Hunters turn rescuers as they save a man's life

Hunters often get what some might consider something of a bad rap here in France where the activity is, in many rural parts of the country, undeniably something of an institution.

If they're not "accidentally" killing the wrong animal such as Cannelle the bear then hunters might well be inadvertently shooting each other.

Not surprising perhaps as with over 1,350,000 registered hunters, France has by far the largest number of any European country with only Spain (almost one million), the United Kingdom (800,000) and Italy (750,000) coming close.

So it's good to come across a hunting story that entails saving a life rather than taking one - be it intentionally or by mistake.

On Saturday a party of hunters in the southwestern French département of Tarn became "saviours" rather than "destroyers" when they rescued a man.

Arifat cascade (screenshot from YouTube video)

The group from the village of Arifat had gathered in the forest to hunt deer but instead, according to the regional daily newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, heard cries of pain.

They were coming from a 39-year-old man

"He was groaning and lying on his back when I found him," the president of the club, Christian Valéry, told the newspaper.

"He told me he had fallen eight metres from a nearby cliff as he had been taking photographs of animals and hadn't been able to move for two days."

The hunters immediately switched mode and became rescuers as some of them went off to contact the emergency services - there was no mobile 'phone reception in the forest - while the others remained with the injured man.

He had broken his leg and pelvis and was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration after at spending two nights out in the open with temperatures dropping to minus 10.

It was, as one of the hunters said, a miracle that the man was discovered as the accident occurred in a remote part of the forest pretty much in the "middle of nowhere".