Hunter and writer Kubie Brown almost died after killing a buck. At least, he could have come close to it if not for a genius SOS hack on his end. Fortunately, it saved his life.
Writing about his incident in Outdoor Life, the hunter described how he ended up at the bottom of a canyon. He wrote, "This is how people die. The thought came as I lay at the bottom of the canyon, staring up at the swirling snow. I tried to sit up, but the weight of the buck held me down, and when I tried rolling over, a devastating pain tore through my left leg."
He had gone hunting with his friend Hayden prior to the injury. Given the weather, the two decided to part ways in the woods and try to bag a buck solo. After hours of waiting, Brown finally got his buck, which took off down the hill. The hunter followed his prey to the bottom of a canyon. Reaching the dead animal, he quickly made work of quartering and cleaning the deer.
As the sun started to go down, Brown tried to make his way up the canyon in the growing darkness.
He writes, "I knew I'd have to get there quickly, but I'd lost the path to the top and started hiking up the steep slope by feel. I never even saw the hole. Looking up toward the rim, I suddenly sank knee-deep into a gap in the rocks and pitched forward, hyperextending my leg. In a panic, I pushed myself to the left and the weight of the buck on my back shifted down, twisting my leg even further. I felt and heard a loud snap as I was pulled from the hole, and I slid through the mud back down to the bottom of the canyon."
SOS Hack Saves Hunter
It was a painful incident. The hunter suddenly found himself in a bad situation. He wasn't able to climb back up, and he didn't have the proper equipment to deal with the cold. Even his phone was out of batteries. Fortunately, he decided to try a SOS hack.
He writes, "Knowing it was my only chance to call for help, I loaded the rifle and fired three shots into the air — a signal for SOS. The sound of the gun was lost immediately in the wind, but I held out hope and stood there quietly, listening for any sign of an answer."
At first, he didn't think anyone would hear him. But his friend Hayden heard the shots and came to his aid! A tense climb out of a canyon later, the hunter ended up at the emergency room.
He wrote, "I went to the hospital, where the nurses cut off the boot that had supported me through the night. Checking out the damage, they saw that I hadn't broken my leg but had torn three ligaments in my ankle. I also fractured my talus bone, dislocated my knee, and nearly tore my calf muscle in half. They put my leg in a cast and said it could have been much worse."
