Guy in peaches with broken leg.

[GameHunter1959]

He did tell a family member where he was going to be. When he didn't show up at his truck, his cousin went and called some other family and friends, and also search and rescue. My buddy ran into them on the road looking for him and after seeing where he parked his truck, he knew where he was at. I got there with another buddy and we grouped up and went to find the guy. We know the area very well, so we knew where he was and how to get into him. Good thing they didn't have to wait for search and rescue. They were called around 8pm and didn't show up until 3-4am. If they had to find him, they may not have found him before the storm hit at 2pm on Saturday. Even if they had found him, it would have been alot harder coming out of there with the rocks being all wet. The situation easily could have turned worse.

I'm not a search and rescue expert, but that's a long wait for help. Seems unrealistic and embarrassing that it would take them that long. I would assume they are "prepared" in advance for these types of situations. You would think the 911 call would come in and the rescue team would immediately leave within minutes. I would assume they would dispatch out of Yakima or Ellensburg. I would say 2-3 hours is realistic.

What was the reason for the long arrival time?

[Knocker of rocks]

The lifeflight memberships (of which I have one) are not for basket rescue, only medical transport. The extraction would have to be from another service.

Seriously?  Is there basket rescue insurance?

Yup, it's called taxes.

DoD, Treaury and Sherrifs Dept.

[ctwiggs1]

8 hours isn't bad for a remote area at night.  You never know what else they were dealing with or how long it took to rally a team.  Chances are these guys aren't going to place "My buddy didn't come back from hunting when he said he would" on the highest priority level.  Keep in mind in King County the majority of the search teams are volunteer. I know this isn't King County but if King County is volunteer, how many dollars do you think Yakima is putting toward S&R?

Just like defending your home, your best life insurance is yourself.  Taking time to make sure you have communication as near as possible as often as possible and making sure people know the area to look for you.  This guy did most of it right in my book.  A radio or phone would be good but they're not always effective. 

Curtis

[1bugman]

quote author=ctwiggs1 link=topic=183768.msg2427114#msg2427114 date=1444755640]
8 hours isn't bad for a remote area at night.  You never know what else they were dealing with or how long it took to rally a team.  Chances are these guys aren't going to place "My buddy didn't come back from hunting when he said he would" on the highest priority level.  Keep in mind in King County the majority of the search teams are volunteer. I know this isn't King County but if King County is volunteer, how many dollars do you think Yakima is putting toward S&R?

Just like defending your home, your best life insurance is yourself.  Taking time to make sure you have communication as near as possible as often as possible and making sure people know the area to look for you.  This guy did most of it right in my book.  A radio or phone would be good but they're not always effective. 

Curtis
[/quote]

 

[Knocker of rocks]

What was the reason for the long arrival time?

The $64,000 question.  Did they call 911?

[mfswallace]

pics of the elk 

[js139]

I don't know why the slow response. I assume they called 911. I was up on the hillside all night with the guy. I think it was more the fact that the guy didn't come back versus the guy is hurt on the hill side. Once they knew he was hurt, things seemed to happen faster. The S&R were all volunteer, as was the medic that first came up. I'd rather rely on myself and a couple of close buddies next to me than wait for a s&r team. I'm double checking everything I carry to make sure I am prepared for another event like this.

I can say the bull was pretty nice, but it isn't my place to post a pic. Sorry.

[Knocker of rocks]

S&R can't scram every time somebody isn't home at 7pm.  There is a reasonable wait period. 

[GameHunter1959]

S&R can't scram every time somebody isn't home at 7pm.  There is a reasonable wait period.

8 hours seems like a long wait period. Had there been snow on the ground the guy is dead by morning. Just saying..

But I get what your saying. I can only imagine the calls they get this time of the year that pan out to be nothing. Good point..

[1bugman]

Just a thought, and not Calling anyone out. Search and Rescue is always looking for volunteers. So are Local Fire and rescue. It's not always easy or fun and there is a lot of training but it's worth it.   

[RG]

I've hunted solo since the late seventies, have worked as a professional hunting guide and packer in a number of states including Washington.  I've also been on the SAR helicopter crew for Snohomish County Sheriff.  All this to say a couple things.  Bad things can happen to the most prepared person in the backcountry.  SAR is usually a volunteer group, our helicopter had one or two paid people on the entire crew so, even though they are extremely competent and well trained, it's a minimum hour until liftoff when they are called.  If it's nighttime and goggles are required the situation becomes much more risky and they rely on ground crews to assess unless there is more information regarding the state of the emergency.  Often it's a "first light in the morning" situation, especially in rough country.  They realize there's no value in getting additional people hurt trying to get one person out.  Their group does save many many lives every year.

