Survival Chronicles: Tales of Courage and Peril in the Wild | Fight To Survive

[Music] the merciless wild the heartless Seas when Nature unleashes her cruelty over here could you escape could you survive these are the true stories of outdoorsmen confronted by death armed with raw courage and a will to live they are the ones who beat the ODS and return from their own fight to [Music] survive for a young Hunter the freedom of the Georgia Woods casts a special spell I actually like being out on my own and being able to experience things on my own here he can stretch his legs and hone his skills building confidence in his woodsmanship I never really worried about anything attacking me I never really had much to worry about but all that changes when he suddenly becomes the prey to a deadly pack of predators the fall Woods of Georgia have been home to Jackson Jordan since the age of six when he first went there with his father to hunt by the time he was 11 he had taken his first deer and learned to be skilled with both rifle and bow I'm a big archery Hunter I love to archery hunt and uh I tend to stay in archery season on into rifle season I like to I like to hunt there and I do Predator hunt also Jackson hunts Predators as a form of wildlife management we do Predator hunt just to keep the population down cuz they do take the population of the deer and drop them [Music] drastically the type of predators that we hunt in the state of Georgia are mostly Hogs and coyotes [Music] also we've had seen a lot of coyotes in the area you know we'd seen you know 10 11 12 running together at a time and you hear them calling in the woods and trying to locate each other and and get up and get in a bike with each other although coyotes feed mostly on small animals including lizards and insects they are more than capable of attacking and killing deer livestock and even household [Music] pets looking m a Kyo is a carnivore obviously they call it the American Jackal it stretches all the way from Alaska far north Canada all the way down into Mexico you can hunt him as much as you want but they are one of the smartest Critters there is and you will never get rid of them and they're shy they don't want anything to do with humans most of the time when hunting large prey they will usually be in packs and will attack the rear or flanks of the animal trying to pull it to the ground when they start after an animal coyotes can continue pursuing it for hours until they make the kill or abandon the attack from the time Jackson was 13 his father gave him an increasingly Freer Reign to roam and to hunt on his own and for Jackson it was the perfect situation as he could not imagine any real threat waiting for him in the Georgia Woods he loved when I was probably 13 my dad started letting me hunt on my own and that was just from him going out with me and letting me take a deer with with him by my side and he kind of just turned over everything to me when when the deer did come out you know he didn't really uh tell me what to do he just kind of let me go ahead and experience that myself while he was there with me nice nice you got it you got it awesome let's go check it out okay once he did that he he knew that I was able to be able to hunt by myself for Jackson being able to hunt alone was something he often looked forward to at the end of the school day and he would be in a rush to get out with his bow or rifle while the light lasted and for him it was also a way of proving himself as as a young man going hunting after school uh to me was more of a independent type thing I actually like being out on my own and and being able to experience things on my own I would say maybe a ride of [Music] Passage by the time Jackson is 16 his ability as an Outdoorsman instill a confidence in him a confidence that will soon be [Music] tested whenever I started hunting on own I never really worried about anything attacking me especially like not as far as cougars or or bears anything like that wasn't wasn't much of a concern for me I never never really had much to worry about [Music] on December 21st 2003 Jackson prepares for an evening's hunt as he always does he doesn't expect anything but deer to be waiting for him when he gets into the field it was later in the year very cool outside got everything ready got all my gear together and got in the truck and went back out to the woods and uh just didn't plan to be able to sit very long just because I knew that I wasn't going to have a lot of time so when I got there I drove to the the stand I left my truck probably 175 to 200 yards uh around a short finger of woods on the other side it was a very pretty evening uh like I said it was pretty cool I had to all my thick cold weather gear [Music] on I hadn't sat there very long I had heard some noises and thought that I heard somebody you know getting in my truck or something or or something along the lines of that so I sat there for a little while longer and I wanted to go check it out just cuz of a little nervous about it Jackson starts back to his truck the next 200 yards will suddenly turn into the longest walk of his young life 16-year-old Jackson Jordan is deer hun hunting alone in the Georgia Woods he's an experienced Hunter and he's confident in his skills this is familiar territory and he's comfortable with his surroundings but then he hears noises and thinks someone is breaking into his truck he leaves his stand to investigate now his Hunt is about to turn into a literal fight for survival so I walked up walked back towards the towards my truck and I'd probably not made it 50 75 yards from where I had been sitting and I heard something running behind me made my mind I'm thinking you know I've jumped a deer up I shouldn't have got up out of the shouldn't have got up out of the stand and and come back over here it is a coyote determined to take Jackson to the ground I turned around and uh just caught C me off guard and I had a actually had a coyote leaping at me a vicious coyote has sunk its fangs into Jackson's right arm it bit me and knocked me down onto the ground and I dropped my rifle as he struggles with one attacker he realizes that more are coming up behind it there was three of them all together they were snapping trying to bite me in typical fashion the brush wolves have made a coordinated attack from behind and from the side slamming Jackson to the ground I was just trying to trying to get that coyote off of me you know at 16 years old it just something that you don't always you know you never think about so I started trying to hit it punch it anything I could do to get it off of me and finally the one on my right arm let go trying to stand Jackson is brought down again by another coyote that bites into his left leg on the ground though Jackson's hand falls onto his rifle and uh flip the safety off and just get a offand shot and just barely grazed one of them and the two ran off and the one that was on my leg just continued to stay there and I knew that I couldn't try to shoot one off my leg I could possibly shoot myself I just started actually just started hitting it with a rifle or my hand anything I could do to try to get it off of me finally it it let go I got back up I stood there for a second they were in the woods there I could hear them running around and I just stood there and try to Stand My Ground and protect myself for a few minutes cuz I didn't know if they were going to come back or you know what they might do with coyotes who have tasted blood waiting and watching in the woods Jackson Jordan has to regain his composure assess his injuries and try to reach safety [Music] nice nice you got it you got it the Georgia Woods have been a second home to 16-year-old Jackson Jordan since he started hunting them with his father when he was [Music] six but all that has changed in mere minutes as he has just experienced the fierce predatory assault of a pack of coyotes he has gotten off a single shot and scared off a pair of the coyotes and used his rifle butt to Club a third off his leg these coyotes there was three of them and one of this Hunter they sized him up and they said we can take him that's what made him Fearless once they decide to attack they're vicious but as soon as he shot his gun off they'd probably been shot at and they remembered we better get the heck out of here back on his feet he does not know if the coyotes are preparing to come again or if this time there will be more than three he needs to check his wounds and get to safety without delay well the the first place I looked was on my leg because I knew that it had it had scratched me on my leg a little bit just couldn't feel the pain like I said U you know as far as my adrenaline going I didn't know if it it was if the injuries were worse than they were it was bleeding a little bit it punctured four holes in the pants that I was wearing at the time then once I saw there I I knew that I was able to use my right arm so I knew that it wasn't bad enough to where I couldn't get back try to get back to Safety in the past Jackson has seen coyotes in packs of a dozen and as he hears the sounds coming through the trees around him he has to wonder if more coyotes are gathering to finish the attack I'd seen 10 11 12 at a time together and uh I knew if there were three that I would probably be okay but if the other 10 or so came that I was going to be in trouble a coyote May stand just 2 feet at the shoulder and weigh only 25 lb but the coyote is a 2 milliony old survivor of the pine able to run at over 40 mph and in packs it's like a school of piranha over the years 35 coyote attacks have been verified in California alone because of their size coyotes do not kill quickly but must depend on repeated bites at least twice such attacks have proved fatal one in the early 1980s in Southern California involved a toddler dragged from her yard and into the street the young child dying later in the hospital from her injuries kyotes will usually avoid humans at any cost they're almost nocturnal in most places because of the hunting pressure and you rarely ever see them you can't hunt the coyotes and so they're losing their fear of humans because there's no [Music] threat in October 2009 a 19-year-old Toronto singer songwriter Taylor