Missing CO Hunters

[Deckerp]

Yes, not to sidetrack the thread but a good time to teach newer hunters about this. Never ever leave your pack! Unless you have a buddy staying with it. Literally it's possible this could play part of what might have happened. I still remember the panic that was starting in me when I was searching for the thing when things all started looking like the same little hill with the dead tree as my pack location marker.

I dropped packs with a buddy just the other night for a final stalk in, I usually drop a good pin whenever I drop my pack and don’t do it unless archery hunting and sneaking in the last bit. I know this area pretty well and forgot to drop the pin until we’d walked away 50-100 yards so my pin was a bit off. (I grabbed my head lamp and garmin). When we came back it was dark and we struggled for about 10min to find them. Definitely made me feel like an idiot for not dropping the exact pin and that leaving a pack should never be taken lightly. Our situation wouldn’t have been dire but it’s easy to see how things could go from bad to worse with a lost pack, a storm and then an injury or something - especially heading into last light.

 

[jimh406]

Not to second guess those lost …

Fwiw, there is another option besides keeping your full pack. Include basic survival equipment in your bino harness/pack. Cliff Gray suggested that’s what he does. Seems like a good idea. I converted. No, I don’t carry everything, but something is better than nothing.

 

[CoHunter1991]

 

[CoHunter1991]

New data, Looks like they were seen Friday.

 

[Gulf of America]

I guess I'm not as familiar with inReach pings as I should be, since I use one every time I hunt, but does it seem like they were keeping the device off and only occasionally turning it on for check-ins? Kinds of defeats the purpose of having it if it isn't on the whole time in my mind, but it makes me curious how others use their satellite communications.

 

[cohunter14]

This was just posted by his fiance on Facebook:

"New information: confirmed sighting of the guys at a nearby trail with their car Friday 9/12 10AM. Then they came back to Rio Los Pinos trailhead. That gives us one more night and morning we know they were safe beforere the storms.

Nothing has been found so far but we have a lot of people out still right now. THANK YOU to everyone who showed up today and continues to support us. We are hopeful with continuing resources. Thank you all. Say a prayer, God wrap your arms around them and keep them safe, help us find them."

 

[rjthehunter]

Interesting. So now they were at a different trailhead??

I guess I always assumed their vehicle was parked just south of the South San Juan Wilderness area.

Hopefully they can concentrate their efforts in that area and locate these guys. Spruce Hole Trailhead is surrounded by roads. They could go north from anywhere there and hit Hwy 17.

 

[cohunter14]

Interesting. So now they were at a different trailhead??

I guess I always assumed their vehicle was parked just south of the South San Juan Wilderness area.

Hopefully they can concentrate their efforts in that area and locate these guys. Spruce Hole Trailhead is surrounded by roads. They could go north from anywhere there and hit Hwy 17.

Sounds like they were there and then returned to the Rio De Los Pinos Trailhead, where the vehicle was found.

I guess I'm not as familiar with inReach pings as I should be, since I use one every time I hunt, but does it seem like they were keeping the device off and only occasionally turning it on for check-ins? Kinds of defeats the purpose of having it if it isn't on the whole time in my mind, but it makes me curious how others use their satellite communications.

I'd say having it turned off is normal. If you leave it on all day, the battery won't last for an entire trip.

 

[BuzzH]

I guess I'm not as familiar with inReach pings as I should be, since I use one every time I hunt, but does it seem like they were keeping the device off and only occasionally turning it on for check-ins? Kinds of defeats the purpose of having it if it isn't on the whole time in my mind, but it makes me curious how others use their satellite communications.

At work if we work alone we're supposed to leave the tracking on from beginning of the day until we return. Also required to send a canned message between 12-1 pm saying were ok just checking in. Tracking can be set to send a location every so often, mine is set to 15 minutes I believe. We also carry sat phones at work as well. We have a very good check in/out policy at work and procedures in place to keep communication. We had a real shit situation about 15 years ago with 3 fatalities that wasnt good. We have since put a lot of work into making sure we account for everyone and have communication.

I also rarely turn the tracking on until I'm off the blacktop. I figure if I wreck on the highway someone else will be there. Once I leave the blacktop I turn the tracking on.

I probably need to get a personal inreach one of these days and leave it on when I hunt alone. I only carry a GPS and cell phone when hunting as well as a radio.

