I’m troubled by what I have to report tonight.
If you recall, last year on opening day of the muzzle loader season in the North Zone (AKA the Adirondacks) a camp to the west had a hunter go out and not return. He passed away of a massive heart attack on the trail in the woods. Crews from the state troopers, the DEC and a friend of mine spent a good portion of the night and a few hours the next morning combing the woods before they located his body. (See my post Tragedy In the North Country for the full story.)
Today was opening day of the regular rifle season in the North Zone and it was déjà vu all over again. Except this time the hunter wasn’t in the woods. One of the hunters from the camp to the east of the Bolt Hole was going up the snowmobile trail to set up for an afternoon hunt. A second hunter left a short time afterward to catch up with him and the two were to sit while another group pushed deer in their direction.
Never happened.
As hunter number two progressed up the trail, he came upon the body of hunter number one laying in the middle of the trail. Carl, hunter number one, had died on his way up the trail. Apparently he had a heart attack.
While no search was necessary this time, the State Troopers, DEC and the local ambulance crew responded to the call and Chevy Suburbans and trucks and trailers were parked on the road at my gate for several hours while they took statements and went up the trail to retrieve Carl’s body.
I recall meeting Carl a time or two when we were both up here hunting. Until recently I wasn't up here often enough to know him real well, but he seemed the decent sort. The owners of the camp he hunted from say they had been friends for neigh on to 30 years. Carl was 58 years old. Much too young for this sort of thing. But then again, the fella who lost his life last year was only in his late forties/early fifties.
*sigh*
Twice in two years (three times in three if you count the older gent from further south of here mentioned in the linked post) hunters have died on the trails around the Bolt Hole. Makes me wonder if I should be going out alone.
3 comments:
no you shouldn't...be going out alone; that is. But then wouldn't that be one of the first rules learned as a young scout? think about it... {nag nag nag}
What are the odds? How many hunters went up that trail and didn't die?
Carl had hunted up here close to thirty years. He'd been up and down that trail countless times. The area where he was found is not the steepest section of the trail. In fact, it was described to me (I haven't been out that way this year) as one of the flat sections.
A few years back, he probably would have taken an ATV to get where he was going, but the state closed the trail to ATVs about two to three years ago.
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