The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says conservation officers helped in a search for a missing angler.
The department says Conservation Officer Cole VanOosten received a call from the Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac Counties Central Dispatch Monday evening.
It was reported that a 64-year-old angler from Free Soil never met up with his fishing partner. The man’s fishing partner reported him missing around 8 p.m. Monday.
The department states Officer VanOosten and Conservation Officer Colton Gelinas reported to the Luce County Sheriff’s Office Incident Command Post near where the man was last seen that night.
From there, officers VanOosten and Gelinas kayaked the river until the search was postponed early Tuesday morning.
Around 7:30 a.m., both VanOosten and Gelinas, now joined by Conservation Officers Mark Zitnik and Cpl. Kevin Postma, continued their search.
The department says officers VanOosten, Gelinas, Zitnik and Postma received the man’s GPS coordinates, and began their three-quarter mile hike from the command post.
After 45 minutes of hiking, all four officers finally found the missing man, who they say was dehydrated but happy to see the officers.
Officers carried the man until they reached a Michigan State Police helicopter that had arrived earlier in the day.
The department says the man told officers that he had left the river Monday afternoon and tried to go cross-country back to the angler’s truck, but he became disoriented.
He says once he had realized he did not know the way out, and it was getting dark, he found a small piece of high ground, started a fire, and settled in for the night.
According to Chief Gary Hagler of the Michigan DNR Law Enforcement Division, this incident was, “a great example of a missing person who used good survival skills to preserve his own strength.”
Chief Hagler continued, “Conservation officers receive unique search and rescue training to conduct searches in difficult terrain, such as dense, swampy areas, encountered during this search. Once the man realized he was lost, he stayed put, started a fire, and waited for help. Often when people become lost, they keep going farther away from where they started and from where a search would logically begin. We’re all happy this had a positive outcome, it was a team effort by all agencies.”
The search was led by the Luce County Sheriff’s Office. They had assistance from the Luce County Auxiliary, Luce County EMS, the Luce County Emergency Management Coordinator, the Michigan State Police Aviation Unit, and Central Dispatch.
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