Squirrel hunter barely survives.

PropThePolecat

PropThePolecat

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Jan 31, 2009
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This guy could have done better with a bit more preparation, gear and knowledge. Good for him that he made it. I would have liked to hear, what the weather conditions were like.


(Reuters) - A Tennessee lawman who got lost while squirrel hunting survived his five-day ordeal on worms and muddy water as colleagues combed the dense woods of a 13,000-acre state park looking for him.

"I would like to start by thanking the good Lord above, without him I would not have made it out alive," Bill Lawrence said in a statement issued by the Tipton County Sheriff's Office, where he works as a corrections officer.

Lawrence, who appeared at a press conference but was too weak to speak, described in a written statement a harrowing ordeal that began on August 31 when he was separated from two hunting buddies while pursuing his quarry in dense woods.

He said it wasn't until he shot a squirrel and "realized I hadn't heard the other guys shoot," that he realized he might have a problem. He tried to find his way back to their truck, but got lost instead.

Lawrence said that each night in the Meeman Shelby Forest State Park, he covered his face with bug spray and his hunting vest to keep insects off his face.

He started out with "a shotgun, 15 shells, two bottles of water, a flashlight, a full can of deep woods off, a squirrel call and a can of dip."

By the second day, he had run out of most of his supplies, including most of the shotgun shells that he discharged to signal for help and his water.

"I would walk for a few hours, then I would sleep for a few hours to conserve my energy. I followed deer tracks to find water holes," he said. "I would look under wet logs for worms to eat."

It wasn't until Sunday that he was found after he followed the sound of motorcycles and reached a road, where he was rescued by two Harley riders.

"I think he was very fortunate," said Chief Donna Turner, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. She said Lawrence "was dehydrated, disoriented and weak" when found, and was covered with insect bites.

Search dogs, mounted officers, boats, ATVs and helicopters had mounted an intense search for Lawrence, and followed a trail he had marked with a shotgun shell casing and the label of an empty water bottle.

After he was found, Lawrence was first taken to hospital in Memphis to be treated for dehydration and severe insect bites and also monitored for any problems caused by his muddy water and fresh worms diet.
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It sounds to me like he did a lot of things right: found water, food, signaled rescuers, and found a road.
 
Sounds like his biggest mistake (besides getting lost of course) was being outdoors without the ability to start a fire.
 
It sounds like if he had a knife, a metal cup/bottle and a fire steel/lighter he'd have been much better off. Maybe some water purification tabs or iodine. Sounds like he did alright though.
 
One of the cardinal rules if you get lost is to stay where you are.

It allows the SAR people the ability to find you, rather than having to follow tracks, but it sounds like he did ok.

Well done to him and pleased it worked out in the end.
 
He probably could have done without the worms. He must not have been a very good squirrel hunter. Never go into the wilderness without the ability to cook and boil.
 
Looks like weather in tn was in the high 70's with a drop to the high 50's.

Mild weather but he should have been better prepared...he's a lawman for craps sake.
 
I would have tried to use the gunpowder and primer to start a fire, ala "Seraphim Falls". I have not tried that, but removing the shot and some of the gun powder would have been worth trying.

Any thoughts on that, too dangerous?
 
Just wondering why a few comments are referring to fire?
I'm aware basic survival stuff: food, water, shelter, fire..

But his situation states dense woods so fire wouldn't be so great for signaling. He had bug spray. Nothing mentions hypothermia. No real container to boil in and it doesn't sound like the water he drank made him immediately sick anyway.
 
a stupid little gps will get you back everytime (that is unless you like to go with dead batteries)
Hope he learned his lesson.
 
I like a GPS for sure, but always carry a small compass as backup. At least know what general direction the roads are and you will be fine. ALso agree with basic kit for sure.

Doc
 
If he would have been able to make a fire the smoke might have helped the search party find him. But yea, with no container to boil water in and no food he wouldn't be able to really use a fire for much.
Just because he got lucky drinking the forest water this time doesn't mean that all water sources are safe. It's always a good idea to boil or otherwise purify 'found' water before drinking.
 
What's confusing to me is how he stayed lost 5 days.

One of the areas I backpack in is 17,000 acres so bigger than where he was and if you got up one morning and continued walking in one direction for one whole day you'd come to a road.

IMO it's sort of dumb to go somewhere and never look at a map or anything. If he had he possibly could have found a creek and followed it.
 
hollowdweller said:
What's confusing to me is how he stayed lost 5 days.

One of the areas I backpack in is 17,000 acres so bigger than where he was and if you got up one morning and continued walking in one direction for one whole day you'd come to a road.

IMO it's sort of dumb to go somewhere and never look at a map or anything. If he had he possibly could have found a creek and followed it.
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I know, looking at the area on Google Earth, the furtherest distance east and west is between the Mississippi River and a road, a little over two miles. North and south are roads a little further apart, but not quite three miles. He could have stayed on a straight line any direction and hit a road or a the river in a day, even in bad terrain. 13,000 acres is really not that big. I hate to Monday morning quarterback, but damn.
 
Plenty of things he could have done.

He could start a fire by using a shotgun shell with the shot, wadding and most of the propellant removed and some cotton or other tinder pushed in. Fired in the air, the burning contents fall back to the ground for you to use as firestarter. Left over propellant could have been put on the fire to help it light.

In his situation, he should have stayed put and started throwing smoke for the searchers to hone in on.

Heating water or cooking-up a squirrel? There are types of bark that can be stripped from a tree and directly used for a water container that can be boiled directly over the fire, or by using heated rocks.

If he wanted to keep moving, he could have blazed trees to show which direction he was headed.
 
hollowdweller said:
What's confusing to me is how he stayed lost 5 days.

One of the areas I backpack in is 17,000 acres so bigger than where he was and if you got up one morning and continued walking in one direction for one whole day you'd come to a road.

IMO it's sort of dumb to go somewhere and never look at a map or anything. If he had he possibly could have found a creek and followed it.
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I agree. I looked up the acreage of the State Park where he was. It covered 20 square miles. Twenty sections. About two sections by ten sections. Wherever he went, he was within two to three miles of the boundry. Of course, it wasn't open upland woods either. It is in extreme SW Tennessee (13 miles North of Memphis) and borders the Missisippi river.

Bordering on the mighty Mississippi River, 13 miles north of Memphis, two-thirds of this 13,467-acre park are bottomland hardwood forests of large oak, cypress and tupelo. The park contains two lakes and many miles of hiking trails as well as one of the largest disc-golf courses in the Southeast. The park maintains a boat ramp on the Mississippi River. Deer, turkey, beaver, fox, otter and bobcat are plentiful.
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http://www.tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/meeman/meeman.pdf
 
You've all missed the biggest hole in his gear... He had no Bear Grylls survival knife. With this, he could have been out of the woods in an hour... tsk tsk tsk.

On a serious not, he obviously did not wander in straight lines, probably changed directions knowingly or not quite a bit to not hit a road untill the fith day. Just goes to show, keep your head on straight at all times. 'Nuff said.
 
Again another armchair QB, But when I hunt in unfamiliar terrain I get a map of the area and always take a small compass. I always carry the basic kit so you guys do not have to read my obit.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong here. From what i understand, giardia takes a while to set in, so if you have to drink untreated water to stay alive, by all means do it. In Les Stoud's video in which he and his wife build a cabin in the Canadian Wilderness, they both had giardia for months. They realized they were ill when friends, who were visiting, appeared much more energetic than them.
 
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