Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2011 20:27:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joe Collins <joecollins7420@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Cabin by the Lake  Chapter 5

If this story is prohibited in your area, you are underage or gay sex
offends you, then please leave. If you are looking for hard core sex, you
won't find it here. This story is fictional and so are the characters.
However, the setting is a real and is located in Central Oregon. It does
sit on the edge of the Three Sisters Wilderness Area. Please feel free to
email me and be sure to include the title in the subject line.

Thanks, Randy! Your help and editing are greatly appreciated.

Now just sit back and enjoy!


The Cabin by the Lake
Chapter 5

Deer hunting season was underway and the hunting parties led by Terry and
Stan, were having huge successes. The weather was very cooperative and the
upper slopes were having very cold and snowy weather. This caused the deer
to start their annual migration to lower elevations and toward the winter
feeding grounds. The does, younger bucks, and yearlings were moving on
through the area on their way to the high desert. The older and large bucks
followed but for now they had moved just a little lower and would hold in
the area until it snowed. In a couple of weeks, the elk would be on the
move, also, just in time for the elk hunting season!

Dennis and Kyle were each able to shoot a big buck. Neither of them had
ever been hunting so this was their first buck and they were very proud of
themselves. It was all Terry and Stan could do to calm them enough to skin
the animals and take care of the meat properly. Terry and Stan's motto is
`You kill it, you take care of it'. Terry and Stan would supervise and tell
the hunters what to do, how to dress the animal and take care of the
meat. They would not do it for anyone-no matter how large the tips. Most
hunters accepted this and appreciated the whole experience and would return
again next year. Those who didn't would probably drop hunting.

On the last day of the hunting season, three hunters did not return to
their camp. Their fellow hunters became concerned and called search and
rescue, who in turn called "The Wilderness Experience", Dennis' operation
and commissioned them to go into the Wilderness area and help find the lost
hunters and bring them out to safety. An airplane had spotted a large smoke
column and mapped it out. They gave the location to the would be rescuers
and out came the maps. Each person in the search team had detailed maps and
could find their way back if they became separated from the group.

So seven horses were saddled-three for the lost hunters, and four for
Terry, Stan, Kyle and Dennis. Five mules were loaded. Lots of warm bedding
and clothing were put on the pack animals and extra amounts of food for the
animals. The guys took off expecting two or three days before reaching the
lost hunters, if they were lucky.

The lost hunters were experienced and had survival gear with them, however,
even still the temperature had dropped and even the hardest of souls would
be challenged.

The mules and extra horses were tied together in one line. This was an easy
for the men because all the animals were experienced trail animals and were
used to being tied together. One big chain of men and animals started out
on the journey. Now if they could only travel faster and get to the lost
hunters before the bad weather set in. The weather forecast was not a good
one.

An early start enabled the travelers to cover a lot of distance the first
day as this was an easy trek. That night they made a primitive camp and
were off again at day break. With any kind of luck, they could make it very
close to the lost hunters. Search and Rescue were in contact with the
spotter plane and with the rescue party. The lost hunters had remained in
the same spot. Good training was starting to pay off. By remaining in one
position and building a large smoky fire, rescue would be a lot easier and
the rescuers would find the lost hunters faster. Late in the day, the
search party found the lost hunters. "Hello, in there. I'm Terry, leader of
your rescue party."  "Man, oh Man, are we glad to hear your voice. Come on
in," answered a man. "I'm Mark and I have two wounded companions, Joe and
Gail."

Terry and Stan started checking the hunters and assessing their
wounds. Meanwhile, Dennis and Kyle tethered the horses and started
unloading the pack animals. All the animals were given a generous amount of
grain and with the natural grasses they would be ready for the trip the
next day. Luckily the lush green meadows had not started to go dormant for
the winter. Soon Dennis and Kyle had the camp all set up and started
dinner.

"I must say that you were lucky to find an ideal spot to camp while waiting
for your rescue especially with a little stream nearby. I hope that you've
been boiling your water. This is not the good old days when a cowboy rode
up to a stream and drank his fill unless there was a skull nearby. Running
streams can have bacteria, protozoa and other contaminates in
them. Although you probably would not die from drink this contaminated
water, you may think you are going to dye before the stomach disorder runs
it course. This big over-hang of rocks offer protection from the elements
and lots of down trees that have broken in small pieces when they
fell. What more could you ask for?" Dennis asked which was more like him
making a statement.

