Missing Hunters – 9/17-18/2014

SAR Staff, Hasty Team, RAVEN, SVU, and WCSAR responded to the Fish Springs Ranch area to search for two lost hunters that were scouting for chukar. Due to heavy smoke in the area from the King Fire, the two subjects, after separating to scout different areas, had both become disoriented. One of the subjects located the vehicle they had parked near Sugarloaf Peak, but then left again to search for the other subject. A search team located this subject and returned him to his vehicle, which had a dead battery. The second subject had given a vague description on the phone before the cellphone battery died of seeing a dry lake bed in the distance, and was traveling what he thought was east along a fenceline. Due to the heavy smoke, RAVEN was grounded through the night, but was able to come into the area in the morning. Search teams checked local roads near where the vehicle had been parked, as well as roads at lower elevations. At approximately 1000hrs., RAVEN was checking a fenceline that traveled east/west along the ridge, east of Vinegar Peak, and located the subject. He was flown to the staging area and reunited with family.