BFRO #65238: Oilfield Medical Responder's encounter approx 70km southwest of Grand Prairie

📍 Location

📝 Description

I was working as an Emergency Medical Responder in the oilfield; sitting on site for a gas well workover, near the western end of the Red Rock Road. The job was ending due to spring break up and road bans were partially on, preventing the moving of heavy loads during the day. At this time the partial bans allowed heavy haul from 0000 to 0700. My consultant had directed that I be the last personnel to egress. The last low-boy on site was having issues with tie downs and that delayed his departure from location until approximately 0330, everyone else had been off site by 0100. I held at location for 20 minutes past the last trucks departure; hoping he would stay far enough ahead of my medical unit to avoid it being peppered by rocks and frozen mud chunks; meaning, I entered the Red Rock at approximately 0400, heading in an easterly direction. I had been on site since 0700 the previous day and was going into my 21st hour of being awake. Because of this, I was being extra careful to pay attention to both sides of the road, maintaining a speed of about 30-40kph hoping to give me enough reaction time to brake for wildlife popping out on the road in front of me. There was a fair amount of wildlife in this area � deer, elk, lynx, moose, black bear and I even encountered a grizzly sow grazing grass in a ditch by the side of the road in this area the summer before. My MTC [mobile treatment center] was mounted on the bed of a 2500 Dodge Ram 2004 extended cab PU being powered by a Cummins diesel. I was keeping the high beams on. The lights were illuminating the entire road bed, the snow/ice berm, and out another 10 meters both sides of the road. I remember passing the area where the service rig�s camp had been set up to the left of the road, thinking it looked pretty empty and deserted. I could make out the area because of the ambient star shine; that, along with last few centimetres of snow on the ground help give shape and shadow to the snow berms, stumps, trees, and gravel patches of the parking area of the camp. A few kilometers past the rig camp site the Red Rock does a gentle S curve through a stand of mature timber running along both sides of the road for approximately 500 meters. After this the Red Rock comes out on a flat area where a road (Beaver Road?) branched off from the right heading south. From there a graded left curve dropped in a wide arc at about a 4% grade to cross a single lane temporary bridge over a creek; after crossing the bridge the road swung in an arc to the right climbing back up out of the creek�s flood plain, again at about 4% grade. I am pretty short, 5�2�, and occasionally if the grade was steep enough, I would not be able to see the road directly in front of my rig until I started to level out. Because of this, I had slowed to about 20kph. As I topped the hill coming up out of the creek and I was just about to accelerate when a solid five-point elk came from the right side of the road hopping over the berm and landing not four feet in front of my fender. Scared the stuffing out of me! Breaking hard, I was glad I had slowed down.I then notice the condition of the elk. He takes about two steps, coming to a full stop right in front of my rig. Looking closer at the elk, I can see that he is winded. His nose if up almost like he is going to bugle. His antlers are laying almost parallel to the line of his back. His tongue is hanging out the side of his mouth, where it is clearly visible to me; and, the eye I can see is rolled back exposing the sclera. I�m thinking �What the heck, its not rut. Why would this animal be acting like this?� The elk stood there for 3-5 seconds panting, then dropping his head into a �normal� walking position, he walks slowly off to the left side of the road. My experience with elk and deer and roads has always been if there�s one there are usually more, so before I started forward again, I did a check down both sides of the road looking off as far as my headlights allowed looking any eye shine; and, that was when I saw it!The Red Rock, like most gas field roads had an 80 to 100 meters of clear cut along the right side of the road to allow for the laying in of a pipe line to carry the gas from the wells in the field to the plant. On this section of the Red Rock, the right of way was cleared of timber, but the tree stumps were still in place; which is the usual condition when the pipe has yet to be laid. The stumps were the gray brown of trees that had been dead for several years. Between the star light, the head lights and the snow I could identify stumps and the bottom part of tree trunks of the standing timber at the back of the clear cut right of way. Finishing the scan, I had looked forward down the road and just when I was about to drive on, I caught a motion in my peripheral vision on the right, drawing my attention back to that area. At first, I thought it was just a tall stump as it appeared a bit taller than another stump near by. A slight breeze moved the

🔍 Circumstances

I was alone, driving back to town having finished a job.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

0499-0500.no moon, ambient star shine, reflective light from stars on ground snow coverclear and cold, around � 12*C (mud surface was crunchy), occasional light wind gust around 5k.

ℹ️ Additional Details

0499-0500.no moon, ambient star shine, reflective light from stars on ground snow coverclear and cold, around � 12*C (mud surface was crunchy), occasional light wind gust around 5k.

🔗 Sources (1)

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