Hunter Rescued After Spending 2 Nights Lost in Wyoming Mountains
A Kansas man was rescued Wednesday after he got lost while hunting and spent two nights in the Wyoming backcountry.
Rudy Miller, 61, was alert when he was found and was taken to Sheridan Memorial Hospital to be evaluated as a precaution. Searchers located him about a mile west of the U.S. Forest Service boundary in the Wolf Creek drainage of the Bighorn Mountains.
Miller had been hunting with a group of people when he decided to head back to their vehicle at roughly 4 p.m. Monday. When the rest of the party returned to the vehicle, Miller was nowhere to be found.
They searched for several hours before calling the Sheridan County Sheriff's Office shortly before 10 p.m. Authorities searched through the night, knowing Miller was not prepared to stay overnight wearing only a jacket, blue jeans and hiking boots.
Officials were concerned due to Miller's medical history and inclement weather conditions, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. The area where Miller was last seen is accessible only by foot and horseback.
Heavy fog combined with snow and rainfall hampered search efforts. A Wyoming National Guard helicopter requested to aid in the search was unable to leave Cheyenne due to inclement weather.
The search continued into Tuesday with some 36 people from different agencies looking for Miller. The weather didn't let up and, by Wednesday, the number of searchers had grown to 50.
Although the national guard tried to fly into the area to assist several times, their aircraft had to return to the Sheridan County Airport in every attempt, again because of the weather.
At roughly 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, a hunter in the Sibley Creek area saw a person that matched Miller's description. Terrain and weather prevented the hunter from approaching Miller, but he was able to contact search crews.
However, fog moved into the area and caused search crews to lose sight of Miller. Crews on horseback rode in and found fresh boot tracks, which led them to find Miller shortly before 5:30 p.m.