Mitchell while hiking in a national park in Eastern Canada was set upon by a pack of coyotes and killed and in this case they had interbred with wolf that poor girl didn't stand a chance during the attack on Jackson the initial Rush of adrenaline kept the fear at Bay but now in the aftermath and knowing the coyotes are nearby freezing fear begins to coarse through his veins at the time I probably was afraid for my life I don't think that uh I had much time to think about it and it was just more of a survival type mode um but it was very frightening it was very frightening safety Refuge this is what Jackson must find he has to make it back to his truck and his cell phone even if it means turning his back on the [Music] coyotes at 16 Jackson Jordan is hunting deer in his native Georgia Woods when he is ambushed and mauled by a pack of vicious [Music] coyotes as Jackson retreats to his truck it is like he is Awakening from a walking nightmare when I got back to the truck you know I'm thinking did this really happen you know and and you know wh why you know what what could I have done you know to to provoke them did they think I was something else or or were they just hungry you know why would they do [Music] it in the safety of his pickup Jackson has time for his mind to clear and to reach for his cell phone to send out a call for help and I called my dad and you know telling him you know hey look I just got attacked by Coyotes and and you know he's he's like you're kidding me he couldn't believe it himself you know he's been a firefighter for 28 years and he immediately went into you know making sure I was okay and you know I'm just like I'm just hurry I'm just trying to get home you know just to try to you know get away from the situation as he drives home he at last has a chance to assess the damage the coyotes have done to him by the time I got home I had already pulled my coat sleeve up to see if I had uh any bleeding or anything and the instulation of the jacket it had a lot of material in between the co didn't actually puncture my skin as deep as it could have and on my left leg it made four puncture wounds uh into the pants that I I had on at the time the evidence of the ferocity of the attack can be seen in the state of the pants he's wearing pansy has kept to this day as a reminder of a potentially deadly situation these are the actual pants that I was wearing at the time and and the four p puncture holes these are the two top teeth the top canine teeth and these are the two bottom ones here Jackson may have been lucky to escape the ultimate fate of the Coyote's Jaws but their teeth may have left him with something equally as lethal as he learns from family friend Bo Nicholson and EMT he said that without knowing if the animal actually had Ray bees that that it was that they normally suggest had taking the RAB shots as a precautionary step the next day Jackson and his father go to the local hospital where a doctor delivers the grave diagnosis he looked at the bite wounds on my right arm and on my left leg some time ago they would split the shots up along the belly at the time the steps that had actually changed so they put several shots around the puncture wounds in my right arm probably ended up with you know 50 60 different injection sites around the around the puncture wounds once that was finished they put two large shots into each hip and I knew that there were very painful shots that always you know just heard about the the Raby shots V being very painful and uh I couldn't begin to you know explain the the the type of pain that that those shots or when they're when they're injected into your skin it just makes your skin feel like it's on fire and if not worse you know as they're putting those in the pain of the shots is like the stings of scores of angry wasps but there is no alternative the threat of rabies is the threat of violent death with unbearable pain Mania seizures Hydrophobia and coma in medical history there is only a single case of a person surviving rabies without vaccination for the next couple of days you know it was just was very very very sore the series of injections spares Jackson from Contracting rabies and he makes a complete recovery from his [Music] wounds and the attack does not keep him from returning to the woods to follow his passion for hunting after the taxs from the CES I I did go uh I did go back uh and Hunt uh in that area even though Jackson still loves the woods The Sight and Sound of kyotes there can cast a chilling Shadow over him when you do hear them it does make your skin you know kind of crawl on your hair stand up a little bit even now if anything Jackson Jordan's ordeal instilled in him an even deeper respect for the Wild and it's sometimes deadly inhabitants I'd say the most important lesson i' taken from from the incident of being attacked by the cootes is to not take any wild animal for granted we're in the we're in their environment and and we're taking up their space and all they're doing is trying to defend [Music] it the merciless wild the heartless Seas when nature unleashes her cruelty over here could you escape could you survive these are the true stories of outdoorsmen confronted by death armed with raw courage and a will to live they are the ones who beat the ODS and return from their own fight to survive [Music] a lifelong Bond of hunting forged between Father and Son the kind of hunting we do is you know elk deer analou threatened to be pulled apart in the jaws of a Wyoming Grizzly he came straight at me forcing a father to decide his life or his son's he was fighting for his life will either of them survive the bear was on top of me the Ron Lemmings senior and Junior for them the Towering mountains wild forests and big game have beckoned each fall Ron has taken his son hunting and fishing since Ronnie was 2 years old when Ronnie killed his first deer he was 12 years old I was probably more excited than he was over with the kill the kinds of hunting we do is you know elk deer analou I mean moose anything we can draw a tag for for father and son it's the trail of the Mountain Man and the Native American as they ride their horses far into the rugged Wilderness we hunt with rifles and we hunt with bows usually we hunt with bows every year cuz you can hunt with a bow and if you don't kill anything then you can also go back to and rifle season I like bow hunting best it's more of a challenge you got to get in real close there's just something about it I mean you're all camoed out it's really close range it's definitely more exciting I think B hunting in October 2009 the call of bugling elk draws the two men up to ride the High Lonesome which is in fact home to every brand of wild game including the Dead EST when we go up hunting in Boulder Basin we you know we see everything we see you know deer elk big horn sheep moose uh of course grizzly bears black [Music] bears the hunt has started well they've had several chances at Elk and it seems just a matter of time which fills their fourth day with excited anticipation before leaving camp though they ask for help and protection as they always do please keep my son safe we just more or less pray that we will have a safe hunt and maybe have an opportunity to get close to an elk or whatever and then we'll take it from there I think probably that morning when I said that prayer that I was hoping that I would have a bull elk in front of me and that he would guide that arrow and that I would finally get to put my tag on a an elk true today neither knows what their prayer may mean before the morning's [Music] over prayer counts but so does using elk scent to help them disguise their human OD and get into range for a shot with their bows though this could have fateful consequences as the hunt begins they decide that Ron senior will hunt below while Ron junor calls from above and tries to get an elk to walk by his dad we eased into our our favorite little spot there and started calling and right off the bat bull answered us and started coming in we had been set up for probably I don't know 5 to 10 minutes and Ronnie was behind me about 40 yards I was down the hill from him and it was a I believe a fivepoint bowl came in and stood just below me and then he turned and went off to my left and I couldn't see him but Ronnie kept calling so I knew he was still there I was just waiting for him to to move back in an area where I could get a shot at [Music] him I seen that bull coming out and he was right exactly where I thought he was going to come out and my dad was in a perfect position I thought for sure that was that was his elf we were we were were getting that out for sure the last piece looks like it's about to fall into place when without warning the elk bolts the elk spooked and took off and everything was you know I couldn't figure it out there was no reason for him to Spook and you know after he spooked and took off I I stood up then I heard a stick break behind me and I turned around and that's when I seen the bear and what's a mystery at first becomes true Terror when I turned around the bear was probably 20 yard from me just standing there looking at me the look on his face I knew this wasn't good I heard Ronnie yell get out of here and instantly I knew it was a grizzly bear because he would never open his mouth if it wasn't a bear I just threw my arms up you know and I I yelled at him to get out of here most of the time they turn and run off uh this one his ears went flat and he came straight at me at full speed for Ron senior it's a nightmare playing out in horrifying slow motion the very first thing that I thought of when I saw that bear behind him just for a split second I was holding him when he was a little tiny baby and and then my next thought was that Bear's going to m all my son can a man with only a bow and arrow in his hand rescue his son and does he risk becoming prey himself without seeming provocation a grizzly bear is charging down on archery elk Hunter Ron leming and his father can only watch in haror I mean we're talking like a second and he's you know standing a foot away from me there's there was no time you know to to think about what you were going to do or how you were going to do it I just got behind the tree and he