Chapter 1 - Opening Day
Like
many of our trips, our 1996 hunt started out with the usual excitement and
enthusiasm. Bruce would be coming from Denver Colorado
and would be meeting us in a small town 65 miles from our destination. My youngest brother Alan had come from Pocatello Idaho the night
before and was traveling with me from Orem
Utah. It was to be the first time that all of us
would be together for such an adventure.
Coupled with our experience and the quality location we were confident
that we would achieve success.
Especially since for the first time we were spending an entire week in its’
pursuit. Little did we know the events
that were about to occur that would change not only our opportunities for
success but would improve our concern for safety and preparedness.
The
six hour Friday trip went smoothly and we arrived to a chilly 10,000 foot mid
October climate at 4:00PM. The canvas
cabin tent went up without a hitch and the plastic tarp that we secured over the
top would help protect us from the 10 to 18 inches of snow that was expected to
come while we were there. We unloaded
our vehicles and arranged our equipment in the cramped quarters. We assembled and fueled the new 2200 Btu
kerosene heater that I had purchased just days before. Soon we were toasty warm and having our first
meal prepared over a temperamental, flame belching, Coleman stove.
Our
neighbors, Ricky and Jack, who were kind enough to invite us, enjoyed an
extravagant layout with all of the comforts of home. This included a rather large army tent
complete with stereo, cooking and dining tables, two kerosene heaters, and an
attached bathing and storage tent. We
were amazed that they could fit all of this stuff in two Toyota pickups.
Near
us were four additional camps that contained approximately 40 people. Their living arrangements consisted of tents,
and small trailers as a result of the 35-mile dirt road used to access this
area. We were assured by our hosts, that despite the large numbers, hunting
would be good the entire week.
That
first night was cold and filled will restless sleep resulting from the cramped
conditions, new cots, and the apprehension of the crazy hour we would arise to
try to beat the other 40 hunters to the field.
Despite these problems we were able to leave on time and drove the mile
or so to the trailhead where we would begin the day. We walked down the trail for about 3/4 of a
mile and began to peal off in separate directions. Bruce, Alan, and I all had topographical maps
of the area and had been studying them for several weeks prior. Rickey, our host, made some suggestions as
to where we might find success based on his knowledge of the area. Alan and I took his advice and headed North
East of the trail about 100 yards and waited for daylight. As we lean later, about 100 yards down the
trail Bruce heard a bull elk bugeling just West of the trail and decided to
head up that direction in hopes of locating him. Although this was the area I had planned to hunt
the night before I had forgone it based on the encouragement from Ricky to try
the North Eastern route.
Alan
and I spent most of the day trying to avoid other hunters that were in the same
area. There was some fresh sign but it
was infrequent especially compared to the amount of blaze orange we were
seeing. We found the remains of an elk
that had been taken in seasons past but were unable to connect with any of the
breathing kind we had hoped for. I say
this because when you are strenuously looking for something you tend to think
you hear and see what you are looking for.
Rocks and trees form perfect silhouettes of what appear to be your
quarry.
Despite
the disappointment it was good to be out in the forest breathing the fresh air
and enjoying the outdoors. As the day
wore on the clouds over head began to get thicker and darker and seem to race
across the sky. I could tell that the
storm that was suppose to hit Utah on Saturday was also going to reach us some
time that afternoon or evening. Alan and
I had made a large loop and were set for an easy walk back to camp. We arrived there about 1:00PM and started
cooking some lunch fighting the blasts of flame produced from our fire belching
Coleman stove. About 1:30PM we began to
hear thunder and see lightning flashes which was strange when the temperature
is in the 30’s. At 2:00 PM it began to
hail and we scrambled to better cover the tent to keep the snow from blowing in
through the windows. That was when I
began to worry. Bruce and I can be
radical at times when we are out hunting and we both have on several occasions
come back to camp well after dark from a full day in the field. What worried me the most was the fact that
even with our scouting in September and the typo maps, this was still a new
area, and adding a winter storm to the mix set the stage for problems.
