POSTED: 2:36 am EST December 10, 2005
MOUNT HOLLY, Ark. -- A hunter suffered hypothermia and kidney
damage after becoming entangled in his deer stand and dangling upside
down 30 feet above the ground in sleet for 81/2 hours.
Raybon E. Upton was hunting by himself Wednesday when his ankle
became caught on the deer stand and he slipped. He was trapped there
until about midnight when rescuers called by his wife were finally
able to free him.
"I had cooked a big supper and he wasn't home, then I just got this
gut feeling that something wasn't right. And I went out there and
found him," Tammy Upton said Friday.
Upton was conscious but trapped when his wife found him about 8:30
p.m. and call for help. A firefighter was able to secure him with a
rope until a fire crew with a ladder could free him.
Upton underwent surgery on Thursday and had another scheduled
Saturday and Monday, his wife said.
"He thought he was going to die there," Tammy Upton said. "He had
made his peace with God and everything."
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