Retired doctor crawls 16 hours to survival | The Woodsman Hut | Forums

Man, just goes to show you need a little provision for even a simple hunting trip

ROCHESTER, Minn. - A former Mayo doctor is calling it "a Christmas miracle" that he survived being trapped overnight Dec. 19 on a frozen North Dakota field after breaking his leg on a hunting trip.

Rochester resident Richard Olsen said the biggest lesson from his accident is people shouldn't let fear and uncertainty prevent them reaching out to see if someone is all right, something Olson said probably saved his life.

Olsen, who retired as a Mayo Clinic developmental pediatrician in 2010, is recovering at Mayo Clinic-Saint Marys Campus.

"We are so grateful to my dad for fighting so hard to get back to us alive," said Sarah Brown, his daughter. "It's still kind of hard to wrap our heads around what he went through."

Olsen was hunting on a cousin's land near Watford City, N.D., in the sparsely populated western portion of the state. On Dec. 19, he tried a new spot and forgot to bring his cell phone, the only time on the trip. He trekked more than half a mile with two dogs to a harvested wheat field.

Eyes fixed on the horizon in anticipation of another pheasant taking flight, he stepped on a thin crust of snow clumped on blown-over brush above a drainage trench. It collapsed and dropped him four feet to the bottom.

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