MILTON-FREEWATER — Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team and other volunteers were able to get an injured hunter to safety Thursday, Nov. 3.

The sheriff’s office in a press release reported its dispatch center at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 2 received a report that hunter Danny Rupp, 49, of Albany, suffered a severe ankle injury in the Mill Creek Watershed area near Milton-Freewater and was unable to walk.

The caller had the hunter’s location on GPS, and the sheriff’s office search and rescue unit decided to begin the search in the morning due to darkness, the steep, rugged terrain and snow.

“Rupp was prepared to spend the night, appropriately dressed and had the ability to build a fire,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Search and rescue volunteers were called to begin the search for Rupp on Nov. 3 at 4 a.m. Union County Search and Rescue, U.S Forest Service and Walla Walla Basin Watershed Council also assisted in the search. A helicopter from the Oregon National Guard was on standby.

A team located Rupp at about 10 a.m. and reported he was partially ambulatory and rescuers would walk down with him.

They reached the bottom of the drainage area around 6 p.m., then a wheeled litter transported Rupp to a vehicle. They arrived safely at their vehicles about 8 p.m.

Sgt. Dwight Johnson, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue coordinator, called this a “well-executed mission.”

The sheriff’s office also reported the Union County and Walla Walla Basin volunteers assisted in getting Rupp safely down the mountain. The sheriff’s office also credited deputy Rowen Hays for helping Rupp’s family break down their camp so they could return home with him.