followed me all the way around the tree then I just took off straight down the hill as fast as I could I knew he was chasing me and I was just trying to stay up I knew I was I wasn't going to be able to keep that up long cuz it was such a steep hill and I was going so fast the only clear path down the hill happened to be right by where my dad was at they were getting close to me by that time and I just thought I have to do something and shoot the bear with the bow was the only thing I could think of that might help and not even knowing that that was going to do anything it's all adrenaline and Desperation as Ron Senior comes to full draw praying his aim will be true I drew back I had to wait just for a split second till I knew I wasn't going to hit Ronnie and then I shot I had no idea that I had hit the bear the way everything was going it just seemed like you know this little arrow didn't do anything I saw my dad DW his bow back I heard his bow go off and I seen a flash of an arrow just go right by my leg I didn't know if the arrow hit the bear and about the same time I was on the ground I I guess the bear had caught me at that point and knocked me down the massive Grizzly is now on top of Ronnie and about to clamp him in its powerful jaws and slash him with its raking claws when I hit the ground the first thing I could think of was well I didn't want to be on my stomach I wanted to be on my back where I could see what was going on and I I rolled right straight over to my back and the bear was you know he was right on top me trying to it looked like he you know I know they always go try to get at people's heads and and at your face and stuff and that was the only thing that was going through my mind was it keeping away from my face and in my head the adrenaline and everything that was going on I actually did didn't even know that he had bit me at this point Ronnie's laying on his back kicking and slugging I mean he was fighting for his life somehow Ronnie gets back to his feet and makes another run to escape the grizzly I took off down the hill again and he's he's right right on me chasing me down the hill again and I went to jump in between two trees and the bear kind of pinned me down up against that tree and it knocked the wind out of me and trying to turn around and reach behind me and that's when he bit through my hand the bear is in for the kill Ron senior has to resort to last ditch measures to try to save his son putting himself In Harm's Way and I couldn't shoot there because you know it would have been a a chance of the arrow going through the bear and and hitting him so I just thought the only thing I can do is try and get him off of him and I started beating on it with my bow after a little bit I felt you know he got off me all of a sudden there was no more weight on me and I'm thinking oh he's going to leave you know and I looked over and I could see my dad standing there and I seen the bear take a couple steps towards him and I thought I don't have nothing left in me and this thing's going to go after him now Ron leming senior may have only succeeded in giving the grizzly another Target for its [Music] rage deep in the Wyoming Wilderness Ron leming senior has been able to Halt the attack on his son but now the infuriated Grizzly is ready to turn on him and when it turned looked at me and took a step toward me I thought well now I'm going to get it as the bear appears ready to attack Ron senior it suddenly begins behaving oddly and turns away and then about that time he turned around and he walked right beside me and just kind of went down just walked right down the hill and went about 20 yards down there and he stopped and he turned around again and looked at us wounded and bleeding on the ground Ronnie leming shouts at his father to shoot the bear again before it can come back but all Ron Sor can see is the horrifying sight his son presents he was covered in blood I mean from head to toe and I I just thought oh my gosh you know I mean my worst fear was there and of course after asking him and he kept saying I don't know I'm thinking well you you've got to know cuz you're you're half dead and I I'm just thinking bad things suffering from shock Ronnie cannot answer his father's questions about where he is injured desperate to help his son Ron cannot forget the bear that still looms just yards away until then he just took off wandering down the hill and fell over the bear wasn't moving we we figured he was dead it was like he took a 5 gallon bucket of blood and dumped on me and then dumped it all over the ground I just assumed when I seen all that blood it was mine and you know but I couldn't feel you know I didn't really feel no pain at that point because of the adrenaline and everything that was going on and I so I just I assumed it was my blood but I wasn't sure surprisingly maybe miraculously they find that the vast quantities of blood are not ronies but were pumped out of the bear both Hunters realize that Grizzlies are a threatened species and so there will be an investigation of this one's death which they document with their [Music] camera despite his injuries Ronnie is able to begin the arduous Trek back to camp ever the true Hunter he even suggests one last attempt at a trophy just before we had left the scene of the attack he tells me he says I hope it's not too bad because I want to keep hunting and I said kid you're going to the hospital there's no more hun in this trip as the long painful walk continues they hope Ronnie's wounds won't threaten just the hunt but his life too [Music] Wyoming's Boulder Basin outside Yellowstone has been the favorite Wilderness hunting grounds for father and son Ron and Ronnie leming but now it's become a territory of Terror as they rush to reach medical [Music] help on the ride to the pickup truck the numbing effect of the shock Fades and Ronnie begins to feel the pain with every clopping step of his horse I felt pretty good as we were riding out we got oh a few miles from the trail head and then I could kind of you know I started feeling some throbb and and started then I started feeling the pain you know cuz it took us probably 6 hours to get back to the to where our pickup was at Trails End of the torturous ride Ronnie is able to get word to his wife who can hardly believe what she hears I had my cell phone in the in the pickup we got down there and I called her and I I told her I got attacked by a bear she was kind of thought I was screwing around or something you know she didn't really believe me and I said no I really did get attacked by a bear I said I'm going to have to go to the hospital an he called and said that he'd been attacked by a bear and I just thought he was joking first I was just like oh brother cuz in my mind if you're attacked by a bear you're dead 12 hours from the time of his attack by grizzly bear Ronnie leming and his father pull into Ronnie's driveway I saw him all the blood it just kind of hit me like man I mean this is real this is really happened and then it was just kind of like okay get in the car we need to go to the hospital when we got to the hospital and got in there I um they looked at it and they said that I was going to have to have surgery and cuz they needed to cut you know around all the the bite wounds and all that they needed to cut that open there worried about him getting infected by the time we got to um the hospital and they got him into surgery it was like midnight I do remember sitting out in the waiting room by myself that was kind of just going through my mind and tell our kids if their dad had died how do you tell like a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old or dad's so I just remember sitting out there and just those thoughts were go through my head just being really thankful that um that didn't [Music] happen with Ronnie in the hospital Ron senior escorts a game warden and a biolog ologist back to the scene of the attack the next day get get as the biologist examines the grizzly it becomes clear just how remarkable Ron's shot was they checked the bear he used a limber uh stick and he followed the path of the arrow and he told me that the arrow had hit a major artery and went right into the heart an inch right or left up or down and Ron's Arrow might not have found a killing spot the Bible speaks of the arrow that flies by day and Ron leming has to wonder if he and his son's prayer had not guided it when the biologist told me path of the arrow I thought of the prayer and I thought yes God guided that Arrow the shot couldn't have been more perfect I don't think I I just don't I think the the shot my dad took was definitely a miracle I I know that Arrow was Guided by God there's no doubt in my mind you could make that shot a million more times and never hit that exact same [Music] spot when the warden is satisfied that killing the grizzly was an act of self-defense he presents the Lemmings with the grizzly skull and Claws to mark their brush with death Ronnie soon bounces back from his injuries and heads right back into the Wilderness today Ron and Ronnie do not apply the masking elk scent that may have provoked the Bear's attack and they carry sidearms for protection what's happened to me hasn't hasn't slowed me down a bit I I was back up there hunting a month after month after in the same spot there as far as hatred toward Bears I have none whatsoever in fact I love to see Bears I think they're one of the greatest looking animals that God ever created I think about the Bears more I'm constantly on lookout for them but you know I was before too I knew they were knew they were there I knew they were dangerous um I'm probably look over my shoulder quite a bit more than I used to though you know used to I could go up there and take a nap on a on a hillside in the afternoon I don't do that no more father and son still ride their horses Into the Wilderness and bring their bows and if anything the ordeal they experienced has only drawn them closer my dad's definitely my hero for this I don't I don't think that I don't think anybody else could have done it to stand there as close as we were to him and make the shot that he made and there ain't nobody I know that could have done that do I consider myself a hero no I do not