Husker hunter
Active member
I would like to share my story so others don't make the same mistake. So Thursday at 4 we leave NE for our CO elk hunt. We pulled in to the trail head at midnight & jumped in the camper to sleep. Woke up & headed up the mountain at 8am. About 1 mile into our 4 mile hike I could tell my buddy was not feeling 100% and it got worse with every mile. He insisted on keeping on and he is the experienced elk hunter so I didn't argue. We set spike camp at 12 in the rain that later changed to snow. I hunted the afternoon while my buddy rested & drank water. That evening was no better & the next morning even worse. We broke camp & went back down but he could hardly walk. About 1/2 way down we ran into 2 wardens who were life savers. We also were able to get him on a horse for the last mile, thanks to a kind outfitter. Reached the trail head & he was just about unconscious & barely breathing so had to be flown out to the hospital. Docs said he was close to organ damage or possibly death. He is ok now but our hunt only lasted 1.5 days & it was very scary. Our first mistake was not spending a day at base camp to let our bodies adjust and we should of turned around the moment he started feeling I'll. We had to learn the hard way just how serious altitude sickness can be & we will never make those mistakes again.