CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Long Creek Ambulance crew member Craig Palmer assists injured hunter James Moyer (out of view) with other volunteers. In the foreground is the six-point bull elk, shot by Moyer, which he was field dressing when he wounded himself.

An injured hunter was flown to a hospital in Bend Thursday afternoon, after emergency workers packed him out of a remote site in northern Grant County.

James Lee Moyer, 51, of Mapleton shot a six-point bull elk across the Indian Creek drainage, about 15-20 miles east of Meadowbrook Summit, early that morning, Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer said in a press release.

Moyer made his way to the elk and was field dressing the animal when the knife he was using slipped, accidentally stabbing himself about two inches above the navel, Palmer said.

Moyer’s wife, who was 650 yards across the canyon with her husband’s parents when the incident took place, made it to his side where cellphone service was available and a call was made to 911 at 11:31 a.m.

Long Creek and John Day medical units were dispatched as well as the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the sheriff’s Grant County Search and Rescue team. Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife also responded.

Palmer said Air Link from St. Charles Medical Center in Bend landed about 150-200 yards above Moyer’s location.

Palmer credited search and rescue crews as well as hunters in the area, with clearing logs, trees and regrowth from the road where the helicopter landed. Moyer was carried on a backboard to the helicopter.

Search and rescue personnel, ODFW and Oregon State Police assisted Moyer in field dressing and packing the bull elk to an awaiting vehicle.