News release from the Coos Co. Sheriff’s Office. On November 28, 2014, at about 1630 hours, Coos County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the area near milepost 12 Burnt Mountain Road in response to two missing hunters. This area is the easternmost portion of Coos County near the Douglas County line. The area is Coastal Range Mountains heavy with brush and steep terrain. Deputies arrived in the area and contacted friends of the missing hunters. Deputies established a search area based on the information received from friends and the location of the hunter’s vehicle. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office initially received the report as one of the missing hunters had called his mother who reported it to DCSO. The DCSO deputy initiated a callout of their Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel. Douglas County Search and Rescue personnel arrived from Douglas County Sheriff’s office and initiated a search on foot. Upon locating the missing hunter’s vehicle the hasty team plunged into the wet coastal mountain brush on the trail the hunters had taken. Searchers knew this from a text sent by one of the hunters to a friend to take the main trail down. Initial reports were the missing persons were on a ridge in the rain mist and could not build a fire. At approximately 2110, search and rescue personnel located the missing hunters approximately 1 and ½ miles from their Jeep. Both subjects were in good health and sustained no injuries. When contacted by deputies the hunters stated they had become disoriented in the fog and could not find their way back. Survival gear on the missing hunters included a space blanket and fire making materials. Had the missing hunters called 911 it is more likely than not their gps information in the phone could have been used to locate their position at the time of the call. Coos County deputies were assisted in the search by 10 Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue personnel and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Last year during the second season of rifle elk hunting a hunter was lost for several days in the Lost Creek drainage about ten miles from this location.
