Sad story over here, finding four hunters 'almost impossible'

[NW Backpacker]

The river is apparently popular with, I assume, kayakers. If so, and if the accident site is along the float path, it has probably been "searched" by many eyes since they disappeared into the water. It is apparently so popular that the number of boaters are limited from May 15 to July 31:

Permit Area Facility Details - SELWAY RIVER (4 Rivers), ID - Recreation.gov

The rules:
https://www.recreation.gov/marketing.do?goto=/permitgeneralrules_75535.html&backLink

Not easy to spot someone from the air:
Man survives two weeks trapped in snow-covered car

But it can happen:
Investigation into the James Kim search

 

[Siglvr]

Can't criticize the Sheriff. Its easy to sit behind a keyboard and think: "well (YOU ALL) just get (YOURASSES) up there and look for them". Having done SAR as a volunteer, unless you know the river, the location, how high the water is (it's been raging the last week and finally just let up), and the resources available and if you commit those resources what is getting shorted then we don't know squat. The sheriff most likely knows all of that, I don't.

The sheriff is guilty of poor communication though. Condolences to the family and friends, that's so sad.

 

[CoastRange57]

I can tell you what my friends and I were doing when we were in our early twenties and out " camping and hunting "..we were getting as drunk and stoned as we could and getting in the rigs and driving around the woods,since we thought it was relatively safe being out in the woods and all. And we drove like complete morons too, and hauling azz on forest roads was all part of it. I probably did not get that behavior out of my young brain until I was married with a child at 26.

The published story is so full of holes and inconsistencies and I find it hard to believe a lot of it. I completely agree that putting SAR persons in any kind of danger without the verifiable presence of a body to be recovered is asinine. I have been there and done that. I did a high angle recovery years ago before we called it high angle rescue. We just tied ropes on to our body harness's, tied the other end to the fire engine and went down the bank and into the water to recover the bodies out of a car the some drunk son of a bit*h ran off the road and killed himself and one other person.

To put rescuers in the position of rescuing another rescuer is the ultimate f up in SAR work. People need to understand the complexities and dangers of swift water rescue / recovery, as well as resource availability and manpower requirements. Not as easy as most think.

 

[Lefty60]

I've spent my share of time searching for/recovering other folks loved ones, and bad as that is it ain't nothing compared to making the notifications! Just say'n!

 

[clearconscience]

I'd rather my taxes go to that than all the social services and welfare

 

[The Heretic]

The sheriff is guilty of poor communication though. Condolences to the family and friends, that's so sad.

Or the newspaper didn't tell the whole story. Personally, I think that is much more likely

 

[The Heretic]

I can tell you what my friends and I were doing when we were in our early twenties and out " camping and hunting "..we were getting as drunk and stoned as we could and getting in the rigs and driving around the woods,since we thought it was relatively safe being out in the woods and all. And we drove like complete morons too, and hauling azz on forest roads was all part of it. I probably did not get that behavior out of my young brain until I was married with a child at 26.

The published story is so full of holes and inconsistencies and I find it hard to believe a lot of it. I completely agree that putting SAR persons in any kind of danger without the verifiable presence of a body to be recovered is asinine. I have been there and done that. I did a high angle recovery years ago before we called it high angle rescue. We just tied ropes on to our body harness's, tied the other end to the fire engine and went down the bank and into the water to recover the bodies out of a car the some drunk son of a bit*h ran off the road and killed himself and one other person.

To put rescuers in the position of rescuing another rescuer is the ultimate f up in SAR work. People need to understand the complexities and dangers of swift water rescue / recovery, as well as resource availability and manpower requirements. Not as easy as most think.

The thing that gets me is the attitude of some of the public thinking that others somehow owe them these deeds - to risk their lives in a fruitless effort to recover bodies in order to ease their emotional suffering. As the sheriff said, they have their "answer"; their relative is dead and the body will turn up when it turns up - having someone else risk their lives, and wasting a lot of resources when those resources may be needed elsewhere helping people that are still alive, is selfish.

 

[clearconscience]

This thread is going nowhere.