for one thing he's my son I love that kid more than life itself I think he saved his own life too the way he fought that bear when he was on his back it was amazing and I think a lot lesser man would have give up at that point and they would have been dead yeah what happens made me just uh just respect life a little more you know I always did anyways but you know just you just don't know you know you you don't think you're going to you don't think it's going to happen to you when you go out there you know I've been out there a million times and it's never happened but it can at any time the lives of a father and son rested on courage and Instinct while balancing on the blades of an arroe head flying perhaps by the power of [Music] prayer the merciless wild the heartless seeds when Nature unleashes her cruelty over here could you escape could you survive these are the true stories of outdoorsmen confronted by death armed with raw courage and a will to live they are the ones who beat the ODS and return from their own fight to survive fatherson adventurers Trek Deep into the treacherous Alaska Wilds Cliff areas looked pretty uh chancy following the rugged Trail of the white-coated doll sheep before the Hunt is over one man will witness his Sun windmilling helplessly through the air from a cliff I'm not sure he's going to keep breathing it helps coming we have a serious situation and that man will learn the outer limits of strength endurance and commitment of which a father is capable the spectacular Wilds of Alaska's mountains an ideal place for a hunter to pass from Wilderness to Wilderness from one high place to another in the words of John mure but those high places come with extreme risk a misstep a patch of ice or a sliding rock can hurdle a hunter to the bottom of a [Music] Gorge growing up a hunter in Texas Rick Collins was willing 30 years ago to accept the risks of Alaska for its breathtaking Wild Spaces twice as large as those of his native state well I um moved to Alaska in 19 83 been several years and I haven't grown tired of it a bit yet and I came because of the outdoor life the mainly hunting but fishing as well I like the Wilderness situations of being able to get away from the crowds that' be a good trip this year Jake came here mostly for the adventure August 18th 2006 Collins and his 22-year-old son Jake his main hunting partner set off for the their favorite doll sheep hunting area the sheer Cliffs of the Wrangle Mountains getting to doll sheep territory starts with a 6-hour drive across the state from their home in Wasilla then a long slog on ATVs of Muddy 4x4 tracks in the late summer Tha we've started running into muddy conditions uh difficulty finding our way through the bog we knew early on that we were going to be spending the night somewhere along the [Music] trail that to do Jake got them covered up when they have to leave their ATVs they conceal them to prevent bears from destroying them yeah the frame of mind at this point is that things are going well we were confident and our confidence was growing that we were going to be able to find sheep a couple of hours after daylight which here can come at 2: or 3: in the morning the two are out of their Spike camp and beginning to see sheep and to find a place to set up their spotting scope to Glass the far slopes and ridges oh yeah there there's one we did convince ourselves that there were some legal Rams in the group although fairly high up the mountain the two spot sheep but not the trophies they're hoping for but young Jake is ready to settle for something that at least qualifies as a legal RAM and wants to strike out after one and Collins reasons that he might as well so I said well it's getting late enough in the day now that were those sheep were I'm sure I can't make it up there and back by dark so if you want to go get one of those sheep I'll stay behind down here by the creek and just monitor you through the spotting scope as you go up Collins glasses son Jake with his spotting scope as the young man makes the steep climb to get in range of sheep Collins is confident in his son's abilities but wants to keep him in sight just in case and we can tell from the valley floor that the cliff areas along this bottom of this Ridge trying to get up out of the bowl looked pretty substantial pretty uh chancy but of course from that far away no real clear indication of how steep they were and then once he started the climb I could tell from the way he was having to use both hands uh make a few backtracks and and uh try different routes going up that it was a little more steep country than I had anticipated it was so I could tell that was pretty tough stuff to get up through and I was glad I wasn't having to get up to it as Collins watches Jake seems to have spotted something out of Collins's line of sight and it looks like he might be moving into position for a shot I saw him stop I saw him look over that direction and I couldn't see any animals over there but then he started making his way over to that edge of the Ridge and then I saw him getting his gun ready so I figured there were obviously some sheep over there that looked more attractive to him than the ones we had seen before and in eventually he took a shot when he shot I saw a sheep appear fallen off to further to the left across that Gorge uh and so I knew he had gotten a sheep I saw him stand up and hold his arms over his head like yeah he got one woo I got it it's been a successful hunt for Jake but the full celebration will have to wait until he finds a way down to the RAM and then packs it out Alaska's strict hunting regulations require that all edible meat must be retrieved from the field for human consumption then uh he started walking up and down the edge of this Cliffs area from this Ridge looking for a way down Collins grows uneasy as he watches his son trying to find a safe way down the treacherous shoots of the gorge to the Sheep I started getting worried about it because I could see that there was no clear way down for him I thought he might be considering uh doing something pretty drastic and then I see him squat down and obviously take a posture like he's going to jump so then I'm really getting worried then I see him turn around and face the mountain and grab the ledge his hand slipped off the ledge and he falls over backwards and uh disappears out of my sight the realization came rather sudden that we have a serious situation I I know how serious but I have to get to it Jake Collins has fallen and now his father must draw on a lifetime of Outdoor Experience and the sheer power of his will to save his son hunting on their own deep in Alaska's Wrangle mountains father Rick Collins has watched his son Jake hurdle off a cliff into a Gorge now Rick Collins must find a way to re in his horror and con on his son Collins pulls himself together with 3 hours to Nightfall he has to pack up rescue supplies and climb up to learn his son's fate I know it's going to take me a while to get to there I haven't seen him I have only my imagination to think about what uh condition he's in don't know if he's got broken legs broken arms if he's conscious if he's not if he's bleeding if he's not no way to know just grab what I could and started that direction Collins is beyond the range of any cell signal he has no satellite phone or radio to call out on a more serious hindrance is his age as he has to drive his 53-year-old legs to carry him up the slopes at top speed about every 15 to 30 minutes I'd have to stop for a rest and every time I stopped I'd just start yelling uh Jake I'm headed up there just in in case he was in a position where he could hear me the terrain grows only more Steep and rugged but the most difficult and ominous part is the silence Collins receives no answers to his repeated shouts to his son my frame of mind is that if I'm getting close to him he's probably not hearing me and if he's not hearing me it's probably because he's not conscious Collins presses on legs and lungs burning and then without warning he sights his son lying motionless Collins plunges into the gorge to reach Jake when I got to him he obviously wasn't conscious I was talking to him the last five feet or so as I approached him I kind of grabbed his shoulder and uh said again Jake are you can you hear me and he U his eyes opened and he kind of looked up at me but I could tell there was just a Blank Stare no recognition in his eyes and he just closed his eyes and went back to complete unresponsiveness Rick does a quick exam and doesn't feel any broken bones but Jake's head is full of cuts Jake can you talk to me Collins considers trying to carry Jake out but knows that's impossible in this terrain my next option is am I going to go to Camp to go down there and come back I know it's going to take me 2 hours very minimum because it took me an hour to get to him I don't think that's a good idea because uh I'm not sure he's going to keep breathing any length of time much less for 2 hours so I decide that okay I'm just going to stay with him with what I have and what he has is some parachute cloth to make an emergency shelter for his son and him so I had this with me that I knew I could cover us up with I felt like he was off the Rocks well enough that it was a good way for us to spend that first night and me to make sure he keeps breathing Collins beds down for the night beside Jake under the parachute cloth sharing his body warmth and making sure his unconscious son continues breathing Collins has to fight the gusting frigid wind all night but in the late hours things take an even more chilling turn then sometime after midnight he started having seizures uh where he would uh start to stiffen up and he would even start to kick his legs up they would only last about a minute and then go for anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour before he would have another one and that continued for a couple hours I'd say by 3:00 to 4:00 in the morning those had stopped sleep is impossible for Collins as he monitors Jake's condition and lying beside his son he searches through the rescue options so I'm just thinking back and forth whether I'm going to leave him in the morning or whether I'm going to stay to some point when I know I have