Fast Response Prevents Hunting Tragedy On Trusten Holder WMA

An
Uncertain
Hour
Fast Response Prevents Hunting Tragedy
On Trusten Holder WMA
By Randy Zellers
Oct. 20, 2012, had been a pretty good morning for Robert
Ortman at Trusten Holder Wildlife Management Area. From
his tree stand on Jardis Point, he’d seen two or three deer. It
was past 11 a.m. so he headed down to get some lunch.
Then the panic began.
As Ortman worked his climbing stand down the tree,
the spring-tension latch and cable that held the top half of
the stand around the tree gave way, causing him to tumble
backward.
“I’ve been using a climbing stand for probably 20 years,”
Ortman said. “And I’ve been wearing a safety belt of some
kind for the last eight. But I’d leave the tether attached to
the tree at the level I was hunting. I never used it during the
climb.”
As Ortman lurched back, the strap holding the two halves
of the stand together wrapped around his leg, leaving him
dangling 8 feet from the ground.
“I was hanging there, upside down,” Ortman said. “I didn’t
know what I was tangled in. I couldn’t even lift myself up to
see. I tried to use my pull-up rope to get some leverage and
get right-side up, but I couldn’t.”
He was lucky. Ortman’s cell phone was still in his shirt
pocket. After realizing he was stuck unless he could get help,
he quickly dialed 911.
“I was able to reach my GPS unit, too, so I gave them my
location and waited.”
The Call
It was a calm morning for Mark Hooks, too. Hooks,
the wildlife supervisor for the Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission’s south delta wildlife management region, was
collecting deer harvest data on Trusten Holder with Michael
Robert Ortman nearly died after a tree stand fall left him hanging helplessly.
Illustration by Aaron Johnson.
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Shepherd, a recently hired wildlife management technician
assigned to Cut-Off Creek Wildlife Management Area.
“Shepherd’s been with the AGFC for less than a year and
was working his first wildlife management area permit hunt,”
Hooks said.
At about 11:30 a.m., AGFC Desha County Wildlife Officer
Jonathan Byrd drove up to Hooks and Shepherd, saying he’d
received a call about a man hanging from a stand.
“The GPS coordinates Ortman had given were in Latitude/
Longitude, but almost all of our GPS equipment was set to
another system, Universal Transverse Mercator,” Hooks said.
“We could have converted the coordinates, but it would have
taken time, and if that man was hanging upside down, we
didn’t have much to waste.”
Hooks said as they were attempting to convert the GPS
coordinates that had been provided, he was able to get
Ortman’s cell phone number from Byrd. If Ortman could be
reached, maybe he could give them some landmarks relative
to his location.
“I’ve worked for the AGFC for nearly 22 years, and all
of that has been in this region,” Hooks said. “I’ve hunted
Trusten Holder for 20 of those years, so I’m pretty familiar
with the area.”
He dialed, hoping Ortman could still answer.
“He was frantic, but was able to give me some directions,”
Hooks said. “As we were loading up to go get Ortman, A
hunter we had been talking to before Officer Byrd pulled up,
a dentist from Morrilton named Zachary Dixon, asked if we
needed help and jumped in the back of the truck.”
Wrong Turn
Hooks, Shepherd and Dixon raced to the area where they
thought the hunter was. Byrd headed to a similar area nearby,
just in case the description had been wrong.
“We kept Ortman on the phone and told him to let us
know when he could hear us honk the horn,” Hooks said.
“But he never heard it.”
Ortman had made a mistake.
"I really thought
I was done.”
“The adrenaline must have been flowing in me, and I forgot
about one of the turns they needed to make,” Ortman said.
“When (Hooks) asked me if I was sure about where I was,
I said the area had a levee or high ridge going through the
woods.”
The newest piece of the puzzle was just what Hooks needed.
“There are only a couple of places that could have been,”
Hooks said. “And given his previous directions, I realized
what turn he’d left out. We drove to another area, honking
the horn.
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JANUARY • FEBRUARY 2013
“Ortman said he was feeling like he was going to pass out,”
Hooks said. “So Shepherd stayed on the phone and kept him
talking the whole time.”
The second location proved to be the right one. As soon as
Ortman said he could hear the horn, he started yelling.
“You could barely hear him from the road,” Hooks said.
“But Shepherd, Dixon and I all ran to the sound. Shepherd
and Dixon were much faster than me, and by the time I got
there, they were already trying to free the man.”
