KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Michael Gaddis ventured out to go deer hunting last weekend at public hunting area just in Valley Falls, Kansas, about 120 miles west of Kansas City. But it turned out that he was the one who ended up taking a bullet.
“There were probably five or six shots, but I really just only heard one and the next thing I felt like something bit me,” said Gaddis, 51.
After getting shot accidentally in his left leg last Saturday, a bleeding Gaddis hopped in his truck, drove to the closest gas station for directions to the nearest hospital and then rushed to his cousin’s nearby house.
His relative drove Gaddis to Atchison County Memorial Hospital where the veteran deer hunter underwent treatment for five hours before returning home.
“He could’ve been shot above the knee or in the body or something like that, my oh my,” says Ron Fransen, Gaddis’ uncle.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and officials with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism are investigating the accidental shooting, but admit they may never know who fired the shot that injured Gaddis.
Meanwhile, the lucky hunter, who’s counting his blessings two weeks before Christmas, is now using crutches to get around with a boot cast, taking antibiotics and pain pills and praying that he can return to work at Midwest Terminal boat service in Kansas City next week.
As for deer hunting? Gaddis says he won’t be picking up his hunting rifle any time soon.
“I’m still alive. I feel pretty lucky because I know it could’ve been much worse,” says Gaddis.