As
4:00PM rolled around with no relief from the storm I began saying to my self
“Where are those guys?” We had talked
about the pending storm thinking that it would arrive on Sunday but surely they
were smart enough to see, as I had, that the storm was going to arrive sooner
than we expected. By 7:00 PM the sun
was down and it was getting rather dark and shortly after that Ricky and Jack
returned to camp. They had shot a deer
and had to take care of it, delaying their return. As the evening wore on we discovered that
three others from different camps were missing that night. We began to drive the roads in hopes that
Bruce would find his way out on one of them and be attempting to walk back to
camp. At 1:00 AM we returned to camp
having returned one lost hunter to his camp but with no luck in finding
Bruce.
Chapter 2 - A Night in the Woods
The
night was bitter cold even in a 6lb Holofill sleeping bag. As I woke up repeatedly because of my
unfamiliar sleeping conditions and as the result of worrying about Bruce I kept
saying to my self, “How could anyone survive a night like this in the woods
without a heavy sleeping bag to help keep them warm”. If Bruce was physically ok he could build a
fire to keep him warm but if he was hurt he would have a difficult time keeping
himself alive. Ricky had told Alan and I
that it takes about six hours for a search and rescue team to muster and arrive
to the search area. He suggested that we
get up at 3:00 AM and make the 1.5-hour drive down to town to get the process
started. I hesitated to start so soon
because I felt that if Bruce was not lost but had gotten an elk down in the
late afternoon he might have opted to spend the night there instead of trying
to make it back to camp in the dark. I
wanted to wait until morning to see if he would come out on his own.
By
8:00 AM I was too worried to wait any longer and headed to town to report him
missing. We found the sheriff’s office
and filled out the necessary paper work and relayed the information to the
sheriff’s office in the other county (the county we were hunting in). They were not too concerned and told me to
check with them in the afternoon if he didn’t show up. I was more concerned because Bruce had a
cellular phone back at camp and we had left him a note to call if he
returned. Also out of the 15 years that
we have been hunting together, he nor I have ever spent the night on our own in
the woods. We always came back to camp
even if it was 10:00PM. I was convinced
that he was hurt up there some where and the kind of delay they were talking
about would only make a search that day un-fruitful leaving Bruce to spend
another night in hostile conditions reducing greatly his chance for
survival.
I
continued to plead my case to the Sheriff that was assigned to my case. My pleadings escalated the process up to the
next level. The sheriff contacted Scott,
the leader of the search and rescue team that was already out in the field
searching for two others. Soon I go a
call from Scott and he began to ask me a series of detailed questions about
what he was wearing including the brand name of his boots. Below is a list of the things that I knew he
had:
8 inch Leather Gortex Boots from Cabela’s
Wool Socks
Wool, Morris Feel Gloves
Insulated Underwear
Military Issue Camo fatigues
Heavy Insulated Coat
Large Fanny Pack including: Compass, Global Positioning
System, Lighter, Matches, First Aid Kit, Snack Food, Maglight Flashlight with
extra batteries, Flint and Steel with magnesium fire starter, Rope, and Extra
Shells.
Ruger M77 30-06
Bushnell waterproof binoculars
After
collecting this information Scott began to reassure me based on his experience
and the information that I had given him, Bruce was probably all right and
would probably walk out before noon.
This began to calm and sooth my fears that were running rampant. Scott told me to return to camp and if Bruce
did not return by noon, I was to call him via cell phone and he would gather
the necessary resources to begin a search.
The
trip back up the mountain was arduous and filled with doubt as to what would
transpire in the next few hours. As we
turned the last corner to our camp we saw Bruce’s truck (we had parked it at the
trail head the day before). We were
elated at first, then we began to get a bit angry thinking “Why did he do this
to us?”. We found Bruce resting in our
tent, tired but all right. He had shot a
5 point bull at about 2:00PM and was in the middle of processing the animal
when the hail began. He had attempted to
drag out one of the hindquarters but had gotten disoriented as a result of the
blowing snow.
The
next day when we went out to retrieve his elk we discovered that at one point
he was within 50 yards of the trail and never saw it because of the falling
snow. Shortly after being so close to
the trail he made a wrong turn and headed due South when he should have headed
South East. As darkness fell around him
he began to worry about his safety and the worry that he would put us through
if he didn’t return. He said that we
could live through the worry but he was afraid what would happen if he
continued.
Bruce
said that his reading of stories from outdoor magazines concerning being lost in
the woods helped him decide not to risk going on. He forced himself to accept the fact that he
was lost and to continue would only put his life in more danger. So he began to look around to find a suitable
place to spend the night. He found a
large downed log that he could get under and began to collect firewood from
under the nearby trees.
