FORT WORTH, Texas — The Saturday morning hunt started like many others I have enjoyed.

I woke to the sounds of an alarm clock, and other hunters in the cabin moving about to dress and start the coffee brewing.

The conversation centered on deer that had been recorded on trail cameras, and, when it came time to leave camp and head out to hunt, the words were the same: "Good luck, and we'll see you later this morning."

Sitting in a tripod stand with my crossbow in my lap, I watched daybreak creep across a wooded ridge about 15 miles east of Breckenridge in Stephens County, Texas.

If you are not familiar with a crossbow, it is a very lethal and accurate weapon, much like a compound bow but stronger. Mine has a 165-pound draw weight, and I have bagged two large feral hogs with it.

My favorite hunting weapon is a .243 rifle, but I have grown fond of the crossbow, too. Mounted on what is similar to a rifle stock, it has a good safety and a light trigger pull, and shoots a bolt (arrow) at more than 300 feet per second.

The hunt that morning, Sept. 29, was slow. I didn't see any hogs, and, by 10:30, I decided to return to camp. I removed the bolt from the crossbow, secured it safely in my hand-held quiver, put the crossbow on safety, slung its sling over my shoulder and climbed to the ground.

Dry-firing a crossbow can damage it. According to crossbow experts I have talked with, the safest way to uncock a crossbow is to shoot a bolt into a target, unless there is a second person on hand to help use the rope cocking device as an unloader. I planned to uncock the crossbow, as I've done several times, by shooting a bolt into a target at camp.

However, in a split second, my hunt went from slow to disastrous. As I walked away from the tripod, the crossbow discharged, its string hitting my right elbow and slicing almost an inch into the bone — as if the bone had been hit by a cleaver.

There is much more to this story, but the main thing is that, after surgery and four days in the hospital, the bone is mending.

In almost 40 years of writing about the outdoors for the Star-Telegram, this is only the second serious injury I have suffered, but I feel it's important to write about the incident in hopes that it will help promote hunting safety.

Whether my accident was a fluke or one that could have been avoided, everyone should remember that a hunting accident can happen when least expected. The best way to avoid serious injury is to abide by all safety rules you have heard — and add your own precautions for your specific hunt.

My accident was an eye-opener in another way.

Once I knew I would recover, even while I was still in the hospital, my mind started searching for ways I could hunt and fish while my right arm is in a brace.

Thanks to Gene Rousch of the Texas Wildlife Association, I managed to take a deer and a turkey last weekend near Lampasas while using a shooting stand the TWA uses to assist handicapped hunters with arm disabilities. The stand, which has adjustments to secure a rifle or shotgun and move the point of aim vertically and horizontally, allowed me to shoot accurately off my left shoulder and with my left eye, opposite of what I am used to.

I always have held great respect for hunters with physical handicaps. I admire them for challenging their disabilities.

Being temporarily handicapped provided insight into what disabled hunters face.

As I lay in the hospital between two operations, I also wondered how I would care for the game I hoped to bag.

Using a winch on a small utility trailer and a pulley secured by a rope over a tree limb, I was able to hoist my opening-day deer into a tree, then skin and quarter it. Cleaning the turkey took some time, too, but who has more time on their hands than hunters who have just bagged their quarry?

Everyone should remember: Even with temporary or permanent handicaps, you still can enjoy hunting. You can find a way. And make it a safe way.

10 tips for hunting safety

1. Treat all firearms as if they are loaded and all archery equipment as if an arrow is nocked. Each time you pick up a firearm, check to see if it is loaded.

2. Always point the muzzle in a safe direction. Do not point a firearm or bow at anything you do not intend to shoot. Never place your finger on the trigger until the instant you are ready to fire.

3. Unload all firearms not in use, leaving actions open, and store in safe, cool, dry places.

4. Be sure of your target before shooting and know what is in front of and beyond the target. Use a binocular to study game, not the rifle scope. Never shoot at water, rocks or other flat, hard surfaces. Identify game animals before shooting.

5. Handle firearms and archery equipment carefully. Never climb a fence, a tree or ladder with a loaded firearm or archery equipment. When moving, carry rifles with actions open, carry shotguns open and empty and carry handguns with hammers over empty chambers.

6. Know your safe zone-of-fire. That is the mental image you draw in your mind as you move through the woods or a field. Never swing your gun or bow out of your safe zone-of-fire. If in doubt, never take a shot. Never shoot a shotgun at low-flying birds that are less than a 45-degree angle above you.

7. Wear ear and eye protection, especially while on a shooting range where noise can be excessive. Wear glasses to protect your eyes from escaping gases, burnt powder and other debris.

8. Control your emotions. If you have just missed a shot, chill out. Never turn with a loaded firearm toward a downed animal with the gun safety off. Show restraint and pass up shots that have a chance of being unsafe.

9. Do not drink alcohol or take drugs before or while handling a firearm or archery equipment.

10. Create extra rules of your own. Go beyond normal and often published safety rules to create your own list of safeguards, geared to your specific hunting plans, to ensure safety for you and others.