Rescued hunter describes Everglades ordeal

NAPLES — He was stalked by a panther. He was sucked in neck-deep in a patch of quicksand, and got free only by ditching his clothes and much of his gear in the muck. He survived four days on raw catfish and bullfrogs.

But for 30-year-old Jamey Mosch, the worst part about being lost in the Everglades last week was being wet, cold and fed on by mosquitoes. Mosch lifted his shirt, revealing hundreds, if not thousands, of red bug bites up and down his back.

"The only thing that I could think about was how cold I was," Mosch said at a weekend press conference at Physicians Regional Medical Center in Florida, flanked by his mom and dad.

"I couldn't sleep at night," Mosch said. "I would just … shiver and shiver and shiver."

On Nov. 16, Mosch, an experienced hunter originally from upstate New York who now lives in North Fort Myers, was hunting with friends in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Around 1:30 p.m., while his friends were fixing a truck, he went off to hunt deer on his own, a move that he called a "dumb mistake."

Mosch wasn't familiar with the environment, and unbeknownst to him, his compass was broken. His flashlight and cell phone died when they got wet.

"I never saw woods like these woods before," Mosch said of the Everglades. "This is something like you'd see in hell. Think of the worst jungle you can imagine and times it by 10."

When he realized he was lost that Monday night, Mosch fired rounds from his shotgun to alert his pals to his location. When they fired back, Mosch made a makeshift arrow on the ground pointing to where he believed the shots came from. He made a campfire and intended to walk out in the morning.

Instead, he got turned around and was walking in circles.

Things took a turn for the worse on Tuesday, when Mosch said he got trapped up to his neck in a pit of mud or quicksand. He tried to toss his gun to dry land, he said, but instead lost it in the muck. He had to remove his pants, boots and jacket to avoid drowning.

Not wanting to make himself sick by drinking swamp water, Mosch said he drank only twice during his four-day ordeal, when he found natural springs. He ate a catfish and bullfrogs, but couldn't cook them because he couldn't start a fire. He tried to, unsuccessfully, using pieces of his broken watch and a diamond earring.

At one point, Mosch said, he saw a small panther.

"He was stalking me for hours," Mosch said.

Around 11 a.m. Friday, Mosch, who was delirious from lack of food, water and sleep, heard someone call his name. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him, until he heard it again and again.

When rescuers from De Soto County eventually found him, Mosch said he was crying on the inside, but not physically, because he was dehydrated.

Mosch's doctors said they don't expect he will suffer any long-term side effects.