'Freak accident' leaves hunter with 100 stitches
Toolbox
By Dennis Jensen Staff Writer - Published: May 13, 2007
Jeremy Baker took a 16-year-old relative on his first turkey hunt last weekend. And it's a good thing he did.
It turned out to be a heck of a first day for Andrew Dunsmore of Georgia. For Baker, a Rutland Town resident, bringing along his kin saved his life.
Baker, who represents Rutland County on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board, was hunting on East Mountain in Mendon on the morning of May 5 when he had what he described as a "freak accident."
Baker is recovering at home with more than 100 stitches to his face, five staples in the back of his head, a fractured eye socket, a broken nose and a fractured cheek — all the result of a 300-pound boulder that became dislodged and rolled a short ways downhill and over him.
"I was walking down a real steep part of the mountain," Baker said in a phone interview from his home. "I stepped on a log and it let a boulder free. As I turned uphill, I could see the boulder on its way."
The 35-year-old Baker said he never had a chance to jump free of its path.
"It got on top of my feet and knocked me over backwards. It rolled end over end," he said.
Baker said that when paramedics arrived, "there was blood everywhere. They carried me out on a stretcher."
He was taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center for immediate treatment and, then, because of the extent of his injuries, transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H.
Paramedics estimated the boulder weighed about 300 pounds, Baker said.
Baker said that, if Dunsmore had not tagged along for "his first turkey hunting experience," he does not believe he would have survived the ordeal.
"I'd be dead," he said. "There's no way I could have gotten out of there. We were about a half-a-mile back in the woods."
Baker said that Dunsmore, the son of his wife's cousin, saved his life with his calm presence and alert response.
"He was the hero of the day," Baker said. "He kept his composure and probably did better in a situation like that than most adults would have. He never panicked. He followed my instructions and he was a big factor in me being able to talk to you tonight."
Baker said that, while he was certainly the victim of bad luck, it was purely good luck that Dunsmore was along for the hunt that day.
"I'll be thankful for having him with me that day for the rest of my life," said Baker, a field technician for Central Vermont Public Service at its Royalton office.
Bloodied and seriously injured, Baker, gave Dunsmore directions out of the woods and sent him to get help.
"Luckily, he had a cell phone with him so I had him call for help and sent him to get out on a paved road," Baker said.
Dunsmore called Baker's wife, who called for paramedics.
"I could hear the sirens, almost immediately after I got off the phone with my wife," he said. "That was reassuring — knowing that help was on the way."
Dunsmore returned with paramedics from the Regional Ambulance Service in Rutland and members of the Rutland City Fire Department about 45 minutes later.
Asked what had prepared Dunsmore for his cool-headedness and quick action, Baker said the young man responded by saying the Boy Scouts had trained him for such emergencies.
What happened to the avid turkey and deer hunter and fisherman that day was a "freak accident," Baker said.
"You could walk in the woods 100 years and never have something like this happen to you," he said. "There's no way I could have avoided this."
Backer said that, if he learned anything about his ordeal, it was to prepare for the worst, when you head into the woods.
"What I did learn is what to do after something like this happens," he said. "You really should have some form of communication, like a cell phone or a two-way radio" when you venture into the woods.
"This was the first time in my life that I ever thought I was going to actually die," he said.
That day also happened to be his daughter Laurel's third birthday.
"I just said to myself, 'I'm not ready to die,'" Baker said.
Baker said he expects to be out of work until sometime in June.
His favorite shotgun received only a few scratches, Baker said, but the boulder busted up "a bunch of my turkey calls in my vest," including his favorite — a handmade box call. Still, all was not lost this turkey hunting season, Baker said.
"I did get a bird — an 18-pound tom — on the opening day, so it wasn't a total loss," he said.
Contact Dennis Jensen at dennis.jensen@rutlandherald.com
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