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Heeter's elk and ATV

(Courtesy of the Crook County Sheriff's Office)

A Bend man was impaled in the back by the antlers of an elk he had just shot on Saturday, according to Crook County Sheriff's Office.

Gary Heeter, 69, was hunting in "a very remote location" in the Maury Mountains where he killed an elk. Around noon. as he was dragging the carcass of the animal behind his four-wheeler up a steep hill, the vehicle flipped and he flew back and landed on his dead prey.

Members of the hunting party applied first aid to Heeter to stanch the flow of blood.

"When the deputy arrived at the crash scene," said the sheriff's office, "he found Heeter was conscious and communicative, but appeared to be going into shock."

Heeter was flown to St. Charles Hospital in Bend by a Life Flight helicopter, but not before it had difficulty finding a suitable landing location "due to the rough terrain, which consisted of intermittent forest cover and rocky clearings."

According to KATU, the Crook County Sheriff's Office reports that Heeter is in stable condition.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker