A man left stranded by a broken leg in a ravine near the Shoshone River was rescued by search and rescue personnel from the Park County Sheriff’s Office last week.
The sheriff’s office said its communications division received an SOS signal Friday from 38-year-old male hunter who had broken his leg.
The hunter was located in the South Fork of the Shoshone River Drainage on the Shoshone Plateau. He slid down a ravine, broke his leg and was unable to climb out, he told authorities.
A number of search and rescue personnel (including Park County Search and Rescue, Guardian Medical Helicopter and Sublette County’s Tip-Top helicopter) were able to reach the hunter and stabilize his injury. They then stayed with him overnight until a helicopter could be flown into the area Saturday morning.
On Saturday, Tip-Top “short-hauled” the hunter out of the area to a waiting Cody Regional Health Ambulance that was staged at the Majo Ranch. The man was then transported to Cody Regional Health.
A short haul rescue involves securing an injured person to a rope affixed to the underside of a helicopter. The rope and an attendant are lowered to extract the injured person using a full-body harness, also called a “screamer suit.”
The person is then transported, attached to the rope, to a more suitable landing zone.
Park County Sheriff Scott Steward expressed his gratitude for the search and rescue personnel.
“Being able to get to the victim and then staying overnight with him is a resource that is invaluable to the residents and visitors of Park County,” he said.
The six rescue members that stayed overnight were able to hike out to a landing zone the next morning after the victim was extracted and all made it home safely.
