CA: Coast Guard helps rescue lost hunter near Crescent City

October 26, 2010

Coast Guard helps rescue lost hunter near Crescent City

MCKINLEYVILLE -- A Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay helicopter crew helped rescue a 71-year-old man Monday who had been lost overnight in the woods near Crescent City.

According to the coast Guard, the unidentified man was hunting with another man when they became separated. Adding to their dilemma, they were unable to communicate to each other when both their radios lost battery power. One of the men was able to hike out of the woods and get help.

Del Norte County Sheriff's Search and Rescue teams searched for the lost hunter near Muzzleloader Creek through the night in Six Rivers National Forest until thunderstorms and fog halted rescuers until Monday. A Coast Guard MH-65C helicopter supplemented a ground crew to resume the search at 7 a.m.

By 9:40 a.m., ground crews found the lost hunter. The man was exhausted, dehydrated and unable to walk after trying to hike out the night before. He was more than two hours from the nearest road and showed signs of exposure.

The helicopter crew airlifted the man despite a challenging hoist complicated by the hilly terrain, dense woods and tall trees. He was delivered to a waiting ambulance at Crescent City Airport.

"People recreating outdoors should always be prepared for inclement weather and the possibility of getting lost," said Sgt. Terry McNamara, Del Norte County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Coordinator. "Something even as basic as a whistle could have made a huge difference in this case.".

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