Chapter 3 - The Rescue
Roy had been resting, waiting patiently
for his opportunity. Hunting for 18
years he knew that success could not be rushed.
He caught some movement to his left and quickly turned his head to
observe a heard of cows entering the clearing at a quick trot. They were eager to reach the safety of the
thick pine trees on the far side. Roy quickly put a round
in the chamber of his 30 06 and eased it up against an aspen tree near
him. Some hunters rely on their safety
to prevent accidents but Roy
had learned from his family that you could never really rely on a safety. The only sure method was to chamber a round
only when you were ready to shoot at an animal.
As he
looked through his scope he could tell that the angle would be wrong and that
he would not have a clean shot. He
needed to move up a couple of steps to improve his view, allowing a better
opportunity. The elk were now midway
across the meadow and he would have to hurry to get a decent shot. Roy
cradled the rifle in his arms and took his first step with his right foot. He shifted his weight to take the next step
when his right foot gave way to the mud oozing between the blades of grass. Loosing his balance and beginning to fall he
loosened his grip on his rifle in an attempt to catch himself. In doing so the rifle swung down towards the
ground. Generally this is a safe place,
but would it prove true today? The
rifle discharged and the report was heard by Ricky and the others who were
hunting near by. Roy quickly examined himself and said “dam
I’m lucky” and began to get up. That’s
when he discovered his left foot wouldn’t cooperate. On closer examination he discovered a small
hole in the top of his boot near his ankle.
Roy too had been concerned for Bruce's
safety the night before and had transferred that concern to himself that
day. This resulted in the modification
of one important factor in his method of hunting. Because of Bruce’s night in the woods for the
first time in many years Roy
brought extra shells with him that day.
Normally he only carried the 5 rounds that his gun would hold. The most important thing that Roy needed now was to get
help from his friends near by. He fired
three rounds in quick succession and began yelling his head off and then fired
three more. This did catch the
attention of his friends and they listened closely trying to determine what he
was saying. Finally they recognized
“I’ve been shot. Be careful.”. They immediately began to suspect that
someone had shot their friend and may soon be shooting at them. They were very cautious as they worked their
way to Roy.
When
they approached Roy
he was calm and described to them how he had fallen and shot his foot. Jack’s years of training as an EMT for the
fire department was about to be used to its full extent. Roy
was hesitant to allow Jack to take off his boot. Jack knew that Roy could bleed out in that boot and they
wouldn’t even know it. He cut the boot
away and found a Hugh exit wound. A
large hand full of tissue came out as the sock was removed. Jack was sick and worried about Roy’s future. When Ricky arrived they immediately sent him
for help. Jack knew that they were in
too far and Roy
was in too bad of condition for them to attempt to get him out themselves.
Ricky
walked briskly the three miles back to camp awkwardly carrying 4 rifles. He arrived at our tent at about 6:00 PM
exhausted and deeply distressed. He
quickly described to us what had happened and asked Alan and myself to grab a
sled and head down there to help haul Roy
out. We were very concerned and were
uncertain as to what to take with us. He
then asked Bruce to take his cell phone and call for an ambulance and
coordinate that part of the rescue effort.
Ricky said that he was going to the other camps to see if he could find
a horse or a 4 wheeler to help. In about
five minutes Ricky and another guy on a 4 wheeler went whipping by as we were
getting dressed. We felt that it
wouldn’t be long before Roy
would be out but hurried along just in case something didn’t work out. We drove the mile to the trail head and Ricky
was there waiting. He voiced the concern
that the 4 wheeler may not be able to make it around a bunch of downed trees
and that we should hurry along. Although
it was cold out, we began stripping off clothing to prevent overheating as we
walked. At about a mile and a half we
began to see the lights of the 4 wheeler and were feeling relieved that Roy would soon be out and
receiving medical attention. We soon
realized that the light was not getting any closer to us just moving around in
the same area. As we approached we could
see why. The operator of the 4 wheeler
was trying desperately to get around a series of downed logs and was
stuck. We pushed him out and we agreed
that there was no way for him to get around the logs and that he would have to
wait for us to bring Roy
to him.
We
found Jack, his friend, and Roy
down the trail about 3/4 of a mile further.
