a coyote attacks me

It was the Saturday before Christmas and was the last week of bow hunting.  It was my last morning hunt.  I got up at around 5:30 A.M. and I looked at the thermometer.  It was 26 degrees.  I had a sick feeling when I woke up thinking about the hunt.  Something just didn’t feel right.  I got my snow camo on, loaded my bow up in the ranger, and got ready to go out.  My stomach felt queasy when I was sitting in my ranger riding down the road.  I got to the hunting spot at around 6:10 and it was still black out. I got my backpack and my bow and headed into the swamp where my stand was.  I got up in my stand and got ready for the hunt.  I still just had a really weird feeling and my stomach was sick but I didn’t know why. I was in my stand for a half hour when the first deer came by.  It was a small buck so I passed it up.  After he passed I could hear something running around behind me, but, it was too thick and I couldn’t see anything.  I really didn’t think much of it..  I was getting really cold so I thought about heading in but I decided to give it another 15 minutes.  It was about 9:45 and it was snowing very lightly.  After that 15 minutes, I was real cold and nothing was really moving.  For some reason my heart was racing at the thought of climbing out of my stand.  For me that made no sense because there was nothing to worry about.  I put my backpack on and lowered my bow.  I got about half way down my stand and it was weird.  I heard branches breaking and crunching of the snow.  My heart dropped dead and I froze. I sat there for five minutes and waited to see what came out.  The woods were silent and I had a very weird feeling.  I knew something wasn’t right; I knew that from the time I got out of bed.  I didn’t really think much about predators and I thought it was probably a deer that saw me and busted.
I started to untie my bow from the string when I caught something moving in the corner of my eye.  I froze and snapped my head to where the movement was.  I couldn’t see what it was because of the amount of brush in my way.  I finally got my bow untied after about 45 seconds.  I couldn’t breathe……  I couldn’t move….  I heard something panting behind me.  For the life of me I could not move a muscle.  I knew what was behind me. I’ve thought about being face to face with a coyote but I never thought it would ever actually happen to me.  I had a flashback to when I woke up that morning.  I knew I shouldn’t have gone hunting that morning. 
I stood frozen for about 10 seconds. When I got down from my stand it was like a war had just begun.  It was like a nightmare was really happening.  I reached into my front pocket to grab my knife.  As I turn around to face it, it leaped up onto my chest.  I didn’t have enough time to open my knife and it fell under the tree.  It started clawing my snow camo, arms, and my face.  My heart was racing so fast I couldn’t even think.  It felt like the coyote was on me for hours.  I then felt a really sharp pain in my right hand.  I looked down and there were 3 big gashes on the top of my hand.  The claws were stuck into my leather gloves.  When the coyote pulled them out, my gloves were shredded.  My snow pants and jacket were completely shredded and all the cotton was coming out.
At that moment my head was right at the base of the tree where my stand was.  I built up the courage to turn to the coyote.  Its face was inches from mine.  I hit it in the bottom of the mouth with all I had.  It flung back \with a blood curling bark.  As it jumped off I reached for my knife.  It stood there for about 10 seconds and then tore off into the pines.  I retied my bow and got back into my stand with the little energy I had left.  I grabbed my phone and of course…… I had no service.  I had to wait 15 minutes before I was able to get a little service.  At that time, I had cuts all over my arms, a few on my face, and my chest.  There was cotton all over me and some on the ground.  I was able to get a hold of my dad and he came minutes after I called him.  He came trampling in as fast as he could with his pistol and shotgun.  I got out of the tree and got to him.
We decided to try to track it and try to kill it.  We followed the trail for about a half mile and then gave up.  The coyote was long gone.  We got back to the stand and decided to pull it for the year since the season was about done.  I was just happy to be able to go home.
When I got home my family wanted to hear the story so I told them.  They were scared when they heard the story because I could have been killed.  I took off my snow camo and they were pretty torn up.  Then I went to my leather gloves and there were three big gashes in that along with my hand.  I was so happy I was home and safe. Then it hit me…… Rabies. Why would a coyote attack me at 10:00 in the morning?  It doesn’t make sense why it would unless it was sick.  My mom and dad were terrified.  That night my mom brought me to the hospital and I talked to the doctor.  He said that I don’t have a choice but to get the shots.  If I didn’t get the shots, I could possibly die if it had rabies.  We sat in the room for about a half hour waiting for the medication.  He came in and started the shots.  First I got three in my hand and it made really big lumps where the medication was.  Then I got two in my arm.  Finally I got two more in my hip.  The shots were really bad.  After the last two shots I blacked out with the amount of medication that was put in my body.  It was the worst feeling…. I just wanted to throw up.  After a while I was able to get up and I was able to go out to the car.
To this day I still hunt that very same spot.  Every time I go in, there is still a different feeling.  I wouldn’t say I’m scared to hunt there but it’s just different…. Ever since.