"I don't think luck had much to do with anything. The Good Lord above
evidently took control and was looking out for us. Remember the shale
landslide that you passed just around the corner before you reached
us. Gail started across first. We thought the top was solid and safe. She
stepped on some loose shale and lost her footing and fell to the bottom of
the slide. Joe was close to her and made a grab for her and lost his
footing also and fell along side Gail. I immediately did a little
backtracking and came around to the bottom of the slide. Gail and Joe were
both were lying there unconscious when I found them. Panic began to set in
but thanks to my good survival training, I made myself calm down and I took
control of the situation. I checked both their pulses and found good strong
ones." Mark paused before going on.

"Dennis and Kyle, I want you to pay close attention to what Mark is
saying. It just might save your life someday or mine." Terry said. "I am
sorry Mark for interrupting you. Please continue."

"I knew that I could not leave the injured and go for help. I knew that I
had to find some kind of shelter close by and move Joe and Gail to it. Then
I would have to figure out how we were going to survive. I could tell that
Gail was the most severely hurt and that I should move her first while she
was still unconscious, thus saving her from severe pain when I tried to
move her."

"I decided to look for a place close by and I found this rock overhang,
which is actually a cave with only three sides. Fortunately, it opened in
the right direction to protect us from the wind, which would carry the
smoke away from us and it was on level ground. I wouldn't have to carry Joe
and Gail up a large incline. You guessed it. You are sitting inside my
great find."

"My problem was how to move the injured without inflicting more injury to
them. Then I remembered seeing pictures of the Indians using a travois (a
sling between two poles) to transport their material goods, young children,
and older or ill adults. I found two lodge pole pines about 3 inches in
diameter and cut them. I wanted green ones and didn't want to take a chance
on dead, dry wood which might break under a little weight. Now I had to go
back to where I had left my friends. I used a blanket to make the sling . I
laid my new invention next to Gail and very carefully moved her onto the
travois. I stood between the two poles, lifted one end and started dragging
the travois toward the cave. Gail did not move or cry out. She was
completely out. I was most thankful she was. I was able to move Joe in the
same way but he had regained consciousness now. Even though he was in pain,
I never heard a peep from him."

"I made another trip with travois and brought all our gear to the cave. I
gave Joe a drink from the canteen and went to the creek to refill it. Yes,
I had some water purification tablets. When I returned, Gail was coming
around. So I gave her a drink and took one myself. I could tell that she
was in a lot of pain but she was not complaining. I felt like sitting down
and crying but I knew I had to be strong if I was to pull them through."

"I told Joe and Gail not to try and move and that I was going out a gather
a lot of wood for a fire. I knew there was a lot of downed smaller trees on
the ground so I wouldn't have to work very hard to lay in a large supply. I
could get more as needed. I built a fire at the entrance to the cave. The
smoke blew away from the cave and the whole inside was toasty warm because
the heat from the fire was reflecting off the cave walls. I knew now that
we could handle the cold weather."

"I took inventory of our food supply. If I conserved it and rationed it, we
could survive for quite sometime. I told Joe and Gail that I was going to
see if I could find a deer to supplement our supply. I made them promise
not to move or try to get up and I would take care of their medical needs
when I returned. I managed to shoot a small yearling buck and took it to
the cave, skinned and cleaned it. I carried the hide and other waste away
from the cave. I wrapped a sheet around the deer, and hung it in a tree. I
didn't want to be feeding all the wild animals in the area."

"Now came the hard part. What to do for my injured friends. All I had was a
small travel first aid kit so I'd have to get creative. Joe wanted me to
work on Gail first. I don't think he was just being a gentleman. He just
wanted to see what kind of `doctor' I was going to be. I examined Gail and
found that she had broken both her legs and as far as I could tell she
didn't have any internal bleeding or broken ribs. She had a small
concussion. All in all, she was in much better condition than I had
anticipated. I used Gail's second sheet to make bandages strips to tie
splints on her legs. Her entire body was covered with cuts and bruises. I
boiled some water and cleaned all her abrasions with good warm, soapy
water. I had a small bottle of rum that I could use for an antiseptic on
Gail's cuts. Gail, this will probably sting but it will kill all the little
bugs running around in your cuts."

"You know Mark, that rum would do me more good if you put it on the inside
of me rather than waste it on the out side. I am tough and my body can
fight all those little critters and win the battle," moaned Gail.

