Tragedy in Dularge

[Finfeatherfur]

Guys, as I write this, I still feel for a young man of 14 years old and I hope that God will heal him quickly so he can be their for his mother.

This past Saturday, I was down for the weekend w/ my wife and dad at Fisherman's Retreat across the canal from the Falgout Canal Marina. We did not have intentions on fishing because of the weather, but had some things to take care of and some work to do. Around 9:00 am Saturday morning, we just finished breakfast when the fire station across the road gets paged out for an emergency at the marina. Dad and I decide to go over there to see if I can help, since i know most of those guys from my days w/ Acadian and now see them on a regular basis when they have calls down there. I respond to several calls a year with them while I'm down there since an ambulance response is usually in the 30 minute range on average.

I get to the marina where a local deputy and Jeremy Ball look at me and ask me to get ready and go to the boat ramp. They had a hunting accident and it is coming in by boat. Information is scarce, but it is known that it is a shotgun blast and its bad. Approximately 10 minutes later, Air Med is landing and as the turbines spool down, we can hear the faint roar of an airboat coming in. As the airboat arrives, we see two occupants coming in wide open. Their eyes said it all, and we knew it was bad from 100 yards away. Then as he gets across from us, we can see the operate fighting the boat. The throttle is stuck wide open and the boat is out of control.

The operator is in the top seat and a young boy is in the bottom seat. The boat spins widely, almost throwing both out into the water. The operator somehow keeps the boat from flipping, but not before having the nose of the airboat go completely under water and filling the hull. He again guns it, to keep momentum and somehow gets it to the ramp and drives it up where the hull is swamped. We move in to assess the patient. The driver immediatelly collapses into my arms from the top seat, where myself and another responder drag him out of the boat. The young boy jumps out of the boat and runs to some family members that had started arriving. In the bottom of the boat is the boys father with a shotgun blast to the side of the head.

The driver and the boy both had wet clothes on and had been running in for help for about 30 minutes. We got them into an area of the marina that was secluded and got them out o ftheir wet clothes and started warming them up. The airboat driver was the cousin of the victim and was the one that pulled the trigger on the fatal accident. He was a complete mess, and will need longterm care to address his problems.

To make a long story short, these guys are commercial fisherman/trappers that I see out there everytime I go. Great people from down the bayou, just living off of what mother nature gave to them. It was a morning that was spent trying to supplement their trapping income by shooting some nutria rats since duck season was closed. Unfortunately, the drive shot from an elevated seat as his passenger walked into the line of fire. Death was instant, but this young boy had to ride in with his father at his feet for 30 minutes w/ wounds that I will describe as "gruesome" at the very least.

In closing, as fishing season gets cranked up, and hunting season is winding down, please take the time to be safe. We talk about it, but actually take the time to do it. Talk with you friends and people you hunt & fish with. Have a plan on what will take place before you do it. These guys have done this kind of thing probably a 100 times, but Saturday they got careless and made some horrible mistakes.