A 54-year-old hunter has been missing for two days in the rugged mountains north of Steamboat Springs, while two other hunters missing since Tuesday were found today.
Routt County Search and Rescue teams, supported by a helicopter, a fixed-wing aircraft and dogs, have been scouring the Routt National Forest around Sugarloaf Mountain for Bill Porter, of Prospect, Co., with little success.
“We had a direction of travel for him because we found his tracks in the mud Tuesday,” said spokesman Darrel Levingstone. “But the snow came in and covered them up.”
Levingstone said Porter is an experienced hunter in good physical shape and dressed well. But conditions have been harsh and cold since a snowstorm blanketed the area Tuesday afternoon and night.
Porter was with three companions, all of whom have been hunting in the area for 20 years, Levingstone said.
“He shot an elk on Sunday, cleaned and quartered it. On Monday, they were going to pack it out on horses. Bill told his companions he was going to hike about 45 minutes down to the elk and would meet them there. They arrived and he was gone,” he said.
Colorado State Patrol dispatcher Jeana Weber said a hunter missing in Moffat County Tuesday night found a cabin to sleep in then was spotted by his companions walking down a road this morning.
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Valerio said a missing hunter outside of Glenwood Springs was located by messaging him on his personal digital assistant.
Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife roughly 100,000 hunting licenses have been issued this year for elk, deer and pronghorn antelope, about the same number as last year.
Mark Cousins, DOW hunter education coordinator, said an average of five or six hunters get lost each year. “Most folks go off 90 degrees, the weather shuts down and they lose their landmarks,” he said.
