CO: Horse steps on hunter's chest
Hunter airlifted after accident
Search and Rescue conducts 2 operations Wednesday
Friday, October 17, 2008
Steamboat Springs - An injured hunter was airlifted out of the Beaver
Flat Tops late Wednesday night after he was seriously injured when a
draft horse stepped on his chest.
The unidentified 50-year-old man from the Castle Rock area was
hunting on horseback with his two adults son in a remote area south of
Hayden when the accident occurred at about 5:30 p.m., Routt County
Search and Rescue member Darrel Levingston said.
"The horse got caught in a fence, got his foot stuck, and in trying
to get it out, the horse fell over on top of him," Levingston said.
"Then the horse got up and stepped on him."
The draft horse stepped on the man at least once, directly on the
chest.
"He had multi-system trauma," Levingston said. "His injuries were
pretty severe."
After Search and Rescue located the man, he was airlifted to Bob
Adams Field by a helicopter crew from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in
Wyoming.
The Air Force sent in a night vision-equipped Black Hawk helicopter
for the job, after civilian flight crews turned down the rescue because
of the remoteness of the Beaver Flat Tops and darkness, Levingston said.
"Because of the nature of his injuries, we were concerned that if we
took him out our normal way, in a stokes basket, it could make his
injuries worse and cause them to be life-threatening," Levington said.
The man was airlifted to Steamboat Springs at about 9:30 p.m. He then
was transported to Yampa Valley Medical Center by an ambulance crew from
Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue. The Routt County Sheriff's Office
assisted with the search, as did the owners of nearby Beaver Creek
Ranch.
"They were a tremendous help - they guided us back and forth, they
helped transport gear, they fed us," Levingston said. "The owners of the
ranch were just unbelievable."
An update on the man's condition wasn't available Thursday afternoon
because law enforcement personnel with the authority to release the
man's name could not be reached by the Pilot & Today.
