Hunter hung upside down for days after falling from tree. Another hunter found him, cops say

A hunter walking through the rural Oregon woods came across another hunter Tuesday morning — and raced back to his truck to call 911, the Union County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release.

The man the hunter had stumbled upon had fallen from his tree stand and had become tangled in his harness, the Sheriff’s Office said. He had been stuck there, upside-down and hanging 30 feet in the air, for two days.

The Prineville, Oregon, man was found near the small community of Ukiah, KBN reported.

The hunter drove back to the highway so he could get cell reception and dialed rescuers, who called in units trained in rope rescues, the Sheriff’s Office wrote.

Rescuers arrived and used a “bucket truck” from an electrical co-op to reach the man and lower him down. But they knew it would be a risky operation, the LaGrande Observer reported.

Medical staff expected him to have a condition called compartment syndrome, and when he was taken down, that’s exactly what happened, the paper reported.

During the rescue, the man’s heart stopped beating, the Sheriff’s Department wrote.

Compartment syndrome is a potentially deadly condition that can have several causes. The syndrome occurs when pressure builds up in “compartments” of muscles and nerves, which damages the tissues and can cause cell death, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

It can be caused by crushing injuries or trauma such as car crashes or severe blows to the arms and legs, as well as when blood flow is suddenly reestablished after it has been blocked for a long time.

This is what happened with the hunter, fire department Capt. Robert Tibbetts said, according to the LaGrande Observer.

The man was airlifted to a Richland, Washington, hospital and placed in a medically induced coma, during which doctors operated to remove pressure on his brain, the East Oregonian reported.

The man’s family went to his camp and took home his dogs and some of his hunting equipment, and thanked all those involved in the rescue, according to the paper.

No more information on his condition was available.