DANVILLE -- Michael A. Thomas was apparently up and out of his southern Pennsylvania home well before dawn Saturday, eager to bag a wild turkey in the Western Maryland mountains on the opening day of the fall turkey season.
But Mr. Thomas, at 30 an experienced hunter, made it only a short way into the woods of one of western Allegany County's most scenic areas before his trip took a freak, deadly turn.
He will be buried today near his home in Greencastle, a small town just north of the Mason-Dixon line. He is survived by his wife and a 14-month-old daughter.
Because he was hunting alone, Mr. Thomas' last five or so hours, some of which clearly were spent in extraordinary agony and isolation, remain something of a mystery. But investigators have pieced together some of what occurred.
He most likely arrived at Dans Mountain Wildlife Management Area, a popular hunting spot southwest of Cumberland, before sunrise. He parked his pickup truck along a little-used gravel road and began a westward trek in a rugged, wooded area known as Tomcat Hollow.
As he climbed a steep incline, a 10-inch thick slab of rock about 2 feet by 3 feet and weighing as much as half-a-ton broke off unexpectedly from the hillside, spiraling the hunter downward 10 to 15 feet. Why it broke is unclear, though; Mr. Thomas may have stepped or sat on it.
His flashlight was found near the slab's original location, switched on, its batteries virtually spent.
The slab fell with, and landed on, Mr. Thomas. He was crushed from the pelvis down, pinned to the ground. How long the hunter lay there is speculative. But police believe he eventually took his own life, apparently after attempts to attract help proved unsuccessful.
"He had severe injuries and was in extreme pain," said John McGowan, operations supervisor with Allegany County's combined Criminal Investigation Unit. "He spent some very rough time up there. He never had a chance to get the rock off by himself. It's very, very sad. I've never seen anything like it."
Mr. Thomas was shot in the right side of head by his 12-gauge shotgun, police conclude. Evidence was found that the trapped hunter thrashed around to grab his weapon and a small pack containing ammunition, police said.
Police said shells they found nearby indicated that Mr. Thomas fired three shots, which, if they had been fired together, would have been a distress signal among hunters. Several hunters higher on the ridge later told investigators they had heard shots, but sensed nothing unusual, because both turkey and squirrel hunters were in the area.
Although Saturday was opening day for turkey season, Dans Mountain Wildlife Management Area -- a state-owned, 8,500-acre tract -- had few hunters, said Patty Manown, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, who assisted in the investigation.
It was not until lunchtime -- about 12:10 p.m. -- that two hunters found Mr. Thomas' body after noticing his orange vest. Police said Mr. Thomas was in a remote area, about three miles west of U.S. 220. He was only about 120 yards from his pickup truck.
Al Borzoo and Michael Brown were driving out of the wildlife area after a morning of turkey hunting when they spotted Mr. Thomas on the hillside. They drove to the nearest house and called 911.
"It was one of those freak accidents," said Mr. Borzoo, an engineer who lives in Beltsville. "It looked like he was under tremendous pain. On the other side of the hill, there were a lot more hunters than where he was at. It's one of those things that makes you think he could have received help had he been on the other side."
Mr. Brown, an architect from Gaithersburg, said the pair approached the body cautiously, thinking Mr. Thomas may have been the victim of foul play. He said Mr. Thomas' head was pointed downward on the slope, making it impossible for him to move the rock.
"We both did pretty well but we were shaken up after seeing him," Mr. Brown said. "There was no helping him. He had to have been in immense pain."
"Without that orange vest he might not have been found so soon," Ms. Manown said.
How Mr. Thomas died is a matter of speculation, however. Dr. Paul Snow, Allegany County's medical examiner, said he could not determine the cause of death. The death remains under investigation by the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore.
Dr. Snow agrees that the hunter could have shot himself intentionally, as police believe, but he also raises the possibility that the shotgun may have discharged during the fall, and he predicted: "We'll never know what happened."
Family members declined to speak to a reporter, noting only that Mr. Thomas "was an avid outdoorsman." He had worked six years as a machinist at Precision Manufacturing and Engineering Co. near Greencastle, Pa. His employer also declined to comment.
News of the freak accident reverberated among hunters in this part of Maryland, where hunting is a popular avocation.
"Guys were talking about how strange this was," said Gary Yoder, a hunter and spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources in Western Maryland. "Was this guy in that much pain? Was it an accident, or was something else at work? It's a real freaky kind of thing."
Stephen Russell, an avid hunter and retired Maryland State Police trooper who lives near Deep Creek Lake, agreed: "It's hard to say this, but it didn't seem like the right thing to do. It would not be something I would want to do. There always seems to be another way out all the time other than that. They did find him."
But Maryland park rangers and others who have had to search for lost hikers and hunters said it's also difficult to comprehend the fear and hopelessness people can feel when they're alone, lost or injured in the woods, Ms. Manown said.
"Unless you have been lost or in a situation like that you really don't know what goes on in someone's mind," she said.
Bill Schoenadel, a hunter and owner of Bill's Place, a bar and store near Green Ridge State Forest in Little Orleans, said he, too, thought it odd a hunter would take his life. Yet he recounted a similar incident in which an injured elderly man tried to do the same thing a few years ago.
The man became trapped under his truck while trying to move rocks from the road. He flagged down some passers-by and begged them to take his shotgun from the truck and shoot him. The passers-by refused and the man was eventually rescued and lived another two years.
"But as far as he was concerned, his life was over then," Mr. Schoenadel said. "His body was never the same."