Missing Kansas deer hunter found on river log jam

OSAGE COUNTY (KSNT) – Kansas wildlife staff and local law enforcement recently teamed up to help locate a lost hunter in Osage County.

Kansas game wardens were called earlier this month to assist in the search for a hunter in the Melvern Wildlife Area. Game wardens, alongside Osage County deputies and other Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks personnel, set out to find the past-due hunter.

Jesse Gehrt with the KDWP said the hunter had gone out in the morning to hunt for deer but didn’t return home. As the man’s family became concerned with his absence, they reached out to law enforcement in the afternoon hours for help.

Search parties spent hours looking for the hunter, employing K9 units and a drone. The group eventually located the lost hunter before nightfall on a large log jam in the Marias des Cygnes River.

“It is believed that he just got turned around in the thick timber, and lost his bearings,” Gehrt said. “The heat did not help. His cell phone was left behind. The log jam was in a clearing and it is believed that is why he was located there, so as to be more visible for authorities to locate him.”

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