 

[schmalts]

Interesting. So now they were at a different trailhead??

I guess I always assumed their vehicle was parked just south of the South San Juan Wilderness area.

Hopefully they can concentrate their efforts in that area and locate these guys. Spruce Hole Trailhead is surrounded by roads. They could go north from anywhere there and hit Hwy 17.

I wonder if they drove out far enough to get cell service and check messages and then headed back to same spot?

 

[BuzzH]

I'd say having it turned off is normal. If you leave it on all day, the battery won't last for an entire trip.

IME, the inreach will run 36-48 hours with the tracking on. Can charge it 2-3 times with a portable battery pack like a blackweb.

 

[Southern Elk]

I guess I'm not as familiar with inReach pings as I should be, since I use one every time I hunt, but does it seem like they were keeping the device off and only occasionally turning it on for check-ins? Kinds of defeats the purpose of having it if it isn't on the whole time in my mind, but it makes me curious how others use their satellite communications.

I never turn my inreach on unless I’m using it.

 

[elkduds]

Mrs duds and I camped at a hot spring 20 miles northeast of this trailhead that Friday, on the other side of the very large San Luis Valley. Rain all day Friday, violent thunderstorms came in from the west beginning about 4 pm. Probably 2 inches of rain fell on us between 4 pm and midnight, when it stopped raining. Rain resumed 10 am Saturday morning at our location, continued all that day. IME, it would have been very stormy Friday day and night at the trailhead and surrounding areas.

 

[Bullshot]

On my recent solo CO hunt I carried inreach but only turned on to send a checkin pt when entering the woods and another when back at camp. Nothing in between. didn't want to exhaust battery "for an emergency". Well, next trip, I am keeping the bread crumb trail
going and will pack extra charge packs. It sucks to see how hard it is to find these guys when the starting point is just a trailhead. This lost time might prove sadly impactful.

 

[rjthehunter]

On my recent solo CO hunt I carried inreach but only turned on to send a checkin pt when entering the woods and another when back at camp. Nothing in between. didn't want to exhaust battery "for an emergency". Well, next trip, I am keeping the bread crumb trail
going and will pack extra charge packs. It sucks to see how hard it is to find these guys when the starting point is just a trailhead. This lost time might prove sadly impactful.

I typically keep mine on all the time, but don't run the breadcrumb trail. I'm definitely running with that feature on now. Even a location sent out every hour would be a huge help. I plug the thing in every night anyway so I might as well utilize it.

 

[Gulf of America]

At work if we work alone we're supposed to leave the tracking on from beginning of the day until we return. Also required to send a canned message between 12-1 pm saying were ok just checking in. Tracking can be set to send a location every so often, mine is set to 15 minutes I believe. We also carry sat phones at work as well. We have a very good check in/out policy at work and procedures in place to keep communication. We had a real shit situation about 15 years ago with 3 fatalities that wasnt good. We have since put a lot of work into making sure we account for everyone and have communication.

I also rarely turn the tracking on until I'm off the blacktop. I figure if I wreck on the highway someone else will be there. Once I leave the blacktop I turn the tracking on.

I probably need to get a personal inreach one of these days and leave it on when I hunt alone. I only carry a GPS and cell phone when hunting as well as a radio.

So if it is turned on, but I haven't enabled tracking, it wouldn't actually help anyone find me unless I sent a message or hit the SOS? That's a big surprise to me and I would imagine a lot of other people who turn it on and assume that means they're easily locatable.

 

[idelkslayer]

So if it is turned on, but I haven't enabled tracking, it wouldn't actually help anyone find me unless I sent a message or hit the SOS? That's a big surprise to me and I would imagine a lot of other people who turn it on and assume that means they're easily locatable.

Anyone that you give permission to can ping it at any time to see where you are, if it is on.

 

[dmandoes]

After reading 411 about hunters, I told my mom if i don't come home I'm dead and not to worry about it.

 

[BuzzH]

So if it is turned on, but I haven't enabled tracking, it wouldn't actually help anyone find me unless I sent a message or hit the SOS? That's a big surprise to me and I would imagine a lot of other people who turn it on and assume that means they're easily locatable.

Correct. You have to enable tracking.

 

[LostCreek]

Call me crazy but what if garmin and others developed something similar to amber alerts. It would message satellite devices in a given area with a brief description of the incident.