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DEM #00-2835 November 6, 2000 |
The following Mission Report was submitted by Ken Capron
We were contacted by DEM. at 6p.m. Monday evening Nov. 6th 2000 and were requested to send six TMRU members to help on a search in Lewis County. A 29-year-old male had been hunting by himself and had not been seen or heard from since Sunday morning. Responding members: Ken Capron, Ben Constance, Piro Kramer, Bill Weber and Victor Caro left the Cache at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and drove to search base located at Wallupt Lake. Members from various other rescue units were also called due mostly to the rapidly approaching poor weather and the size of the search area. Search plans also included Guardian One (King Co. Police), two Air Force Blackhawk helicopters and a KC135 Air refueling tanker for the Blackhawks; due to poor visibility the helicopters were not effective. Our ground team of four was assigned a steep and rugged snow-covered area bordered on one side by the Pacific Crest Trail. We were to proceed easterly from the trail and search for clues. We did locate a set of single prints which matched the subject's boot description, however, did not pursue the tracks for very long as they went outside of our assigned area. Base had us mark the prints well at the Pacific Crest Trail and assigned another unit to continue following them.
We continued in our search area until about 2:30 p.m. and then started back to our entry point. Navigation skills were definitely used by our team during the search day as the area covered was definitely confusing at times. Without a map, compass and skills, you could get turned around very easily. Our group performed very well in all aspects of the search and great teamwork throughout the day was the main ingredient to our success.
The tracks of the subject were eventually located by another unit and followed into the Two Lakes area where they found a bivouac site. Clues matching the hunter's items were discovered and the pace of the search increased by the teams as darkness was only a couple of hours away. By now the Tribal Enforcement were also involved from the Yakima Indian Reservation and located the subject on the reservation while searching with ATV's. The subject was cold, tired and hungry but mostly just happy to be found.
The entire search plan and efforts were very well organized by Lewis County and TMRU's involvement was very mush appreciated by them. Thanks again to our search team of Ben, Piro, Victor and Bill. Great teamwork throughout our mission and the day
Respectfully,
Ken Capron
Tacoma Mountain Rescue |
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