They had gotten Roy
down through the ravine and up partway the other side before they stopped to build
a fire. Roy was loosing too much blood and was going
into shock when they stopped. This was
brought on by the blood loss, trauma, and the cold. Jack had felt it best to stop and wait for
help. Because of the gaping hole in the
bottom of Roy’s
foot Jack had placed a tourniquet just above the ankle to stop the
bleeding. He told us that he was afraid
of loosing Roy
while trying to save his foot and thought it would be better for him to loose
his foot than to loose his life.
Roy, despite all this, was in good spirits
and this raised my hope that we would be able to get him out alive. I did not want to have to forever remember
hauling out a corps on a hunting trip.
It would affect me the rest of my life so failure was not an
option. Jack’s skills had kept Roy alive but it was the
skills that Alan and I had that where needed now. Building and fixing things is one of my greatest
strengths. I quickly devised a plan and
instructed everyone as to what to do. In
thirty minutes we had Roy
situated in the sled. Normally it would
only accommodate his upper body. We
attach part of a tree limb to the side of the sled to help support his
legs. We attached a pull line in the
front that had two loops in it to allow two people to pull the sled. We had also taken another 4 foot pole and
attached a rope to the middle and made a loop that we could fit around Roy’s legs when we needed
to carry him. This would allow two
people to carry and support Roy’s
legs without bending over. We had 3/4
of a mile to cover that was filled with downed logs before we would reach the
awaiting 4 wheeler.
Bruce
met the ambulance in the saddle 1/2-mile from out camp. It was a huge 4-wheel drive dully outfitted
with the best equipment money could buy.
The driver was hesitant to attempt driving down to the trailhead where Roy would be coming
out. With the ambulance ready and
waiting Bruce and the Sheriff drove down to the trailhead to await Roy’s arrival. Bruce talked to Ricky and asked why it was
taking so long to get Roy
out. They both agreed that something
must have gone wrong.
As
Jack and his friend would later comment “Alan pulled like a mule.” Despite the fact that Alan had just had
surgery on his ankle that summer, his concern for Roy outweighed the pain he was
suffering. Jack and his friend had both
spent their strength getting Roy
across the ravine. They were helpful but
it was Alan that was bearing most of the burden. We lifted Roy’s 200 lbs. over a countless number of
logs on the 3/4 mile trek to the awaiting 4 wheeler. Each of us were surprised that Roy didn’t cry out more
with all of the bumping and dropping that we did. All the while he kept praising and thanking
us for what we were doing for him.
When
we arrived at the 4 wheeler we slid Roy, sled and all right over the seat and
up to the handlebars. The driver had to straddle
Roy’s body to
drive the 4 wheeler but soon they were off with Jack riding on one side of the
rear rack. The ride was bitter cold but
Ricky was glad to see the headlights coming from down the trail. He and the sheriff had started down the trail
to see if there was any help they could offer.
They cut Roy loose and slid him into the
back of Ricky’s waiting Toyota
truck and they drove up to where the ambulance was waiting. They transferred him and began to work on
him. It was now around 9:00PM and it
took two more hours to get him to the hospital in Craig Colorado. The doctor cleaned up the wound and then
suggested to Ricky that they waist no time and proceed with an amputation. The foot was black from lack of blood and
from frostbite. The probability of
saving the foot was very low and the doctor was afraid of gangrene setting in
the bone. Ricky pleaded with him to wait
and transfer him to one of the Hospitals in Denver where a specialist could make a more
conclusive assessment. He was
transferred the next day and the specialist agreed that the foot was too
far-gone and they took Roy’s
foot off just above the ankle. Roy was just glad to be
alive and was willing to learn to deal with his new handicap. His work did not require that he walk, but
with a prostheses, it was likely that he would be able to walk after some
rehabilitation. The trauma that Roy had experienced would
spoil any future-hunting attempt on his part, as it would affect all of
us.
Chapter 4 - The Retrieval
The
next day we got up late and headed out to retrieve the elk Bruce had downed the
day before. As we were walking the trail
Bruce stopped and looked off the trail and noticed some of the orange trail
tape he had used to mark the trail to his elk.
We exited the trail and began following his markings. All of us were still affected by what had
happened to Roy
the day before and realized that our own safety procedures could be
improved. We all agreed that since we
would be working so close together that we would not chamber any rounds unless
we came across game.
