A day in the woods almost cost hunter Henry Rauschenbach his life. The outdoorsman accidentally severed his artery while cleaning an elk. It left him bleeding out in the woods with no help.
Speaking with Outdoor Life, the hunter explained that he had gone hunting alone. Henry killed an elk with a bow and was in the process of cleaning the animal when disaster struck.
He said, "Next, I swapped out the old, dull blade for a shiny, new one and got to work on the other side. I had the bull's left front leg up under my left arm to keep it up and out of the way while I cut the hide up the leg. I was cutting toward me like a fool, and because I was using a brand new blade, it sliced through that tough hide like butter and across my forearm."
At first, the hunter disregarded his injury. He figured he nicked himself pretty good and would need stitches. But it quickly dawned on him just how severe his situation was. He explained, "But as soon as I took my hand away, blood squirted over my left shoulder. I could see the artery and could tell that it was cut entirely in two. In a moment of panic, I started running. My mind told me I needed to get back to camp as fast as possible."
Panic seized him. He took off running through the woods, but with blood shooting everywhere, the hunter realized that he would die if he didn't slow down and think. Henry decided that he needed to try to stop the bleeding. He tried to create an improv tourniquet using his belt. But with only one arm, he couldn't get it tight enough.
With his artery still bleeding out, the hunter decided to try to cauterize the wound. Using a lighter and the belt of his knife sans blade, he burned the end of his artery. He hoped that would save his life. The bleeding stopped at that point.
Hunter Brush With Death
He said, " had hiked about 150 yards up the mountain with my injured arm pressed against my rib cage when I started to feel something warm and wet running down the inside of my pant leg. I looked down and my pants were covered in blood. As I climbed and my heart rate kept increasing, the pressure had unsealed the cauterization. Blood was spraying everywhere again."
Unfortunately in his haste, he left the knife and lighter back with the elk. He also had zero cell service in the woods. However, he realized that he could send an SOS using an iPhone. Unfortunately, the phone wasn't connecting. Realizing, he was going to die was tough.
"I decided to make a video for my three children. I tried to keep most of the blood out of the video and stayed calm as I told them I loved them, but there was blood all over my face, and my shirt was saturated. When I finished the video, I decided to try to send an SOS one last time," he said. "You are now connected to Lemhi County Sheriff 911. What is the address of your emergency?"
He managed to alert them of his location. And they sent a life flight to him. Unfortunately, he started to lose vision and things felt blurry. That's when he saw the helicopter. Unfortunately, the helicopter flew by the hunter several times.
He said, "It was starting to feel like I was in an awful movie, that they wouldn't find me. I was afraid I was going to die on that mountain, sitting in a pool of my own blood. On the chopper's fourth pass over me, I managed to kick off my boots and shake my feet in the air. They finally spotted my black socks fluttering against the gray shades of the landscape. The chopper immediately turned and touched down about 60 yards away from me. Emergency medical service personnel came running over and asked me if I could stand. I couldn't, so they almost dragged me to the helicopter. Once I was there, they pumped 3 ½ units of blood into my body. Within minutes, I was feeling better and knew I would live."
The hunter needed emergency surgery but survived his ordeal.
