. The funny thing is that I'm old enough that my parents never really questioned letting me own and use knives on my own as a grade-schooler, now we expect kids to take a class or suffer through a tutorial from an adult. I know I've done it with my daughter. I think there was just an unspoken inherent respect for tools, including guns and knives, and I just knew that if I didn't use them carefully I could hurt myself or someone else. I don't know if my experience is typical or not, but thankfully I've never cut myself badly.
 
I've been bit by a Badger and it was worse than any knife bites I've had !
 
PayetteRucker said:
Do you feel that cutting yourself bad enough to need stitches is a necessary right of passage as an outdoorsman or is it something that only happens to the... less than careful enthusiasts?
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Not necesarry at all. A smart outdoorsman should be able to learn from others mistakes.
 
Until a new blade has drawn blood, it is not really 'mine'.

The last really bad gash I got was when I tugged the lanyard on my new ESSE RC-6, and it flipped out and swung around, slicing bone deep into my thumb knuckle.

I should have gotten stitches, but I just self medicated. :cool:
 
Regarding getting burnt or bit . . . There are those of us who have and those of us who will - eventually.

Prevention through proper training and discipline is the only way to go. I'd rather learn from someone who has paid the price than to have to pay the price myself and avoid the same demise.
I'm currently training with an instructor who is basically a walking stitch. I don't need to do what he did to learn; I can learn from his pain.

My dad once told me "I don't have to become an alchoalic in order to learn what the cost of admission is for their sins." Same with knives. I chosen to take the advice of someone who has been bit by steel and stone tools more than once. When he says to do this or don't do this; "I listen!"
 
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I have been cut badly enough to need stitches, and my decision not to get them resulted in a nifty V-shaped scar and a little bit of nerve damage. It was my own fault, and it was a bit of a wake-up call, but I wouldn't consider such an experience to be a rite of passage. It didn't make me a better outdoorsman, and I wouldn't wish it on others.

All the best,

- Mike
 
I have been bit up by feral dogs (which is probably why I am generally paranoid and always bring them up ;)) I didn't consider it a right of passage though more like a bad day at the office.

As for a right of passage, the first time I made fire with what was available, a debris shelter that kept out the rain was also a good one.
 
If getting cut by your own knife is a "rite of passage", I don't want to join that club. Getting cut is generally a sign that you were doing something wrong/stupid.

I have plenty of scars to show how stupid/wrong I have been, and I've never thought it was cool. Definitely learning experiences, but nothing I'd like to go through again.
 
VaughnT said:
If getting cut by your own knife is a "rite of passage", I don't want to join that club. Getting cut is generally a sign that you were doing something wrong/stupid.

I have plenty of scars to show how stupid/wrong I have been, and I've never thought it was cool. Definitely learning experiences, but nothing I'd like to go through again.
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I couldn't agree more. I've cut myself, I did so with a new knife I found yesterday. I didn't see it as a rite of passage, I saw it as simple stupidity.
 
protourist said:
I couldn't agree more. I've cut myself, I did so with a new knife I found yesterday. I didn't see it as a rite of passage, I saw it as simple stupidity.
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Yep. My left hand is much worse for wear since I started collecting and using cutlery. Still, I wouldn't wish it on anyone to injure themselves. There isn't much to learn other than 'Don't do that again'.....Information and can transmitted in much more effective ways!
 
Ive been bit by dogs twice in the outdoors.

First time I "stupidly" try to free a dog from a trap. He got my hand. Infection set in and spent five days in the hospital. I have since learned how to get dogs out of paw traps.

Second time , I was swinging on a rope into a river. Dog got me on the inner thigh , requiring several stitches. Just missed the femoarl artery.
 
I don't know if this is strange or not, but I ususally get "bitten" when doing seemingly mundane things around the house rather than when doing more "risky" things with sharps in the outdoors. Like my last bite from my Becker Necker happend when the knife slipped off the edge of the table when I was prepping green beans for canning. It landed on the back of my hand that instinctively covered my...um...well family jewels as I saw the knife starting to fall.
 
Mannlicher said:
Until a new blade has drawn blood, it is not really 'mine'.
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I've heard others say something similar to this and I struggle to grasp the logic. Do you feel the same way about firearms? Bang....crap...I shot myself in the foot....this gun is really mine now. :p
 
Ah. I thought you meant animal bites.

I have never had a bad knife cut in the outdoors.
 
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