Mark responded, "Sorry, Gail. Not this time. I am just going to be hard
hearted and not give in. I think it would do me better if I drank the whole
bottle myself. I will just pass this time and torture you a little. Don`t
worry Joe I`ll get to you soon and torture you, also. " Joe was in a lot
better shape and only had a broken arm and a lot of cuts and bruises. He
had a much more severe head wound and I was at a lost as what to do for a
concussion. I put a splint on him, and cleaned his wounds. I had both of
them lie on the ground head flat and no moving. I took the canteen and went
to the creek and filled it with very cold water. I used a towel for each of
them and soaked it in the cold water and placed in on their foreheads.
Hopefully, I could reduce some of the swelling behind the head wounds.

Gail, who is a nurse, told me. "Mark, you're doing the right things and
just to keep it up and don't let Joe and I go to sleep for several hours."

"So my time was spent tending to the wounded, gathering fire wood, cooking,
and keeping the signal fire going during the day. There was a large
clearing very close to the cave, so I cleared a large spot in the center,
used rocks to build a fire rind, and built a fire. I cut green boughs and
put them on the fire. I must say I put up enough smoke that could be seen
for hundreds of miles away. On the first day, a small plane circled the
fire. The pilot gunned his engine, tilted his wing tip right at me, circled
the clearing a couple more times, and left. I knew that he had seen me in
the clearing and would send help."

"I want to know, What in the hell took you guys so long to get here?"
laughed Mark.

Terry joined Mark laughing and responded, "Oh, we just thought that we
would take in some sights and enjoy the scenery. In all seriousness, you
are a long way in here. We pushed the horses as fast as we could and
traveled only in the day light. We didn't want to take a chance of injuring
our animals or ourselves. We got here as fast as we could."

Stan remarked, "Why in the world were you hunting this far from your camp?
If you had shot a deer you would have never gotten it out!"

"We never intended to shot any deer. We did see a couple of nice bucks but
we just shot them with our cameras. We just wanted to take in some of the
scenery and take pictures. The people at camp thought we were going
hunting," explained Gail.

"The plane will come back tomorrow around day break and we will be able to
talk with the pilot. Dennis has already called Search and Rescue and gave
them an evaluation of what is happening. We have walkie-talkies with ground
to air capabilities. The pilot will drop some medical supplies and we
should be able to reduce some of the pain for Joe and Gail, They will also
drop some neck braces which will keep their heads immobile as possible just
in case they have neck or spinal injuries. We will leave the splints as you
have them only we will reinforce them with some plaster-of-Paris which will
give them a lot more stability. They will also drop some metal bars and
specially made canvas slings so we can use them to carry Joe and Gail out
safely. We have two horses that are trained to accept them." explained
Terry.

"Man, oh man, you guys are good! How did you learn all of this?" asked
Gail.

"Terry and I have been given special training by Search and Rescue and the
Forest Service. Dennis and Kyle will start their training soon. Their first
training will be winter survival and rescue and will start in two weeks. We
are just volunteers and don't receive any pay. However, the Forest Service
does steer a lot of business our way and since we are the only pack
operation in the area, there are no conflict of interest." Stan told her.

Then he told her, "You smell that food cooking, you three are in for a
special treat tonight. Those two kids know how to treat a person right. The
youngest one is actually the owner of the operation know as the "Wilderness
Experience' and has only been here since June. The other one has only been
here about a month. Terry and I have been selected to be nurse maids for
the two kids. We don't mind at all. They are great boys and we would do
anything for them."

Morning came and we were in the clearing waiting for the aircraft.
Everything was dropped and soon we were on out way. Gail and Joe were made
very comfortable, given pain killers, and were soon sound asleep. We had
selected a shorter way out and would be out in a little over a day.

We finally arrived at the Cascade Lakes Highway, loaded the injured and
Mark on a medical helicopter (air-life) which is used to transport the sick
and injured from isolated areas to the hospital in Bend.

Search and Rescue called the hunting camp and told them that all three lost
hunters had been found and were air lifted to Bend for medical treatment.
Every one could relax and head for Bend to be united with their lost
companions.

The rescuers headed back to home base and just in time because a snow storm
had moved in and the ground was getting white. With the coming of the first
snow, it was time to move all the animals to their winter quarters in
Christmas Valley and get ready for our coming winter season.

TBC