As per the request of HM let me tell the tale...
0100 hrs - a male came to the office and reported his hunting companion missing hadn't seen him since about 1300hrs when they were to meet for lunch. He had looked for his friend for several hours until dark ( about 1600 here late Oct.) Then he waited for him to show up for a few more hrs, then decided to go into town for help. Unfortunatly got lost for about an hr on his atv on the wrong logging rd. Finally made it back to his pickup and 20kms to the highway , 75 to town(he passed an outfitter where he could have called for help and sought some warm drinks and maybe got some help " I didn't see it"). Anyway went to the location which was somewhat familier to me and looked around.Used PA system and siren to no avail. K9 and search team called in (they are located 4hrsaway)and
chap was found about 0800 hrs after about 1 hr search , about 3kms from staging area.
Now here were my personal observations;
Chap had gone grouse hunting in about 50'F weather.Location as above somewhat remote numerous abandoned logging roads in area.He was wearing - jeans,cotton shirt, cotton jacket and old slippery workboots. He had a 22 cal rifle and a small folding knife. He had his cigs and a pack of matches. Sh*t I've pulled that before!!! Me I think out of complancey(sp) him out of ?.He had followed a trail to a river and was in the process of walking along the bank and sploosh down he goes about 20 ft. slide right into the river.Rifle lost in rapids.Subject gets up and would have apparently panicked and walked away from the direction he had just come from, walking in the river. Found a logging road and walks it for sometime realizing he is getting nowhere fast. starting to get dark, he is cold, start a fire - oops matches soaked along with the cigs ( now I hate that !).According to him he sat down to await rescue. The dog found him pretty well hypothermic, wandering about 100 ft from where he spent the night. He didn't here any sirens. Anyway to make a long story short if he had bothered to look at a map before going out another thing I've been guilty of - I can't get lost
,he would have realized he was bordered by old rail line to south river to west and road to east that all convergered to where he had originally departed from.Anyway - after that I head out to the bush prepared to spend as much time as comfortably as possible, I dress appropiatly for the season/temp.I feel his old slippery boots were what got him in touble in the first place.Cotton is ok as long as you got some "real" clothes as a backup in a day pack in a canoe back - and so on..
This one lost hunter really showed me the errors I had been making relying on "dumb luck?" to see me through. I have searched for many others over the years, and thee common theme among them is ; I'm just going out for a litte bit along a trail, why bring all that stuff. Well these northwoods get rreal thick and real cold real fast. Sorry to ramble, but this little incident had a life changing effect on me
Cheers
Ken
