Office at home Wayne Hoffert is doing more work from his home office these days as he recuperates from a hunting accident that nearly left him paralyzed. He The former pistol packing pastor and politician is now played out.

Or laid out - which might be a more correct way to describe Wayne Hoffert’s current status.

Hoffert, a gun enthusiast and a former competitive shooter and now owner of Great Lakes Tool Company, located just south of Staples on Highway 210, is in a full back brace and is home after a five-day stay at North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis. There he had four vertebrae fused and a titanium rod placed in his back, all held together with screws.

Hoffert is recovering slowly and limited in what he can do. The community, especially friends from the Staples Motley School District and the Staples Church of Christ, are holding a benefit supper and fund raiser this Saturday afternoon for Wayne and Coni Hoffert. Coni is secretary and receptionist in the principal’s office at the Staples Motley High School.

Plans for the benefit include a spaghetti supper from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the high school cafeteria. Also planned are a bake sale and silent auction event at the same time and place.

Breaking his back in a fall from a tree stand is not what Hoffert had planned when he went deer hunting during the muzzle loading season on Dec. 1. He was hunting in Bartlett Township southwest of Staples when he lost his grip just after he reached the top of his deer stand.

“It was the strangest feeling,” the hunting safety instructor recalled. As his hand lost its grip, he fell backward from about 12 feet up. “I reached out and there was just nothing there, nothing to grab.”

He crashed to the ground, breaking four vertebrae in his back and severely bruising his ribs and lungs. It was about 3 p.m. on that Tuesday afternoon. He was on land owned by his friend Terry Peterson, and Terry was a few hundred yards away in his own stand.

Among other things, Wayne (according to Coni) wasn’t smart enough to lay there and wait. He slowly and very painfully stood up, using his rifle as support and a cane. The pain quickly made it obvious to Wayne that he couldn’t move and couldn’t remain standing, so he slowly slumped back to the ground, knowing he had to wait until Terry came by.

“That was a smart move,” Coni called from the kitchen/ dining area of their home on Third Avenue in Staples. His only one, she seemed to be saying to her husband, who has spent most of the five weeks since coming home laying on the bed that was moved into their living room.

Wayne said he curled up, trying to keep warm and avoid hypothermia. He was there for over two hours, until Terry climbed down from his stand after 5 p.m. and began walking back to the road. In the dark, he heard Wayne calling out as he approached Wayne’s stand. “Just get the pickup and put me in the back end,” was Wayne’s request. (“Not a good idea again,” Coni observed from her kitchen post). Terry soon realized Wayne’s injuries were serious enough not to move him. They called 911, the Bertha ambulance crew responded to the scene and, using a backboard, they safely carried Wayne out of the woods and loaded him into their ambulance. “I remember as they loaded me in, I saw a clock that said 7 p.m,” Wayne said.

He was taken to the Lakewood Health System hospital at Staples, where doctors quickly determined his back injuries required more specialized care. He was flown by helicopter to North Memorial, arriving shortly before midnight. It wasn’t too long and he was in the operating room.

After surgery, he began physical therapy but was soon chomping at the bit to go home. “They were not doing anything that I couldn’t do at home,” he said to Coni.

Coni observed, “He’s a guy, he has no patience. It’s nothing genetic, I’m sure.”

He’s able to be up and around but has to wear a plastic back brace when he gets up. He has a five pound weight-lifting limit. Christmas was great in that four of their six adult children and their grandchildren were home, but he could not lift his grandkids, or even Christmas packages.

His tooling business, already in a slump due to the overall economy, has suffered as he’s not been able to be out looking for new jobs. Although he had a peak of six employees in 2008, he’s had to let them go until it’s just himself and two others, and not much work for them. Just four months ago, as a cost saving measure, they dropped their company paid group health insurance. Hence the benefit to help with the hospital and related bills, which are already in the six figure territory.

Wayne, who came to Staples to minister at the former Church of the Nazarene on Wisconsin Avenue, has been able to go to the Great Lakes shop daily, with his stamina slowly returning. He has had several other jobs, including work at several tool and machine shops prior to purchasing Great Lakes Tool. Wayne also ran as the Republicanendorsed candidate for the Minnesota Senate.