'Figured I was a goner': Man encounters black bear, insect swarms after breaking leg on trail

Randy Wood can still hearthe bugs andhis back remainsriddled with swollen bite marks.

They are psychological and physical tokens along with a shattered leg from what was supposed to be a short ride on a dirt bike through some trails on June 4.

Instead, the intended 30-minute ride turned into a 25-hour ordeal punctuated by thousands of insects, a black bear and a firm belief he would not get out ofthe back-country bush alive.

"I just was so scared. I figured I was a goner," said Wood, 62, recalling the experience that started around 2 p.m. between the Camp Hughes Cemetery and Carberry in southwest Manitoba.

WATCH | Manitoba man rescued after stranded with broken leg in bush:

Man recounts gruesome experience in Manitoba back-country bush

1 year ago

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A Carberry man's plan for a quick ride on his dirt bike on Sunday turned into a harrowing tale. The 62-year-old was stranded for about 25 hours in the bush. He encountered a bear, broke his leg and was swarmed by insects.

After stopping to check out a turtle on the path and thinking about how his grandkids would like to see it, Wood went for his cellphone to take a pic. That's when he realized his wallet and phone were at home.

Wood wasworkingearlier in the day and changed pantsso he wouldn't bring sawdust into the house. It was an unfortunate oversight.

Not long after the turtle encounter,the rear wheel of his bike caught loose sand and crashed on its side, with Wood's leg pinned.

"I'm surprised I never passed out pulling the leg out. It was just terrible, oh my God,"he said about the searing pain.

"I could see it was broken bad.I didn't know what was all broken but I knew I had to splint it, because the pain was just extreme."

He placedsticks on each side of the leg and tore his shirt into strips towrapped aroundit.

Unable to stand up or operate the bike, Wood crawled.He estimates he was about six kilometres from home.

"The sand flies were atrocious. They were just chewing me to pieces because I didn't have a shirt on," hesaid.

At one point, Wood looked up to see a black bear eyeballinghim from about nine metres away.

"It wasn't one of these little ones that are hopping around. It was a big bear," he said. "So Itried to make myself big. I got up as far as I could, like on my knees, straight up.I yelled and told him to getout of here."

With a snort the bear turned and ambled off.But Wood wasn't convinced itwas gone.

"I seen another spot up the trail where there's a bunch of tree branches and tree logs. I figured I'd get my back to them tree logs so the bear couldn't get me from behind if he did decide to come," he said.

He gripped a stick in one hand and waited.Then the mosquitoes set in.

"They were unforgiving. They were chewing me up bad," Wood said.

They quickly trumped his bear worries. All he could think about was covering up.

"I ripped a bunch of shrubbery that was around the trail and made a pile and I put some to lay on and then I covered myself up with the shrubbery so the mosquitoes couldn't get me," he said.

"It was fairly thick on me and I left one arm out with a piece of a branch to shoot them away from my face."

He stayed that way through the night but whenever he shifted, his exposed back would be attacked. When thesun came up, he resumed crawling along the trail, his pants shredded and hisknees bleeding and raw.

The heat of the day soon exhausted Wood, who crawled into shade,stayingnear the trail in case someone came along.

The temperature pushed 30 C in the early afternoon andhistongue dried out. Wood strippedfresh bark from branches of shrubs and chewed it to moisten his mouth before spitting it out.

"I had to do that every half hour or so," he said.

As sand flies renewed their assault, Wood passed out. The sound of an approaching motor roused him.

"I look and I seen the most beautiful sight," he said, describinga white RCMP quad with an officer aboard.

"She saved me," Wood said, his voice trembling and breaking."It was another two miles I would have had to crawl to get out of there. I don't think I'd have made it."

It was 3 p.m. and 31 C outside.

The officer offered to come back with a vehicle better suited to let Wood stretch his leg, but he refused. He didn't want to let her leave. The pair were metby an ambulance near the cemetery and Wood was taken to Brandon hospital.

Aside from the fly and mosquito bites, Wood wasfull of ticks, said his wife, Leslee Verstraete.

"They were picking hundreds off him."

She was recovering from carpal tunnel surgery and heavily medicated on Tylenol when shedozed off the day he ventured out.She woke up around 10 p.m. and realized he wasn't home.

"She thought it was very peculiar that I didn't come back for supper, and I never do that," Wood said, addingshe also considered hemight have gone to Winnipeg to see his son.

Verstraetewoke up again at 3:30 a.m. and knew something was wrong. She called his cell several times and had to wait about five hours for the RCMP office to open.

When she found his pants, Verstraeteknew Wood was somewhere nearby on the trails. Had he gone to Winnipeg, he would have taken his licence and phone.

But where? There's at least 30 miles of trails in the forested area, Wood said.

"I was so upset because I had left him there overnight. I just wasn't thinking properly from having my surgery. And so I called the police and of course I was breaking down,"Verstraetesaid.

By 9:30 a.m. RCMP were scouring the trails. Verstraete also posted Wood's disappearance on Facebook and the responses helped pinpoint where he likely went in.

The couple is now recovering together and laying down new ground rules.

"I told him, you're never leaving without telling me where you go again,"Verstraete said.