Three men on deer study survive crash

Three men walked away from a helicopter that crashed two miles southeast of Sprague on Friday morning as they were capturing deer for a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife study.

“They had just netted one of the last deer on the last day of a five-year study,” said Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman in Spokane. “They’ve been out flying and capturing deer for a week every six months.”

Department staffer Joe McCanna of St. John was tethered just outside the door of the Bell 206 JetRanger III, where he had fired a gun to spread a net over the running deer.

“They’d netted the deer about 10 a.m., and the pilot was pulling out of the rocky area so they could swing back and get the deer when a downdraft or something pushed the tail rotor into a rock,” she said.

With the aircraft spinning, Jess Hagerman of Northwest Helicopters in Olympia managed to drop it down in the only clear spot around, she said.

Volunteer helper Bart Fouts of Spokane and Hagerman were not injured, she said.

“McCanna was strapped outside the helicopter and he was shook up pretty good, so they’re doing tests on him at Sacred Heart Hospital,” Luers said.

Woody Myers, the lead researcher, said McCanna was released Friday afternoon.

More than 200 mule deer have been captured and fixed with radio collars during the six-county research study. The deer that was netted shortly before the crash was freed.

Scott Miller’s family owns the ranch where the helicopter crashed.

The 42-year-old found out about it when he was driving down the road and saw an ambulance driving across his property.