to leave he hadn't stopped breathing throughout the night so that's further confirming to me that as soon as it gets daylight I'm going to need to cover him up as best I can and go find help because nobody's going to find us where we are Rick builds a rock wall to protect Jake from tumbling debris and covers his eyes to Shield against scavenger Birds Collins has done all he can now he must abandon his son even if only temporarily if Jake's life is to be saved Rick Collins is cheering the sight of his son Jake taking a doll sheep Ram when the scene turns to one of horror as he sees his son falling helplessly into a deep gorge having stayed with an unconscious Jake through the chill Alaska night as the injured boy suffer seizures Collins makes the agonizing decision to leave his son in order to go for help yeah as you imagine it's a a major decision for me to actually turn my back on him and start to walk away that was a very difficult thing to do I I knew that was the the right thing to do I was convinced that I had to leave him but it took me I think three tries of actually turning around before I actually made myself keep walking away from him Rick Collins doesn't have time to look back at Jake he's got to move as fast as his legs can carry him back to their Spike Camp then onto the ATVs in the desperate hope of finding help for his son an hour later he reaches their Spike Camp then two more hours to the at TVs but the thaw Trail onward is a swamp of mud and muck and Collins has to winch and muscle of 4x4 out of the bog holes when it gets stuck got stuck uh P 12 times probably going out where I had to get off the fourwheeler then use either the winch or me coaxing the rig along standing off to the side and using both the engine power and me pull on it to get it out of the muck finally Collins reaches his truck he has a choice of a short trip to an isolated ranger station or a longer ride to an area he remembers seeing rental cabins and I decided to take the chance and go with what I was relatively sure there's going to be some form of communication at a lodge so I head that direction away from the ranger station and within 3 or 4 miles come to I see a cabin up ahead a recreation cabin on the left so I pull into that cabin go knock on the door and somebody answers the door and I ask uh if he knows of how I can get uh in touch with emergency services to ask for a rescue Collins's Good Samaritan drives him back to where they can get cell service and they call an Alaska State Trooper dispatcher in Glenn Allen 100 Mil away the dispatcher puts through a swift chain of calls and a rescue helicopter is in the air from the coolest National Guard Air Force Base in Anchorage for more than 24 hours Jake Collins has lay unconscious after hurdling off a cliff now his father boards the rescue chopper wondering if they will find his son again before it's too late for more than 30 grueling hours Rick Collins has traveled muddy trails in search of help for his unconscious son done now the rescue has gone tactical as they Chopper back in high winds to try to locate the gorge in which the Fallen Jake Collins lies they gave me a handheld laser light and asked me to point towards the gorge I recognized as the one Jake was in the terrain around Jake is too tough for a cable rescue so Rick Collins and the Twan Rescue Team must bail out of the helicopter and reach Jake on foot so they decided then that the two par jumpers and myself were going to have to get out of the helicopter and Hike back to where he was um and then carry him out to a location where he could be retrieved by the cable hoist Collins worries that a critical hour has now been added to the rescue effort for his son Collins presses uphill as fast as he can but fortunately one of the par jumpers with him read Readington takes off at top speed and out races Collins up the slope I think I hear him he's just over the top I was red uh took off in the lead and made his way up and he was the first one to reach Jake and heard him breathing against the tarp actually before he got to where he could see him Jake Jake can you hear me Jake so I probably got up to him 15 minutes or so after he got to him and uh he was still in the process of getting the tarp ripped away and uh evaluating his condition when we got there but well I know he's still alive then so um that was a real relief to hear that he was alive and as I got up there I just sat down by Jake as they worked on him and told him I was glad he hung on Collins's words are for an unconscious Jake the young man feels cold to the touch his breathing labored and his pulse feeble yet he is alive the three men Place him on a canvas litter and begin the rush down the slope back to where the chopper can reach them Anchorage light 44k 32 ready for cable please lower it's bull throttle to Providence Medical Center in Anchorage Jake is barely alive and he's fallen into a coma it doesn't look [Music] good but then 20 days after Jake Collins's fall a miracle he wakes up opens his eyes and speaks two words hello and Mom I didn't know I was in the hospital I didn't know where I was and uh I guess I don't know if it was normal or expected but my senses seem to not be capable of being alert all at the same time I have a few spotty memories I can't see anything but I can hear people talking to me uh so I don't know if my eyes were closed maybe my vision sense just wasn't working yet I don't know I had a traumatic brain injury from from the accident and the part of my brain that was most affected was not what I refer to as the academic side of my brain it was the motor part of my brain I couldn't stand I couldn't communicate very well it was um it was like being a baby all over again I was completely helpless I had to relearn all the functions of being a self-sustaining individual doctors tell Jake a full recovery will take more than 10 years but it's now just years later he's married with a family and is a teacher in his home of Wasilla Alaska he remembers little about the incident Jake continues to hunt and he and his dad have returned to the scene of the accident the excuse for me to want to go back was to find my rifle but I really wanted to go back just because it I felt like I had uh not completed that hunting trip that was a lot of emotional healing for me and my father being back in the same spot for me being able to recapture exactly where it was cuz my memories of that location weren't great I got pretty emotional about going back to the spot it you know brought back unpleasant memories for sure for me to be there but at the same time you know I think it was good for Jake to see the spot kind of to bring a closure to it to say this is something that happened the events passed and I'm moving on with my life things are getting better Jake Collins well knows he owes his life to his father I think uh my reaction to my dad is [Music] gratitude I think um I'm I'm grateful to my dad that I'm here and grateful to my family that for all the support that they gave me for me to be for me to uh have the quality of life that I do [Music] [Music] now the mercy meress wild the heartless seeds when Nature unleashes her cruelty over here could you escape could you survive these are the true stories of outdoorsmen confronted by death armed with raw courage and a will to live they are the ones who beat the ODS and return from their own fight fight to survive a hormone fueled Buck attacks a fisherman I was dead his nephew jumps in with both feet I had to get involved or he was going to die 170 lb of raw power and it was Lifting me and Ron off the ground as we were holding it with you know everything we had armed with only their wits you got to use your fear to your advantage and a fish filet knife Ron's face was right there this was no bad I had so much adrenaline the deer did Ron did it was you know it was all crazy a cold Halloween morning in Central Texas Ron Smith former Marine and his nephew Eric Alvarez are heading to the river to fish they are just hours away from their favorite pastime turning into A Tale of Terror I'm a full pled hunter fisherman camper biker uh now I don't get into skydiving and stuff like that you know I mean I'm not a full-blown idiot I really do enjoy fishing and hunting i i fish in any kind of body of water I can find whatever is clothes whatever my uh gas pocket money would allow me to go to like I've done a lot of ocean fishing uh my biggest fish ever caught was 100 lb 7 Gill shark out of uh San Francisco I've caught catfish as long as my arm don't weigh catfish who cares we just eat them my Uncle Ron's uh always been a Outdoorsman he's always been a guy that's really good with kids really good with um taking the Next Generation out he's he's always been somebody to look up to uh most of the catfish is what we went after but if crappie was running we'd go after them and on this particular day that's mainly what we after was crappie they make the short drive to a popular fishing area a river that feeds into nearby Eagle Mountain Lake we don't take a house with us when we go fishing you know we leave the chairs at home we leave the Campers at home when we go in Outdoors we want to be in the outdoors it's a short walk to the river and the start of fishing I'm a Lazy Fisherman I like to sit on the riverbank and enjoy my surroundings so I use live minals under a bver I cast it out with a light pole because they're little fish so you know you want you want some enjoyment you want a fight you use a big pole there's no fight you use a little pole you got a good fight are you hands from the 5-ft bank they're fishing on it's 30 ft across the river what Ron and Eric don't know is their standing on what could be a fatal path had our lunch with us and being a fishing trip we had our beer with us we got our lines in the water and I just now opened my first beer took a swig of it and set it down looked across the river and there's a real nice 9-point white tail buck deer I noticed there was a a buck over there and he was um raking his antlers against a tree and um me and Ron were checking them out for a few minutes and thought it was a pretty cool thing the Bucks tree rubbing is classic ruding beh avior and the rut is when deer are most unpredictable he walked up to the