Missing hunters in Colorado

[CorbLand]

For how cheap inReachs are, I am always surprised at how few people have them. The older models work just fine and can be found for less than 100 bucks. Then ~150 a year to keep them active. It’s really cheap insurance.

When I was doing research the big ones were SPOT and inReach. SPOT had SOS capabilities but no texting. I was going to get a SPOT because “who needs texting?” Then I read on a forum about a guy from the east that went to Idaho on an elk hunt for a week plus. A couple days in his father in law died and he couldn’t be contacted. His wife had to deal with a funeral, the loss of her dad, kids, house stuff, etc while he had no idea.

That’s why I went with one that had texting capabilities. Being able to be contacted if needed.

eBay has quite a few old model SE for right around 60 bucks. Some are “parts only” so pay attention to what you’re buying. I have the old model. A guy I hunt with has the newer one. They both work equally as well as far as service goes.

 

[.30WCF]

No injuries or foul play.

No obvious injuries, foul play in deaths of elk hunters in southern Colorado, authorities say

Autopsies are set for Monday for two elk hunters found dead a week after they went missing in the Rio Grande National Forest.

coloradosun.com

It’s just gets weirder and weirder.


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[fwafwow]

I appreciate the insight on PLB. I never really thought about those. And in your scenario, absolutely would be the best tool.

If I fall off a cliff and snap my neck and crush my head, the PLB is worthless to me.

If i fall off a cliff a snap my neck and crush my head, the InReach is worthless to me also.

However, the InReach will leave a breadcrumb to that cliff, allowing my family to recover my body and bring me home. I owe that to my family.

FWIW I decided that if and when I get back in the backcountry, I’m going with new iPhone, Mini and PLB. And will go with “breadcrumbs on” for the Mini.

Any reason to consider an upgrade from the Mini (it’s not the Mini 2)?

 

[intunegp]

No injuries or foul play.

No obvious injuries, foul play in deaths of elk hunters in southern Colorado, authorities say

Autopsies are set for Monday for two elk hunters found dead a week after they went missing in the Rio Grande National Forest.

coloradosun.com

Not surprising at all. The foul play speculation was always ridiculous to me. No immediate signs of injury says hypothermia in my opinion. They also confirm that while they found wet clothes in the car, the guys had their gear:

none of the gear Porter would need to hunt, harvest or pack out an elk was in the car.

 

[Broomd]

I think "lightning" would be the most plausible scenario at this point. And lightning is really the only thing out there that concerns me.

RIP to these young men. suspect that the thrill of the hunt and a prospective bull got their Adrenalin pumping and they sadly made some life-ending choices in the heat of the moments that followed.

5M, your posting brought back a memory...in '11 I drew OIL Idaho mountain goat. Wife and I hiked deep into Washington Basin to find a billy. It was bluebird skies getting toward dark as we set up a floorless GoLite dome tent on a high 8000' ridgeline. We were set to crawl in for the night when I saw a wicked band of clouds forming in the distance and closing fast. I was instantly sick to my stomach, but knew we had time if we reacted immediately.
I told the wife that the high ridge point that I had chosen for our camp might have been scenic, but it was a dangerous choice and that we needed to get the hell outta there and quickly. The winds were wailing and thunder was roaring in mere minutes.

I grabbed the erect dome tent in one hand and a pack in the other, wife grabbed her crap as well and we both sprinted straight down the ridgeline about 1/2 mile as fast as we could. By the time we got down about 500 feet in elevation the rain and lightening started. Our new spot wasn't ideal, but it was far better and safer.
It was intense watching the many, many strikes above us and EXACTLY WHERE OUR CAMP WAS. I mean precisely.

I'm convinced we'd have been killed had we not moved, not a doubt. I (we) learned a valuable lesson that day.

 

[Dan Carey]

I think we have all learned something from this unfortunate situation. I know I will look at remote hunting in a new light.

 

[Thomas11]

It’s just gets weirder and weirder.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Could they tell by looking at the scene if they got hypodermic?

 

[OKHunter84]

I think we have all learned something from this unfortunate situation. I know I will look at remote hunting in a new light.

I'm with you man. I'm about to change my InReach plan to where it tracks me. Share the link with my wife and Dad. My wife has stumbled across the story of these guys and now she's more nervous even though I've solo hunted for years.

As was mentioned before, you can share your location via satellite with a newer iphone or emergency SOS.

 

[CorbLand]

Could they tell by looking at the scene if they got hypodermic?

If they went hypodermic, I think that would be pretty obvious. Hahaha I know it’s a typo but sometimes you can’t resist.

 

[grfox92]

Is there any possibility of some type of natural gas or fumes that could come out of the ground and kill you?

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[TexasCub]

Could they tell by looking at the scene if they got hypodermic?

There’s certain things that they can identify post mortem in the autopsy that can indicate hypothermia took place.

 

[LCguy]

It’s just gets weirder and weirder.


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Not really weird at all, sad definitely, but not weird. Seems fairly likely that they went to chase after a bull, got turned around after dark or during a storm and went hypothermic without the proper gear.

Occam's Razor.

 

[Doc Holliday]

No injuries or foul play.

No obvious injuries, foul play in deaths of elk hunters in southern Colorado, authorities say

Autopsies are set for Monday for two elk hunters found dead a week after they went missing in the Rio Grande National Forest.

coloradosun.com

The last sentence of the article goes against what we have been hearing. Wondering if it was a typo and they meant to say "all" of the gear....

 

[OKHunter84]

Is there any possibility of some type of natural gas or fumes that could come out of the ground and kill you?

