Two lost elk hunters rescued SE of Prineville

Two hunters from Springfield tracking an elk couldn’t find their way back to their pickup Sunday evening and weren’t prepared to spend the night in the woods east of Prineville, so they called for help and were found cold, wet but otherwise okay, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said Monday.

Deputies responded around 5:25 p.m. Sunday to the report of two lost hunters near Forest Service Road 4230, about 40 miles southeast of Prineville, said sheriff’s Sgt. James Savage.

The pair had been tracking an elk in an area south of Big Summit Prairie near Horse Springs, about 40 miles southeast of Prineville, Savage said.

While they didn’t have gear to spend the night, they did have a cellphone with a partial charge to call for help, he said.

A deputy and Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team responded to the area, using GPS coordinates from the 911 call to direct the search.

The two were found around 8:45 p.m., cold and wet but otherwise in good condition, the sergeant said.

“People are reminded to always carry survival gear with them” when going into the woods, Savage wrote.

You can find more information, plus survival tips, on this page of the Crook County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Website: http://ccssar.org/backcountry.htm