Sometimes unexpected things happen to you that can impact your life for many years to come. That's what happened to my uncle. My uncle Brad was in a hunting accident on November 14, 1994. The accident happened by the Rock River in the pasture that belongs to one of my other uncles.
Brad was hunting with a group of about 14 people. The group decided to split up. About four of the hunters went to the south end of the pasture. The rest of the group stayed at the north end of the pasture which is half a mile or three quarter of mile farther north. The group that stayed at the north end of the pasture started going through the brush along the Rock River. They were pushing the deer toward the other four hunters at the south end of the pasture where Brad and the other three guys that were with Brad were posted. One of the other guys that was at the north end of the pasture went wide around the river so that person didn't have that much brush to walk through so he got through faster then the other guys that were in his group . That hunter went around end up just east of Brad and theother three guys that were posted at the south end of the pasture.The hunter that got through posted up near Brad and the other three hunters that were in Brad's group. Brad's group was unable to see the other hunter.
As the rest of the group that was at the north end of the pasture had made their way through the brush a deer started going running through the pasture where Brad and the other hunters were posted. Brad saw a doe run by behind him. The hunter that was just east of Brad shot at the doe. The slug from the gun missed the deer and hit Brad instead. The slug had gone through Brad's upper left leg, and had entered Brad's leg 6 to 8 inches below his groin. Also the slug missed the boney part of Brad's leg ,but went through the fleshy part of his leg and the slug blew out Brad's femoral artery When. Brad heard the gun go off. He felt something warm on his leg then he looked down and saw the blood and placed his hand on the wound.
The slug had gone all the way through his leg. Brad started walking out and started hollering for help. One of the other hunter saw Brad and went up to Brad and took off his jacket and put the jacket around Brad's leg. Then the other hunter found a stick and wrapped it around the jacket and made a tourniquet out of the stick and the jacket until the bleeding had stopped. Then the rest of the group came walking through , and my uncles Larry and Troy ran home to call for help. Then Tim Baker jumped a fence and ran to a vehicle that was a quarter mile away and drove to a neighbors house and called 911, and he was the frist to call 911.
Brad was in the hospital for two and half weeks. He had been in the hospital for week and a half the doctors were going to send Brad home but then he ended up getting a staff infection in his leg and the doctors had to reopen Brad's leg to clean it out again. He was in the hospital for another week after that. He was home two to three weeks before he started going back to work part time. Then it was about a month before he went back to work full time.
Through this experience Brad learned that you have to be more careful while you are out hunting. Accidents happen, but steps need to be taken lessen the chances. All the hunters had their orange on . It was a situation that the one gentleman didn't realize where Brad was at and there was some brush between them. It important to know where everyone is while hunting.
Labor Day Softball Tournament
Dale Sandbulte & Cornie Bosch
The Labor Day Softball tournament held in Steen started in the mid 1930s.The tournament has been going for more than eighty years.
Cornie Bosch and Dale Sandbulte have been involved with the tournament for many years.They both played in the tournament for sereval years,and now they like to go as fans.
Cornie had a copy of a Hills Crescent that has pictures of a team in 1930. He thinks maybe that was one of the first tournaments. The tournament has been going every year since then, except for a couple of years during WWII. Cornie thought during the war they cancelled the tournament for a couple of years. Dale said that during the years that he played there was a couple of times the tournament got rained out, but they always would make it up sometime after Labor Day.
Softball isn't as popular today as it was in the in the 1970's. In the 1970's there was even a women's league, along with a men league.At one time in the men's league there were fourteen teams. Then they would try to get twelve of the fourteen teams in the tournament. At that time the tournament was single elimination so you had to win to keep going.
Later on there were eight teams total in the league. Now it is hard to get six to seven teams in what is now called the Border League. So they play a round robin or a double elimination so the teams can play more than one game. When the tournament first started there were no lights so the games would have to be done before dark.
Cornie went and watched the tournament when he was a young kid. Also he was bat boy for a few years. Dale's family always went to watch the softball tournament. He remembers the kids would play with the other kids that came to the tournament. Also the kids would bring their ball gloves along and chase foul balls to get some extra money to get some candy at the concession stand.
Cornie thinks the softball tournament has been going so long because this area around Hills, Steen, and Beaver Creek are interested in softball.
The concession stand has a large selection of food. Like there is pie, candy,freezies popcorn, root beer floats.Also there is hot dogs and chili dogs.
Dale said that he didn't have a favorite memory. He said its fun to watch softball on Labor Day, and visit with people that you played against when you were playing. Cornie agrees and still enjoys attending the tournament.