 

[Boboclown]

Interesting. Sad deal. Where do the bodies go? Meaning if they can't find them?

Far from where they went missing. They'll snag on something, if they aren't found there then that thing will probably break and they'll go some more... And if/when you find the bodies its not a pretty sight. Want a photo? My textbooks cover this from time to time.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Far from where they went missing. They'll snag on something, if they aren't found there then that thing will probably break and they'll go some more... And if/when you find the bodies its not a pretty sight. Want a photo? My textbooks cover this from time to time.

What textbook? What were you studying for?

 

[Boboclown]

What textbook? What were you studying for?

Textbooks on investigations. Criminal justice major and I've had a few classes on the subject. Some of my friends said my timing was always way off when I had those classes, because they were always right before the time I went to eat lunch.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Textbooks on investigations. Criminal justice major and I've had a few classes on the subject. Some of my friends said my timing was always way off when I had those classes, because they were always right before the time I went to eat lunch.

Your a LEO then.

 

[Boboclown]

Your a LEO then.

Nah, BLET (basic law enforcement training) would be the course you go through for that. But some departments do pay extra for a criminal justice degree, and if you want to become a detective or go into forensics that's something you'd be looking into.

Or to be a lawyer, but you'd be better off going into accounting to get into law school (which is unfortunate for me).

 

[CoastRange57]

Or to be a lawyer, but you'd be better off going into accounting to get into law school (which is unfortunate for me).

I did a year of criminal justice back in the late 70's. Thought I might make LE a career, but my party habits pretty much cancelled that route.

When I worked in consulting / turn around work the accountants were as crooked or more so than the lawyers. Our systems had rock solid accounting procedures backed by a major East Coast accounting company. The companies we worked for usually had crooked accountants who were churning them for major dollars. When we got there, plugged our systems in we found the leaks real fast.

Fired the accounting companies right away, and got those companies turned around in a year or two usually with reputable accounting and legal companies. Funny how you mention the tie in between 2 sketchy professions that have screwed more companies than I can remember.

An accountant with a law degree. That is a disaster waiting to happen. Hell is full of those people.

 

[Boboclown]

I did a year of criminal justice back in the late 70's. Thought I might make LE a career, but my party habits pretty much cancelled that route.

When I worked in consulting / turn around work the accountants were as crooked or more so than the lawyers. Our systems had rock solid accounting procedures backed by a major East Coast accounting company. The companies we worked for usually had crooked accountants who were churning them for major dollars. When we got there, plugged our systems in we found the leaks real fast.

Fired the accounting companies right away, and got those companies turned around in a year or two usually with reputable accounting and legal companies. Funny how you mention the tie in between 2 sketchy professions that have screwed more companies than I can remember.

An accountant with a law degree. That is a disaster waiting to happen. Hell is full of those people.

Well, accounting, marketing, journalism, etc... Hey, we all know journalist and those in the market are the models of morality in which we should all follow.

 

[Siglvr]

Boboclown, maybe change the avatar pic to a puppy or kitten dressed as a clown. You look mean in that one. Unless you're going to be a lawyer, then I could see leaving that one.

"Or the newspaper didn't tell the whole story. Personally, I think that is much more likely" That is amazingly usually the case most times. I've looked right at a sheriff and said A, then B, then C occurred. Handed over a drawn diagram. Literally. Watched him write it down, had him repeat it back. News story later may have one of those letters, and maybe 2 other letters that were not part of the story. So there's a B, then Z then XFEC. Which makes for some interesting speculative comments by even more uninformed idiotic readers of the screwed up story. Crazy stuff.

Hey Bobo:

 

[Boboclown]

No one tells the truth when they're comfortable. Fear brings out the truth you need.

 

[NW Backpacker]

2 of the 4 hunters found in the river:
Second body recovered in Selway River; 2 hunters remain missing

 

[CoastRange57]

45 miles downriver. That is a long ways to bounce around.

 

[clearconscience]

45miles!
Dang.
That water was rushing, it's amazing he didn't get caught on something.

At least one more family has closure