Searchers Race Storm To Find Hunter Pinehurst Man, 54, Missing In Cda River Drainage

More than a dozen searchers spent all day Friday combing Shoshone County’s back roads looking for a missing hunter from Pinehurst.

As a storm front rolled into North Idaho, rescue workers grew increasingly concerned about George C. Saunders. The 54-year-old hunter suffers from hip and back problems, said Shoshone County sheriff’s Deputy Nelson Morris.

Saunders and his friend, Mike Brown, 35, of Pinehurst, were due back from hunting at 9 p.m. Thursday. They were to have spent the day hunting from the Bumblebee Campground to Brown’s Saddle in the Coeur d’Alene River drainage near Enaville, according to a report from the sheriff’s department.

Since Saunders is partially disabled, the two planned to hunt along the back roads - not deep into the forest, according to the sheriff’s report.

Saunders’ wife reported the two men missing at about 5 a.m. Friday, Morris said. Searchers from the Shoshone sheriff’s department, search and rescue and the U.S. Forest Service began looking for the men with snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles.

At about 3 p.m., Brown walked out of the woods to the Enaville Resort, Morris said. Brown told authorities that the two got separated after the pickup he and Saunders were in slid off the road and over an embankment.

Saunders left the vehicle and started walking down the road for help, Brown told authorities. A while later, Brown left the truck for help, according to a sheriff’s report.

With snow falling across North Idaho, state Fish and Game searchers joined the rescue effort Friday afternoon. Two dog teams also were being called in to help.

“They’re trying to cover as many roads as they can,” Morris said.

Searchers had not found Saunders by press time.

, DataTimes