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December 2004: Lake Sonoma Search |
| SUBJECT: (referred to as Mr. H)
At approximately 1600 hours Mr. H called 911 successfully from the hills behind
Lake Sonoma. He recognized that it was late in the day and that he would not
make it back to his vehicle before dark. Mr H. was fairly familiar with the area
and had hunted there with a buddy previously.
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PREP WORK:
The team was paged about 1800 to report to Liberty Glen campground. Given
the remote location a call was placed to CARDA for two trailing dogs
and two area dogs at the same time the general team members were paged.
The estimated time of arrival for the dogs was approximately 2 hours.
One area dog team member arrived on scene early along with other Sonoma
personnel. The command center was set up along with initial plans.
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| HASTY ASSIGNMENTS:
- Tracking team to check the vehicle perimeter for potential direction
of travel.
- Area dog and support member sent by boat to outer edge of the Lake's fingers.
- Boat team cruized shoreline stopping to do voice calls
- Hasty team covereage of 10 to 12 trails on the South side of the ridge
towards the south finger of the lake.
- One trailing dog assignment to work the PLS.
- Two area dogs transported to the far side of the lake via perimeter road.
- ATV assignments down marked trails from Rock Pile road into ravines.
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INITIAL CLUES:
Two clues were generated, both footprints: one being
near the PLS and
one being fairly far out near where the trails were sparse and few
other than hunters go. There were 3 distinct prints noticed, but when
following one in particular they began to notice eratic wandering,
the same print with different ages, and felt strongly this was our
guy.
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| THE FIND:
After tracking the footprints of Mr. H. (across fences) The area dog team
heard a hunter's whistle in response to voice calls. Our hunter had
hunkered down in a small wooden structure and wrapped himself in plastic
leaf bags to retain warmth. He was wet, cold, tired, and very relieved
to see the team.
The hike out took over three hours, with many snack and hydration
breaks, to get back to a pick up point on the water. |
LESSONS LEARNED
Mr. H. did the following "wrong things"
- Went out hunting alone where he normally goes with a friend
- Went across fences and through streams (more than one)
- Left the map in the car
- Tracked down the pigs to the point of forgetting where he was
Mr. H. did the following "right things"
- He recognized that he was lost
- successfully called 911 for help
- Stopped walking and found shelter
- Wrapped himself to retain warmth
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LINKS
Press
Democrat Article
Topozone.com [footprint located]
Topozone.com [subject location] |
