Missing hunters in Colorado

[HairyScandinavian]

Someone correct me but isn’t the inReach in the pickup?

That's what I thought too. If only they hadn't left it in the pickup maybe all of this would've been different.

 

[intunegp]

Someone correct me but isn’t the inReach in the pickup?

This is unclear to the public as far as I know. Last night's update from the family stated "they were carrying phones, a Garmin InReach, bows, knives, game bags, light hunting gear, and clothing"

I would take that to mean they have/had all those items on their person, because the fiance also said that things missing from the car were things that would be used in the breakdown/packing out of an elk.

 

[Serrano]

I have Starlink internet in camp and Starlink text msg capability with my cell phone. I still carry my Inreach and have it set to send my location every 10 min to a webpage I've shared with my wife and kids. If I mess up and get myself lost and never recovered I don't want them to have to spend the next 7 years in court to get me declared dead so they can move on.

Yes, extra security with Inreach. I don't think it's necessary for my hunting location.

 

[Thomas11]

How can you share it if you don't have service though? It won't go through, so no.

If you have a starlink or apparently iphone you can send plain text messages with satellite and it goes through, then yes whatever you send her she will receive.

I mean if you’re constantly sharing it? Like I never turn mine off w my daughter and spouse

 

[bowhuntercoop]

This sounds kinda stupid but my wife made me put an AirTag in my boot this year when I went solo out west, looking back it was actually really smart. Took the one I had in my bow case with my pistol and attached it to me keys that went in my pack. She said she had no issues finding the air tag even when I was in the middle of no where.

 

[Dan Carey]

I thought airtags used cell towers for location.

 

[180ls1]

This sounds kinda stupid but my wife made me put an AirTag in my boot this year when I went solo out west, looking back it was actually really smart. Took the one I had in my bow case with my pistol and attached it to me keys that went in my pack. She said she had no issues finding the air tag even when I was in the middle of no where.

Are you implying it works even without reception? Or did you have reception?

 

[intunegp]

This sounds kinda stupid but my wife made me put an AirTag in my boot this year when I went solo out west, looking back it was actually really smart. Took the one I had in my bow case with my pistol and attached it to me keys that went in my pack. She said she had no issues finding the air tag even when I was in the middle of no where.

Air tags send out a Bluetooth signal that is picked up by other Apple devices and the location is triangulated/recorded that way. They will only report a location if they are in the vicinity of other Apple devices that have service/internet connection. One would assume at this point that there are plenty in the area, but if the guys were out there alone and both their phones died the air tags wouldn't provide any info until another Apple device got within Bluetooth range and then got signal to upload that information.

 

[kpk]

With guys saying they heard large rockslides in the area, that doesn't sound good at all. I initially thought lightning but if they saw the storms coming in maybe they bailed and tried to get back to the vehicle. Wonder if they were the middle of crossing a rockslide when rain hit and something let loose?

I was looking at that area in comparison to some of the stuff that I've been in and it looks pretty awful on Google Earth.

 

[tall]

I thought airtags used cell towers for location.

They connect to the nearest iPhone

 

[HairyScandinavian]

I mean if you’re constantly sharing it? Like I never turn mine off w my daughter and spouse

Oh like locations haring, got it, I do the same. That requires data service, so no they will not get anything when you don't have service. They'll get location where your phone last had service, so maybe if you crest a peak and briefly get service they might see that but that's it. It'll be last location that you had cell data service (5g, 4g, etc).

 

[MuleDeerMike]

With guys saying they heard large rockslides in the area, that doesn't sound good at all. I initially thought lightning but if they saw the storms coming in maybe they bailed and tried to get back to the vehicle. Wonder if they were the middle of crossing a rockslide when rain hit and something let loose?

I was looking at that area in comparison to some of the stuff that I've been in and it looks pretty awful on Google Earth.

I would think that SAR would've ran the dogs over the large rock fields/slides in the area by now? Who knows tho I've never done SAR. Those dogs should be able to pick up buried people in a slide I'd imagine.

 

[505Wapiti]

Are you implying it works even without reception? Or did you have reception?

 

[Customweld]

Someone correct me but isn’t the inReach in the pickup?

It looks like they had the inreach with them. This is the last report that I saw:

 

[Serrano]

I have Starlink internet in camp and Starlink text msg capability with my cell phone. I still carry my Inreach and have it set to send my location every 10 min to a webpage I've shared with my wife and kids. If I mess up and get myself lost and never recovered I don't want them to have to spend the next 7 years in court to get me declared dead so they can move on.

According to this T-Mobile link you can use satellite data with onX on Android devices.

T-Mobile Starlink

 

[Bobrobheimer]

This thread has been very informative to me as to the use of the tracking feature on my inreach - something I haven’t used to date due to the added cost and battery life. Generally my reasoning had been that if I can’t hit the SOS then I am out of luck and dead. The point about saving your family and SAR time recovering you is legit but what I realized now that is even more valuable about the tracking is for when I am backpacking with one of my kids. We regularly go off trail and get pretty adventurous - so in a scenario where I was incapacitated or dead and they didn’t think to or figure out how to hit the sos that would be a huge benefit for their rescue. So something to think about for anyone else that adventures with younger kids.

 

[Chris in TN]

This thread has been very informative to me as to the use of the tracking feature on my inreach - something I haven’t used to date due to the added cost and battery life. Generally my reasoning had been that if I can’t hit the SOS then I am out of luck and dead. The point about saving your family and SAR time recovering you is legit but what I realized now that is even more valuable about the tracking is for when I am backpacking with one of my kids. We regularly go off trail and get pretty adventurous - so in a scenario where I was incapacitated or dead and they didn’t think to or figure out how to hit the sos that would be a huge benefit for their rescue. So something to think about for anyone else that adventures with younger kids.

I've showed my daughter how to activate the SOS on the inreach. She'll get refreshers before we leave the car.


Since rockslides have been mentioned....

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-advent...-went-missing-running-mount-marathon-in-2012/


^^It's been speculated that he disappeared when he stepped onto a scree field and it collapsed under him and buried him.

 

[ReaptheHeat]

I saw this on FB apparently pulled from GoFundMe a minute ago

 

[woods89]

I really appreciate the discussion going on here around locaters. I carry a Zoleo when out and about, but admittedly, like many of you, it's generally off to save battery. My default thinking was always that if I got into trouble I'll turn it on and pop the SOS button. This situation has me rethinking that.

As a side note, I also used to be a big fan of the Rick Young bino harness system, but a conversation I had on here a year or two ago kept eating at me, and I bought a AGC just to I could keep some basic survival gear on my chest at all times, as well as the Zoleo. I try to never leave my pack, but if it happens it's extra insurance.

This is not a fun story to read, but perhaps some good can come out of it with many of us rethinking how we do things.

My heart goes out to their families.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

RIP young men.