In the vast and rugged wilderness of Flagstaff Township, Maine, a day of bird hunting turned into a tragedy for Mark Henderson, a 57-year-old White male from the nearby town of Eustis. On the evening of October 8, 2019, while on a remote logging road near the northwest shore of Flagstaff Lake, Henderson made a distress call to the Franklin County Regional Communications Center at 5:56 p.m.
He reported that he had accidentally shot himself in the lower leg with birdshot.
A multi-agency search and rescue operation was immediately launched, involving game wardens, Maine State Police, U.S. Border Patrol, and NorthStar EMS, who all converged on the logging roads in the area straddling the border of northern Franklin and Somerset counties. A game warden located Henderson near his truck at approximately 7:06 p.m. and immediately began administering CPR before transporting him in his own truck. A state trooper took over driving the warden's vehicle to meet an ambulance at the Big Eddy Road while the warden and another trooper continued life-saving efforts.
Despite the relentless work of the emergency medical personnel who attended to him for about 40 minutes, Mark Henderson ultimately succumbed to his injuries. His death was the first hunting-related fatality in Maine for that year. An avid outdoorsman, skilled hunter, and fisherman, Henderson had moved to Eustis to be closer to the natural world he loved. He was a well-known and loved member of his community, working for Central Maine Power, where he served as a lineman and a union steward. His sudden and unexpected death left behind a loving family, including his companion, children, and grandchildren.
