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Elk Hunter Missing in The Crazy Mountains

Colberjs said:
That thought crossed my mind. I almost posted he may have wanted to disappear but I was afraid I would sound insensitive. Glad I'm not the only one.
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Not the only one. It was while I was at Hastings the other day buying a book and the endcap display was on survival books, that I was reminded about him. I think after Rob mentioned that thought before, or another poster, I started looking online, especially when one of the news articles mentioned one of his friends saying he was knowledgeable of the outdoors and had a stash where they were going hunting. For his age group or younger, it is really hard to look online and not find something on someone, by their name, address or phone number, unless they dont want to be found.

The only thing I could find on his name was his property on the Montana Cadastral since one of the friends mentioned his living remotely as part of the information that he knew how to handle himself in the boonies. The property I found associated with his name was in Gallatin County, Trail Creek Road between Livingston and Bozeman. At any rate, I checked Hedges just now on the Cadastral and it is no longer there. So I started to wonder more about the couple comments that came up like Robs.
 
I think people would be surprised how often in the last 50 years people have gone missing in the hills and not been found. Just last year a fellow went missing in the Big Belts near Helena - he has yet to be found.

There is an absolutely fascinating book out there called Dying To Hunt In Montana - Nearly Two Hundred Years of Hunting Related Fatilities in Montana.

It is a sobering read. So many have died because of poor gun handling, heart attacks, drowning, etc. But one thing I found particularly interesting, was that so many have gone missing, and have never been found. Perhaps for many, there are still remnants of their demise in the hills, but I'm sure for most, only the mountains know.
 
Nameless Range,

You are correct about that book. I read it a couple years ago while I was in Missoula and it is pretty interesting.

I've met the author, Tom Donovan, a few times. I've also hunted with his Brother Leroy, many, many, times in the past as he's a high school buddy of my Dads. Leroy and my Dad used to hunt the Little Belts back in the 1960's and 1970's for mule deer.
 
Nameless Range said:
I think people would be surprised how often in the last 50 years people have gone missing in the hills and not been found. Just last year a fellow went missing in the Big Belts near Helena - he has yet to be found.

There is an absolutely fascinating book out there called Dying To Hunt In Montana - Nearly Two Hundred Years of Hunting Related Fatilities in Montana.

It is a sobering read. So many have died because of poor gun handling, heart attacks, drowning, etc. But one thing I found particularly interesting, was that so many have gone missing, and have never been found. Perhaps for many, there are still remnants of their demise in the hills, but I'm sure for most, only the mountains know.
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I'll have to pick it up. Call me morbid but I find those kinds of stories intriguing. Maybe it will help others from repeating similar mistakes.
 
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Pretty odd to find no signs of the guy.If you WANT to go missing why would you need to use hunting as an excuse to disappear?That book does sound like something I'd like to read
And, if its not aliens, then maybe bigfoot has kidnapped the guy and holding him hostage.We all know how tough those things are to find
 
I thought the last thing I heard was that they found his campsite or a fire ring with some clothes and his shoes sitting there. Not sure if it's true or not.
 
I'll believe he's dead until there's good evidence otherwise. The overwhelming odds are that is what happened.
 
Weird, maybe he got pounced on by a mountain lion while glassing. Or maybe he was trespassing and the rancher shot him. This could make a good movie... Poor guy. Hopefully they figure out what happened.
 
Steve Wagner had an interesting article in the past issue of Bugle, called Death at Welcome Creek. I was surprised by the fact the hunters finding human remains is somewhat common.
 
Lawnboy said:
With this new find I'm more inclined to think he's alive and living somewhere far away. Just my hunch.
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I'm kind of leaning this way too. To find both of his boots and not have feet in them is fishy,
seems like he just left them. For them to be near a fence is conventient for them to be found. not like a hunter finding them in the middle of nowhere.
 
Gr8bawana said:
I'm kind of leaning this way too. To find both of his boots and not have feet in them is fishy,
seems like he just left them. For them to be near a fence is conventient for them to be found. not like a hunter finding them in the middle of nowhere.
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While deer hunting with a friend in Wyo, he started to show signs of hypothermia and had been complaining about his feet all day. When we finally made it back to the road he was getting worse. I left him by the side of the road and hoofed it back to the truck. When I got back he had taken his boots off, threw them in the river and was not making much sense. Hypothermia makes people do strange things.
 
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