edge of the water looking at us then he he swam across the river which we thought was pretty cool watching the deer swimming right up to us he was swimming across to us with something in his mind and if we would have known what was in his mind we would acted different and it came about probably 30 ft down down down the bank from us um and walked up real slow out of the river and walked over up to us and um I actually stuck my hand out and pet the deer a little bit on the head it seemed totally tame we thought it was you know something that had been around people a lot and it just wasn't afraid we didn't feel any fear from it or anything like that Ron petted a little bit on the back and then uh and it went off into the it kind of walked away and and went into these trees that were [Music] nearby Ron and Eric aren't alone in their appreciation of the white tail deer perhaps more than any animal the white tail is the symbol of America's Open Spaces hunted to numbers of less than a million a century ago the white tail has made a stunning comeback now over 30 million roam our mountains forests and grasslands 6 million are taken by hunters each year yielding near nearly A4 billion pounds of meat I've been around Deer a lot in my life before and after that having one come up close to me no a deer sees a human he usually takes off that's why when this deer came up to us and it be a park like setting we thought it was a pet now when a wild deer sees he's a human he runs he gets away but this is mating season and the seemingly docel Buck is in fact a 170 lb hormone crazed nine pointer in rut capable of 35 mph bursts of speed and 8ft vertical leaps the buck was in rut and I think he was coming over to assert his dominance most people think a deer and you think Bambi well deer can actually be very very dangerous they kill people every year suddenly the deer breaks for the pair of fishermen when I looked up and seen that buck coming out of the tree line I thought I was dead I didn't think I stood a chance to do anything the buck the two men were just petting is now charging at them out of the trees singling out Ron Smith driving him over the bank and pinning him to the ground but once he attacked me and we was engaged there was no fear that's gone out of yet that moment anybody been in any tight situations know you got to use your fear to your advantage get your adrenaline going now you got to beat whatever is attacking you I had to beat a deer when when I seen the deer um take my uncle down to the ground I knew that I had to get involved or he was going to die right in front of me Eric finds the only weapon available and places it in his uncle's hands it is now an elemental battle out of the Stone Age and the deer is about to unleash its full [Music] Fury former Marine Ron Smith's fishing trip has turned into hand-to-hand combat with a buck crazed by the rut when a buck is in rut he changes completely his hormones change his thought process changes and his body changes during the rut the Bucks get extremely aggressive their neck swells up so that they can absorb the impact of hitting each other in the head time after time kind of like a football player they are extremely aggressive towards each other they kill each other all the time A lot of times they'll fight to the death Ron's nephew Eric Alvarez desperately looks for a way to intervene I picked up a stick it was probably about like 4 in in diameter an old dry log and I started to hand it to Ron and he grabbed it out of my hand and he hit the deer right over the head with it like without even thinking and it broke it right over the deer's head which completely infuriated the deer Ron weighed about 160 lb and it literally was throwing him around like a ragd doll and his antlers went on both sides of me I went in between his antlers I wrapped his antlers up under my arms and with his momentum hitting me that drug us both into the river I figured that was the end of it when you get a wild animal or any animal your Tam dog if he's in a fight you get him wet most animals quit once they get wet and when Ron brought him into the river you know I was thinking that was probably going to be the end of it when he when he I mean cuz he pulled them all the way out into the like the middle of the river so I'm climbing up on the bank next thing I feel is Antlers hit me in the butt s side knocking me up on the ground I'm laying on my belly and I rolled over and he still charging me and the deer chased him right out of the river and hit Ron and with his horns and knocked him to the ground he had had the antlers right in Ron's chest Goring him on the ground and he got me good that time with his antlers in my chest and stomach the antlers of a white tailed buck are a Wonder of nature they emerge as living tissue in early spring and grow up to half an inch a day by Autumn they are fully formed and become dead bone and lethal fighting weapons white tail bucks use their antlers to duel during the ruting or mating season to the victors belong the doze white tails shed their antlers completely in Winter the size of the beams and the number of points are a function of nutrition as well as age and genetics I was like I got to get in there you know and I and I jumped all the way down with both feet with you know everything I had and I and I hit hit the deer right in its back right in along its back and I knocked the deer off Iran I didn't think about what was going to happen to me but I knew before I did it that it was it was going to be basically like kill or be killed it didn't stop the deer you know gave Ron a little bit of time to get up and I grabbed one side of the antlers and then Ron got up and grabbed the other side how strong he was one man I don't care who you are how big you are could not beat a deer hand to hand the deer will win every time if I didn't have Eric there to back me to cover my backside I wouldn't be here telling you this story we held on tight and pulled its head to the uh ground but its knees front legs would not Buckle it stood on all fours but only its head it was that strong and it was Lifting me and Ron off the ground as we were holding it with you know everything we had during the rut a white tail Buck's neck will double or even triple in size with muscles fed by Rushes of natural steroids testosterone melatonin and other biochemicals the hormonal soup is triggered by changing daylight in Autumn I uh realized at that point that we didn't we didn't have nowhere to go and we were stuck and Ron and Ron was totally wore out already and I couldn't believe Ron had that much in him because I hadn't fought the deer but half as long and I was totally tired for men and deer it's now a fight to the death Texas Anglers Ron Smith and nephew Eric Alvarez have had their morning's fishing trip turned into a primeval struggle between men and Beast it's very rare for deer to attack people but during the rut it happens every year you hear of somebody getting attacked people getting hurt killed severely severely injured cars being having the windows broken out of them you hear horror stories all the time and I Joe lar I said now watch out for his feet so Eric man maneuvered around to get out of the way of his feet cuz I don't know if people know it or not but a deer's hoof is more dangerous than their antler they're sharper and they're stronger Eric and I couldn't really figure out what to do with this deer I couldn't let go if I let go he would just keep attacking us I dreaded having to do anything to the deer right as I was thinking that Ron said Eric get the fet knife off my hip and cut his throat I told Eric fin I said it's time to kill this deer we ain't got a choice and I had a fish and filet knife on my side but a fish and fet knif knife is real thin real sharp but it's little you know it's only like 8 or 10 in long it's not something you kill with it's something you clean with and I looked down and I could see the filet knife right there and I grabbed it immediately knowing what I was going to do but I was full of so much adrenaline that um I had to steady myself because I was about to cut any filet and I so sharp and I and a Ron face was right there by the neck where I had to cut with his with his hands on the on the horns everything was happening so fast and I had so much adrenaline the deer did Ron did it was you know it was all crazy and I got the um the knife and I slowed down and I positioned it Eric only had about a 4 to 6 in spot without getting me and this whole time the deer's jumping around I'm moving around but here makes a perfect step and gets the deer through the throat and the juggler vein and we just held on you know it bled out even after all that after it was done bleeding it was still standing there and it was breathing and you could hear all the you noises and and the the heat from it everything even mortally wounded the buck refuses to surrender and then it stood back up again and then it fell down and it was dead and I go to get up and I can't at that moment I realized the deer's antler was through my hand and had me pinned to the ground and during this whole process I never knew I was injured I I was beat up in the chest stomach but I didn't know that antler was through my hand so I had to pull my hand off his antler before I could get up Ron um got into the into the river and Brent washed his hand off and when he pulled that he out an antler went um all the all the way through his thumb into his palm and um and then he was having a hard time with anything at that point I knew I need to get him to the hospital Eric helps his uncle back to the truck they are headed to the emergency room with Ron fearing infection there they'll learn the madade cause of the Bucks Behavior having lived through violent combat with a rut craze npoint Buck Eric Alvarez rushes his wounded and exhausted uncle Ron Smith to the nearest hospital really I was thinking the deer was rabbit that was my first thought and they were having him wait in line and that you know we said look he's just been attacked by a deer you know Ron needs to get to you know in the emergency room okay sir why don't you come with me we'll take you right away wa here we'll be out and get you in million let you know how he's doing and they