Posted by Tom @ Snake River on Sunday, October 16, 2005 at 11:52PM :
In Reply to: Too close for comfort:. or A bad day in the Pacific NW posted by Keith in Washington on Sunday, October 16, 2005 at 4:42PM :
Sheriff's office called Search & Rescue to look for a moose hunter 4 miles from my house. Grabbed my trusty M-274 mule and headed out. When we arrived 2 deputies had located the hunter and they were in the process of rolling and sliding a huge female moose down the mountain. Another SAR member and my self had taken the mule and a 4 wheeler and found a trail across the stream and haveing a good time. At the bottom of the hill they gutted out the moose and we drug it over to the side of the stream where I had my Mule waiting to carry the 1000 lb moose out. After loading the moose I headed across the stream and proceded to climb the 4 ft bank on the opposite side. The trail up was slick and a small gulley to the passenger side. Anyway, the mule went sideways and flipped to the passenger side, pinning me breifly under the mule and throwing the hunters daughter into the water. I crawled out and lay for a few minutes trying to catch my breath and access my health. I was not pulling out of it worth a darn. Called the ambulance which was 20 minutes out, and ALS Advanced Life Support from the local hospital 50 miles away. I could not breath good and hurt like crap. I had moose blood all over me. I told the parimedics they would have to run DNA to see whom the blood belonged to, me or the moose. After hitting the hospital and a good shot of morphine, I felt a little better. After X-rays and Cat scans, I had a sprained rib, my tissue between the lung and ribs had seperated, and the kidneys and abdoman checked out okay. I hurt like heck, and will do for the next week, but I feel darn lucky. Guess, I flunked my mule driving test with a 1000 lb moose on board. All people heard on the scanners was that a moose was on back of a mule and flipped over on me. Tom @ Snake River