Dixon was able to climb up to the stand’s platform, but he
couldn’t lift Ortman’s 220-pound. frame. Hooks said, “Cut
the strap that has him tangled.”
Shepherd handed Dixon a knife and he cut him loose.
Shepherd and Hooks guided him down, protecting his head
and neck.
Within minutes, Byrd and several other hunters assisting
with the rescue effort arrived and helped Ortman get
out of the woods. Ortman was placed in Byrd’s truck
and transported to a nearby parking area where local
paramedics were waiting to take him to Delta Memorial
Hospital in Dumas.
Landfall
“I was very lucky,” Ortman said. “I was back at camp
on Sunday, and went to my doctor back in Lake City on
Monday to get checked out again. By Tuesday, I was out
fishing.”
Lucky is the word Hooks uses, too.
“He was lucky his leg caught in that strap and kept him
from breaking his neck," Hooks said. “Lucky his cell phone
didn’t fall out of his pocket, lucky he had reception that far
in the woods and lucky he stayed conscious long enough to
yell at us when we were close. If only one of those things had
happened differently, this would be a horrible story.”
During the ordeal, Hooks remembers Ortman being
worried about losing his leg, or never seeing his son again.
“There was a point where I really thought I was done,”
Ortman said. “I started thinking about my parents and
my life, but also about my 13-year-old son. Even after I
was home, I’ve had nightmares about what could have
happened.”
After the incident, Hooks has talked to many hunters
about using their harnesses.
“I always ask if they use a climbing harness, and most
say yes,” Hooks said. “Then I ask if they use it while they’re
climbing up the tree. Almost everyone says no.”
My son and I hunt from a little buddy stand that only
sits about 10 feet from the ground,” Ortman said. “People
may look at me funny for wearing a full harness and all the
safety gear for such as short height, but I’ll tell them my
story. I was only 8 feet from the ground during my accident
and nearly died because I wasn’t wearing the harness the
whole time.” AW
LEFT: J.D. Crawford, a bowhunter education instructor with the Arkansas Bowhunters
Association, demonstrates proper use of a safety harness.
RIGHT: Attach a safety harness to the tree above head level to take up the slack in the
tether and prevent a painful jolt. Photos by Mike Wintroath.
Falls Eclipse Other Arkansas Hunting Accidents
Robert Ortman’s case is not unique. People are seriously
injured or killed because of falls from tree stands every year.
In almost every case, proper use of a safety harness would
have prevented the catastrophe.
Joe Huggins, Hunter Education Program coordinator for
the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, compiles a list of
all hunting accidents reported each year. He says tree stands
are always at the top of the list.
“In the 2011-12 hunting season, 14 of the 22 reported
hunting accidents were falls from stands,” Huggins said.
Tree stand falls not only represent the largest percentage
of hunting accidents, they also contribute to most huntingrelated deaths.
“Tree stand falls were the cause of two of the three
hunting fatalities during the 2011-12 season,” Huggins said.
“We also had one very similar to (Ortman’s) a few years ago.
The man had fallen out of his stand and his leg was caught.
We estimate that he hung upside down for a couple of hours.
By the time anyone found him, he had died from being
suspended in that position.”
Huggins offers a few tips to tie in right next season:
1. Know your harness before the hunt. The next time you’re sitting around dreaming of the upcoming season, put on your harness. Make sure it still fits comfortably and look for any signs of wear.
2. Upgrade to a vest. If the basic strap-style harness seems bothersome, spend a little extra money and get a good vest-style harness.
3. Get the slack out. Attach the tether high and take up as much slack as possible. If you fall, that foot or two of slack will stop you with a powerful jolt. You may find yourself dangling below the stand’s platform, unable to climb back in.
4. Stay connected. Many tree stand falls happen as hunters are climbing in or out of the stand. From the time you leave the ground, the harness needs to be
secure. Inch the harness up with each reach of a climbing
stand. If you’re using a lock-on or ladder stand, tie onto a
lifeline that runs vertically up the tree.
5. Plan your exit. Have an idea of what you would do if
you fell. Always tell someone where you’re hunting and
when you plan to be home. Keep a cell phone close at
hand. A whistle attached to the shoulder of your harness
can help if you become immobilized and need to signal
for help.
6. Keep blood flowing. If you find yourself hanging from a harness, the leg straps can cut off circulation in
your femoral artery, which can cause death. Try to get
your back against the tree and push up with your feet
to relieve pressure from the straps.
– By Randy Zellers
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