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No, highly unlikely. I worked in oil and gas for a long time and was exposed to lots of fumes.
Unless you're dealing with H2S and that's only with active wells.

 

[TexasCub]

The last sentence of the article goes against what we have been hearing. Wondering if it was a typo and they meant to say "all" of the gear....

View attachment 937887

I don’t think that trail head is at 11,700ft either.

 

[ColeyG]

Smartest way to go for a solo hunter, all these guys pushing the satelite messengers IMO are looking at things from the wrong perspective. Just to be clear nothing says you can’t have both , and I’ve used both, but if I’m seriously injured, disoriented or lost and exposed to weather that I think is going to KILL me I want help right now. I could care less about texting my wife who would be clueless in what to do and a locked in GPS coordinate sent directly to SARSAT is miles better than a trail of where I’ve been. If you are truly incapacitated to the point you no longer have consciousness it’s a body recovery anyway, the goal is to be saved within a lifesaving timeline if possible. I will tell you that one year I borrowed a buddies in reach in addition to my PLB when dropped off by horses from an outfitter about 7 miles in in the SW part of the state hunting by myself, I knew I would have no communication from cell data and I also had to communicate with the outfitter if I killed something to come pack it out for me. It was not easy to communicate with my wife, I had all kinds of connection issues in the valley I was in with steep ridges. The signal is pretty weak on a Inreach compared to a PLB. You fall off some beetle kill deadfall and impale yourself on a steep mountainside in the canopy how strong a signal do you want to get help to you ASAP? I believe in redundancy when it comes to emergency equipment but if I had an Inreach on one hand and a PLB in the other and I’m in a life and death situation I can tell you which one I’m pushing first.

Disagree.

See my post above if you haven't already.

Two-way communication is a hugely important, lifesaving capability.

A breadcrumb trail, real time location, messages with your wife and others, and the SOS button are all separate and distinct functions on the SAT messaging devices.

When you push the SOS button on the InReach, a message with your location is sent to the IERCC which will ask you to confirm if you are having an emergency and then ask a bunch of other questions about your location, condition, equipment and supplies all while contacting the agency responsible for search and rescue in your area and getting them rolling. What this response looks like, who mounts it, and how long it takes varies based on where you are at.

Being able to dialog with the SAR responders about the nature and condition of any injuries, weather and conditions at the scene, etc. are critical in helping the SAR teams prep and execute their mission and in doing so, increase the chances that you will survive.

Regarding signal strength of given devices, the more important factor is the satellite network that the devices uses and availability/proximity of those satellites to your location.

Garmin uses the Iridium network and PLBs use the SARSAT network. Both have a similar number of satellites and are equally as reliable. Terrain and location of the device is usually the limiting factor when it comes to the device communicating with the satellite network.

Personally, I have experience far more false/inaccurate location reporting incidents with PLBs than with Iridium network devices. Most of those have been with downed aircraft in mountainous terrain. Again, in my mind, this reinforces the need for two-way comms. If the SAR team can't find you based on a weak PLB signal, you are hosed. If they can't find you with an inaccurate location on the InReach, they ask you for your coordinates and come pick you up.

 

[intunegp]

The last sentence of the article goes against what we have been hearing. Wondering if it was a typo and they meant to say "all" of the gear....

View attachment 937887

No, this has been consistent. Initially it was said that there was some gear in the car but the family wasn't sure what they had packed spares/extra of. The family later confirmed in an update that things like game bags, bows, and knives were not in the car so they felt they had left the car to go hunt. It was never confirmed or even implied that they just left the car with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

 

[WCT3]

For how cheap inReachs are, I am always surprised at how few people have them. The older models work just fine and can be found for less than 100 bucks. Then ~150 a year to keep them active. It’s really cheap insurance.

When I was doing research the big ones were SPOT and inReach. SPOT had SOS capabilities but no texting. I was going to get a SPOT because “who needs texting?” Then I read on a forum about a guy from the east that went to Idaho on an elk hunt for a week plus. A couple days in his father in law died and he couldn’t be contacted. His wife had to deal with a funeral, the loss of her dad, kids, house stuff, etc while he had no idea.

That’s why I went with one that had texting capabilities. Being able to be contacted if needed.

eBay has quite a few old model SE for right around 60 bucks. Some are “parts only” so pay attention to what you’re buying. I have the old model. A guy I hunt with has the newer one. They both work equally as well as far as service goes.

I'm shocked by how many guys in this thread said they don't have one. I carry mine with me year round hiking, skiing, fishing, camping, etc.

I like having one even just for driving in the mountains where there's no service. A few years ago I was going skiing with my girlfriend and another friend when we came to an avalanche on a pass that shut the road down. It wasn't an emergency but it was nice to message people and let them know what was going on. Another time, before I had an inReach, we were going fishing when a driver lost control of her car and crashed into the parking lot we were in. Luckily she was fine and we were able to drive her to a store down the road to call a tow truck but that was another situation that could have been really bad and an emergency communication could have been required.

I'm considering adding a PLB for it's better satellite connection etc. but I can't imagine going out into remote areas without at least an inReach.

 

[Doc Holliday]

. Seems fairly likely that they went to chase after a bull, got turned around after dark or during a storm and went hypothermic without the proper gear.

Occam's Razor.

But if they had an inreach, freezing to death is not fast.... they would have surely sent an outgoing message of their situation, which would have eventually sent when the weather cleared, even if they had already passed. Unless they powered it off trying to save battery strength and then never woke up.

 

[Thomas11]

If they went hypodermic, I think that would be pretty obvious. Hahaha I know it’s a typo but sometimes you can’t resist.

Yea you got me! Lol