Submitted by: Mel Rice Public, Relations Officer
The Beaverhead Search and Rescue was paged out at 9:45 AM on the 23 of November. It was reported there was an overdue hunter in the Scudder Creek area in the Grasshopper Valley. Before anyone could be deployed the alarm was cancelled.
Friday night, November 24, at 10:00 PM the search managers were paged again for an overdue 15 year old young man. He, his father, and other family members from Kentucky were hunting in the Woody Mountain area of Warm Springs Creek outside of Jackson. At 4:00 PM the young man told his father he was going to look at something. After wondering out of sight he never returned to the vehicle. His gear was very limited for the weather conditions. The dad said the young man had a compass but didn’t know how to use it.
At 10:50 PM the Peterson hasty team living in the Big Hole headed for Warm Springs Creek to meet up with the deputy Sheriff. At 11:00 PM the deputy was with the father and the two of them were heading back to the last known point. Between 11:00 PM and 11:30 PM hasty teams were deployed from Dillon to Bull Creek and to Warm Springs Creek by Jackson to meet up with the dad and deputy Sheriff. At approximately 12:30 AM the lost young man was located by the Sheriff. He was close to the road and used his head lamp to signal the deputy and dad of his location.
When finally picked up, the lost man was in good health but a little cold and shaken. It was 6 degrees Fahrenheit at that time in Jackson. Dad, son, and family were reunited. By 12:50 AM all hasty teams had been notified of his location and were returning to Dillon. All teams were accounted for and home by 2:30 AM.
Members involved in the search were:
· Team 1: MD Peterson, Sam Peterson
· Team 2: Steve Mock, Adam Norlander
· Team 3: Shane Puyear, Parker Puyear, Kolby Malesich
· Team 4: Cody Schnee, John Helle
· Team 5: Lawrence Morrisroe, Joe Reyes, Dan Cahill
· Team 6: Clint Rouse, Parke Scott, Trevor Hyland
· Command Ops: Mel Rice, Chuck Maddox
Sometimes it seems silly to take all the right gear with you even when it is going to be just a quick check of something. This is a great example of that. He was just going to check something out right over there. 8.5 hours later the young hunter was pretty happy to see someone. Don’t take things for granted; always plan for the worst scenario. “In the Business of Saving Lives”, your Beaverhead Search and Rescue.