While hunting deep in the Canadian wilderness a good 12-hours’-drive north from his British Columbia home a few years ago, former search and rescue worker Don Bartley found himself rescued by an unexpected hero. Climbing a creek bank on a four-wheeler, he drove over something loose and flipped backward. The quad was coming down with its full weight set to shatter Don’s leg. Luckily, its fall was first buffered by a small hard case containing a recently acquired spotting scope strapped to his ATV.
The hard case, made special for this spotting scope unit sold under a different label, was manufactured by Guardforce Group, parent company to VANGUARD. “If that thing hadn’t been there and taken the brunt of the impact, his leg would have been broken,” said Don’s wife, Sherri, who called to share this story with us. “Thank God for your scope cases.”
Don’s hunting buddy had to lever the quad off of him, and it took the two men working together to flip it back upright. After making the 12-hour trek back to civilization to see a doctor, Don’s leg was bruised from ankle to knee, but fortunately, not broken, because of the placement and toughness of the case.
Sherri said it took weeks for the bruising to come out. “The crush injury was deep,” Sherri said. “Dark purple, fading to greens and yellows. But it only took Don 24 hours to get back to hunting! And while that trip wasn’t a success, he did bring down a moose later that season.
Although the case took a “nice V-shape” dent from the impact, its contents went unharmed. “I just thought it was amazing that the case took that much force,” Sherri said. “The scope wasn’t damaged at all.”
“Thank you, Vanguard, for keeping my husband from what sure to have been a long road to recovery if it hadn’t been on his quad!”