I'm familiar with PLB's, SPOT Locators, etc., and they all have their value and are good things when there's no phone service.  I recently purchased a new device, the Delorme In Reach.  It's a new generation locator that has some real advantages.  It allows you to send text messages in addition to the SOS signal so you can communicate with family and friends if needed in the back country.  It uses the iridium satellite network so it's basically a SAT phone texter.  If you have an emergency there are two really big advantages over previous devices.  The rescue agency will text you back to advise what their intentions are, such as leaving soon, coming in the morning, etc, so you know somebody is coming to help, and they can ask you what your emergency is so, in the case of a broken leg, femur sticking through your skin, etc., they know the NVG mission is justified, as opposed to a situation where you are just lost but prepared to spend the night so they can come in at first light when there's less risk to their personnel.  It also allows you to advise your family or friends if you are delayed, but OK, so they don't send SAR out looking for you unnecessarily.

I really recommend some sort of device if you spend time alone, or even with buddies, in the back country because people lose their lives unnecessarily on a regular basis.  Oh yeah, you can do month to month monitoring so it's not necessary to sign up for long term contracts.

I don't have any stake in this company but I'm pretty sold on their product.  My wife likes it because it puts her mind at ease when I can send her a quick message that things are going well when I'm out there alone. 

[HntnFsh]

Great info. Thank you.

[danderson]

        Search and Rescue is always looking for volunteers. So are Local Fire and rescue. It's not always easy or fun                     and there is a lot of training but it's worth it.   


  Agreed, 

[cuzsis]

Good job guys. Karma will shine down on you.

Hope to hear the whole story sometime. Always can learn something from others mistakes/mishaps.

Long story short, the guy went up into the hills by himself. Knows the area very well. Went up through a bowl and got into some rock slides below the rock cliffs. Lots of Elk migrate through there. Anyways, he went up 2-3 tiers where is got extremely steep and rocks were very slippery and loose. He saw a heard of about 30-40 Elk crossing the shelf. He got a good look at 6x6 and put him down. He started quartering the animal, but it kept sliding on him. So he took his rope and tied the animal so it wouldn't move. He was trying to re-position the animal when the rope broke and he fell down the hill. He went over 3-4 times and hit his head. He went unconscious for a period of time. He woke to find himself with a broken leg and possibly some broken ribs. He managed to get himself next to a bush and moved a bunch of rocks and made a little hold he got down into to get out of the wind. He broke pieces of the bush off and got a fire going. He shot all of his rounds trying to get help and couldn't scream anymore. We found him about midnight. He was only 3/10 of mile from a road, but it took an hour and half to walk into him where he was at due to the terrain.

I personally don't think he should have been where he was alone. He was a great guy and was prepared to be out there all night by himself. He should have had a radio and cell phone on him and given people a way to get ahold of him. That was his only real mistake. It is a shame the guy lost his meat. I'm just glad he was ok and got him out. 

I wish him the best and hope he gets out and gets some deer on the special draw tag he has in late November. He won't be walking though.

Only 3/10ths of a mile and it took half an hour to get to him... man. That really drives home the difference in terrain hunting out here versus in places like the midwest with their oak trees and corn fields.

Glad he'll be okay. Bummer about the meat though.

[hirshey]

Been hearing about a few situations like this recently.  I decided to purchase a lifeflight membership for the family.  If you ever need it, it will probably be the best $60 you ever spent.  Glad they found the guy, it can happen to anyone.

To my amazement, they wouldn't bring in a helicopter. They said it was too foggy, of which I didn't see any fog. They took him out on a back board with a dozen search and rescue guys. Wouldn't have helped you here. I would've thought that was how they would have gotten him out of there. I was wrong.

I was part of the search and rescue team that hauled him out on the backboard... where he was located, there was no spot to land to load him. Lifeflight cannot perform hoist operations. The nearest hoist-capable helicopter was on the coast, and because the patient was stable there was no need to transfer the risk to pilot and crew. We leap-frog passed him down the hill for a few hours back to the vehicle.