Missing hunter swept away by flood is found by Alabama trooper and carried to safety

A missing hunter had severe hypothermia by the time he was found and had to be carried out of the woods by a state trooper, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

It happened Jan. 22 in rural Bullock County, southeast of Montgomery, and the hunter could not feel his legs when he was discovered by Trooper Charles May, officials said in a Jan. 27 Facebook post.

The hunter survived, but his identity and condition have not been released.

He had been missing a day in “severe cold weather” when the Bullock County Sheriff’s Office launched a search. May was assisting and arranged for someone to be take him into the woods by boat, officials said.

“The missing hunter ... had been swept away when a beaver dam broke,” state officials said.

“Being familiar with the area, Trooper May began searching on the opposite side of the beaver dam. ... He began to hear a faint cry for help. It was there Trooper May located the missing man lying on the ground and took action. ... The man told Trooper May he could not feel his legs.”

It became clear the hunter had symptoms of hypothermia, a condition “caused by prolonged exposures to very cold temperatures,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In severe cases, victims can lose consciousness and have no pulse, the CDC says.

“Trooper May quickly removed the hunter’s wet clothes before removing his own to place on the individual. He then carried the hunter approximately 100 yards out of the woods (and) placed him in his patrol vehicle,” state officials said.

May called for an ambulance and arranged for it to meet them at a nearby intersection, officials said.

“Paramedics confirmed the hunter was suffering from severe hypothermia and would have likely not survived had he been out in the conditions another hour,” officials said.

“They then rushed the man to a nearby medical facility for treatment.”

The state’s Facebook post has gotten 3,500 reactions and hundreds of comments as of Jan. 28, many lauding May as “the epitome of what a public servant should be.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2022 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Missing hunter swept away by flood is found by Alabama trooper and carried to safety."