um made me wait out in the lobby the emergency room Personnel treat Ron's hand and check him for other punctures and possible broken bones that looks pretty nasty how'd you do that I got tangled up with a deer and the antler went right through my hand in the lobby Eric has a visitor someone he expected the game ward you tell me what happed and I thought well guess I'm going to jail you know for poaching a deer you know cuz I knew that it was um wasn't deer season you know and I and he sat down and he said tell me what happened and I told him the same story I'm telling now and he said I'm just going to say you you got lucky you didn't get hurt a lot worse I'm saying it's self-defense and um I'm glad you're okay that's what he told me the game warden tells Eric more though he's already examined the carcass and determined from its swollen neck and glands that it was indeed ruting but but its extreme aggression is more a product of human ignorance we had a report of a man in the area he was feeding a deer and by all descriptions this is the exact same deer the game Wen told me that um there was a man that had been feeding that deer corn so the deer had actually gotten used to him and started to lose its fear of people and that's exactly why that happened I think I think the deer attacked us because it was in rut it was ter territorial but I don't think it would have attacked us unless there was a a man or somebody that was taking feeding it and got it used to people an habituated wild animal that no longer fears people becomes not only a threat to human life but to its own eventually a deer or any other animal not afraid of humans will try to dominate them which can lead to Serious injury for people and once an animal has hurt someone its own fate is sealed because then it will have to be found and put down so Hand feeding a deer is simply cruelty masquerading as kindness don't let that deer come up to you do whatever you got to to keep him away from you protect yourself I don't care if it's a deer um any animal in the wild comes up to you worry about him a little squirrel comes walking up to you worry about him cuz he's probably got rabies there's no reason for a wild animal to walk up to a human being the deer's head went to a lab to be checked for rabies it wasn't infected but a question remained what should be done with the meat but there was a homeless family living on the river and the game morning asked me if it was okay for for me to let that Homeless family have the deer cuz by law I couldn't take it Eric and I could not have that deer cuz we was the ones who killed it I told him okay and we thought that was an awesome thing to do I I certainly didn't want nothing to do with that deer eating it or anything Ron Smith will never forget his day of hand-to-hand combat with a white tail buck and perhaps he took away from the experience more than he lost incident with the deer made me more interested in going Outdoors when you go Outdoors there's so many things that can happen and they're all new and most of the time not all the time they're all good people who live in the city stay in their houses do not know the enjoyment of being outdoors I do know the enjoyment of being outdoors even if bad things happen every once in a while there ain't nothing in this world except for my health stops me from hunting and fishing I will hunt and fish until the day I die Ron Smith continued his life as an avid Outdoorsman in the summer of 2013 shortly after sharing this story Ron passed away his incredible tale of his encounter with a deer is just one example of The Adventurous spirit that guided his entire life [Music] deep inside a remote Utah Canyon disaster strikes a hiker slips and Falls two stories down a sheer rock face it felt like mom had just gone off oh look his legs smashed you're going to have to sit tight leaving him in agonizing pain I just refused to die his only hope is his brother it was scary walking away from Justin I got to save my brother as the injured brother Waits alone hour after hour started to wonder if he had died that night his younger brother faces agonies of his own I fell asleep and I woke up and I was on fire when one life depends on another two brothers face the toughest challenges of their lives in the while when things go bad they go bad fast without warning your life can hang by a thread Adventurer and Survivor Craig de Martino fought back from his own Wilderness disaster to reclaim his life now Craig meets other courageous outdoorsmen who beat the odds and return from their own fight to survive hi I'm Craig D Martino canyoning in the rugged terrain of Southern Utah was an adventure Justin and Jeremy Harris had wanted to do for a while the narrow Canyons would be a challenge for them but they were both up for a day of serious hiking when Justin dropped 20 ft off a boulder to the canyon floor shattering his leg their Adventure turned into a surv rval nightmare Utah's San Raphael swell 2,000 square mil of spectacular panoramas it's a remote surreal almost alien landscape for eons the Relentless runoff has cut through this soft Coconino and Cedar Mesa sandstone and created a maze of deep slot canyons the twisting Canyons drop hundreds of feet below the surface of the Mesa and Meander from miles some are so narrow that a canyon ear as these hikers are called has to turn sideways to slip between the Steep walls it was the captivating Serenity and the challenge of exploring the mysterious Canyons that Drew hikers Justin Harris and his younger brother Jeremy I always look forward to camping trips hiking around and just exploring the mountains and the beauty of the area that we have here hey hey Justin it's j how you doing hey sir s for camping this weekend yeah Okay cool so I think we'll go to baptist draw Justin and I did a lot of climbing and Canyon earing it's about 78 M stretch and uh I'm going to bring the repel gear cuz we'll have to go down some por offs oh that' be great we've never been there we have to go this weekend before wner settles down Canyon earing in the desert has been somewhere to escape to and a place to connect in 2003 the two Utah natives were living on opposite ends of the state for months they had been talking about getting together for a weekend of hiking and climbing unfortunately work schedules and family obligations confounded their efforts to reconnect but the brothers kept trying we just couldn't put the weekend together until late November and it was later than we wanted to go but we knew if we didn't go that weekend it wasn't going to happen on a November Friday the pair reunited in the south central part of Utah at the edge of the San Raphael swell this is absolutely beautiful Jam it's nice how much farther you think before we get there they drove two more hours through Goblin Valley and Into the Heart of Canyon Country to baptist draw and the mouth of shoot Canyon it's just a beautifully clean pristine area there's no telephones there's no gas stations there's no hospitals it's miles to anything it's cold man and let's get that one by your their plan was to camp at their truck Friday night then Saturday morning climb down into the canyon time you want to go tomorrow I guess it depends if you want to stay next tonight yeah you got time they'd hike 8 or n miles straight out of the canyon then Circle back and returned to the truck by Saturday night was looking forward to it exploring a new Canyon and just having fun with my brother it was extra cold for November the temperature was near freezing holy cow all right have my jacket yeah here you go thank you go down and around there their Trek started with an 80t repel down into the canyon waa you all right buddy y I'm good good got it since they had repelled down into the canyon the only way out was to move forward Jeremy's Trail notes showed a narrow Shute that led out of the canyon a few miles head the canyon was very new if you can imagine standing next to a skyscraper and just putting your back to the building and looking up look at this that's kind of what it was like but you'd have another building in front of you too right there all right let's keep moving all right right here points along the path the brothers ran into sudden drops called por offs some dropped off dramatically 20 to 30 ft at a time there were also large Boulders that jutted out pretty tight called choke stones that block their way slowing their [Music] progress how's it look it's not easy hiking at all it's very difficult and uh tough to scramble through those areas far along are we we only on about quar of the way okay seriously yeah let's get move we got to get out here before dark the temperature was dropping fast and they knew they needed to be out by Nightfall they began to rush as Jeremy leaped down a drop off damn it he got soaked in an icy pool Craig met up with Justin and Jeremy in Utah's Canyon Country and heard their story firsthand Jeremy hits the water and he's now wet and you guys are way in the back country absolutely what we thinking at that point we're already way behind it's uh way below freezing we got to pick up the pace we got to get you back to Camp I'll get you warmed up hiking out of the canyon and back to the truck as quickly as possible was now the top priority so Justin and I had picked up the pace we came to another drop this one was probably 25 ft what do you think should we drop a line no we don't got time we got to down Climb come on so I took the lead and climbed up over the top and as I put my back towards the Rock and started looking for hand holds and places to put my feet and move down this rock I lost my footing Jeremy grabbed Justin's hand but felt him slip away the crack of a breaking bone could be heard throughout the canyon it felt like a bomb had just gone off in my head I've never heard anyone scream in agony like that in my life Jeremy knew Justin was seriously hurt but until he could get to him he had no idea his brother's injury was life-threatening Justin Harris and his younger brother Jeremy had finally gotten away for a weekend of canyoning in South Central Utah got a down clim come on as Justin worked his way over a boulder he lost his footing as Justin loses his footing and goes he hits the ground breaks his leg you know