I write this in sadness because of the tragedy, the impact on the family, my heart goes out to them, and how it is all so preventable.
I do Search and Rescue, have been doing it for a long time and I see this over and over again and it is really sad.
Received the call-out. 37 year old male, out for a two day deer hunt, 25 YEARS of experience, been doing it since he was 12, starting with his dad. Grew up and has hunted the same area all is life so he knew the area very well. He left on Wednesday night, Oct 29, to return for his kids soccer game that Saturday. The search started on Sunday. Typical of hunters, his truck was found a few miles from where he said he was going to hunt. Also typical, were several "sightings" that placed him in all sorts of different areas, making the job that much harder. What happens is during a long search, the local teams get burnt out as time goes on and the search area gets larger and larger. A call goes out to the Office of Emergency Services, where they then contact other teams to help. I was a 6 hour drive away. By the time I arrived, the hunter had been missing for a week.
It looked like he took off from his truck with a very minimal of stuff, taking only 4 shots, no daypack as his was in the truck with a torn zipper. It is a guess that he saw something and jumped out of the truck, or was planning just a short scouting trip. Something went very wrong.
I wanted to wait to see what the outcome would be before I wrote this, and right now the search has been called off. I was scheduled to go tomorrow. It may continue next weekend. It is not a search anymore, but a recovery, big difference.
Why do I write this, because I get the impression that there are a lot of hunters out there and this can happen to you. You may think you are immune, but trust me, you are not! On paper, this hunter was good, he was experienced, knew the area, young, in good health. What he DID NOT do is take a small scouting seriously. He apparently took no gear, no food, not much of anything but what he was wearing. I ask ALL of you, when you go out, no matter for how little time or distance, TAKE A PACK. In a 10 pound pack you can, with todays equipment, stuff A LOT of gear, stove, food, cook pot, clothes, bivy sack, mirror, matches, on and on. 10 pounds will not slow you down, if it does, you should not be out there anyway. Take a map, compass, GPS, but know how to use them all. A GPS can fail. Get a personal locater device (PLD), they are cheap. I promise you, from the looks on the families face, the price of such equipment is cheap. Watching them stare at the ground, eyes red from lack of sleep and tears is a really hard thing to watch, and it is all so preventable. So all you hunters, please take note and do not take anything for granted, treat all outings like something may happen and you will have to stay out longer, maybe much longer than you thought. Tell someone where you are going and when you will be back, and I know it is hard, but try to stay in the area you told to the other person. Good luck, happy hunting, shoot straight, please be careful.

 

Of course if he dropped over from a heart attack or got eaten by a bear, a daypack isn't much help, just sayin'. I always try to be prepared myself, but I don't hunt and haven't gone camping in twenty years.

 

Was there any evidence of foul play involved ? Search dogs couldnt pick up his scent ?

 

Do you think the tore zipper could be some kind of key evidence as to what might have happened to him.

I also find it hard to believe he saw something that made him hurry up and jump out of the truck and travel a long way off from the truck.

Was he scouting or hunting ?

So what is the most common belief of what happened ?

 

I know I took a short cut that turned out to be a long cut.....man was I glad to see the road. I did have plenty of supplies and survival gear though. Lets hope by some miracle he is ok.

 

Being an outdoors guy my whole life, something sounds fishy here.... Anyone that has hunted an area for that length of time should know the area and it's surroundings very well. Sounds to me like he was forced into a situation that went bad. If Dogs could not get his track, he is not in the woods, but in the back of another hunters / persons vehicle. I always keep my cell phone with me, along with hand held radio and plenty of ammo. During Bow Season there is always a $$$ strapped to my ankle for "Oh junk" episodes. Bobcats, wolfs, coyotes, rabid racoons, dogs, ect..... They will find him sooner or later.

 

Your right on.



at a boy

 

No sign of foul play. Dogs were brought in, no luck, rain and snow did not help.
Since there are only clues left, there is only speculation as what happened. Yes, it is possible that he fell and knocked himself out, got hypothermia and did not live. The next thinking was to have people rappel into the steeper canyons and gullies and clear the bottoms. It did rain and snow Friday night, but not near enough to bury anybody. The authorities speculate that he may have seen a deer, stopped, and thinking that he would not out too long, took a very limited amount of equipment, started to track it and then something happened, a fall, heart attack, all possibilities of course. Believe me a lot of people have given a lot of thought about what could have happened and then searched accordingly. There were copters as well as fixed wings looking, thousands of man hours involved. He was dressed in camo, and you would not believe how hard it is to spot someone not moving in the forest, all it takes is being on the wrong side of a tree.
What I was trying to say in the post, is for all to be prepared, even if the outing is a small one, even if you are experienced. Treat it seriously. You would be really surprised how often we get call-out for something that started as a seemingly small event, morphing into something insane. It doesn't take much for something to go wrong and the consequences can be devastating.

 

Took a group of hunters to the King Ranch on a Nalgai hunt several years ago. I specifically told every hunter to bring a GPS or a comapss. 2 brothers did not and were lost for 6 hours. Once they got back to camp they left for the house. This was on a 40-50,000 acre fenced section of a 835,000 acre ranch.

I agree 100% with Baja. Always expect the unexpected.

 

just a note of thanks for your time and efforts on behalf of all the families....

no amount of gear can replace "stop and think". here's a full cold glass of sweet tea!
heidi

 

We'll have to keep you all in our prayers. There are allot of hunters here and we all do it different. I prefer not to hunt areas I'm unfamiliar with unless I'm with someone who knows the area. A length of cord, mirror, whistle and weather proof matches are always in my hunting jacket.

 

You know the Boy Scouts have the moto "Be Prepared" for a reason.

Hal

 

any updates Baja ?

 

Sorry for the late reply, Mountaineer, I have been away for Thanksgiving, just returned.
The search has been called off, no trace of the person has been found. I am sad that we cannot provide closure for the family.