Our
main goal was to retrieve Bruce’s elk, but if an opportunity should arise we
had our rifles. We followed Bruce’s
trail tape for about a half of a mile before we got to the opening where he
shot his elk. We continued to follow the
markings to the location where his elk had gone down. Not 75 yards from where his elk lay I saw a
bull elk. I softly yelled “Buck” (I was
too excited and said the wrong thing) to my brothers and tried to work the action
on my M77 30-06 to get a round in the chamber.
The action on this new rifle was stiff compared to my old well-worn
rifle that I was used to. I had to look
down to see what was going on but soon got a shell in the chamber. I threw up my gun to get a look through my
scope. His head was blocked by a fur
tree and I couldn’t count the points it had (we were in a 4 point or better
area). I had a nice broad side shot but
I wanted to be sure it was legal before I took a shot. Soon he got nervous and bolted. I ran parallel to him in the same
direction. After 60 yards I saw him
again, but still couldn’t see his head clearly.
He reversed his course and I attempted to follow but lost track of him
in the trees. I headed back to the trail
and found Bruce working on his elk. Alan
was above us and came walking down. The
bull I was chasing ran within 50 yards from him but he didn’t get a shot
off. Alan was new to hunting and using a
new gun made it difficult to take a running shot. We all agreed that just having an
opportunity at an elk was sufficient to get us to return each year.
We
finished butchering the elk and loaded it into the three sleds that we had
brought with us and headed back to camp.
Bruce had tried to haul out one hindquarter by himself the day before so
we had to again trace his trail tape to locate it. He had left it on a tree stump and started
climbing uphill. It was only about 70
yards from the trail making it easy to retrieve. The sleds worked perfectly over the 12 inches
of snow that had accumulated.
We
returned to camp at about 5:00 PM and it was dark before we were able to get in
our tent to start our dinner. We talked
to Rickey who had returned form the Hospital about how Roy was doing and then about the 4 point bull
that we had seen. We talked and made
plans for the next day and then went to bed.
Chapter 4 - SIX POINTS ARE BETTER THAN FOUR
Alan
and I hunted hard together the whole day.
We had covered about 5 miles before we stopped for lunch. We found a
prime area and were sneaking around trying to spot our quarry. Just before lunch we spooked up a heard of
three elk that were bedded down across a clearing. We crossed the creek that ran down the middle
and discovered through reviewing the tracks that were left and the bedding site
that there was a small bull with them.
We were disappointed that we didn’t see them sooner but were excited at
the prospect. We stopped for lunch in a
prime location and took a little nap under a tree. Soon however we started to see hunters that
were coming from a road that ran along West side of this mountain. We talked to one set (a father and his two
boys) and discovered that we were only about 3/4 of a mile from the road. We relaxed a little more and then headed
back towards camp. As we were returning
we approached a clearing that we had been through that morning. We found it was now covered with elk
tracks. We decided to split up and
worked our way around the outer edges. I
was working on the left side and Alan was working the right. We both were taking our time checking out
every little thing. As I did this I came up over a little rise and looked back
to my right a little when I saw a very nice 6-point bull. He had about a 6” span between his 5th
and 6th point. He was looking towards Alan and was standing
broadside to me. The biggest problem I
had was the fact that I had a very narrow window to shoot through and if he
moved very much my opportunity would be over.
He was out about 160 yards with a tree running right down the middle of
him and his head was also behind a tree.
I had a clear shot at his vitals and tried to kneel but found that the
tall grass blocked my view. I pulled up
for a free hand shot and realized that I wasn’t very steady. I looked around and the closest tree was 10
feet away and would put me at the wrong angle.
I decided the only shot I had was free hand so I flipped off my safety
and squeezed off a round as my cross hairs went by his lung area. I felt that this was the opportunity that I
was given and if I hesitated I would miss my chance.
