Another reason I don't like participating in drives. Did it once and one of the spotters shot their muzzleloader really close to me because they didnt' wait for the deer to clear them .....

Glad he is going to be ok

REALLY glad to hear your doing alright, pretty tricky with starting the post yourself LOL
I wonder the next time you hunt if it will be with a blaze orange BULLET proof vest!!!

Best wishes
Ron

God bless you man. I don't do those kinds of drives. The only drives I do are solo stalking or me and my buddy, silently moving forward, stopping then the other moving forward. We stay about 50-100 yds apart laterally and move forward 40-60 yds at a time depending on the areas we are hunting. We never lose sight of each other and if a deer runs between us, it gets away.
I sometimes hunt with shotgun and buck shot but I always try to be as far away from other hunters as possible and usually in a tree stand shooting downward.

Dang Coonhunter, somebody was looking out for you. Sounds like one of those hits that an inch either way would have been deadly. Was it a 12 guage shotgun slug that hit you?

It was actually a 20ga shooting rifled slugs through a smooth bore barrel. I don't know how it didn't hit anything major someone sure likes me up there. The scary thing is the push was all but done and my bestfriend was the closest pusher to the timber we were standing on the edge of and he was standing 20 ft behind me and if it wasn't me that the richochet hit it could have been him. As soon as i was hit i dropped my gun and took off running for the truck which was luckily only about 200 to 250yds away bad thing was i had to go up a hill first, but my adrenaline was pumping and i just knew i had to get the hell out of that river bottom. My one buddy chased me down and met me at the truck and drove me to a nearby town where we waited for the ambulance once they got there they couldn't find and exit wound and said my right lung sounded deminished so i was freaked out and going into shock. I was for sure i was gonna die but i knew i had to be strong cause i had a new baby boy at home "and yes his name is Hunter". So once i got to the hospital in DesMoines and they said i would be fine i knew it wasn't as bad as they had thought and i had thought also.. So yes next year i just might have an oarnge bullet proof vest lmao. The gun is actually the gun i bought for my GF for a christmas gift, and my buddy just borrowed it for that season lol..

the irony, gettin shot by your own gun...glad your ok, definitely made the perception of the story change.
i think that would be my last drive. i only hunt with my closest buddies, and my kids...makin sure there is a controlled environment. hope yall set some new rules!!

Good thing to hear you're okay CoonHunter, it sounds like the tree absorbed most of the energy of that slug. Otherwise the shock would have really done (more of) a number on your chest. I also feel for your friend Austin, though. If I were him, and even if you do forgive him, this whole ordeal is going to be a hard one to live with.

Coonhunter, there is part of your story that doesn't add up. In your post you say "I was hit with the third shot. The slug that hit me was a ricochet off a tree. and it hit me just to the right of my nipple and exited out my back. I was air lifted to Mercy hospital in Des Moines where they found the slug inside my coveralls.
Then in your last post you say "ambulance, once they got there they couldn't find an exit wound".
I would have thought the first thing the EMT's would have done is cut the coveralls off to find the route of the slug internally and they would have been able to find the exit wound easily.

are you calling bs?

No, not necessarily, just curious.