Crater Lake National Park (OR)
Missing Hunter Found In Park Wilderness

On Saturday, October 15th, rangers were conducting hunting patrols on the west boundary of the park when they were advised that a 69-year-old hunter was overdue by six hours to his camp on USFS roads. Rangers immediately conducted a hasty search of the area, which resulted in no findings. Contact was established with the lost hunter via cell phone and a family radio system but was intermittent. A decision was made to pull searchers from the field for the evening and resume a larger scale search the following day. Over 30 search and rescue personnel were assigned to the incident. The Crater Lake search and rescue team, which consists of protection rangers, firefighters, and interpreters, was assisted by Jackson County and Klamath County SAR teams. Rescuers staged at a USFS warming hut in the Rogue National Forest and began searching on Sunday morning. The hunter was asked at intermittent times to fire his weapon to assist searchers in determining his location. Search teams were able to locate him northwest of Union Peak and walk him out to the road. He was in good condition, aside from being cold, wet and mildly dehydrated. Jason Ramsdell was operations chief for the incident and Joe Spillane is the lead investigator for the case.