| Lost people are usually predictable. Their behavior can be charted depending upon age, gender, interests, physical and mental condition, time of day, weather, and terrain. With that in mind, it can be dangerous to make any presumptions regarding lost person behavior. A subject’s behavior is affected by many factors including environmental factors. Use your own judgment when considering these traits. This page is not designed to teach you how to search for your subject. It should give you a starting point. Data gathered from past search and rescue successes can point you in the right direction for your next search and rescue mission. |
Lost Person Behavior - Hunters
Hunters tend to concentrate on game, ignoring navigational aids. Concentrating on blood trails, they do not think to look around for landmarks. Hunters have a tendency to follow game to dense underbrush without worrying about who will find them if they get lost or hurt.
When weather gets bad, most will try to find some sort of shelter.
The good news for your search and rescue team is that most hunters are wearing blaze orange - so they are easy to see when you get close enough. Most are in good mental and physical shape.
More than half are found within 2 miles of the PLS. So your search and rescue team might consider concentrating in this area before expanding your search.
Often the reason a hunter is reported missing is because he had an injury either falling out of the tree stand or climbing in/out of the stand. If your search and rescue team finds the stand. They have found the hunter.
The exertion of getting into the woods can cause the onset of various medical problems. Your search and rescue team should find out if there was a particular path the hunter used regularly.
Questions your search and rescue team might want to ask are:
- What were they hunting for?
- What is their "style" of hunting?
- How much experience do they have hunting?
- Were they wearing blaze orange? (some hunters do not - even when it is the
law) - Honest answers to these questions may be important.
- What type of weapon were they using?
- The location of the hunter's stand, or a general direction.
REMEMBER - SEARCH FOR CLUES, NOT THE SUBJECT!!!
Once your search and rescue team locates the stand they want to begin looking
for clues. When searching for a missing hunter, one of the best clues you will
find are his tracks.
An excellent book can be found on Amazon.com
Lost Person Behavior: A search and rescue guide on where to look - for land, air and water
