Hunter rescued from waist-deep mud near Ridgefield

A pact with a friend may have saved the life of a Ridgefield man after he fell and got stuck in some mud while hunting.

Richard “Lefty” Kraus, 84, called 911 just before 7 p.m. Tuesday after finding his friend — a Ridgefield man in his 70s — waist-deep in mud, said Clark County Fire & Rescue Spokesman Tim Dawdy.

Kraus’ friend had been hunting on private land on Bachelor Island near Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge on Monday and didn’t come back by about 7 p.m., Dawdy said.

Kraus and the friend had an ongoing agreement that if one of them didn’t come back from hunting by the evening, the other would come look for him, Dawdy said.

When Kraus found his friend, he called 911. By the time emergency crews arrived, firefighters found the man hip-deep in mud, Dawdy said.

Using a ladder and a backboard, firefighters were able to access the man, getting him out of the mud and into an ambulance bound for PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, Dawdy said. His condition was not available.

“He was hypothermic,” Dawdy said. “He’d been in the ground for many hours.”