The
bull whirled and backtracked for about 70 yards stopping in the trees. I could see a faint outline of his body but
when I brought up the scope all I could see was trees. I desperately wanted a second shot. I felt the likelihood that my first shot hit
him was good but wanted a second shot to be sure. Soon the small heard realized where I was and
headed off in the opposite direction. I
worked my way down to where the elk had been and began looking for blood but
there was none to be found. Alan arrived
and we looked closer and found some hair that looked like it had been shaven
off. I then realized that I had probably
just grazed him under the belly. We
began to follow the tracks and soon found a drop of blood and then another and
my excitement began to rise. We waited
for 30 minutes and then decided to follow the tracks a little further to see if
we could tell where he had been hit. We
soon discovered that he was bleeding slowly down the back of his right front
leg. This was not the mortal wound that
I was hoping for. A slow bleeder would
take hours if not days to bleed out. The
most likely probability was that he would soon stop bleeding completely because
it was only a flesh wound.
We
decided to continue following the tracks going very slowly hoping for a second
chance. Within a half of a mile we bumped into them again, but because of the
trees we never got a chance to shoot. We
soon crossed one of the main trails and another hunter began following the
tracks. This pushed the elk to move
faster and it made the blood trail less frequent and harder to follow. After two miles we began to get
discouraged. He was still bleeding and
continuing to climb uphill jumping over logs with ease. It was getting late and we were worried that
if we continued we would get stuck out there for the night. We marked our location and headed out.
When
we returned to camp it was dark and we described to Bruce our experience. He was glad that we had been given another
chance but was disappointed that we didn’t do better. I was discouraged and began analyzing how I
could have improved my chances. My
previous rifle had a standard sling that could you could loop your arm through
to steady ones self when attempting a free hand shot. The sling that I was using is a new design
that allows you to carry your rifle across your chest and it was easy and quick
to get the gun up to a firing position but it didn’t supply a ready support for
free hand shots. I tried several times
to duplicate the looping arm concept and finally found one that helped. I would be better prepared the next
time. Better preparation on my part
would have increased my chances at taking that 6 point the first try.
It was
snowing heavy the next morning which meant the elk would be bedded down. We finally got a break about 11:00 AM and
Alan and I headed out. We were out for
about an hour when it began to snow again and though we hunted hard nothing was
moving. We split up for a while to
improve our chances but neither of us saw a thing. The 6-point bull that I had winged the day
before would be impossible to find since his tracks were now all filled
in. I headed back to camp about 3:00 PM
and met Alan on the trail. We got back
to camp and we all agreed that the amount of snow that had accumulated would
make it difficult to for us to get out if we left right then. The forecast was for more snow tomorrow so we
decided to leave. We hurried and broke
camp and chained up and attempted to drive out over the summit.
Bruce
lead the way with his 3/4 ton 4X4 GMC but his wheel base was wider than my
Isuzu Trooper and soon Alan and I were stuck.
The 18 inches of snow was too much to push while going uphill. We took out the snow shovels that we had
bought the day we left Orem
and started digging our selves out.
Bruce had turned around and Alan and I had to back up to a wide spot in
the road to do the same. There was
another way out that would require us to drive up through Wyoming and that was the way we headed. It was much easier going because the snow was
not as deep and it was down hill most of the way.
We
left Bruce at a gas station in Wyoming
located at an intersection in the highway.
Bruce planned to take a more direct route to his home leaving Alan and I
to head back through Craig Colorado. On
our way to Craig we came across several accidents because of the slick road
conditions. The wind and snow was
blowing and we started to get worried about our ability to drive all the way
back to Orem in
this weather. We stopped in Craig to get
a byte to eat at McDonalds when Bruce pulled in behind us. He had decided to follow us as far as Craig
and maybe spend the night there. Alan
and I had been talking about the same thing over our CB’s as we approached
McDonalds. We were excited to see him
and suggested that he spend the night with us in a hotel. So we cowed down some Big Mac’s and went
looking for a hotel. We decided on Motel
8 which was near the highway. It was
expensive costing us $60.00. The
attendant said that they raise the rates during hunting season because of the
demand for rooms. We complained but
were happy to have a place to stay the night.
The shower felt good on my tired worn body and for the first time in
many days I was warm and comfortable.
Some of the very important lessons we learned during that hunting trip were:
1) That you could only truly rely on your hunting partners during an emergency.
2) You should never hunt alone.
3) You had better be well prepared or you could easily loose your life.
4) Firearm safety is extremely important even to well seasoned hunters.
5) Know what your limits are.
6) Spending the night in the woods near a fire is better than freezing on you feet.
Hondo
Copyright March 1996 Harlan Pooley
