A 49-year-old Roy man accidentally stabbed himself while hunting near Mount St. Helens on Friday, leading to a call for search and rescue crews before the man’s friends helped him walk out of the wood.

Thomas Perkins was butchering an elk about an hour’s hike from the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center on Friday afternoon when he stabbed himself in the leg, said Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson. The injury wasn’t life-threatening but it didn’t initially look like Perkins could walk out and the area couldn’t be reached by vehicle.

Friends of Perkins first reached a state Fish and Wildlife agent who called Cowlitz County Sheriff’s deputies. The Toutle area Fire District 3 also responded as did the Cowlitz County Search and Rescue, Nelson said.

Perkins’ friends decided to go back and see if he could walk out, taking a tarp if they needed to carry him. After they made contact and began to walk back the search crews were called off.

At 5:02 the group made it to the road and Perkins refused medical aid, sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Cruse said.