After searching all morning, Vermont State Police and the game wardens found 69-year-old Ellsworth Spear walking out of the woods unharmed. Spear spent the night in the woods on Thursday night.“I did talk to my wife at 4 o’clock let her know I was alright, it was gonna be awhile,” Spear said. “And it ended up being dark before I could even begin to get turned around to head home and without the tracking devices working properly, I sat down by a tree and went to sleep.”His wife reported him missing and search teams were out looking for him.“He essentially ended up making his own way out of the woods uninjured,” Randy Hazard, Vermont Fish and Wildlife game warden, said. “There were teams of troopers and game wardens assigned to go check for locations.”He had two GPS trackers, but both batteries died.“I went hunting yesterday morning,” Spear said. “And it was a good successful hunt on my part. I treed a bear and saw it. It dropped out and ran again and we ended up in a big territory. “Waking up Friday morning, he decided to navigate back.“I put the sun on one of my shoulders and starting walking, kept it there and I came out to a place I knew six hours later,” he said.Officials applaud Spear for staying calm and doing the smart thing of staying put and waiting for the light to navigate back. They said preparation is everything in these situations.“Anytime you’re going outdoors to recreate, let someone else know where you’re going, where you’re going to be roughly and when you plan to be back,” Hazard said. “Also bringing things with you in the event you might need to stay the night. Whether that be extra clothing, food, water, medicine.”Authorities are thankful for the way things turned out, mentioning it could have been much worse.
After searching all morning, Vermont State Police and the game wardens found 69-year-old Ellsworth Spear walking out of the woods unharmed. Spear spent the night in the woods on Thursday night.
“I did talk to my wife at 4 o’clock let her know I was alright, it was gonna be awhile,” Spear said. “And it ended up being dark before I could even begin to get turned around to head home and without the tracking devices working properly, I sat down by a tree and went to sleep.”
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His wife reported him missing and search teams were out looking for him.
“He essentially ended up making his own way out of the woods uninjured,” Randy Hazard, Vermont Fish and Wildlife game warden, said. “There were teams of troopers and game wardens assigned to go check for locations.”
He had two GPS trackers, but both batteries died.
“I went hunting yesterday morning,” Spear said. “And it was a good successful hunt on my part. I treed a bear and saw it. It dropped out and ran again and we ended up in a big territory. “
Waking up Friday morning, he decided to navigate back.
“I put the sun on one of my shoulders and starting walking, kept it there and I came out to a place I knew six hours later,” he said.
Officials applaud Spear for staying calm and doing the smart thing of staying put and waiting for the light to navigate back. They said preparation is everything in these situations.
“Anytime you’re going outdoors to recreate, let someone else know where you’re going, where you’re going to be roughly and when you plan to be back,” Hazard said. “Also bringing things with you in the event you might need to stay the night. Whether that be extra clothing, food, water, medicine.”
Authorities are thankful for the way things turned out, mentioning it could have been much worse.
