Just past noon on Friday, September 13, Teton County Search & Rescue was called to respond to an injured horseback rider in the Horse Creek area.

A 50-year-old man from Maryland, on the last day of his guided hunting trip, became injured after he was bucked off his horse. An emergency call from a Garmin inReach was routed from dispatch to TCSAR, with volunteers responding in the rescue helicopter. A ground team drove to the trailhead as backup.

The helicopter was able to find a landing zone near the patient, who was not able to walk due to the injury. Without the use of the helicopter, the team would have been hiking in at least six miles to bring the man out in the wheeled litter. Instead, the volunteers had a short walk to reach the patient from the helicopter.

They assessed the man’s condition and packaged him in the suck bag, a type of full-body vacuum splint. With the help of the guides, the team carried the man to the helicopter for internal transport. The heli lifted off and transported the man to a waiting ambulance at the TCSAR hangar, completing the mission in 2 hours, 5 minutes.