Vermont man was barely conscious when he was found in
a remote area says his rescuer
By Betty Jespersen
Blethen Maine News Service
December 6, 2007
MADRID TOWNSHIP ? A hunter who had been missing
since Monday in a remote area south of Tumbledown
Mountain was found ice-covered but alive Wednesday
afternoon by a snowmobiler.
Steven Wright, 53, of Woodford, Vt., described by
authorities as an experienced hunter, was found by
Donald Eisenhaur of Madrid.
Eisenhaur, 68, said Wednesday evening that he found
Wright, covered with ice, wet and barely conscious,
kneeling on a trail that Eisenhaur had broken earlier in
the day.
Eisenhaur, who had been out breaking trail, said he
believed Wright had heard the snowmobile, dragged
himself up from a gully and found the tracks.
"I guess I was in the right place at the right time,"
Eisenhaur said.
Wright, who was on a hunting trip with friends when
he disappeared, walked nearly 11 miles north from where
he was reported missing. He was found on the west side
of Jackson Mountain, about 15 miles southwest of Route
4.
Eisenhaur said he did not know how Wright had stayed
alive since Monday, through sub-freezing temperatures
and snow, without a tent or provisions.
"I loaded him in front of me and sort of cradled him
as we rode out," Eisenhaur said. "We were in the middle
of nowhere and I kept talking to him, telling him I was
going to get him out and to keep hanging in there."
During the hourlong snowmobile ride back to Route 4,
Wright slumped over several times, hitting his head on
the snowmobile's "stop" button, causing it to shut down,
Eisenhaur said.
"From where he was and the condition he was in, he
wasn't going to walk out of there on his own," he said.
When Eisenhaur reached an area with cell phone
reception, he called his wife, Kay, and told her to ask
for an ambulance to meet them at the head of an old
logging trail on Route 4.
When he had left the house earlier in the day, she
had told him to watch for the missing hunter. "And he
found him -- he was so thrilled to find him," Kay
Eisenhaur said Wednesday evening.
Wright was able to speak once he got into the
ambulance, then was heard asking whether the crew had
any beer in there, according to a press release from the
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Wright answered a few questions from rescuers and
confirmed his identity before being taken by LifeFlight
to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, according
to the press release. The hospital's nursing supervisor
declined to provide information on Wright's condition
Wednesday evening.
Before Wright was found, search crews had tentatively
planned to call off their search around 4:30 p.m. They
were beginning to make plans for searching this morning,
said Deborah Turcotte, acting director of communications
for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Wright's two hunting companions reported him missing
around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. By 11 a.m., a search was under
way with nearly 50 search-and-rescue personnel, dogs
from several agencies, Air National Guard helicopters
and Maine Warden Service planes.
Searchers covered a mountainous area, covered with 15
inches of snow, in the Byron Road area south of
Tumbledown and Little Jackson mountains. Wright's wife,
two sons and friends helped with the search.
Wright was wearing wet weather-type camouflage pants
and jacket, an orange vest and an orange hat.
Turcotte said Wright had prepared a survival kit that
contained matches, a radio and other gear, but had
forgotten it in his truck. He was carrying a compass and
a Global Positioning System unit.
Wright arrived in Maine on Sunday along with Michael
Harrington and Barry Bishop, both of Bennington, Vt.
Hunting with muzzleloaders, their destination was No. 6
Road and the Coos Canyon campsite in Byron, Turcotte
said.
On Monday, they went east on No. 6 Road. Around 9
a.m., they saw a deer track. They split up and circled
around.
By 4 p.m. Monday, Bishop and Harrington met back at
the truck. When Wright failed to arrive, the two began
searching the area. They reported their friend missing
before dawn the next morning.
Winter hunting in the snow is common, according to
Lt. Adam Gormely of the Warden Service. "It's quiet
hunting. You can sneak up on them, plus you get snow to
track them," he
said.
