ShareThisNAPLES, Fla. - He was stalked by a panther. He was sucked in neck-deep in a patch of quicksand, and only got free 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 sit there and shiver and shiver and shiver."
Still, Mosch said the thought that he might die in the Everglades never crossed his mind.
"I knew I was making it out, just for my mother I was making it out," he said. "Plus I wanted to show everyone that I knew that I could make it out."
On Nov. 16, Mosch, an experienced hunter originally from upstate New York who now lives in North Fort Myers, Fla.,was hunting with a group of friends north of the Alligator Alley portion of Interstate 75 in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Around 1:30 p.m., while his friends were fixing a truck, he said he went off to hunt deer on his own, a move that he called, in retrospect, a "dumb mistake."
Mosch didn't know the area, wasn't familiar with the environment, and unbeknownst to him, his compass was broken. His flashlight and cell phone died later 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 believes he was walking in circles. At one point, his knee popped, making moving slow and difficult.
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 said he had to remove his pants, boots and jacket to avoid drowning.
"I lost everything in a blink of an eye," he said.
Mosch saw the search helicopters overhead, but didn't think they were looking for him. He could hear the nearby interstate, especially at night, but with no moon or flashlight, moving after dark was impossible, he said.
Not wanting to make himself sick by drinking swamp water, Mosch said he only drank 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 a bit 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 Desoto County eventually found him, Mosch said he was crying on the inside, but not physically, because he was dehydrated.
Mosch walked out as far as he could before a helicopter pulled him out of the swamp.
"I just wanted to not be like that wimpy guy who had to get rescued," Mosch said. "I was embarrassed enough."
He didn't realize what day it was, thinking it was only Tuesday.
"Probably he was hallucinating," said Dr. Prashanth Reddy, of Physicians Regional, who cared for Mosch after his rescue.
When asked if he would ever hunt in the Everglades again, Mosch's mother, Maureen Mosch-Whitney, was quick to respond for him.
"He will never. He's not. No," she said, adding that she just bought him a GPS unit.
Maureen Mosch-Whitney calls Jamey her "baby boy." A few years back, she said she lost a daughter in a car wreck, in which she was injured as well. She couldn't handle losing another child, she said.
"I knew in my heart, if he was gone, I was gone," she said.
Mosch, who doesn't have health insurance, was kept in the hospital over the weekend for tests and observation. Sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a black, button-down shirt, he said he was so sore Saturday he felt like he had been hit by a semi. He was feeling better Sunday.
Mosch's doctors said they don't expect he will suffer any long-term side effects from his time in the Everglades.
Despite his self-confidence, Mosch said he knows he could have died out there. He said he was inspired by his rescuers to pursue a career where he, too, can save people's lives.
The ordeal has brought Mosch's family closer, he said. His father, Kevin Whitney, best summed up the family's take on the situation.
"All in all," he said. "It's going to be a pretty darn good Thanksgiving."
(Ryan Mills is a reporter for the Naples Daily News in Florida.)
