‘I’ve got a sore foot’ - Jayden Provost accidentally shot himself with a crossbow, pinning his foot to the ground. Picture: Jayden Provost Source: Supplied

Jayden Provost, 20, was a ringer on Aroona Station west of Katherine in June 2013, when he decided to by the 150 pound crossbow to give him something to do on his time off. He has since made a full recovery and recently posted a photo online a doctor took of the bolt in his foot.

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He said he left the homestead and walked about 1km by himself into one of the paddocks when he heard something in the scrub nearby.

“I took the safety off and went to run, and as I held the crossbow towards the ground and ran I must have put weight on the trigger and then I suddenly stopped,” he said.

Even the sturdiest safety thongs won’t stop a crossbow bolt at point blank range. Picture: Jayden Provost Source: Supplied

“I looked down and saw the crossbow bolt through my foot and realised my foot was stuck to the ground,

“I just tried to stay calm and think what to do.

“I pulled my leg up and then looked underneath my thong and saw the end of the bolt had pierced right through and out the bottom.

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“I started to hop on one leg for some distance back to the homestead.”

He said he went back to his room and put his crossbow back in its box because he was worried about telling the manager as he hadn’t told him he was buying the weapon.

“I thought I would try pull it out myself but when I tried it didn’t budge at all,” he said.

“I explain it to people by saying it was like a nail in wood, it ain't going nowhere.”

Mr Provost said there was no blood and at that point it didn’t hurt much except for some throbbing.

Mr Provost advises people who find themselves in the same situation to seek professional help and not to attempt to pull it out themselves. Picture: Jayden Provost Source: Supplied

“I left my room and then made my way up to the kitchen. By that time it was starting to hurt a bit and I collapsed on the ground near the bottom of the kitchen stairs,” he said.

“I yelled out to the cook and a short time later he came on to the verandah and looked very shocked.

“He yelled, ‘Is that a crossbow bolt through your foot you silly prick?’”

The cook them took him and lay him in the back of a car for the drive to Katherine Hospital.

“It was starting to feel a lot of pressure building up and honestly just wanted it out,” he said.

“It was an hour and a half into town, the cook chucked me a pack of Longbeach 40s and said to get them into me.

“I smoked about 20 on the way.

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“I went up to the reception desk and told the lady I had a sore foot. She then asked to have a look so I took a couple steps back and held up my foot. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

“She then started to panic and told me ‘Quick, quick come in here.

“I had doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers coming in and asking for pictures, so I put a smile on my face and took some pictures with them.

The wound healed up nicely, and Mr Provost was walking again in two weeks. Picture: Jayden Provost Source: Supplied

“A short time later a doctor came in, he looked very surprised, he put both hands on his head and shook it and said he had never seen anything like this before in his years as a doctor.”

Mr Provost said the doctor gave him the option of being asleep or awake and he chose awake.

“They got a scalpel and put a cut either side to release some pressure, he then started to pull and yank on the arrow and after a little while the pain was getting to much and I become angry,” he said.

“I told the doctor to put me asleep before I put him to sleep.”

He said when he woke afterwards he was feeling ready to work but when the doctor came to check on him, he could only feel two of his toes and some of his foot. The arrow had wedged between two bones but broken neither.

“They decided to send me up to Royal Darwin Hospital for another surgery to try to repair my digital nerve but it was not successful,” he said.

“I said, ‘It doesn't really matter, at least if I accidentally shoot myself again I won’t feel it.”

Mr Provost was walking again in two weeks, after being told it would be months, and has now made a full recovery.

“I personally don’t think crossbows are dangerous, it was my own fault for not having the safety on,” he said.

“I advise anyone who shoots them self with one, don’t try and pull it out yourself because its not like the movies, just go to hospital and the will yank it out for you.

“I would have been out hunting the next day if I could have,” he said.