A man who got lost survived 5 days eating worms & drinking muddy water.
Bill Lawrence went out squirrel hunting on a Wednesday in the dense 13,000-acre Meeman Shelby Forest State Park. It was Sunday before the man was found.
"I would like to start by thanking the good Lord above, without him I would not have made it out alive," Bill Lawrence said in a statement issued by the Tipton County Sheriff's Office, where he works as a corrections officer.
Lawrence lost sight of his friends while chasing a squirrel & became concerned when his shots were the only ones he could hear.
Lawrence started out the trip wearing Military Issue camouflage pants & jacket, a cap & boots. He carried "a shotgun, 15 shells, two bottles of water, a flashlight, a full can of deep woods off, a squirrel call and a can of dip." He didn't have a cellphone, but it wouldn't have mattered as there is no service deep in the park.
By the second day, he had run out of most of his supplies, including most of the shotgun shells and his water. He shot his gun whenever he thought he heard someone. His shells ran out Saturday & he threw the gun down Sunday, too weak to carry it.
"I would walk for a few hours, then I would sleep for a few hours to conserve my energy. I followed deer tracks to find water holes," he said. "I would look under wet logs for worms to eat."
With a heat index above 100 for most of the time he was lost, he spent much of his time searching for water & food. "The water source was nasty!" he said.
A massive hunt lasted 119 hours until he was found. Teams went on foot with dogs, on horses & ATVs, boats, vehicles & helicopters. The forest was so dense some searchers were knocked from their horses. Two rescue crews were within 400 yards of him, following a trail of shell casings & water bottle labels, when he reached the road on Sunday. It was about three miles from where he started out, but Lawrence estimated that he had covered about 35 miles by then.
"Man I was happy," he said. "I laid down in that road and just sat there. ... By then I was just wore out."
Lawrence survived longer "than anyone expected," said Park Manager Steve Smith.
"I think he was very fortunate," said Chief Donna Turner, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. She said Lawrence "was dehydrated, disoriented and weak" when found, and was covered with chigger bites. He's on antibiotics to combat the things he digested while he was lost.
After Lawrence's address Wednesday afternoon, he sat down with his family and, clasping his wife Kim's hand, began to cry.
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