range - point blank
weapon - 300cc motorcycle with less than 3 miles on it - test ride
Speed - unsure, I can't remember anything except getting on the motorcycle and getting out of the hospital four days later
I suggest using a gun or bow. Motorcycle is not the best weapon

Officer said I was laying in the opposite ditch as the motorcycle.

Concussion, brain bleed, lung bleed, other lung collapse. Drained four liters of blood out of my left lung so far. Had plane tickets to Bonaire on the 7th. Decided to test ride the motorcycle on the 6th. Big mistake.

Oh my, Iv been waiting to hear from ya on the forum but not with news like this. I'm glad your at least aware enough to post on here. I sure hope for a speedy recover for ya.

Yes, John, Oh My.
We are so very grateful you are here and recovering from this. Wishing you the very best for a complete and strong recovery.
When the time comes for you to get back to diving, you may find that's the best activity, the best medicine to regain your health.
Sending you the best energy.
Roger

John, I'm glad you're alive to tell the story! I learned the hard way myself to stay off those things. Lol!

snrub:

Thank GOD for helmets!!! What year did it happen?

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Was the new motorcycle an off road type like a kawasaki KLX? What were you hoping to use it for? I'm sorry this happened and we are so thankful that even in the middle of the pandemic there are still ICU beds, trauma bays, and medical staff still willing and able to help with all the other medical emergencies that still go on from day to day.

We have a law in MI that you are free to protect your head with a helmet or free to choose not to. I am a huge fan of laws that give individuals freedom and I have no problem with our law, but at the same time I still very much appreciate the riders around here who still choose to wear head protection!

Whew! glad you are alive and doing better, that was def a close call. That's one big deer, if you gonna go after em with a motorcycle I would suggest going after the smaller ones! Good Luck, hope you get to feeling better! fishing time will be here before you know it!

John, I was thinking about you the other day, but not quite like this. Be patient, and get well.

CC, I'm thinking KLX as well.

To answer some of the above questions.

Accident happened about a month ago. I am improving a little bit every day. According to my wife I am lucky to be alive. According to me I am not progressing nearly fast enough. Diving they are saying two months minimum to make sure ribs and lungs are ok so I got at least another month to go. Don't much like them draining blood out of my lungs.

The motorcycle is/was a dual purpose off/on road bike. Kawasaki KLX300. I actually already have a dual purpose bike (as well as a couple of road bikes), a Honda CRF450L. I really like that motorcycle and it is fine on highway or gravel roads, but the throttle is so twitchy and the power so great it spooks me when I take it to the timber or pasture or single trail to ride. It will do a wheelie in third gear without popping the clutch or trying real hard. It has spooky amount of power. I did not test ride it before buying. I was trying out the KLX300 because it was supposed to have linear throttle response and a little more tame for an "old guy" riding trails off road. I remember about the first 10 minutes of the ride is all. My intention when I took it for a test ride (just happened to see a new on on the floor at my dealers that they had just got in and it was not spoken for) was to write a check for it if I liked the ride. Never got to that point unfortunately.

I have put somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 miles on quite an array of motorcycles since I was 12 or 13 years old. Highway and dirt both. I'm 67 now and ride regularly. I have had one minor accident in that time (had to lay one down to keep from hitting a guy that pulled in front of me) and this is my first major one.

I have always worn a helmet ever since I was a kid. Saw one save my brothers life when I was about 14. Now one has saved mine. Doctors say I would have been a goner without the helmet.

Thanks all for your comments.

As far as the forum I have not done much with the ponds this year. Not much fishing and not much spending time with them. About the most I did last year was when Snipe and some others came and helped me harvest the hybrid striped bass that I raised from fingerling to about 6-8". My wife and I have been traveling, scuba diving and off road trail riding with Polaris General and a RZR so those activities have kept us busy and away from home much of the time. Since we took full retirement and had our farm equipment sale and cleanup auction, there has not been a big reason to keep us home like there used to be when we managed the farm. We have been enjoying full retirement.

Thanks again everyone. I keep getting better by a little bit every day. They tell me ribs take a couple months to heal. Best I can tell by looking at the motorcycle the other day, the deer hit the headlight and handle bars with its belly and my chest caught the upper part of the deer. That launched me off the motorcycle with me going to one ditch and the motorcycle going to the other. I had a good riding jacket on but even with it I had road rash on my left arm (now healed), a little on both legs and tremendous bruising around my waist and right side. After a month the bruise is about 2/3 gone. I'm getting there............just a lot slower than I would like.

Wow...!!! That was an epic/painful way to take a deer. He was a nice one.


Glad you are healing up.

Wow! What a story. So glad you are ok. I don’t like riding across a parking lot without a helmet. Always geared up. Every deer I harvest, I always think that’s one less to worry about when I’m on a bike.
Take care. Hope you heal fast and completely.

The first time I laid a bike over on an open road was the last time I rode. I hit a slick spot and did a little hospital time.

The dirt bikes I’ve had and enjoyed don’t bother me. It’s asphalt that I stay away from. But now, the old goat rides a 4 wheeler on his land. Of course, as Alan and Scott can tell you, my land is neither civilized, pasteurized or homogenized. As Al says, it’s a tad rocky.

I didn't mind a minor fracture, broken bone every now and then but when a 12 year old kid hit me at an offroad riding park and I spent 8 nights in the hospital with a broken back, hip, ribs and them trying to keep from having to cut off my mangled left leg, I thought it was time to give it up. I did put the bike back together and rode it up and down the road a few times before I sold it. I didn't want my last ride on it to be a bad one. I'd love to ride again but my body can't take anymore. lol! Like Dave, I stay on the 4 wheelers now days.

I know you don't feel lucky, but you were lucky.

Guy I worked with hit a buck while riding to work one morning.
Head injury, internal injuries, and worst of all it almost took one of his arms off at the shoulder.

Three years later that arm was still in a sling.

My younger brother face-planted on the pavement after t-boning a car that pulled out in front of him.
He's able to live on his own now. Barely. He can't do anything much other than drive to the store for groceries and watch tv.
That wreck was 10 years ago and he won't ever get any better.

Three other buddies killed on the dang things over the last 20 years.

I fractured my skull in a dirt bike wreck when I was 13yo. Had a brand spanking new Bell helmet on. First ride wearing it.
It took several months for my head to clear after that. Should have learned my lesson and never gotten on another one.

I sold my last murdercycle in 1993. I miss riding but it's just not worth the risk to me.

Prayers for fast and complete healing...

My dad told me that if I ever bought a bike he'd kick my a$$ from here to next week. Since I grew up in the age where kids knew a belt was for mote than just holding up your Dad's pants, I listened. He had two close friends that lost sons to motorcycle accidents.

Dave, you have so much brush there I'm amazed that you can even drive the ATV's there.

Scott, after my gut surgery last August and 25 day hospital ICU stay, the Doc has finally said that I was healed enough to ride what he calls my suicide machines. I am also allowed to pick up stuff that weighs over 4 pounds. Yep, now that deer season has ended, I can also shoot my 45-70. He also said that telling me to take it easy was wasting his breath.

BTW, the bow hunting kid, 22 yoa, brought his electric bicycle to my place so the old guy didn’t have to walk back to where I want to hunt. I’m looking forward to trying that thing.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I appreciate them all.

Riding a "stealth" bike to your blind sounds like a brilliant idea.

If riding in the dark, I would wear a helmet AND eye protection.

Riding back out to get your truck and cleaning gear after a successful hunt - sounds much better than walking out with "old man" knees after sitting in a cold blind for a few hours!