Jacob Schmitt has been hunting all his life with his dog Buddy by his side.
A little over a week ago, Schmitt was looking for deer in the Uinta Mountains when he realized the trail he was on was unstable and his side-by-side vehicle started to tip.
“Immediately I realized it was going over like a capsizing ship,” Schmitt said. "The machine flipped probably 15-20 times by the end of it, but I would say best of my recollection, probably the second or third flip is when it kind of sort of rag-dolled me out.”
His dog Buddy was in a kennel in the back.
“When I came to and stuff and started to do kind of damage control, he was sort of just there staring at me without a scratch, which almost makes me emotional, but it's unreal,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt then realized he lost his phone and radio during the fall.
“When you see your other leg is hanging there, I'm not going to be looking around for stuff,” he said.
Schmitt realized they were losing daylight, and after splinting his own leg, and with nothing but a light on Buddy’s color, he made the decision to crawl down the mountain for 11 hours.
“I would catch up to him, and then I would nudge him with my face, and he would get up and he would take another break. And now I kind of realized it wasn't really him falling asleep, it was him kind of just giving me, giving me a place to go,” Schmitt said while getting tears in his eyes.
By daybreak, he finally made it back to his vehicle and drove to Oakley Diner, where he saw Yenni Saiz working outside.
“He was like, 'Can you call 911 please?'" And my heart kind of dropped,” Saiz said. "I knew something was bad because of the scratches, and I can just tell he was in pain.”
Saiz called 911 and waited until the paramedics came.
“He was the most respectful person I've ever met. I mean, he was being really respectful. Even though he was through all this pain and everything,” she said.
The fire department took care of Buddy while Schmitt was taken to the hospital where he stayed for four days.
“A couple broken ribs on this side, a broken right ankle, I believe, left ankle, and then left tibia and fibula, and then about a bruise everywhere you can have it,” said Schmitt.
Schmitt was able to return home a couple of days ago with Buddy by his side.
“The thing that loves you unconditionally is just there, essentially. And he keeps checking on you. It's like the biggest spirit jump,” Schmitt said. "I had my best friend to crawl out with me, essentially, so it was unreal.”
Despite everything, Schmitt is ready to hunt again and has advice for others.
“Learn how to do everything with nothing, self-rescue,” he said. "Figure out how to do that. Otherwise, I'd still be laying there."
A GoFundMe was started by his family to help with his recovery. It can be found HERE.