he's broken it um oh yeah he's screaming in agony I've never heard anyone whale like that his left leg been smashed by the impact against The Rock Justin screams echoed through the [Applause] canyon the brother's desperate situation was one that Craig recognized All Too Well back in 2002 Craig a very skilled climber was working his way up a steep rock wall with a buddy in colado you a misom communication sent Craig crashing nearly 100 ft to the ground the impact destroyed bones in his feet and eventually costed Craig his right leg he was yelling like you've never heard someone yell he's just screaming screaming and screaming and uh so I started yelling at him what were you yelling stop screaming and finally he stopped so I just asked him do do you really believe in God and he said yeah I do said will you say a prayer then and prayer please protect my brother myself for some reason everything kind of calmed down right and then I climbed down talk to my brother it's broken I felt it snap okay I'm going to look okay and we kind of assessed the situation Jeremy pulled up Justin's pant leg oh it look it's pretty swollen man his left shin bone had multiple breaks and was rapidly swelling up you're going to have to sit tight what neither Brother knew was that the swelling was a sign of internal bleeding which was life-threatening was that just almost debilitatingly terrifying for you it took me about a minute to actually grasp what had just happened right and how serious our situation just got yeah think about how tough it was to just get to that point in the canyon I may have just you know ended it for both of us can you carry me out there's no way I can carry out of here what are we going to do there was only one other options still light out I'll climb through I'll get help and I'll bring help back there's no way you can get out by dark have to okay we made the decision that I was going to leave him and go get help give me your pack so we went through all of our Provisions they divvied up their food leaving most of what little they had with Justin you're going to get cold you're not moving I'll be moving okay I'll be all right I'm give you my best I don't need you got to stay warm you're sitting still I'm moving all right all right I'll be moving since Justin was wet and immobile stay being warm was critical in now below freezing temperatures hypothermia and Frostbite were very real threats get cold s here okay okay in my mind you may never see each other again that was a real possibility yeah they found their camera at the bottom of the pack let take a picture you guys took time to take a picture of each other what were you thinking like why would you do that in case either one of us didn't make it out or both of us didn't make it out that here was our last moments our last day there'd be a record there'd be something left behind we just knew we had to can to go okay I love you I love you we told each other that we loved each other that we'd be strong and we'd be able to get out of this I just told him think happy thoughts you'll be fine but I remember him taking a few steps and and going farther down the canyon from me and then he went around this turn in the canyon and he was gone now Justin was alone in the frigid Dark Canyon he had no idea if he would survive his injury or even if his little brother would survive the difficult solo Trek for help the brother's happy reunion had become a horrible nightmare a Canyon's worst nightmare slipping off a high ledge just and shattering a leg you Justin Harris and his brother Jeremy were always close but now Justin's life was in his brother's hands Justin can't walk so it's up to Jeremy to go It Alone through four miles of a winding Canyon in increasing Darkness to get help now you're alone in the canyon it was absolutely terrifying we're out there in the middle of nowhere miles and miles from anyone your kid Brothers tags along with you and follows you and and now he left me there and he had to go on and and go for help it was life or death now you don't want to think that I've got a five % chance of living now or that it would be a miracle if if I made it out of there right you want to think that you're still in control that this is what we're going to do this is the plan um everything is going to work out and you try to focus on that but in the back of your mind I was thinking I I might die right here [Music] the plan was simple enough Jeremy would hike out return to their pickup and call for help using the cell phone they had left in the truck we calculated that it would probably take him you know another 4 to 8 hours to get out of the canyon depending on how much more water how many more obstacles there were and then maybe another 4 or 6 hours for help to be contacted and and come back and start trying to get to [Music] me keeping warm was imperative but next to Impossible in the freezing temperatures and then there was the internal bleeding Justin couldn't do anything about causing his muscle compartments to swell which were beginning to restrict blood flow to other parts of his body if I could make it through the night then I would have a really good chance of living and and getting out of that Canyon and so that was my goal that was my plan Jeremy hiked and climbed his way through the Maze of Boulders choke stones and por offs the canyon had been pretty dry so [Music] far but right as I walked around the corner it was pool after pool after pool after pool after [Music] pool and so I'm swimming it got between 10 and 15 below that night so I was severely hypothermic and hallucinating as well I was uh screaming at God hoping someone would come and help me Justin meanwhile tried to stay warm he flapped his arms made windmills whatever movements weren't too painful to keep his blood flowing hour after hour he watched his leg blow up like a misshapen balloon so I pulled up my pant leg and I looked at my leg to see what was going on there and I noticed that there were these big blisters all over my leg and they were popping and there was sort of a yellowish fluid that was coming out of those blisters and running down my leg and I knew it wasn't a good sign exhausted from hiking and fighting off the cold Jeremy made steady progress on his way out of the Canyon until he realized he was in real trouble I had a pocket that my trail notes were in and pool that I went through the trail nuts washed out so I was kind of like winging it so I continued down the canyon I went down five different por offs and got to one por off that was about I don't know probably 60 ft down I realized I'm in the wrong place and I need to go back up Canyon he didn't remember a drop that high on his Trail notes Jeremy had gone too far he must have walked past the turn that would have led out of the canyon but where how long ago did he pass the turn Jeremy had no choice but to backtrack to find the PATH his mistake would waste valuable time and exhaust what little energy he had left to save his brother while down climbing a high ledge Justin Harris slipped and shattered his leg so his brother Jeremy went for help on the verge of hypothermia after hours of hiking Jeremy had lost his way in the dark as he searched for the exit out of the deep Utah Canyon at stake was his brother's life now he had to backtrack up the canyon costing him precious hours in order to hopefully recognize the right turn so five different por offs I had to climb back up one took me many many many attempts gave up gave up gave up gave up try again try again try again try again it took me like several hours to get back up as Jeremy retraced his steps in search of the path that he had missed Justin's condition became [Music] grave the middle of the night it was so cold that I felt like my skin was freezing and I started thinking about you know frostbite and I need to do something else to warm my body up so I would try to do some arm circles I would try to move my good leg eat a little bit anything that I could do to warm myself up the freezing temperatures and soaking wet clothes were getting to be too much for Jeremy all that was in my mind was save my [Music] brother I got to save my brother and so it was really hard to take a break but I had to warm up it was so cold that I had to lay like right in to the fire and I fell asleep and I woke up and I was on fire he beat out the fire dried his boots and resumed the frustrating search for a way out of the canyon add no water at all I put Snow into my water bottle and kept it under my armpit to try and melt it but that didn't work at all it's just one thing after another after another Justin made it through the long cold night Sunday morning brought warmer temperatures and a bit of relief but as the hours went by hope for a prompt rescue faded it's a challenge to stay positive it's a challenge to stay motivated to get to get through another 5 minutes or another hour you start to doubt and I worried about a lot of things I worried about Jeremy and his phys iCal limitations and and if he was going to be able to get through it and as the day went on and the light finally made it down into the canyon again about the middle of the day and then passed over the canyon into the afternoon and it started getting colder again that's when I started to think about Jeremy and I started to wonder if maybe he had had an accident or if he had died that night in the canyon there was only one way out and one chance at survival for both of them Jeremy had to get out of that Canyon what he didn't count on was taking a wrong turn find out how the brother's faith in each other would keep them alive on the next fight to survive

Channel: Retold - Documentaries & Reconstructions

Views: 11,300

Keywords: True crime - topic, Retold channel, history documentaries, documentary movies - topic, crime history documentary, Reenactments, true crime documentaries, best documentaries on youtube, real stories, heart-pounding adventure, wild unknown, marathon, gripping episodes, young hunter, deadly pack, roaming coyotes, life-or-death struggle, grizzly bear, Alaskan wilderness, routine fishing trip, Halloween morning, tragic fall, survival, sacrifice, untamed forces, nature

Id: c9b8snOiyvw

Length: 109min 17sec (6557 seconds)

Published: Sat May 25 2024