Thursday, April 26, 2007

Hunting accident sends Tillery to hospital

by Clarke Davis

A Valley Falls man suffered gunshot wounds in a late evening hunting accident April 17 near Valley Falls.

Bryan Tillery, 43, was rescued from a remote area where he and two friends had been hunting turkeys. The man was separated from his hunting companions at the time of the accident in which his .12-gauge shotgun discharged.

Speaking from his hospital bed Tuesday, Tillery said he did not know how the accident happened.

His injuries from the buckshot extend from his waist to the top of his head with his left shoulder receiving the most damage.

“I might get out of here late Thursday afternoon,” he said.

The call for help reached District 11 Rescue at 8:14 p.m. and LifeStar helicopter was summoned to the area on the west side of Valley Falls.

While the injured man had a hunting companion with him, it took quite a while for rescue personnel and medical equipment to reach him because of the difficult terrain. The area was within a mile or so of town, but complete darkness, a heavily wooded area with underbrush, and confusion about his location hampered the rescue.

Fire Chief and EMT John Gordon said Jason Nellis was the first medical technician to reach the injured man. Gordon and firefighter Marlin Gier followed after helping land the air ambulance. They were joined by a LifeStar nurse and a paramedic along with all the needed medical equipment, including a spine board, oxygen, airway kit, heart monitor, etc.

The landing zone was still a considerable distance from the injured man with a creek and hill separating them.

“I dropped over a creek bank that must have been 8 or 10 feet high,” Gordon said. “It never hurt me but it was quite a surprise.”

He said getting the equipment across the creek and up a steep hill to treat Tillery was quite a feat.

“They were yelling for help, but we were coming as fast as we could under the circumstances,” he said.

To remove the man from the timber, Gordon had the helicopter reposition itself on a clearing on the other side the creek that allowed rescuers easier access.

“By this time we had a lot of help to get through the brush,” Gordon said.

It was after 10 p.m. when the helicopter cleared the area.

“Half the town must of have been out there,” Tillery said, referring to the night he was injured. “A guy doesn’t know how many friends he has until something like this happens. I sure appreciate everything people did.”

Tillery farms and works for Capital City Oil. His wife, Angie, is a kindergarten teacher at Valley Falls. They have three daughters.