Bama
Well-known member
Hey Ya'll most of these stories don't turn out as this one did I'm still amazed so I thought I'd share it.
As many of Ya''ll know I volunteer with a local rescue squad in this area. There is a rather large national forest near here that claims several lost people a year. Most of them are found in about 24 hours, after about 48 hours they normally dont make it out alive. Anyway I was paged out Saturday about a 73 year old man missing since 8 am the previous day. I get there and learn he has high blood pressure, low blood sugar, a ruptured disk thats is inoperatable, and can't normally walk more than 100 yards at a time. Due to back injury he can't walk up hill and hasn't walked a half of a mile in the last 5 years. He was scouting the area for a hog hunt starting Saturday.He has two bottles of water and carrying a pack of crackers and none of his medication. He is wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and a dark green shirt. His truck was found and scent dogs wern't able to get a direction of his travel. We searched around the truck saturday. Sunday I was asked if I would carry a team down to the flats. This whole area is mountainous with creeks and bluffs everwhere. The flats is a place along one of the creeks that is maybe 200 yards wide with steep mountains to either side. We get to the location and I tell them we are probally not looking for someone on two feet and at best he is probally in a diabetic coma by this time. I send a group of four in one direction and 2 to stay in the general area and my son and I would go the other direction. There are several shooting houses in the area and My son climbed into all of them searching, About a 1/2 mile out we both stopped in our tracks and smelled the foul oder of decomposition. We looked around but couldn't find anything. we left the area and went back to base. When we got there I told them of the smell and that we were a mile and a half from his truck. I thought the smell was probally a hog that someone had shot and left laying as there are so many of the pest but we needed to check it better. There was a dog team that had just pulled in and they ask if we would carry them to the spot. I looked at my son he said lets go. We got to the spot a couple of hours after dark and the dog was picking up the sent till it ran square on with a rattle snake. His handler screamed theres a 8 foot rattlesnake coiled. I normally don't kill them but as many as 300 people were out searching that day and I thought it would be a good idea show some of the less seasoned searchers what one looked like. It was only 4 feet and a couple of inches not quite 8 feet. The dog was done he wouldn't leave the feet of his handler. We could still smell the decomposition but couldn't find nothing. After the snake in the thick brush those folks finally believed me when I told them to watch their step. Anyway we returned to base about midnight with plans af sending a new dog team to the area at first light. I pulled out my snake and they said just put it over there with the other three that had been killed that day. Mine was next to the smallest. All day searching monday and nothing. Tuesday morning after several teams were done in the woods a truck came up with the gentleman. He was dehydrated a little, bug bitten but in otherwise good shape. He had walked out to a road and was spotted by a passing truck. He said he had heard us calling for him but wasn't able to get our attention. He said he walked a little while and get tired and sit a spell them walk some more. He said when it got dark he would sleep and walk a little while the next morning repeating this for 4 days. His water ran out early and the only water he had was from a place the hogs had rooted up that had some standing water. In total he had covered about 3 miles in 4 days but this is a heck of a feat for the shape he was in. I was expecting some hunter to find him in the fall, I had pretty much given up on him. We had over 300 searchers on foot and horseback each day for 4 days but couldn't find anything.Yet he walks out to a road withing two miles of base. The best part was his family had been at the base for the whole 4 days. Imagine the reception when that truck pulled up.
As many of Ya''ll know I volunteer with a local rescue squad in this area. There is a rather large national forest near here that claims several lost people a year. Most of them are found in about 24 hours, after about 48 hours they normally dont make it out alive. Anyway I was paged out Saturday about a 73 year old man missing since 8 am the previous day. I get there and learn he has high blood pressure, low blood sugar, a ruptured disk thats is inoperatable, and can't normally walk more than 100 yards at a time. Due to back injury he can't walk up hill and hasn't walked a half of a mile in the last 5 years. He was scouting the area for a hog hunt starting Saturday.He has two bottles of water and carrying a pack of crackers and none of his medication. He is wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and a dark green shirt. His truck was found and scent dogs wern't able to get a direction of his travel. We searched around the truck saturday. Sunday I was asked if I would carry a team down to the flats. This whole area is mountainous with creeks and bluffs everwhere. The flats is a place along one of the creeks that is maybe 200 yards wide with steep mountains to either side. We get to the location and I tell them we are probally not looking for someone on two feet and at best he is probally in a diabetic coma by this time. I send a group of four in one direction and 2 to stay in the general area and my son and I would go the other direction. There are several shooting houses in the area and My son climbed into all of them searching, About a 1/2 mile out we both stopped in our tracks and smelled the foul oder of decomposition. We looked around but couldn't find anything. we left the area and went back to base. When we got there I told them of the smell and that we were a mile and a half from his truck. I thought the smell was probally a hog that someone had shot and left laying as there are so many of the pest but we needed to check it better. There was a dog team that had just pulled in and they ask if we would carry them to the spot. I looked at my son he said lets go. We got to the spot a couple of hours after dark and the dog was picking up the sent till it ran square on with a rattle snake. His handler screamed theres a 8 foot rattlesnake coiled. I normally don't kill them but as many as 300 people were out searching that day and I thought it would be a good idea show some of the less seasoned searchers what one looked like. It was only 4 feet and a couple of inches not quite 8 feet. The dog was done he wouldn't leave the feet of his handler. We could still smell the decomposition but couldn't find nothing. After the snake in the thick brush those folks finally believed me when I told them to watch their step. Anyway we returned to base about midnight with plans af sending a new dog team to the area at first light. I pulled out my snake and they said just put it over there with the other three that had been killed that day. Mine was next to the smallest. All day searching monday and nothing. Tuesday morning after several teams were done in the woods a truck came up with the gentleman. He was dehydrated a little, bug bitten but in otherwise good shape. He had walked out to a road and was spotted by a passing truck. He said he had heard us calling for him but wasn't able to get our attention. He said he walked a little while and get tired and sit a spell them walk some more. He said when it got dark he would sleep and walk a little while the next morning repeating this for 4 days. His water ran out early and the only water he had was from a place the hogs had rooted up that had some standing water. In total he had covered about 3 miles in 4 days but this is a heck of a feat for the shape he was in. I was expecting some hunter to find him in the fall, I had pretty much given up on him. We had over 300 searchers on foot and horseback each day for 4 days but couldn't find anything.Yet he walks out to a road withing two miles of base. The best part was his family had been at the base for the whole 4 days. Imagine the reception when that truck pulled up.
