Crested Butte Dog Team Locates Missing 12-year old boy

Crested Butte Search and Rescue Dog Team Locates Missing 12-Year-old

by Dave Rowe

Western State Mountain Rescue and Crested Butte Search and Rescue’s Dog team, joined forces to locate a missing 12-year-old hunter early Monday morning. The young boy was found alive but shivering in the cold after spending the night out in winter-like conditions.

The 12-year-old boy and his father from Gunnison were hunting Sunday afternoon in the rugged Uncompahgre National Forest, northwest of Lake City, when the boy became separated from his father and another hunter. Shortly after the boy disappeared, cold temperatures, wind, and snow moved into the region. Western State Mountain Rescue was called to respond by the Gunnison Sheriff department around 10:00 p.m. Sunday evening, and Western then contacted Sue Purvis of Crested Butte Search and Rescue to bring her dog team and support personnel for mutual aid in the search.

Due to the sense of urgency related to the boy’s age and the deteriorating weather conditions, the decision was made to deploy the Dog Team and three other ground search teams during the night rather than wait for daylight conditions. The father of the missing boy took the search teams to the point last seen near the top of Alpine Plateau at 11,500 feet. Working with Sue at 2:30 a.m., search dog Tasha indicated that the boy traveled down into Soldier Creek canyon, which is a 1500-foot deep, heavily forested canyon.

The dog team and the Western State ground teams methodically searched the area, and descended deep into the canyon. At one point, a ground search team located what appeared to be a recent small footprint in the snow, and when the dog team was brought to investigate it, search dog Tasha indicated that the print belonged to the boy and she began pulling Sue and the search teams down into a steep side-drainage. Finally, at 5:45 a.m., the search teams stopped to rest for a minute, and in the resulting quiet they heard a young voice call out "I’m over here"! The lost boy was found a few minutes later.

A quick but thorough examination of the boy revealed that he was cold, but otherwise in good condition and spirit. When asked why he didn’t fire his rifle so that his father could find him, the boy responded that he didn’t think that he was lost. After giving the boy plenty of food and water and some dry clothing, search teams walked the boy out to the nearest road where medical personnel further evaluated him, and then reunited him with his father.

When asked to comment on the search, Sue Purvis added, "The search was a great example of effectively using dog teams and other ground teams to search at night". "The search was very well coordinated by Western State Mountain Rescue and the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Department, and it was a wonderful experience to see the two Rescue Teams in the Gunnison river valley work closely together". "There is nothing like a live find"!