Searchers help hunters on holiday

Flathead Search and Rescue volunteers interrupted their Thanksgiving celebrations Thursday to help a pair of lost hunters in the Rogers Lake area.

According to Search and Rescue Coordinator Brian Heino, a local hunter who was accompanied by his friend from Pennsylvania called a family member shortly before 5 p.m.

The family member then called 911 to report that the hunters had parked near Rogers Lake, then gone up to the Haskill Mountain area before losing track of their location.

The men decided that their best option was to stay put and start a fire while they waited for responders.

Heino said the men got turned around on a series of roads between Haskill Mountain and Rogers Lake. Thanks to a nearby cell tower, search-and-rescue personnel were able to use one of the men’s cellphones to determine their location, and kept in contact with them over the phone.

“We were with them at about 7 p.m., then we had to bring them kind of uphill to another road,” Heino said. “It was good to see that they were prepared, with fire-starting and shelter-building gear, essentially calling before they got too turned around. They did a lot of things right.”

The hunters were guided out by 9 p.m., with search-and-rescue personnel heading home about an hour later.

Heino said he and other search-and-rescue volunteers were just sitting down to their respective Thanksgiving dinners when the call came in.

“About nine volunteers, including myself, were interrupted briefly by the call, but that’s what we’re here to do. We had a lot of people that took time away from their families last night,” he said. “We just appreciate the volunteers we have because they sacrificed a lot by going out and looking for these people when we needed it.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.