Horses and Helicopters

[Garrett Drach]

I wish I could give a lengthy recap of my families' hunt last week, but unfortunately it ended abruptly after two days of hunting. We did learn some valuable lessons however that I hope others can also learn from.

We had packed in our base camp (wall tent, stove, ect.) on our 4 horses, 3 miles from the trail head on Saturday. Sunday and Monday were spent chasing elk. While leading a horse back to camp after dark on Monday my Dad crossed a small creek about 150 yards from camp. When the horse crossed the creek it ran him over from behind and stepped on his right ankle while he was falling forward. He broke 3 bones in his ankle. Shortly after my brother and I ran over to him, his hands started shaking violently (possibly going into shock.) We helped carry him back to camp, got on dry clothes and into his sleeping bag with about 4 chemical hand warmers inside. He started shaking violently again (maybe from the cold). I grabbed his iphone and a SPOT Connect (satellite device) from his backpack while my brother started climbing back up the hill to the top to get cell phone service. The SPOT Connect links to your smart phone via Bluetooth and has a 'SOS' signal that links via satellite directly to the national search and rescue and sends them your exact GPS coordinates. The SPOT Connect allows you to type a short message with your SOS, I typed "broken leg". I got a fire going in the stove and heated some tea in a jetboil in attempt to warm up my Dad. When my brother finally got cell phone service he called 911 who then transferred him to local search and rescue. They had already received our SOS and were in the planning stages of getting my Dad off the mountain. 1.5 hours after the SOS was sent we heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter. To sum up the rest of the story; the helicopter was able to find a spot to land the next morning, and my Dad was flown to a nearby hospital for surgery.

We will not be hunting without that SPOT Connect again. Without that device- if my Dad would have been by himself things could have gone much worse, same for if we didn't have cell phone service near camp and had to walk out to the trail head and drive to the nearest town.

His leg is healing fine and we are looking forward to next year's hunt.

Garrett

[mtnmutt]

Glad to hear that your dad will be OK. Sounds like you and your brother did the right things after he was injured.

I carry the 2nd generation SPOT. It does not work well in dark timber. Wish they made a version with an external antenna like my GPS garmin 60CSx. This year, I am using my cell phone more for "OK, safe and back at camp" text messages to family even with zero bars because the SPOT drains batteries if it has a hard time getting a signal. I have no experience with their latest generation of SPOT.

[navet]

Just got an inReach SE. Going solo and would not want to be stuck in a similar situation. Glad your dad is on the mend.

[ElkNut1]

Hey Garrett, thanks for the story & tip! Glad to hear your dad is going to be OK! Good luck to you folks!

ElkNut1

[POk3s]

Great to hear everything worked out for the better! I have the first generation spot and love it. Definitely gives peace of mind to everybody at home and gives me a little more sense of security on the mountain. I have had great luck with mine. Every message I've sent has gone through.

[six]

Thank you for the story. Glad everyone's OK.

Can you elaborate more on the Spot. Total cost per year. User friendliness.(im not a real technical guy)

[mtnmutt]

Can you elaborate more on the Spot. Total cost per year. User friendliness.(im not a real technical guy)

It depends on device and services you signup for
http://www.findmespot.com/en/

I have the 2nd generation SPOT (SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger )

3rd generation came out this year and the SPOT Connect (use with cell phone) that the OP spoke of came out 1-2 years ago.

My device was $100 on sale 2 years ago. Basic service is $100/yr. Basic Tracking $50/yr. I have not been using the Basic tracking because of battery drain where I go (dark timber).

It is best to compare SPOT services with the inReach and other options before committing to one company.